Technique of the First World War briefly. Technical innovations of the First World War Military equipment during the First World War

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* 7.62-mm rifle of the 1891 model (Mosin rifle, three-ruler) - a magazine rifle adopted by the Russian Imperial Army in 1891. It was actively used from 1891 until the end of the Second World War, during this period it was modernized many times. The name "three-ruler" comes from the caliber of the rifle barrel, which is equal to three Russian lines (an old measure of length equal to one tenth of an inch, or 2.54 mm - respectively, three lines are equal to 7.62 mm). The Russian Mosin rifle received its first baptism of fire during the suppression of the uprising of Chinese boxers in 1900. The rifle proved to be excellent during the Japanese war of 1904-1905. It was distinguished by relative simplicity and reliability, range of aimed fire. In the west, it is known almost exclusively as the Mosin-Nagant rifle.
On the basis of the rifle of the 1891 model and its modifications, a number of samples of sports and hunting weapons, both rifled and smoothbore, were created. The rifle was produced until 1944 and was in service until the mid-1970s, in 1900 it received the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris.

Sergei Ivanovich Mosin (1849-1902) - Russian designer and organizer of the production of small arms, major general of the Russian army. In 1875 he graduated from the Mikhailovsky Artillery Academy with a gold medal, was promoted to the rank of captain and sent to the Tula Arms Plant. Since 1894, Mosin was the head of the Sestroretsk arms factory. Cavalier of the Order of St. Vladimir. Knight of the Order of Saint Anne.

* 76.2-mm field rapid-fire gun of the 1902 model - a Russian light field artillery gun of 76.2 mm caliber, also known as the "three-inch". It was developed at the Putilov plant in St. Petersburg by designers L.A. Bishlyak, K.M. Sokolovsky and K.I. Lipnitsky, taking into account the experience of production and operation of the first Russian gun of this caliber.
For its time, the gun included many useful innovations in its design: recoil devices, guidance mechanisms for the horizon and elevation, and others. Ammunition for the cannon included fragmentation shells, shrapnel and buckshot. More specialized types of munitions included smoke, incendiary and chemical projectiles. Many ammunition for the divisional cannon mod. 1902 were made in France.
The field rapid-fire cannon of the 1902 model was the basis of the artillery of the Russian Empire and was highly appreciated by Russian artillerymen. In some cases, the gun was used as an anti-tank gun.
It was actively used in the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, the Russian Civil War and in other armed conflicts involving countries from the former Russian Empire (Soviet Union, Poland, Finland, etc.) Modernized versions of this gun were used at the beginning of World War II war.

* The destroyer "Novik" since July 13, 1926 "Yakov Sverdlov" is a destroyer of the Russian fleet. Designed and built at the expense of the "Special Committee for the Strengthening of the Navy on voluntary donations." The first pre-production ship. Serial destroyers - "Noviki" were built according to revised designs at Russian shipyards in 1911-1916, a total of 53 ships were laid down. By the beginning of the First World War, it was the best ship in its class, served as a world model in the creation of destroyers of the military and post-war generation. The first destroyer built in Russia with steam turbine engines and high-pressure boilers heated only by liquid fuel.
At the beginning of the First World War, she was the only modern destroyer in the Baltic Fleet and was listed in the cruiser brigade. A permanent task is the setting of minefields. Carried out activities to prevent the breakthrough of the German fleet into the Gulf of Riga in 1915. Participated in battles with German warships. During May 1917, it becomes the flagship of the BF mine division. He took part in the defense of the Moonsund archipelago. In November 1917 he came to Petrograd for a major overhaul. October 25, 1917 became part of the Red BF. On September 9, 1918, it was decommissioned and handed over to the Petrograd port for long-term storage. In 1940, after modernization, it was included in the destroyer division of the Baltic Fleet.
Under the command of captain 2nd rank A.M. Spiridonov participated in the breakthrough of Soviet ships from Tallinn to Kronstadt, where he was part of the detachment of the main forces. At 05:00 on August 28, 1941, together with the destroyers of the rear guard, he was sent to the Mine Harbor to evacuate the defenders of the city. In the campaign followed on the left beam of the cruiser "Kirov". At 20:47 "Yakov Sverdlov" hit a mine, broke in half and sank 10 miles from about. Mohni. Of the crew and passengers, 114 people died.

