The Trench Broom

The "Trench Broom," officially the Thompson submachine gun, was developed in 1918 by John T. Thompson. It was used by law enforcement officers and criminals and was commonly seen in the late 1910s and 1920s. It was also known as the "Tommy Gun," "Chicago Organ Grinder," "Chicago Piano," "Chicago Typewriter," and "Trench Broom." These nicknames largely originated from the use of the Thompson in less-than-legal aspects.

The Thompson was developed as an alternative for the bolt-action rifles of the 1800-1900s, and it was intended initially to be a semi-automatic weapon. It was, however, an automatic submachine gun that was issued after the Great War.

Almost two million Chicago Organ Grinders were produced, with large batches being bought by notable groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA), who fought against British occupation of Northern Ireland. They were used in the Irish Civil War from 1922 to 1923, but only caused death in a third of the people hit.

The popular stereotype of gangsters or members of the Mob carrying guns in violin cases was popularized by the rise of the Thompson. Criminals often used this weapon during the rise of the Prohibition Era, which saw the rise of organized crime. In 1938, the U.S. Army adopted the Thompson for domestic and overseas use.

A Thompson in a violin case, with "L" drum magazine visible. Stock and foregrip are detached.

Immigration Act of 1924

After World War I, many Americans believed that immigrants took away jobs and increased the unemployment rate. With the increasing fear of radicals, the WASP wanted to get rid of the non-Americans. The Immigration Act of 1924 (Johnson and Reed Act) is a federal law passed to limit the number of immigrants allowed into the United States. The law limited the number of immigrants from each nationality to 2% of the total population in the US. This law was created specifically to aim at certain European groups such as the Italians, Greek, Slaves, and Jews. Furthermore, virtually all Asians were banned from immigrating to the US. The Japanese government protested against the law, but the US refused to listen. According to the government, the act is "to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity". The Immigration Act of 1924 was later replaced by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.

Charles Augustus Briggs

Religion has always shaped society. Whether it was the devotion to it, questioning it, or the fight over the two, religion has always been a part of a culture, especially before the modern classification of atheism. In the 19th century, it was still seen as a "crime against religion" to counter something that the church told its believers. Charles Augustus Briggs was among the first to stand for his own laws of belief. Educated at the University of Virginia, Briggs followed his degree took an appointment of pastor at a Presbyterian church, and then with a long journey in Europe where he was exposed to many other ideologies about religion and its importance in life. 14 years later, he accepted a job as a professor of theology. In his teachings, Briggs countered some traditional beliefs about the Bible, namely that there were certain discrepancies and errors in the original testament of the Bible. He also countered the belief that Moses was the author of the Pentateuch. Briggs even went further to claim that salvation was not achieved through death. All of these beliefs brought him to trial where he was tried for heresy. Although he was acquitted, his messages were not forgotten, and eventually, the Presbyterian church excommunicated Briggs. Much like former religious activists Martin Luthor and John Calvin, Briggs was shunned for his beliefs, emphasizing the intense hold that the church had on society and their thoughts.

The Interrupter Gear

In the early days of aviation, machine guns could not be mounted on or in the fuselage of aircraft due to fears of shooting off the propeller.

This guy had a bad day

One of the first attempts at solving this problem was mounting armor or bullet deflectors to the propeller. The bullet deflector was a popular concept that was used on a lot of different aircraft. A small metal wedge was fitted at the place where the bullets would hit the propeller, deflecting bullets away from the propeller.

The bullet deflectors are the triangles mounted on the propeller. Note the interesting tray-fed machine gun.

A slightly later solution to this problem was the Vickers Gunbus, called so because of its amazing armament of ... a single .303 Lewis machine gun (some crews upgraded the armament to 3 or 4 Lewis guns). The gun was mounted on a pivot and operated by the observer sitting in the front cockpit. Vickers got around the issue of shooting off their propeller by mounting the engine and propeller behind the cockpit. While it made the aircraft look strange, it actually worked really well.

Gunbus!

As the war progressed, though, the Gunbus became outclassed by newer fighters which boasted better climb rate and speed. This time, the solution to keeping the most important bit of your aircraft intact was to mount the machine gun on the upper wing, firing over the propeller. This allowed the aircraft to be smaller and lighter (no need for an observer/gunner) and more competitive as a fighter. 

