Chemical weapons were by far the most dangerous of the weapons that were used in WWI because they were so extremely unpredictable. Trenches were some of the craziest things to happen during World War I.
World War I is often considered the first true 'modern war', a conflict fought between industrialised countries equipped with modern weapons. It saw the rise of powerful weapons such as heavy artillery, machine guns and aeroplanes – and the decline of 19th-century weapons like sabres and bayonets.
Machine gun
Machine guns were an exceptionally lethal addition to the battlefield in World War I. Heavy guns, such as the Maxim and Hotchkiss, made “no man's land” a killing zone, and Isaac Newton Lewis's light machine gun saw widespread use at the squad level and as an aircraft armament.
But the majority of loss of life can be attributed to famine and disease – horrific conditions meant fevers, parasites and infections were rife on the frontline and ripped through the troops in the trenches. Among the diseases and viruses that were most prevalent were influenza, typhoid, trench foot and trench fever.
Like the other Dominion divisions from Canada and New Zealand, the Australians were viewed as being among the best of the British forces in France, and were often used to spearhead operations. The exploits of the AIF at Gallipoli, and then on the Western Front, subsequently became central to the national mythology.
The loss of life was greater than in any previous war in history, in part because militaries were using new technologies, including tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, modern artillery, flamethrowers, and poison gas.
The V1 flying bomb was one of the most fear-inducing terror weapons of the Second World War. Thousands were killed and wounded by its warhead, but alongside those civilians are the forgotten victims of the V1 the people who made them.
The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever deployed on Earth, the most powerful nuclear bomb tested and the largest human-made explosion in history. For comparison, the largest weapon ever produced by the US, the now-decommissioned B41, had a predicted maximum yield of 25 Mt (100 PJ).
> Lethality index score: 210,000,000,000
Created in the manic arms race of the Cold War, the B-41 hydrogen bomb is the deadliest weapon on this list. The bomb has never been used in warfare but is capable of destruction on a colossal scale.
14. V-2 – Hitler's revenge weapon. The V-2 rocket was Germany's most advanced weapon of the Second World War, and also the most wastefully expensive.
Chemical Weapons & Poisonous Gas
This brutal war led to the rise and eventually banning of chemical weapons used in warfare. In a post-WWI environment, the banned chemical weapons include five different types. We wisely banned blood agents, blister agents, choking agents, nettle agents, and nerve agents.
The Windkanone
Of the numerous Nazi Wunderwaffen (wonder weapons) developed during World War II, the Windkanone, or Wind Cannon, was one of the least successful. Rather than launching flak or other projectiles at enemy aircraft, this strange cannon was designed to disrupt low-flying enemies with a blast of air.
Despite prevailing notions of masculine bravery, soldiers' letters, diaries, and memoirs described the fear experience - associated with “baptism by fire”, different kinds of weaponry (including gas and air bombs), panicking or retreating units, and other feelings such as hatred, revenge, and shame.
Verdun, France
If walking through original trenches is what you really want to do, you can't miss Verdun. The region is peaceful now, but it is almost like nothing has changed here. There is so much to see! Trenches, bunkers, tunnels and large fortifications are all still here to be explored.
World War II was the most destructive war in history. Estimates of those killed vary from 35 million to 60 million. The total for Europe alone was 15 million to 20 million—more than twice as many as in World War I.
For Australia, the First World War remains the costliest conflict in terms of deaths and casualties. From a population of fewer than five million, 416,809 men enlisted, of whom more than 60,000 were killed and 156,000 wounded, gassed, or taken prisoner.
It is soon apparent from a study of personal and even official correspondence from World War One that Australian and New Zealand soldiers were being referred to collectively, and addressed individually, as Diggers by mid 1917.
A message-carrying rocket was invented at the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) Research Section and successfully used on the Western Front.
The M16A1 assault rifle was introduced into Australian Army service in 1967 as a section weapon for use by scouts and section commanders. It was used during the Vietnam War by Australian and American forces.
The Roll of Honour records the number of Australian deaths during the First World War as 61,514. This includes deaths until the formal disbandment of the AIF on 31 March 1921. During the period 4 August 1914 to 11 November 1918, there were 59,357 deaths.
On 3 September 1939 Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station in Australia. Almost a million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War.
The 88 earned its reputation as the best overall gun of the war. It was justifiably feared by Allied airmen, tankers, and foot soldiers because of its accuracy, lethality, and versatility. The weapon was deployed on German tanks, as an antitank gun, an assault gun, and for antiaircraft purposes.
That the US military never used gas was rooted in both the fact that plans for its use were deemed tactically unsound and that public opinion was very much taken into consideration. As more and more Americans lives were lost in the Pacific, public opinion slowly turned.