1.    Geography played a very important role among the battles due to the fact that it could decide the defeat or the victory of either the Allies or the Central Forces. In the Battle of Rafa, which took place near the Sinai Peninsula, geography consisted of mostly plains, and sand dunes. However, the Ottomans settled themselves in a strategic point where they found a higher altitude, and built in redoubts. The British had to take advantage of the geography and because there were no mountains, the British troops were allowed to attack in many different directions at once surprising the Ottomans. Not only in Rafa, but also In the Battle of Somme, the chalky ground helped Germans to built in trenches which give them a big advantage. It was until later on when they regretted to dig in. Due to the fact that the weather was against them, rain came in, and left a muddy terrain, which ruined their path ways. Leaving the Germans on a difficult situation, they lost against the British. In contrast, the Battle of Gallepoli settled the British in disadvantageous point. Because the terrain was , the Turks were very clever, and took this into their advantage, putting their artillery and infantry high up the mountains ready to fire. When the British arrived into the beaches, the Turks were able to shoot from above, and the British had no major place to hide rather than small sand banks. Geography can complete devastate the plan of a side, Allies or Central forces. It can put you in a life to death situation, and that’s why it matter. No one should underestimate the importance of geography, because it can lead to victory or defeat.

 

 

2.    During WWI, soldiers experienced horrible situations, where they were pushed in excess physically and mentally. Normal human beings would survive what some WWI soldiers did. The battle of Rafa demanded a lot from the soldiers. Walking, marching through the desert under burning sun, soldiers survived and fought. Even though vital resources like water were scarce, they still managed to continue. This situation happened in the Battle of Gaza too, where the arid weather drained the soldier’s physical endurance. Their food and water was counted, so they could not do anything else but to follow orders and take care of each other. Some of the most horrible experiences happened in the Battle of Verdun, where both, German and French soldiers fought for days and nights without stopping. The amount of people who died was very high that they even had to sleep next to corpses. The presence of diseases affected the soldiers too. Most of these poor men left the battlefield without an arm or leg. Also because their eyes had seen horrible moments, the minds of the ones who survived were torn and corrupted forever. These wounds are going to make the soldiers remember about their horrible experience in WWI.

 

 

3.    Imperialism in WWI brought the control over many colonies like England did, it enable more numbers of soldiers and a bigger army, but also the hunger gaining more land. The Battle of Rafa not only consisted of British of people, rather than a combination of New Zealanders and some Australians too, which clearly gives a bigger army, and their main objective was to control the Sinai Peninsula. In the other hand, we have Ottomans, in the Battle of Romani, wanting the Suez Canal in order to cut the transportation of British resources, however, in their intention, they failed to take over. Once again England had its colonies to help. I’ts indeed difficult to maintain and control over another country with an smaller army. East Prussia was another strategic place, and in the Battle of Tannenberg, the intention of the Russians was to take over. Because it was the core of Germany, the conquest would allow major control, but the Russians failed to do so due to the lack of communications and organization. Land was very important in WWI, but it could only be achieved through the use of a big army with more men.

 

 

4. WWI was not only pure slaughter, but the beginning of new types of technology and military inventions which allowed an easier victory. Zeppelins, tanks, u-boats, grenades, machinguns with drum mags, specialized guns for trenches, flamethrowers, gases, all these replaced swords, daggers and other short knives. You can see the transition in the Battle of Ypres, people no longer risked themselves in hand-to-hand combat. Instead, they paced themselves more distance, where grenades were commonly used and pistols were more comfortable in a trench. Tanks were another big innovation. These heavy vehicles passed through barb wire and trenches very easily, however, their maneuver wasn’t perfect yet. In the Battle of Verdun, tanks were used but because of the muddy terrain, they were a plain disaster. It was until the Battle of Cambrai where they were used more efficiently and satisfied its usage. No tanks were used in the Battle of Rafa. In contras they used horses and camels as their transportation, but they as well used bayonets and cars with mounted machine guns. The more advanced the military warfare, then the probabilities of winning would increase too. These technologies helped in the victory of many battles, and even broke stalemates.