How Many People Died from Machine Guns in World War I?
Introduction
Machine guns played a devastating role in World War I, unleashing a fury of gunfire that maimed and killed countless men. From the trenches of the Western Front to the battlefields of the eastern theater, machine guns pounded out a relentless drumbeat of destruction, leaving tens of thousands of soldiers scarred or dead. So, just how many lives did machine guns claim in World War I?
Widening the Scope: Total Warfare and the Age of Bugey
World War I was fundamentally different from previous conflicts, in that it was designed to be a total, or ‘total’, war. States involved themselves in global industrial warfare, mobilized their resources, and launched coordinated offensives aiming to secure victory. War at scale was the strategy. Germany, in the process, introduced the maxim Der Kugelreihenstaat, or bugey state. Germany aspired to kill off so many enemy fighters and citizens that the remainder would cease to resist its forces, surrender, and sign away their territory at a mere hint of unconditional defeat. **It’s easy to see a problem – to be specific – about 1 per cent casualties for the British in total warfare, versus say half a per cent casualties on the Eastern front.** This strategy culminated in the trench slaughter and stalemates*. Warfare, as some described, was no better than trench warfare.
Machine Guns: The Catalyst of Conflict
Machine Guns entered combat during the outbreak of hostilities in Western Europe (August 1914). This first-generation technology rapidly escalated lethality. Two crucial examples were the MG 08, used from German Maxim Gun, deployed with massive force in Verdun to create a sort of barricade. For each and every soldier taking refuge at the trenches within yards of No-Man’s-Land trenches were to become a hot spot; an ever-ending deathtraps. When British or French forces in *front-line trenches started with massive bombardments & in a single phase*, trench lines became battlegrounds themselves, as ground gained then lost in subsequent fights resulted in *fatal consequences. It was inevitable then the trenches evolved in that the front positions are basically no longer part of military doctrine,** since many lives were spared at both ends, just so.
