Great War

The Great War is an event featured in Crimson Skies and the Crimson Skies board game. It was a major world conflict involving major powers such as the British Empire and Germany, which saw modern warfare arise and completely change how war would be conducted in the future.

History

The war broke out in 1914 between the "Triple Entente" of Britain, France, and Russia against Germany. The war raged on for several years, until the United States declared war on Germany on April 6th, 1917, and began to send troops to the front line to help the Entente. The war had become more complicated in February that year with the February Revolution in Russia which toppled the old government. The short civil war lasted until Aleksandr Kerensky formed the Russian Republic on September 14th, though this would not last as communist Bolsheviks rose up in the October Revolution. In March of 1918, the Russo-German treaty of Brest-Lirovsk created peace between Russian and Germany in exchange for some land changing hands. This did not manage to turn the war in favor of Germany, however, who signed an armistice deal with the Entente in November of that year.

The role of aircraft

It was during the Great War that aircraft were first used, with observation planes. These were initially unarmed, however they began carrying rifles, and then machine guns to attack and defend from each other. Scout aircraft began being issued with small explosives that they could drop on trenches and buildings, though this destructive power was limited. This want for greater aerial destruction pushed nations to being developing new aircraft capable of carrying more and more powerful bomb loads.

It was clear that larger airframes with more engines would be needed to carry these payloads as well as lift the large bombers off of the ground. More crew, too, would be needed with at least a pilot to fly to the target and bomber who could accurately bomb it. Even more could be used to operate defensive machine guns on traversable pintle mounts. Before long, the Allied powers were fielding aircraft that could carry 500 pounds of bombs and achieve amazing feats, such as the Airco D.H.4 which had a flight time of nearly seven hours and a wing span twice that of contemporary scout aircraft.

The Germans had their own bombing aircraft such as the Albatross CIII, and eventually the Gotha G.IV, which could carry 1,100 pounds of ordinance and it targets over 500 miles from its airfield. Not to be outdone, by the end of the war, Britain had the Hadley-Page 0/400 bomber which had a wingspan of over 100 feet and carry 2,000 pounds of bombs. By the end of the war, aerial combat was well defined, with reconnaissance, bombing, and air superiority being heavily researched.

One of the most famous aces from the war was the Baron von Richthoften who led his squadron which became known as the "Flying Circus". Part of their fame came from their flying, however another part came from the vibrant blues, reds, and yellows they painted their aircraft for identification in the sky. Even long after the war, the Baron is still respected and revered in Germany, and resulted in a Kyritz-class zeppelin the Baron Von Richthofen being named after him.

The role of zeppelins

Zeppelins were also used in the Great War, though not so rapidly developed as aircraft were. The Germans used zeppelins in an offensive role at the start of 1915, when they began to bomb London and Paris, and while these raids did little to actually affect the industrial capabilities of the nations they did greatly hurt the morale of troops on the front. By the end of the war, however, counters to the zeppelins had been developed. Pursuit fighters had advanced greatly over the course of the war, and now had the capabilities to reach the altitudes zeppelins regularly operated at. Additionally, the advent of flammable ammunition in combination with the flammable hydrogen gas of the zeppelins was an excellent counter to the airships. In an attempt to stop this, the Germans switched to night raids and also painted the bellies of the zeppelins black for camouflage, though to little effect. As soon as the zeppelin was heard, searchlights were switched on and aircraft sent to attack it.