The Foster Mount, as it was known, worked quite well on the early Nieuport and Sopwith fighters. But there were still some major issues that needed to be fixed. The .303 Lewis gun that was used in the mountings had a magazine capacity of 97 rounds. While this seems like a lot, the gun could empty this in about 10.5 seconds. Once the magazine was empty, the pilot had to pivot the gun down and replace the magazine, something that was nearly impossible in a fast-paced air-to-air engagement. 

The best solution to this problem, used for the rest of WWI and WWII, was the interrupter gear. Basically, the engine driveshaft drove a cam that would prevent the gun from firing when the propeller was in front of it. Whenever the propeller was in front of the guns, the interrupter gear prevented the gun from firing. This mechanism was first used on the Fokker Eindecker, a small single-gun German fighter. The advantage gained by having a fixed forwards-firing gun was immediately visible. From July 1915 to early 1916 the Eindeckers gained total air superiority over the Allies, racking up a large amount of kills. This period was called the "Fokker Scourge" by Allied aviators.

"Vrrrooooommm" -Fokker Eindecker

Soon, however, Allied research into interrupters matched German technology, and the Eindeckers soon had worthy allied opponents in the sky. And by mid-1916 the Eindecker was all but obsolete, overtaken by new German and Allies types. Interrupter mechanisms led to a few innovations that benefited many military fields. Most machine guns of the time operated on an open-bolt cycle, which was mechanically simple but very hard to time precisely (imprecise timing will shoot off your propeller). A new type of machine gun, operating on a closed-bolt cycle, was adapted to interrupter mechanisms. These new guns were fed by an ammunition belt, unlike older aircraft guns, which used drum or box magazines. All of the ammunition could be connected together into a long belt (The Eindecker had 500 rounds), which allowed the pilot to focus on shooting down the enemy and not replacing the magazine every hundred rounds. Air-cooled machine guns also came to the forefront in aircraft design. Early machine guns were cooled by a water jacket around the barrel. While this worked well for ground troops, aircraft needed to remain light. Air-cooled machine guns were developed to fix this problem. Instead of being cooled by flowing water, the barrel was cooled by air rushing over it.

Two MG 08 Machine Guns on a Fokker Triplane. The perforated sleeves for air-cooling the barrel are visible, as is the belt feed system to the right of the guns. 

Most interrupter systems operated off of a gear drive on the driveshaft that prevented the gun from firing when the propeller is in front of the gun. An important clarification must be made here: The interrupter does not sense if the propeller is in front of the gun. It is purely reliant on good timing. It happened a few times where the interrupter gear failed and the propeller was shot off. Overall, though, the interrupter gear proved to be a very important and influential innovation in the field of warplanes, influencing many other fields of engineering. Air-cooled belt-fed machine guns have become virtually the only type on the battlefield, and almost all fighter aircraft now have fixed forwards firing guns. The interrupter mechanism was used throughout WWII up until the advent of jet aircraft rendered it obsolete.

A Bf-109E, one of Germany's best early-WWII fighters, gets it interrupter adjusted

A Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, one of the first jet fighters. Evidently there is no propeller to get in the way of the six .50 Cal. machine guns, thus not needing an interrupter gear.

The Division of German Colonies

As WWI came to a close, the Allies decided to collectively place the blame of the war on Germany. Despite Woodrow Wilson's desire for "peace without victory," many leaders felt pressure to receive compensation for all that was lost during the war. This partially came in the form of dividing German colonies among Australia, Belgium, England, France, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, and South Africa. This was done because, in the eyes of these countries, the German government was unfit to rule themselves, as the country "started a war" that it was unable to win. Therefore, other countries felt their rule was better for the overall wellbeing of the German colonies. 

At this time, the German Empire was very large:

In the Treaty of Versailles, articles 22 and 119 state the repossession of all of the colonies and the promise not to return them to German rule. 

African Division:

In Western Africa, the United Kingdom and France divided Cameroons and Togo. Eastern Africa was split by Belgium, Portugal, and England, who obtained the "missing link" in their colonies that now stretched from South Africa to Egypt. Finally, German Southwestern Africa was given to the Union of South Africa.

Pacific Division:

Japan gained the Marshall Islands, the Carolines, the Marianas, and Kiautschou in China. Samoa was assigned to New Zealand, whereas New Guinea was given to Australia.

