The technologies were only used to observe enemies but as their effectiveness became apparent, both sides started to dismantle what they were using. For example, they shot down the planes that they would see causing more death.
the reason why the technology was so effective in the great war was that it was a clash between old war tactics from the war of 1870 and modern technology like the machine gun look at field marshal Haig for example known as the butcher of the Somme for his stubbornness in not wanting to change his strategy of prolonged artillery barrages followed by waves of infantry up against dug in German positions then there was the airplane at first just a novelty but it quickly proved its worth when in 1915 Anthony Fokker came with a thing called the synchronization gear which allowed the gun to be fired through the propellers the Germans became the first ones to mount them on their aircraft with deadly effect. in 1915 through 16 would be known as "Bloody April" when RFC (which was the precursor to the RAF) pilots were expected to have an average life expectancy of 1 to 2 weeks of course the invention of the Sopwith Camel in 1917 helped stem the tide of German Fokkers then their was the gas first used by the french in the form of tear gas in 1914 quickly was seen a a possibly to break the deadlock of the trenches on the western front. although horrifying it wasn't that effective it made up the least amount of deaths in world war one. the one that caused the most was artillery which caused 60% of all military deaths in the war.
