Princess Elizabeth in Wartime

Shock of War 1914

British troops under shellfire, 1914; The power of artillery soon made open warfare prohibitively costly in lives, driving men to seek the shelter of trenches and dugouts.

British troops under shellfire, 1914

photographs

The power of artillery soon made open warfare prohibitively costly in lives, driving men to seek the shelter of trenches and dugouts.

Licensing

Click through to the Collections item to see licencing options

The opening months of the First World War caused profound shock due to the huge casualties caused by modern weapons. Losses on all fronts for the year 1914 topped five million, with a million men killed.

This was a scale of violence unknown in...

The opening months of the First World War caused profound shock due to the huge casualties caused by modern weapons. Losses on all fronts for the year 1914 topped five million, with a million men killed.

This was a scale of violence unknown in any previous war. The cause was to be found in the lethal combination of mass armies and modern weaponry. Chief among that latter was quick-firing artillery. This used recuperating mechanisms to absorb recoil and return the barrel to firing position after each shot. With no need to re-aim the gun between shots, the rate of fire was greatly increased. Shells were also more effective than ever before. New propellants increased their range, and they were filled with recently developed high explosive, or with multiple shrapnel balls – deadly to troops in the open. Small arms had undergone a similar revolution in efficiency, with the development of high-velocity cartridges filled with smokeless propellant.

The deadly effectiveness of these weapons was not fully realised until the armies clashed. Their efficiency was heightened by the tactics employed. It was thought that, unless soldiers advanced in relatively close order, it would be impossible to command them or maintain their attacking spirit, especially as the Continental armies featured large numbers of reservists, mobilised only at the outbreak of war.

The terrible casualties sustained in open warfare meant that, within four months, soldiers on all fronts had begun to protect themselves by digging trenches.

Read more

  • German collecting tin

    souvenirs and ephemera

    German collecting tin; German collecting tin shaped like the shell of a 42 cm Mortar. The use by the Germans of very heavy calibre artillery enabled them to destroy the Belgian forts which blocked their way in 1914 with shocking ease. The 42 cm Mortar known as 'Big Bertha' became a focus of patriotic pride in Germany.

  • Hungarian poster

    posters

    Hungarian poster; Hungarian poster for an illustrated paper, 1914. The huge casualties of 1914 soon put an end to this type of unrealistic public perception of the war.

  • Retreat across the Aisne

    photographs

    Retreat across the Aisne; German dead after the retreat across the Aisne, September 1914. The firepower of new modern weapons such as quick-firing artillery guns caused heavy casualties during the open warfare in the first months of the war.

  • British field gun

    photographs

    British field gun; British 60-pounder heavy field gun in action at the Bois de Ploegsteert, 19-20 October 1914. Shellfire from artillery guns such as these caused devastating and unsustainable casualties amongst infantry in the open conditions of the early months of the war. By November 1914, both sides were beginning to dig trenches to protect their troops from this destructive firepower, leading to a very different type of war.