Trench Life In 1914 Essay

Men were living outside for days or weeks on end, with limited shelter from cold, wind, rain and snow in the winter or from the heat and sun in summer. Artillery destroyed the familiar landscape, reducing trees and buildings to desolate rubble and churning up endless mud in some areas. The incredible noise of artillery and machine gun fire, both enemy and friendly, was often incessant. Yet soldiers spent a great deal of time waiting around, and in some quiet sectors there was little real fighting and a kind of informal truce could develop between the two sides. Even in more active parts of the front, battle was rarely continuous and boredom was common among troops, with little of the heroism and excitement many had imagined before the war. The Italian infantry officer Emilio Lussu wrote that life in the trenches was ‘grim and monotonous’ and that ‘if there were no attacks, there was no war, only hard work’.[1] The order to attack – or news of an enemy assault – changed

Trench warfare is a war strategy used in the American Civil War in 1861 – 1865 and the Russian – Japanese War of 1904 – 1905, but it wasn’t until World War One that trench warfare became the standard form of fighting. World War one is best known for being the war fought in trenches, and the ditches dug into the ground to give troops protection from gunfire and enemy artillery. When men volunteered to fight in World War One on the Western Front, little did they know about the living and fighting conditions that was seen in the trenches. World War one saw massive development in technology which allowed enemies to fight in different ways. Trench warfare was the most important and significant operation undertaken by troops.

World War I, or “The Great War”, began in 1914 and ended in 1918. The devastation witnessed in those four years alone, caused nearly 9 million people to die and millions more crippled, grief stricken, maimed, or psychologically scarred. Considered by some to be the first man-made catastrophe of the twentieth century, many scholars still debate over the main underlying causes of World War I. Many things contributed to the war, changing the lives of many people, many of them still evident today. Beginning only as a European conflict, gradually it developed into a world war.

World War I was known for its very slow-paced battle and the stage of stalemate. After advancing from Germany on France, battle turned into trench warfare. Trench Warfare is a defensive strategy in a field where the army stays in rows of trenches that were placed along the Western Front during the war. The use of trenches during the Great War was a very significant tactic during battle, by making soldiers hidden but exposed just enough to be able to attack the enemy. On a daily basis, life in the trenches was very scary and filled with horror. Death was upon the soldiers even if there was nobody attacking them. There was a continuous shell fire that would randomly take the lives of many. Some men died on their first day in the trenches, and very few were lucky to make it out unharmed. Shell fire was not the only issue in the trenches. There were plenty of diseases and infections spreading around like a wildfire. Many soldiers got infections and diseases that could not be treated such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever. Although trench warfare acts as a great defensive and offensive measure, it became very dangerous because of the many different causes of death including shell fire, diseases, and infections.

The Christmas truce of 1914, one of the most heartwarming stories of one of the bloodiest wars in history. Most of the powers engaged in fighting at the time the war started thinking the war would last a few months and no more at most, but as we all know they were so very wrong. The Christmas Truce was perhaps the first act into WWI where front-line fighters began to grow tired of the endless, useless assaults on their enemies, perhaps to only really gain a few yards of ground. The losses were mounting up and the soldiers began to defy direct orders not to fraternize with the enemy. The first mention of a Christmas Truce between the warring armies happened a few weeks before Christmas day 1914. Pope Benedict XV suggested the sides lay down their arms and cease fire on one another for the day and allow the soldiers to celebrate the holiday he asked “that the guns may fall silent at least upon the angels sang”; all of the nation’s high commands refused to agree to any ceasefire or truce and vowed to continue fighting ,regardless, soldiers in the trenches were there fighting a war that they’ve been told by their superiors would have already been over by this point. Living in completely inadequate conditions close to freezing each night as went to dream in I’m sure you can understand why the soldiers began to soften the enemy they were facing in the hope that they might do the same. They were taking orders from generals who sat far behind enemy lines not engaged in the fighting and it’s that distance perhaps that allowed the first stage of fraternization to actually begin, communication took time to travel between officers on the front lines and the generals back at headquarters, so certain things could go on that they wouldn't find out about. Besides that first mention from Pope Benedict that a Christmas Truce could actually become a reality, there had already been a few small-scale truces conducted along the front lines between the British and French on one side, and the Germans on the other from around November 1914 onwards as the two sides really settled into that stalemate of the trench warfare they were said to be a ceasefire after sunset at certain points along the line when soldiers would have their

Since the majority of the Great War accounts for a vast network of resources on what the trenches ultimately provided this research will explore within and above trench lines. The failed plans of leaders halted what is known to be the most strategic play in physical versus intellectual attributes of warfare altogether. If it weren’t for the salient of trench warfare throughout the years of 1914-1918, indulged the importance of communication and its

