How Did the Advancement in Weapons Technology Prior to World War One Influence the Rapid Evolution of German Infantry Tactics from 1914 to 1918?

Between 1870 and the start of World War I the technical development of weapons (machine guns, infantry rifles, and artillery) advanced tremendously. During the same period, the German army studied new tactics and the effects of using these modern weapons. Due to the relatively slow advance of tactics development there was a disparity between modern weapons capabilities and infantry tactics by the start of the war. Necessity being the mother of invention, the Germans acted aggressively in finding a way to defeat the advanced firepower that had emerged. Through experimentation and training, and the existing German ability to adapt atevery level, they developed the famous “Storm Troops” that momentarily broke the deadlock near the end of the war. After World War One these new tactics were taken up by other forces around the world and eventually led to German Blitzkrieg tactics and the basis of our own infantry tactics.