World War I, the "Great War", was the first mechanized war in history. The development of smokeless gunpowder and the fully-automatic machine gun in the late 19th century had changed the conditions for infantry combat, but the invention of the internal combustion engine, the automobile and truck, and the caterpillar tracked tractor would change forever the very nature of modern ground warfare. At the beginning of the war in 1914, horses and mules far outnumbered motor vehicles, and many armies had only started to investigate the use of cars and trucks to assist in, and then take over, the task of transporting troops and supplying them in the field. The development of useful motor vehicles was aided by the needs of the various military forces, and by the beginning of World War I, there were available several hundred makes of cars and trucks, several of the latter being four-wheel-drive models with useful cross-country capabilities. Tests conducted by the US Army before the war had proven that automobiles and trucks were capable of hauling troops and supplies much farther and faster than horses and mules could.
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