Answer: The main goal of most of these weapons was to kill 'em all. 2. It was important to kill more people because killing more people means that you will have less people to kill. Less people to kill means that you can kill them faster.
Explanation: The idea of also being hunkered down in a trench, waiting for the enemy to cross could only have been accomplished with a machine gun. I would have to give credit for this to the machine gun. That is the main weapon that made trench warfare necessary in World War I.