Trench Conditions In Ww1 Essay

The opposing armies were in a deadlock and trenches had become a dominate feature of the war (Page 63, 2nd paragraph). Some trenches were from 5 feet deep to 30 feet deep; they caused a stalemate that was almost impossible to break. If you break into their lines there is another one waiting for you. The trenches were hundreds of miles long, constantly fighting. Also they were filled with rats and frogs. Trenches were always in repair, they were reinforced with sandbags, with sheets of corrugated

Trenches varied from eight to six feet in height. In these waterlogged trenches, there was a need for extra support wood boards were placed on the side and on the floor for a safe area for walking. The Soldiers stood no chance against the diseases. Body lice were among one of the diseases that traveled among the trenches the most. Body lice caused scratching and led to trench fever. Fifteen percent of sickness was from body lice (Simkin).Trench foot was another disease found in the trenches. After hours of standing in waterlogged trenches, the feet would begin to numb, change color, and swell, and this would soon result in amputation.

The diseases that most affected the soldiers,while they were fighting for a cause in the trenches were,Trench Foot,The Trench Influenza and Shell Shock.

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.

These endless zigzag trails were the soldiers’ home for as long as they were assigned duty to them. The trenches were often infested with “rats and lice… ‘There are millions! Some are huge fellows, nearly as big as cats…’ The soldiers often went weeks without washing or changing clothes, and most were infested with body lice” (Newman 141). Conditions were so wet and dirty and the men had to live with it. As a result of the wet and dirty conditions, many soldiers got ‘trench foot’. “Their feet swelled up to two or three times their normal size and went numb…but when the swelling went down, the pain was agonizing.

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.

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.

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

Life in the trenches was very difficult and often very dangerous. They were often kept in the confined and small trenches for long periods of time. “Soldiers were bound to trenches, enduring long stretches of inactivity, suffering the random bombing or sniper attack, then undertaking terrifying charges” (Showalter). Trenches were often dug deeply underground and served as protection from incoming artillery. The idea and formation of these trenches were a result of France’s flat terrain. With flat terrain, soldiers were more prone to be killed from bullet fire. “Opposing forces dug deep trenches into the earth; from the trenches soldiers could safely lob explosives at their enemies” (Kreibohm). Trenches also spanned many miles and connected to other trenches. The most popular trench that spanned 475 miles was located between the Belgian coast and Switzerland called the Western Front, where most of the fighting took place. “The majority of the war was fought...stretching 475 miles between the Belgian coast and Switzerland...called the Western Front” (Kreibohm). The Central Powers and the Allied Powers both participated in this idea of trench warfare and elaborated on the complexity and the conformity of them. To protect the front line of the trench, machine guns were positioned in the front. Trenches were also protected by barbed

The lice and the rats ate away at the bodies. This was bad as it caused disease from unhealthy living conditions for the soldiers. Conditions during attacks were even worse. Men were killed as they were trying to go over the top. The noise of the artillery fire was deafening and could even be heard in London.

World War I had affected the health of many soldiers coming back from the war. To begin with many soldiers came home with tuberculosis. The disease spread rapidly in 1920 due to the unsanitary, urbanized conditions of the cities which was similar to that of the trenches. “The close proximity of people in wartime conditions meant diseases such as tuberculosis could easily spread” (Science Museum). In addition, many soldiers that returned home had lost limbs in the war due to trench foot. “Some conditions such as trench foot, an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet, and unsanitary conditions” (Science Museum). Trench foot affected soldiers who wished to go back to work, because most jobs wouldn’t allow handicapped workers to work; however,

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

World War I, also known as the Great War start on 1914, it was the first time largely using modern model firearm in the war. WWI have result a totally different war style under the new firearms, because the machine gun could take hundreds of people in really couple minutes, and the artillery have let each side could boom enemy in long range. The old way standing against each other’s block and shot each other doesn’t work in WWI anymore, so people invented Trenches, it basically is dig in to the ground so it can avoid the machine gun on the ground. Trenches warfare takes months and months to fight, and the trenches have become where those soldier live during the war. The life in trenches is terrible, one of the things trenches have known well know is trench foot, basically let the solider lost legs. Other issue on trench is cleaning, like lice, which end up most cloth solider wear have tons lice on it. There also have some uninvited guest such as trench rat, a huge rat that can ear injury solider alive.

In World War One, on the Western Front, soldiers served and lived in trenches for days, weeks or even months on end. Alone with the daily essentials needing to be done in these small, enclosed spaces, men also had to work hard in the mud and filth, sometimes for hours without rest, all the while being prepared for attacks or trench raids at any moment. This was what life was like for hundreds of thousands of soldiers during the period of World War One. This lifestyle throughout the First World War had an enormous effect on the European soldiers, both physically and mentally.