World War I was known for its very slow-paced battle and the stage of stalemate. After advancing from Germany on France, battle turned into trench warfare. Trench Warfare is a defensive strategy in a field where the army stays in rows of trenches that were placed along the Western Front during the war. The use of trenches during the Great War was a very significant tactic during battle, by making soldiers hidden but exposed just enough to be able to attack the enemy. On a daily basis, life in the trenches was very scary and filled with horror. Death was upon the soldiers even if there was nobody attacking them. There was a continuous shell fire that would randomly take the lives of many. Some men died on their first day in the trenches, and very few were lucky to make it out unharmed. Shell fire was not the only issue in the trenches. There were plenty of diseases and infections spreading around like a wildfire. Many soldiers got infections and diseases that could not be treated such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever. Although trench warfare acts as a great defensive and offensive measure, it became very dangerous because of the many different causes of death including shell fire, diseases, and infections.

At the beginning of the war, everyone thought the war would be quick, and it should be finished before the holiday season. The war turns out totally different than what the people thought it would. According to Peter Hart, oral historian of Imperial War Museum in London, “by late December 1914, World War I had been raging for nearly five months. Had anyone really believed it would be 'all over by Christmas'” (Hart). Soldiers on both sides of the war are dreading about the war as holiday time comes in. Soldiers of both fronts want to be home than staying in the trenches and fight. This becomes one of the factors toward the

Intro: The life for the average soldier in the WW1 trenches was pretty horrible. They had to live in mud, fellow dead soldiers and lots of rats, some the size of your hand. Life of a soldier was very tough, having to see your best mate get shot and he left to rot. Any soldiers that made it out of the war would have suffered either shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder and living with either of these would have been terrible.

Trench warfare was implemented to provide cover for soldiers during battle in WW1 seeing that most battlefields were open field & farms, so soldiers had little or no cover from rifle fire. After suffering thousands of casualties, soldiers began to dig into the ground creating cover. Over the months the trenches grew & evolved to hold barracks & equipment. Within a few months trenches were equipped with all essentials to ensure there was no need to leave them unnecessarily. Trenches were first dug by hand but soon soldiers would be equipped with shovels to increase productivity. Trenches were also mainly built at night to avoid detection by enemy troops.

The five sources that I have selected to help with my enquiry are photographs, an extract from a newspaper article and a soldier's diary. The reasons why I chose these five particular sources is because I believe that they are a wide variety of selections, dating back to many years, all ranging from the start of the war to the end of the war. However, one of my sources, the newspaper article, was published in 2008 so it is more of a recent source but still, very useful and effective.From my own knowledge I know the trenches were inhumane

Trenches were dug out in the ground for protection, against machine guns and bombs, however the trenches were not made for comfort or for soldiers to live in for a long time. Most trenches were muddy and wet and soldiers had terrible living conditions which would cause disease, and eventually death. In document two, by Robert Donald, he exclaims that “I do not see why the war in this area should not go on for a hundred years.” Usually, life in the trenches meant consent fighting and battles, no side ever won because each side would encounter a bomb or some kind of causality and make their trenches deeper, and deeper. This was one cause of a stalemate, and why it was predicted that war in the trenches would continue for years and many more soldiers would die. In an outside source, a diary written by a man named Endy, talks about his life in the trenches and how their were many deaths. Although, this was not the only reason the trenches were deadly. The use of poisonous gas was also used in trenches caused many

Imagine being in the shoes of a soldier in World War 1, being put at risk with a group of men who will face horrific images. Facing the decision of life and death, protecting each other so each person would go home. Comradeship plays an important role in All Quiet on the Western Front, by being able to survive, build a brotherhood bond, and restoring comfort and courage.

On June 28th, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated; his death would be the spark that ignited World War I. Spanning over the course of four years, World War I, due to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. Soldiers in the trenches were surrounded by “inhumanity and depravity”; they could not escape the overwhelming boredom, the desire to kill, and the constant threat of disease and shellfire (Slade 1583). The war claimed the lives of more than 16 million people, and those who survived beyond the battlefield were forever altered.

The First World War witnessed an appalling number of casualties. Due partly to this fact, some historians, developed the perception that commanders on both sides dependence on only one disastrous approach to breaking the stalemate. These historians attributed the loss of life to the reliance on soldiers charging across no-man’s land only to be mowed down by enemy machineguns. The accuracy of this, however, is fallacious since a variety of tactics existed on both sides. The main reason for battlefield success and eventual victory came from the transformation of battlefield tactics; nevertheless, moral played a major role by greatly affecting the development of new tactics and the final outcome of the war.