This division was seen as "the renewal, not the end, of an imperial era." Furthermore, Wilson saw this action as power-driven, rather than motivated by the improvement of life for citizens within these colonies. 

The Arditi

During World War I, Italy's army wasn't the most powerful when compared to that of the British, French, or German. However, Italy had its own organization of soldiers who were feared on the battlefield. These soldiers were known as the Arditi, which translates to "The Daring Ones". The Arditi were known as shock troops, which meant that they would lead an aggressive frontal assault, and were experts in hand to hand combat. The Arditi's were heavily armored and given the best equipment the army could offer, such as the Villar-Perosa machine pistol & the Fiat machine gun. They also received much better pay & overall treatment compared to regular soldiers, and were praised for their bravery & actions. The Arditi's are most well known for their victory in the Alps against Austro-Hungary. As the front reached a stalemate and victory seemed impossible, the Arditi were sent in to break the stalemate. The first attack took place on Monte Fratta, where 500 Austro-Hungarian soldiers were captured along with artillery & machine guns. Another notable was at San Gabriele where the Arditi took 3,100 prisoners, 55 machine guns, & 26 artillery pieces. Attacks like these helped secure the Alps & contributed to the ultimate Italian victory. 

Eddie Rickenbacker

America's most effective World War I ace and Medal of Honor recipient, Eddie Rickenbacker, was was born in Ohio on October 8th, 1890.  From early age, he was taught from his father that "A machine has to have a purpose".  Rickenbacker became obsessed with learning about machinery and engineering, specifically automobiles.  By his early twenties, Rickenbacker had made a name for himself as a race car driver, having competed in the Indy 500 on four separate occasions. 

Rickenbacker desired to join the war even before the United States officially entered.  When his time came in 1917, Rickenbacker eagerly enlisted and was assigned as an engineering officer at the US Air Service training facility.  Because of his lack of education as well as his useful mechanical capabilities, it was not logical to designate Eddie a pilot.  Eventually he was given the opportunity after presenting the military with a replacement for his position. 

Eddie Rickenbacker was able to secure 26 individual aerial victories throughout the war, the most of any World War I ace from America.

WW1's effect on the American Economy

As the war unfolded, the business community in the US became increasingly concerned about how Europe's economy would harm the American economy. This scared business leaders to the point where the New York Stock Exchange was closed for more than 3 entire months, the longest time it had been closed in history.

However, many businesses saw the war as a potential source of money. As war became more mechanical, American manufacturers capitalized on producing materials to fuel the American need for artillery and other war necessities. There was a huge opportunity for them to take advantage of, and the manufacturing industry was able to spring its way back into action.




In 1913, US exports including metals, machines, and automobiles went from 480 million dollars to 1.6 billion dollars in 1916. These numbers seemed to only grow as the war progressed.

By the end of 1918, America had produced 3.5 million rifles, 20 million rounds of artillery, 633 million pounds of gunpowder, 376 million pounds of explosives, and 21,000 airplane engines. The war effort had paid off, and the US had been able to modify their economy and have success.

The Last Battalion

The nine companies of the 77th division, led by Major Charles White Whittlesey, were given the name "the last battalion" after an American battle with German forces in October of 1918. The 77th assumed that both their right and left flanks were being supported by the French forces and other American units including the 92nd division. Not knowing that both sides were halted, they engaged in an attack in Arrogance Forest (located in France) and were the ones to cross the allied lines first. They soon became tapped for about five days surrounded by German forces. Over the span of the five days, the soldiers started to become weaker as they were running out of food, water, ammunition, etc. During combat, there was about 190 who were killed, 150 either taken prisoner or missing, and 194 rescued.

The First Major Appearance of PTSD

We've all heard about post-traumatic stress disorder, and we've all probably watched or read information about how it's commonly found in people who have fought in a war or have experienced the "warzone" environment. The important thing is that it's very rare in today's time, and that's because we haven't had a major war in a while.

Right after World War 1, though, there were millions coming home from being stuck in trenches for hours, or running through barbed wire on No Man's Land, or being blown into the air by bombs, or seeing bullets fly around them as they struggled to stay safe.









As soldiers returned to their everyday lives, the people around them noticed that they didn't seem normal anymore. They seemed to be unable to communicate as well as they had before. Their symptoms were similar to those of illnesses like amnesia, or some kind of inability to communicate or function normally. There was no clear physical cause on the outside.

