In the early 17th century Galileo was indeed convicted of heresy because he claimed that Earth revolved around the Sun. This conviction was an example of an religiously motivated conviction of someone who had the best intentions in mind in the sense of mankind achieving greater knowledge.
The weapon that helped continue the stalemate on battlefields during World War I is option<em> D. Machine Gun</em>. A stalemate is a situation in which neither side has a clear victory over the other. The war becomes very long and slow, and armies have to be creative to surprise the enemy. There were many stalemates in WWI, especially in the Western Front.
