The First World War was the first major war after the industrialisation of the western economies. This revolutionised the way in which the war was fought, with horrendous new weapons and new forms of transport. Although horse drawn transport was still used at the beginning of the war, this was gradually replaced by motorised vehicles. When Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914 British forces only had 47 lorries. By the time the war ended the total ran to tens of thousands. These vehicles needed to be maintained and repaired, although many were just left to deteriorate on the battlefields of continental Europe.