* Ilya Muromets bomber. "Ilya Muromets" is the common name for several series of four-engine all-wood biplanes produced in Russia at the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works during 1913-1918. The aircraft set a number of records for carrying capacity, number of passengers, time and maximum flight altitude. The aircraft was developed by the aviation department of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works in St. Petersburg under the leadership of I.I. Sikorsky. Until 1917 - the largest aircraft in the world.
"Ilya Muromets" became the world's first passenger aircraft. By the beginning of World War I, 4 Ilya Muromets were built. By September 1914, they were transferred to the Imperial Air Force. For the first time, the squadron aircraft flew on a combat mission on February 14 (27), 1915. During the war years, 60 aircraft entered the troops. The squadron made 400 sorties, dropped 65 tons of bombs and destroyed 12 enemy fighters. At the same time, during the entire war, only 1 aircraft was directly shot down by enemy fighters (which was attacked by 20 aircraft at once), and 3 were shot down. On November 21, 1920, the last sortie of Ilya Muromets took place. On May 1, 1921, the postal passenger airline Moscow - Kharkov was opened. One of the mail planes was handed over to the aviation school (Serpukhov), where about 80 training flights were made on it during 1922-1923. After that, the Muromets did not rise into the air.

When European armies went to the front in 1914, they still had horses and bayonets in their arsenal, and by the end of the war, no one could be surprised by machine guns, aerial bombardments, armored vehicles and chemical weapons. The weapons inspired by the spirit of romance were replaced by gaseous chlorine, huge shells with a flight range of more than 30 kilometers and machine guns spitting out bullets like from a fire hose. Each of the parties to the conflict actively used modern technologies and invented new methods in the hope of gaining the upper hand over the enemy. Armored vehicles made armies invulnerable to small arms, tanks made it possible to go on the offensive right along barbed wire and trenches, telephones and heliographs made it possible to transmit information over long distances, and planes relentlessly sowed death from the sky. Thanks to scientific developments, the enemy armies have become more powerful, but at the same time more vulnerable. American soldiers use an acoustic locator on wheels. Acoustic locators were actively improved during the First World War, but fell into disuse with the advent of radar in the 1940s.
Austrian armored train, circa 1915.
An armored train car from the inside, Chaplino, modern Dnepropetrovsk region, Ukraine, spring 1918. The carriage contains at least six machine guns and many boxes of ammunition.
German signalmen pedal a tandem to generate power for a radio station, September 1917.
Entente advance on Bapaume, France, circa 1917. The soldiers follow the tanks.
A soldier on an American Harley-Davidson motorcycle, circa 1918. During World War I, the United States sent more than 20,000 Indian and Harley-Davidson motorcycles to the front.
British Mark A Whippet tanks advance along a road near Achiie-le-Petit, France, August 22, 1918.
A German soldier polishes shells for a 38 cm SK L/45 “Max” railroad artillery gun, circa 1918. The gun could fire 750-kilogram shells at a distance of up to 34 kilometers.
German infantrymen in gas masks and Stahlhelm helmets in positions in the course of communication on the Western Front.
The false tree is a disguised British observation post.
Turkish soldiers using a heliograph, 1917 A heliograph is a wireless optical telegraph that transmits signals by flashes of sunlight, usually in Morse code.
An experimental Red Cross transport designed to protect wounded soldiers from the trenches, circa 1915.
American soldiers put on gas masks in a trench. A signal flare takes off behind them.
German trench digging machine, January 8, 1918. Thousands of kilometers of trenches were dug by hand, and only a small part with the help of machinery.
German soldiers with a field telephone.
Loading a German A7V tank onto a railway platform on the Western Front
An example of a false horse behind which snipers were hiding in no man's land.
Welders at Lincoln Motor Co. In Detroit, Michigan, circa 1918.
The tank goes to the flamethrower, circa 1918.
Abandoned tanks on the battlefield in Ypres, Belgium, circa 1918.
A German soldier with a camera near a wrecked British Mark IV tank and a dead tanker, 1917.
The use of gas masks in Mesopotamia, 1918.
American soldiers set up a 37mm automatic cannon near a trench in Alsace, France on June 26, 1918.
American soldiers in French Renault FT-17 tanks head to the front line in the Argonne Forest, France, September 26, 1918.
German pilot's suit, equipped with an electrically heated mask, vest and fur boots. During the flight on aircraft with an open cockpit, pilots had to withstand sub-zero temperatures.
British Mark I tank, foot soldiers, horses and mules.
Turkish soldiers with a German 105mm howitzer M98/09.
Irish Guards wearing gas masks during an exercise on the Somme, September 1916.
A temporary wooden bridge on the site of a destroyed steel bridge across the Scheldt River in France. British tank that fell into the river when the previous bridge was destroyed serves as a support for the new bridge
Telegraph in room 15 of the Elysee Palace Hotel in Paris, France, September 4, 1918.
German officers near an armored car in Ukraine, spring 1918.
Soldiers from the 69th Australian Squadron attach firebombs to an R.E.8 aircraft at an airfield northwest of Arras, France.
Six machine gun brigades preparing to leave for France, circa 1918. The brigade consisted of two people: a motorcycle driver and a machine gunner.
New Zealand soldiers in a trench and a Jumping Jennie tank in Gomkur, France, August 10, 1918.
The German military look at the broken British anti-aircraft installation, dead soldiers, empty cartridge boxes.
American soldiers training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, circa 1918.
German soldiers are charging gas-guns.
Front in Flanders. Gas attack, September 1917.
French sentinels at the post in a trench entwined with barbed wire.
American and French photographers, France, 1917.
Italian howitzer Obice da 305/17. Less than 50 such howitzers were produced.
The use of flamethrowers on the Western Front.
French army mobile radiology laboratory, circa 1914.
A British Mark IV tank, captured and repainted by the Germans, is abandoned in the forest.
The first American tank Holt, 1917.