An English physician named Charles Myers was the first to write about "shell-shock", and theorized that these strange symptoms were actually caused by concussive blasts endured by soldiers in the war. According to him, these blasts did cause actual physical injury to the brain and resulted in these strange symptoms. However, his theory didn't hold true, as people that weren't on the battlefield developed the same symptoms, and some people on the battlefield didn't develop them.



It took a long time, but psychologists eventually started to realize that this was a disorder caused by traumatic events, hence the name 'post-traumatic' stress was soon used to describe it. People soon learned that everyone was affected by PTSD differently, and that each person dealt with it on their own. This sudden outburst of discoveries about trauma and traumatic events led to a growing interest in psychology and the mind.

Because an entire generation of men came home - each soldier with his own problem - society struggled to adjust and rebuild itself, and it took time for everything to feel 'normal' again.

The Great Migration

     The Great Migration was the major migration of African American workers from Southern US to Northern, Western, and Midwest US. With the mass exodus of soldiers leaving the US during WWI, many jobs were available for African Americans. African Americans seized the opportunity and migrated, resulting in the combination of Whites and African American all over the US. African Americans challenged economic, social, and political problems in their new found cities. Some of the major cities that many African American migrated towards were New York, Boston, Baltimore, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and especially Detroit. Detroit and Philadelphia saw increases of 611% and 500% respectively.

    By moving to the North, the North was able to recognize the injustices happening in the South and fix them. The Great Migration really exposed the racial segregation going on during this time period. From sport to art many African American shaped the history and culture of our country. Without people like Michael Jackson and Barack Obama, our culture and history would not be like what it is today. Also, events like the Harlem Renaissance really shaped US culture and African American history forever.

Soldiers after WWI

    After WWI many of the soldiers experienced major trauma. WWI soldiers were the first soldiers to be diagnosed with shell shock. Shell shock caused psychological damage because of long exposures to warfare. Shell shock happens for multiple reasons, but the main reason why it happened was that soldiers saw and felt things that would haunt them for the rest of their lives: being buried alive for 18 hours, multiple shells getting blown up around you, and getting blown off brick structures 15 or so feet high. Eventually, shell shock was diagnosed to be a mix between a psychological and physical injury to the brain. Shell shock was a disease that allowed people to get a wound stripe, which was a patch that the soldier wore on his uniform that signaled to others that he was wounded.
 On a more positive note, many soldiers received homecoming celebrations that varied in size whether or not the soldiers fought in battle or not. Sometimes the soldiers didn't want any of the praise and instead just wanted to return to their old lives and try to forget about the war completely. Many soldiers received medals for various good deeds they did. Some of the metals people received were the soldiers metal which everyone who fought got, and the distinguished soldier metal which was given to soldiers who stood out in their units.

WW1 Chemical Warfare

1914- Tear Gas
          Tear Gas was the most frequently used gas in World War One. It was more of an irritant than it was fatal; it would cause nonstop tears to flow down soldiers' faces causing them to not be able to move on because they wouldn't be able to see. The active ingredient to tear gas was chloroacetone CH3COCH2Cl. This chemical compound causes the tear gas to turn dark yellow when it is exposed to light. Later, Germany fired 18,000 artillery shells containing xylyl bromide tear gas on Russian troops which failed because it froze.

                                                     1915- Chlorine Gas
       This was considered as the first killing gas; it was a powerful irritant that affected the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. Chlorine gas could kill if large amounts were taken in. Because the chlorine gas is denser than the air, it would sink to the bottom of the trenches, so soldiers who stood seemed to be fine. Also, people who died off of doses of chlorine gas died because they were breathing too much in, therefore, people found that running away didn't help them.




Phosgene
       Phosgene was mixed with Chlorine gas to create a more deadly gas. This mixture was referred to as "White Star" because it was both odorless and colorless and therefore indetectable. During WW1, a total of 93,800 tons of chlorine gas was manufactured and 36,600 tons of chlorine gas.

                                                     1917- Mustard Gas

       Mustard Gas, also known as Yellow Cross, was dangerous because once released, it stayed for months. It wasn't a killing agent, but the effects were pretty gruesome and painful: victims had blisters, their eyes became sore, and they would vomit. It caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane.

