There are many reasons why the First World War has been referred to, both by historians and by others, as "the Great War". The word "great" can be given various interpretations: from the extent of the areas in the world that were involved in the conflict (with battles that took place even in Asia, in Africa and on the seas) to the heavy damage that was caused by this war.
Bur the word "great" can also easily refer to one of the most tragic aspects of this event, namely the number of deaths that it caused. According to more reliable statistical data, it is estimated that in the whole of Europe the number of deaths that were directly connected to the fighting that took place stood at around ten million. This is a huge number that had ever occurred before and that even now ranks second only to the Second World War. How can this number be explained?
First of all one has to recall that the number of men who were involved on the various fronts was exceptional: it is estimated that between 1914 and 1918 about seventy million soldiers were called to arms, of whom sixty million were called in Europe alone. Moreover, it should be added that medicine, both as regards the treatment of disease as well as wounds, had not made much progress when compared to the previous century: antibiotics had not yet been invented and the lack of hygiene and the absence of sterilized environments only served to contribute towards an increase in the number of deaths.
But the real main reason for the large number of deaths in the Great War was the introduction of new weapons that in some cases could easily be considered as weapons of mass destruction.
At the turn of the 19th and 20th century the Second Industrial Revolution was in full swing in most of Europe and the United States. During those years scientific discoveries in fields such as physics and chemistry led to inventions that are still useful even today (such as, for instance, the internal combustion engine, aviation, electricity, radio communications and the telephone) and which gave a very strong impetus to business in operation at that time. Some of these inventions were also applied at the same time in the military sector.
As a result this led to the use of airplanes that could bomb enemy lines and cities, tanks that were capable of overcoming barriers that hitherto could not be overcome, hand grenades with devastating effects if thrown inside trenches or inside caves and even terrible flamethrowers and chemical bombs.
At the same time the destructive potential and the efficiency of these weapons increased due to the lack of attention that was given by almost all the armies to the development of "defences" that could cope with these innovations and to changes in military tactics that had by now become obsolete and that were more appropriate for wars of the 19th century.
