The ambulance attendants said the only other option was to send the wounded to France They might reach help in two or three days The hospital took in the men Another ambulance arrived an hour later and within four days they had 350 patients THE WORLD AT WAR Souttar a surgeon at London Hospital had volunteered when the war which would become known as World War I broke out in 1914 The war had seemed to explode out of almost nothing A small group of Serbs wanted freedom from the empire controlled by Austria Hungary Gavrilo Princip a member of the group killed Austria Hungary's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife during a parade in Sarajevo Bosnia on June 28 1914 Austria then made demands of Serbia some of which Serbia refused to meet On July 28 1914 Austria attacked While troops mobilized diplomats throughout Europe tried to prevent a full blown war Yet no one was willing to back down and countries not directly involved felt obligated to support their allies The United Kingdom France and Russia made up the Allies or the Triple Entente Austria Hungary Germany and the Ottoman Empire made up the Central powers Later Japan Italy and other countries joined the Allied forces The United States would not join the Allies until 1917 Young men on both sides signed up for war joyfully expecting victory and honor within a few months at most Yet the war dragged out for four years
with unprecedented destruction New weapons were introduced including larger more deadly artillery tanks machine guns flamethrowers and poison gas Submarines brought the battle underwater while aircraft attacked from the sky The new machine guns could fire up to 600 rounds per minute They splintered bones and tore flesh Compared to earlier guns machine guns wounded more people quickly and also caused multiple wounds in one person A victim might have injuries in the head chest abdomen and several limbs Machine guns could also overheat and explode injuring the people operating them Explosive weapons The assassination of Franz Ferdinand center and his wife Sophie sparked the events leading to World War
caused similar damage from flying shrapnel To make matters worse wounds easily became infected because of the muddy filthy trenches soldiers lived in and even a slight injury and infection could be deadly An estimated 10 million soldiers were killed in World War I with another 20 million crippled or badly wounded More than one half of the troops who fought in the war were dead wounded or missing by the time the war ended Civilians also perished from bombs and shells or from the hunger and disease NEW WEAPONS OF WAR spread by wartime conditions The number of World War I casualties was so high in large part because of newer more lethal D0 OR DIE weapons Artillery and mortars could fire farther and faster and artillery killed more people than When Souttar joined the British forces any other weapon could Machine guns could he was appointed surgeon in chief of mow down approaching troops Handheld lamethrowers sprayed fuel oil that was ignited the Belgian field hospitals The British as it left the device Poison gases killed few but and French were fighting in Belgium to incapacitated many and caused extensive pain and terror Airplanes a relatively new invention protect the country against Germany and were first used to find information about the to prevent Germany from moving onward enemy Later they were armed with machine guns and then bombs Submarines could attack into France In Antwerp Belgium Souttar with torpedoes underwater or could surface to set up a hospital for casualties from the use guns on deck With these new weapons Belgian army The hospital was large with death came from every direction 150 beds and excellent equipment A staff
US soldiers learn to use machine guns at Camp Sherman in Chillicothe Ohio preparing them for