Women in World War I

World War I was a time of radical change for the world.  It is only fitting that it was a watershed in the history of women's involvement in the military.  World War I was a war of almost unheard of proportions, and required massive amounts of manpower - both as soldiers and to produce munitions. Women replaced the large numbers of young men that were called to the battlefront.  The previous Industrial Revolution had led to the employment of women in factories, particularly in the textile industry.  During WWI, women also worked in heavy industries, producing much-needed munitions for the military.

An advertisement encouraging women to work
in the munitions factories

Women did not just contribute to the war effort on the home front, however, they were also involved overseas.  Although they did not serve the military in the traditional sense, they still provided valuable contributions to the war effort.  Nurses from the American Red Cross were deployed to Britain and France, and their numbers swelled upon American involvement in the war.  These nurses treated the horrific injuries caused by the new military technology of WWI.  Some of them lost their lives treating the soldiers, and many were honored for their valor in the field.

A group of Red Cross nurses aboard a ship headed to Europe

WWI was notable because women of all classes served the war.  Typically, lower and middle-class women took up the call to work in factories and serve as nurses.  Upper-class women were founders and members of volunteer organizations because they had the time and money to put into these organizations.  Upper-class women used their position to spread awareness and raise funds for the war effort and led the conservation effort on the home front.

One of the notable women that we briefly touched on in class was Edith Wilson.  The second wife of President Wilson, Edith encouraged American women to join the rationing efforts.  She volunteered at a Red Cross canteen.  Edith also arranged for a flock of sheep to graze on the White House lawn and auctioned the wool from those sheep.  This event raised both awareness and funds for the war effort. 

The "Sheep of the White House," a publicity and fundraising
event for the war effort

Women of all classes were able to serve the war effort, whether it was serving abroad, working in factories, or just rationing at home.  Although much of the progress made during the war was reversed once the war ended, World War I provided a stepping stone to overturning preconceived gender roles held not just in American society, but globally.  Women continue to fight for their rights and equality, and there have been a number of other watershed events to accompany the change that sprouted from WWI.

Treating the Wounded in WW1

Taking care of casualties was a huge deal in the first World War. Officers and field aid members would carry "field dressings" and painkillers to wounded soldiers until professional medical members could get to them and transport them to medical facilities, some of which were as basic as tents. Soldiers that were brought to medical stations were evaluated and sorted into a category of injured, based on how much attention they needed. The seriously wounded were taken to a "casualty clearing station", which consisted of multiple tents where different medical procedures were performed, including surgery. They were then transferred to hospitals, where they were monitored by nurses, but the transportation there was not always the fastest.



One of the sad things about the trench warfare was that someone who was injured on No Man's Land would be abandoned there until nightfall, when people could safely go there to retrieve them, but many soldiers died from their wounds at that point. In addition, with all the shortages in medical supplies, many of the wounded simply couldn't get treated in time. This ultimately led to many long and painful deaths.

Gases in WW1

There were four main types of gases used in the first World War. They were: tear gases, chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas.

Tear Gas:



First used by the French, tear gases were the weakest chemical weapons, as the main goal of the gas was to temporarily inhibit the target. Symptoms from this gas included irritation in the eyes, mouth, throat, and lungs, and also forced breathing problems, coughing, and crying. The estimated casualties caused by this gas was 0 because it wasn't capable of killing, and most symptoms disappeared 30 minutes after leaving the affected area.


Chlorine Gas:



Initially used by Germany, this was a step up from tear gas, as it was capable of killing people. The way it killed people was by reacting with water in the lungs, which created hydrochloric acid. At low concentrations, it caused vomiting and eye irritation. At very high concentrations, however, it caused rapid death. The casualty estimation for this gas a little greater than 1,100 people. This is because chlorine gas was effective for a short while until gas masks were developed, lowering its effectiveness.


Phosgene Gas:



First used by the Germans, phosgene gas was one of the most effective gases in the first World War. The chemicals in the gas reacted with proteins in the "lung alveoli" and caused suffocation. It caused the same symptoms as the other gases, like coughing, inhibited breathing, and irritation to the eyes and throat. However, this gas could have delayed effects that weren't evident for the first 48 hours, like fluid in the lungs and death.


Mustard Gas:



Also used by the Germans first, mustard gas was very effective because it was invisible and had no distinct smell. A very powerful gas, it caused blistering and intense damage to the eyes, skin, and respiratory tract. It also formed "intermediates" that reacted with DNA and caused cell death.