As well as the weapons mentioned below, poison gas and tanks were also used during WWI. However, neither were used during the Gallipoli campaign.
ARTILLERY
Artillery is huge guns which can fire enormous explosives over long distances. The British alone fired 170 million artillery shells during the war. Before a battle, huge artillery bombardments would be fired on enemy lines to destroy their trenches and the barbed wire. It rarely worked – instead, the barbed wire became even more entangled and No Man’s Land became churned up, full of craters and even more difficult to cross. The only protection against artillery was to dig deeper into the ground.
The use of machine guns was devastating. It contributed more to the stalemate on the Western Front than any other weapon because it pinned down troops on both sides in their trenches – troops sent ‘over the top’ were simply mown down by enemy machine gun fire.
SHRAPNEL SHELLS
Shells containing shrapnel were designed to explode above the trenches, before hitting the ground. The explosion sent out hundreds of metal balls or small pieces of iron in all directions to kill, maim or injure. However, deep dug-outs provided shelter from shrapnel shells.
Aeroplanes had only recently been invented and were only used at first for aerial spotting of enemy trenches – troop movements, the build up of supplies and the movement of weapons. Later in the war they were used as combat aircraft and in bombing raids.