
Thus the Allies closed the sea traffic to the North Sea, which led the Germans to declare war zones French and English waters. This trait implied a new form of economic confrontation that consisted in blocking the arrival of resources to opposing armies. The long duration of the contest, involved new search of supply in the European colonies and in the neutral countries. The economic war was another determining characteristic of the First World War. The German army, for example, used radio transmitters to guide the dirigibles that carried out shootings from above. These advances allowed alarms to the soldiers on attacks of the enemy troops to be safe or to protect themselves of the chemical attacks using gas chambers. These technologies allowed fast and precise communications spanning great geographic distances. Its great geographical expansion implied the use of new strategies that used emerging technologies at the time as were telegraph, telephone and radio. Innovation in communicationsĪnother of the great innovations that the World War I presented, was in the matter of communications.

This figure represents only a small percentage of the victims of the war, but it represented the discovery of a new and dangerous weapon of mass destruction. It is estimated that chemical weapons left about 100,000 people dead and more than a million wounded. First Chemical WeaponsĪnother of the weapon innovations were the first chemical weapons to be used in the context of a conflict.ĭuring the course of the war, some 3,000 chemicals were investigated for military use and more than 50 toxic agents were used on the battlefields. In addition appeared the first combat aircraft as well as the first submarines and tanks of war. The Germans had continuous and automatic firing rifles that changed the combat systems of the time. This meant that the conflict was a stage of important innovations in armament for the time. The countries participating in the First World War were industrial powers. Also, African soldiers participated as part of the armies of Belgium and France. This was the case of the Hindu, Canadian and Australian soldiers who participated in the conflict on behalf of Great Britain. This fact caused that there was presence of soldiers of the colonies in the European armies. The world order during the time of the First War was characterized by the existence of multiple European colonies in Africa and Asia. Clashes occurred in eastern and south-eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Britain's entry particularly determined that this was a global conflict.įinally, this conflict reached a geographical reach never seen before. What began as a conflict located in southeastern Europe, turned into a war involving European empires. It is for this reason that it was considered as a confrontation of world order. The main feature of First World War was the participation of more than 30 countries within the war.

10 Most Important Features of World War I Global character conflict


In addition, it is still considered today as one of the warlike confrontations that has left a greater number of victims in all of history.