The years of the First World War were marked by the appearance and use of new types of weapons and military equipment on the fronts, a change in the tactics of warfare.

For the first time in military operations, it was widely used aviation- first for reconnaissance, and then for the bombardment of troops at the front, in the near rear. In 2014 it will be 100 years of Russian long-range aviation. Long-range aviation originates from the squadron of airships "Ilya Muromets" - the world's first formation of heavy four-engine bombers. The decision to create a squadron on December 10 (23), 1914 was approved by Emperor Nicholas II. Shidlovsky M.V. became the head of the squadron. Former naval officer, chairman of the board of shareholders of the Russian-Baltic Carriage Works, which built the Ilya Muromets airships. In 2016 it will be 160 years since the birth of M.V. Shidlovsky, by order of the Sovereign-Emperor, called up for active military service with the rank of Major General and appointed Head of the Ilya Muromets Aircraft Squadron. M. V. Shidlovsky became the first aviation general in Russia. During the First World War, he was an active creator of the strategy and tactics for the use of heavy airships, he was able to show the extraordinary possibilities of connecting such machines.

The need to fight in the air is logically due to the emergence of fighter aircraft 100th anniversary which we will celebrate in 2016. And in early September 1914, the first full-time fighter aviation detachment in Russia, created exclusively from among volunteers, was sent to the Warsaw region under the command of an outstanding Russian naval pilot, senior lieutenant N.A. Yatsuka, known as one of the pioneers of air combat tactics. On March 25, 1916, the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Infantry General M.V. Alekseev, signed order No. 329, in accordance with which the formation of the first full-time fighter aviation units, respectively 2- th, 7th and 12th. On April 16, 1916, Lieutenant I.A. Orlov, commander of the 7th Fighter Squadron, reported to Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich that the first Russian fighter aviation squadron had been formed and was ready to go to the front.

2016 is also marked by the 100th anniversary of the birth of Russian naval aviation. On July 17, 1916, during the First World War, the crews of four seaplanes from the Orlitsa air transport conducted the first group air battle over the Baltic Sea with German pilots, which ended in victory for the Russian aviators.

The development of aviation and its active use led to the development of means of combat. So the field 76-mm guns of the 1902 model were adapted for firing at air targets. These guns were placed with wheels not on the ground, but on special pedestals - anti-aircraft machines of a primitive design. Thanks to such a machine tool, it was possible to give the gun a much larger elevation angle, and therefore eliminate the main obstacle that did not allow firing at an air enemy from a conventional "ground" gun. The anti-aircraft machine made it possible not only to raise the barrel high, but also to quickly turn the entire gun in any direction for a full circle. At the beginning of the First World War, in 1914, "adapted" guns were the only means of combating aircraft. "Adjusted" guns were used throughout the First World War. But even then, special anti-aircraft guns began to appear, which had the best ballistic qualities. The first anti-aircraft gun of the 1914 model was created at the Putilov factory by the Russian designer F.F. Lender. So, the years of the First World War can be considered the time of the birth of anti-aircraft artillery in Russia. The 100th anniversary of the country's air defense forces will be celebrated in 2014.

