The Flamethrower was used by the German army in the First World War in 1914 and 1915, and wasn't a very advanced weapon. The basic idea of a flamethrower is to spread fire by launching burning fuel. The first flamethrower was made as far back as the 5th century B.C… These took the form of lengthy tube filled with burning solids (such as coal of sulphur), and which were used in the same was as blow- guns. By blowing into one end of the tube the solid material inside would be propelled towards the operator's enemies. The Flamethrower was developed over the next couple centuries. The German army tested two models of flamethrowers- or Flammenwerfer in German- in the early 1900s, one large and one small, both developed by Richard Fiedler. Fielder's second, larger model worked along the same lines but was not suitable for transport by a single person. But it's maximum range was twice as large as the smaller model; it could also sustain flames for a (then) impressive forty seconds, although it was decidedly expensive in its use of fuel. Having tested the Flamethrower in 1900 the German army used it in three specialist battalions from 1911 onwards.