American Civil War Trench Warfare

The trench system on the Western Front consisted of front-line, support and reserve trenches. The three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground. Communication trenches were dug at an angle to those facing the enemy. These trenches used to transport men equipment and food supplies.

During World War I, trench warfare was very common. It was a newer technique in battles as in wars prior to the Great World War, fighting was less invasive and men merely marched at each other from opposite ends of fields and fought until only one side remained standing or a white flag was hung high in surrender. In fact in older wars, the fighting was far less dangerous to the point where battles were often times viewed by locals who watched from side lines with really no threat of getting hurt. In World War I however, the fighting had upscaled to the most sadistic type the world had ever experienced. With the industrialist wave that had overcome us in the late 1800s into

British and French troops served in World War One at the western front, in trenches that were built by these troops as well as 140,000 men from neutral china, who were known as the Chinese Labour Corps. It would take 6 hours for 450 men to make approximately 250m of trenches, which were about 1 to 2 meters wide and 3 meters deep, per night. They were of a zig-zag shape, so preventing the enemy from firing down a straight length of trench, which were about 2,490 kilometers in total. The conditions in the trenches would have been very significant to the soldiers, as they were the main feature of trench warfare, and I will discuss these conditions further using sources that refer to these conditions.

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 poisonous gas used in the 1916 Battle of the Somme was the most inhuman weapon of World War One. Mustard gas was the most unsettling and weapon used in World War One. It is extremely disturbing than any cultured nation would use such a weapon. The use of poisonous gas in World War One was a weapon like no other. The Germans who used the poisonous gas were even surprised at the devastating effects it had on the ally troops. An attack could leave victims in agony for days to weeks before they recovered or if they did not die first. As a result, poisonous gas was one of the most dreaded weapons of World War One. One benefit with using poisonous gas was that the country using it had the element of surprise on their side. The gas was very effective

The Germans used chemical warfare, namely chlorine gas, against the Canadian soldiers. Chemical weapons were prohibited by international treaties before World War I. On April 22, the Germans released more than 160 tons of the gas from thousands of canisters arranged along German lines. The soldiers said it looked like a green-yellow cloud, and its smell was like a mixture of pineapple and pepper. The Canadians, and the French troops were in the trenches to their left, as they watched the mysterious cloud appeared over no man 's land, and then blow with the wind over their own army’s lines. While German forces moved behind the drifting gas toward the French trenches, Canadian and British soldiers saw the German soldiers and went after them. After hours of terribly gruesome fighting, they were able to stop the Germans from taking advantage of this gas. Each cylinder of chlorine gas weighed about 90 pounds. Lester Stevens, a member of the Eighth Battalion from Winnipeg who witnessed the second gas attack stated that, “Two fellows, one on my right and one

Even people who have not done an in depth study of World War I has heard of the infamous, trench foot. As many as twenty-thousand casualties were said to have suffered by the British Army alone. The cause to this infection of the feet was quite obvious. Trench warfare become most prominent during WWI, this was a type of warfare fought on land that consisted of seven foot deep, six foot wide tunnels dug into the earth to protect from enemy fire. These first came about when German General Erich von Falkenhayn commanded his troops to start digging to protect themselves from the oncoming French and British troops. The allies, after realizing they could not break through the German line, began to dig trenches as well (John Simpkin, 1997). Because of being the first to start digging their trenches, this gave the Germans the advantage of choosing the location to start digging. They of course, chose the high ground. This was a good decision based on a military tactical standpoint, as well as an advantage when it came to the living conditions of the soldiers (Simpkin, 1997). The deeper the British troops dug, the more water would begin to flood the trenches. The trench conditions were so bad that some soldiers even preferred to sleep outside the trenches, in plain view of their enemies and in a bullets trajectory. One soldier named Arnold Ridley

Trench war was a land warfare that had very unsanitary conditions and made many soldiers very ill. One problem soldiers faced was the thick mud soldiers had to walk through. T̈he mud was like thick slime. When walking through the mud, a soldier sank several inches in. It was very difficult

