About this Chapter
Weapons of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive explores the world’s first industrial war, creating a battlefield that juxtaposed the old and the new: centuries-old military tactics with modern technology. The cost? Destruction beyond belief. About 8 million combatants died, including more than 100,000 Americans. The U.S.’s greatest battle of the Great War was a 47-day offensive in the Meuse-Argonne region of northeastern France. This chapter uses the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery as a window into the impact that modern weapons had on the war’s military tactics and on the toll they exacted on the soldiers themselves.
The activities within this chapter will help students answer the following questions:
- How were these weapons used in the Meuse-Argonne?
- What was the best way to fight a war in the Meuse-Argonne region?
- And what was the legacy left by weaponry used in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive?
This chapter is part of the iBook Bringing the Great War Home: Teaching With The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, which was produced by ABMC in partnership with Learn NC and Virginia Tech. You can access individual elements of the iBook here on ABMC.gov, or you can download the full iBook through iTunes
In this Chapter:
- Section 1: Introduction
- Section 2: How Should America Fight the Great War in the Meuse-Argonne?
- Section 3: How Did Poison Gas Change Warfare?
- Section 4: Meuse-Argonne Case Study: How Does Open Warfare Lead to a Pistol Duel?
- Section 5: What Was the Legacy Left by the Weapons Used during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive?
- Section 6: A Menu of Instructional Options
- Section 7: Bibliography
- Section 8: Video and Audio Transcripts
- Section 9: Credits and Disclaimer
- Download the Full Chapter
