The Germans started using the toxic gas which killed any troops in the radius that is not wearing a gas mask. Most of the chemical weapons burst your lungs or filled your lungs with water. The machine gun was probably the most important as they cut down any incoming troops. Wave after wave of enemy troops would rush trenches and the fastest way of killing them were machine gun dig out. These impacted the war and these are the main reasons war changed forever. With chemical weapons, you could kill many people without having a single casualt. With machine guns, it was really hard to attack trenches, and you could cut down hordes of people instead of the conventional bolt action rifle.
The machine-gun was one of the deadliest weapons of the Western Front, causing thousands of casualties. It was a relatively new weapon at the start of the war, but British and German forces soon realised its potential as a killing machine, especially when fired from a fixed defensive position.
The Vickers machine-gun (above) was famed for its reliability and could fire over 600 rounds per minute and had a range of 4,500 yards. With proper handling, it could sustain a rate of fire for hours. This was providing that a necessary supply of belted ammunition, spare barrels and cooling water was available. When there was no water to hand, soldiers would urinate in the water jacket to keep the gun cool!