Germany’s trenches were at a higher advantage point so they did not have as much of a problem with water filling in their trenches. Great Britain was at a lower level so this resulted in the British having a lot of mud and water filling their floors. Mud and water on the trench floors would lead to trench foot. On both sides the different powers made their trenches in a zig-zag formation in order to minimize

The types of weapons employed in World War 1 included poison gas, that killed many. Chlorine gas was one of the gases first used by the Germans at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915, killing hundreds of French troops. The British also deployed chlorine gas, and later developments in the war included the deadlier phosgene and mustard gas, which blinded those it came in contact with. By 1917, poison gas could be delivered with greater accuracy by chemical shells, and there were an estimated one million gas casualties on all sides throughout World War I.

New gases continued to be developed and used. France and Britain produced blood agents which attempted to inhibit the victims ability to absorb oxygen into the blood. These gases were not terribly effective in battle. The most devastating new gas was Mustard Gas. This was developed as to circumvent the newly invented gas helmet and affect exposed skin (#Tucker, 2006). It was first used July 12-13, 1917 at Ypres Salient by the Germans. In the next six weeks the British suffered 9,000 casualties as a result of Mustard Gas (#Hutchinson,

However, the stalemate fighting that resulted from the nature of trench warfare made chemical warfare a necessity if one wanted to gain ground. Both sides used tear gas in the early years of the war, but it wasn’t long before German forces introduced poisonous chlorine gas. The effects of this gas were severe; it destroyed the respiratory systems of those affected and made breathing difficult. Another dangerous chemical introduced by German forces was mustard gas, which caused blistering both internally and externally. Before long, Allied forces had replicated the German’s mustard gas and its use became widespread on the Western Front.

As Owen mentions in his poem, “As under a green sea, I saw him drowning. … He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning”, Owen describes the traumatic experience of witnessing a soldier dying from chlorine gas and the pain experienced by the soldier as he wilted away. First used as an asphyxiation gas in the 22nd April of 1915, the Germans employed the chlorine gas on the Algerian and Zouave lines. Effective in the concentration of 1 in 10,000, chlorine proved to be highly effective in the trenches as the denser chlorine molecules lingers within the trenches to affect the soldiers. Easy to manufacture in huge quantities, chlorine gas became a go to choice for both the Central power and allied forces as they started to understand the new weapon. While designed by scientist and employed by strategic commanders, it was usually the grunt on the front lines that suffered from the use of chemical weapons. The chlorine gas when inhaled by the soldiers produced an active secretion by the lachrymal and salivary gland which serves to dilute the contaminant to the body. Concurrently, the introduction of chlorine to the respiratory system results in the spams of the bronchial muscles which blocks the air to the lungs. This results in the suffocation of the soldier which when seen from Owens view reflects the soldier drowning the in a “green sea”. This drowning was usually accompanied by the burning in the glands as the acidic gas mixes with a solution. Should a solider be lucky enough to be evacuated in time, they usually suffer from intense dyspnea which labored their breathing lasting about 36 hours which usually ends with death. If the soldier survives the ordeal, he usually develops acute bronchitis which would render him unfit for battle. This death, excruciating pain while perfectly conscious is

On April 1915, The first poison gas attack began when the German forces shocked the Allied forces along the Western Front by firing more than 150 tonnes of lethal chlorine gas against two French colonial divisions at Ypres, Belgium (History.com Staff, 2010). Poison gas was the most feared of all weapons in World War One. Poison gas was used in the trenches even when there was no attack going on. If a Soldiers got trapped with poison gas, it would mean that soldiers have to put a crude gas mask (Figure 1) on because it helped protect the soldiers from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. Poison gas can leave the victim in agony for days and weeks before they succumbed to their injuries.

The first actual use of a chemical weapon was in August 1914. The French utilized tear-gas grenades during an attack against the Germans. One of the more known use of a chemical weapon was at the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915. 160 tonnes of chlorine gas was released onto the French and Algerian troops. This could be considered the starting point in chemical warfare as it was the first large scale deployment of a chemical gas meant for harm. As more and more chemical weapons were developed, more and more countries followed the trend.