The First World War was a war that involved two of the leading industrial nations in the world and therefore one of the main factors in the war would be technology. However the technology (artillery in the shape of big guns) had brought the war to a stalemate and everyone had gone into trenches. Perhaps the technology that had brought a stalemate could break it.

          When the tank was introduced it was underdeveloped and was not ready for the battlefield. The tanks role was to clear the way for allied troops. They would crush the barbed wire and clear out German trenches with their two field guns and one machine gun while the allied troops followed behind the tanks using their armour for protection. The tanks were not very effective. They were unreliable and they would break down and run out of fuel. This would leave the crew stranded. They were an easy target for artillery. The crew also had to put up with very hot temperatures and engine fumes from the engine which was placed right in the middle of the tank. The tanks managed to break through far into German held territory but then they broke down and left the crew stranded. The infantry was too few to follow the tanks attack up effectively and once the Germans had seen these tanks they made their own defences to tackle the problem. They made anti tank trenches which made life very difficult for the tanks. They could not cross easily. The tanks were completely ineffective.

          When the aeroplane was first introduced in the war it was seen as completely useless and the commanders said that they were useless for the army but good for sport. Then they started to realise its uses. They fixed cameras to planes and used them for reconnaissance on the trenches. They fixed bombs and machine guns to them and used them to bomb targets and shoot down enemy reconnaissance aircraft. At the start of the war the plane could not fly very high or far but they started to develop aircraft and by the end of the war aircraft could fly up to 7km high and 700km far. By the end of the war planes could attack submarines with torpedoes that they carried and they could attack the ground with machine guns and bombs.

          The tank made a minor impact in World War One due to the fact that it was under developed and so unreliable. It did however scare the Germans and it scared them to an extent that they lost moral. The plane made an impact due to the fact that it could take pictures of the enemy and tell you what they were doing. This helped plan attacks and it showed the troops what they would be up against. The plane was more important due to the fact that it was more helpful to the troops than the tank. The plane could help the troops plan the attack due to the pictures that it took. The tank though could protect the troops in battle by clearing enemy trenches and acting as something to take cover behind. The plane was more reliable though due to the fact that it could bring the photos back whereas the tank easily broke down and the crew were easily killed. The tank could be taken out by artillery fire where the plane could only be taken out by anti aircraft fire. At the time the plane was more reliable and came to more use than the tank but when the tank was fully developed it was also very useful and could do a lot more than it did then. But at the time of world war one the plane was more useful and reliable then the tank.