For the first time, chemical weapons of mass destruction were used in combat operations. In the war of 1914-1918, the Germans used chemical projectiles on the Russian front in January 1915. In April 1915, the German command used poison gases, a new criminal weapon of mass destruction, on the Western Front. Gas chlorine was released from the cylinders. The wind carried a heavy greenish-yellow cloud, creeping along the ground itself, towards the trenches of the Anglo-French troops. In 2016, the first gas balloon attack by Russian troops in the Smorgon region on September 5-6, 1916 will be 100 years old. The years of the First World War can be considered a date foundation of the troops of radiation-chemical and biological protection of Russia. In Russia, it was rapidly deployed about 200 chemical plants that laid the foundation for the chemical industry in Russia, and academician Zelinsky N.D. invented efficient coal mask.

The years of the Great War were marked by the appearance of armored vehicles, armored vehicles, tanks capable of moving over rough terrain and overcoming trenches, scarps, ditches, and barbed wire.

For the first time, submarines were also actively used in hostilities. The Russian fleet was one of the few that had underwater combat experience and was actively used in submarines in the Baltic theater of operations. The experience of the First World War showed that submarines became a serious fighting force, the founder of which was Russian submariners.

In this section, we will try to place materials on the technology of the First World War used in the Russian Army and Navy, allied countries and armies of the opposing side.

The First World War was a turning point of the 20th century - it radically changed the political map of Europe, destroying four huge empires and giving rise to a number of nation-states. Many historians agree that it was she who marked the end of the "political nineteenth century" in Europe. The First World War lasted four years and three and a half months (from July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918) and became the largest military conflict that the history of mankind knew at that time. During this global confrontation, military equipment was rapidly developing in the world - automatic small arms were actively modernized, armored vehicles appeared on the battlefields, and a war of airplanes began in the sky. More than 70 million people were mobilized into the armed forces of the countries participating in the First World War.

The unprecedented scope of the First World War required the mobilization of the efforts of all categories of the population of the warring states, thereby largely blurring the line between the army and society, which was previously quite clear. It is not surprising that already in the first days of the war, in the public space and official propaganda of many countries, the concept of “people's war” was brought to the fore, implying the struggle of the whole people in the name of protection from external aggression, achieving final victory over the enemy and “just eternal peace” . In many ways, this explains the enthusiasm with which the news of its beginning was perceived in the countries that entered the war. The American historian and sociologist Georgy Derlugyan gives a typical example: “In the summer of 1914, all the powers that entered the war habitually prepared to catch many deserters - which were then surprisingly few. Such was the power of modern patriotic propaganda.” Interestingly, even in the multinational European empires - for example, the Russian, as well as the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary (Austria-Hungary) - the mobilization of 1914 took place without serious problems.
In the "Great War", which history did not know before, not only the armies and the political establishment, but also scientists, writers, artists, and the clergy actively participated. In particular, the propaganda apparatus of the warring states has become an important participant in the global conflict. Today, many experts believe that the First World War can be regarded as the first great media war in history. In terms of its influence on the future of Europe, this “war of ideas” was not inferior to the “war of armies”, destroying the socio-economic prerequisites that had appeared earlier for launching the process of European integration, giving rise to a number of totalitarian ideologies, mass political movements guided by them, as well as projects for a radical redivision of Europe and peace.
The results of the First World War were, without exaggeration, revolutionary - it became obvious that henceforth large-scale conflicts would be in the nature of a total war, which implies the involvement of almost the entire population in them and the use of all the economic resources of the warring states. One of the most important consequences of the First World War was the radical territorial changes carried out by the victors - most often this was done on an ethno-cultural basis. At the same time, this principle was inapplicable to many parts of Europe due to the dispersed settlement of many ethnic groups. In addition, many new borders were not recognized: for example, Romania and Hungary entered into a protracted political conflict over Transylvania, Czechoslovakia and Poland over the Teshin region, Romania and Bulgaria over Dobruja.
On the Warspot portal you can find publications about the First World War and its participants.