Trench Warfare Dbq

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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.

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World War I was extremely different than people expected. Originally many people believed the war would be quick, easy, and worth it. The Merriam Webster Dictionary definition of irony is, “incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.” There were a lot of contradictions between what people originally believed, and what the war was actually like. With false perceptions of war, parents sent their kids to fight.

The trenches were quite a terrifying place to be, the conditions were immense, unhygienic and brutal. The trenches were a key defence strategy implemented by the British and the Germans. For 4 years in the First World War the two sides inflicted onslaught upon each other ruthlessly on an industrial scale. The trenches were demoralising, horrifying and left strong men traumatized. Many men suffered and had to stand the strain of many unbearable illnesses both physical and mental; trench foot, trench fever, paranoia, pneumonia etc. There was “shell-shock” a term given to men who lost their wits. Some men got severe depression and also some soldiers got so fed up of life in the trenches which

The type of warfare used WW2 or World War 2 had different types of battles fought in different ways; these included guerilla (people moving and attacking in small fast moving forces, in WW2 there were Soviet guerilla forces who were behind the German line cause mayhem, blowing up anything that the Germans could use), trench (WW2 had used trench warfare to invade or defend countries/ a type of combat in which opposing troops fight from trenches facing each other), naval (war at sea, using ships, subs/ engagement in or activities involved in a war fought at sea), air (war in the sky, planes/ ability to disable an opponent's military using strategic strikes from manned planes), blitzkrieg (rush them, the Germans used this to invade other countries

Few inventions have shaped war as much as the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb enabled massive indiscriminate destruction on a scale the world had never seen. The offensive capabilities of the atomic bomb were terrifying and many believed a nuclear war could destroy the world. Bernard Brodie, Albert Wohlstetter, Thomas Schelling, and André Beaufre describe the state of war the atomic bomb introduced in the Nuclear Age. Their writings show that atomic bombs changed warfare by changing the focus of arms development to avoid conflict and threats against civilians were now used to force surrender.

trenches. "Multitudes of rats shared the trenches with soldiers and, even more horrifying, they fed upon the remains of the dead. Soldiers shot them out of disgust and frustration ,but the rats continued to multiply and thrived for the duration of the war" (Why Was).Even as the sights and smells the soldiers had to endure didn't compare to the noises they had to bear. "In the midst of a heavy barrage, dozens of shells per minute might land in the trench, causing ear-splitting (and deadly) explosions" (Why Was). Only just a few soldiers could remain calm under these conditions and many suffered emotional

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The trenches were originally underground bases on the battle fields to mark territorial ownership of land, as well as be a camp for wounded soldiers, that turned into the pause of movement in World War I. In both sides of the War, the Germans and the Allies, both adopted trench warfare, although trenches were considered “waste and futility”, it had greatly reduced the lost of human life throughout the years of war. The life of soldiers were protected by the trenches, preventing them from getting killed in the front lines, however, the trenches did cause deaths and complications due to horrendous living conditions, including flooding, infestations, lice, and sanitation, especially for the injured soldiers who’s wounds are not clean and then become infected.

World War I, also deemed the “Great War”, was not only a defining event of the twentieth century, but a defining event in all of history. By shaking up many of the European nation, World War I laid the foundation for many of the important events that took place well into the twentieth century. Along with other unintended consequences, the war rearranged many political and economic aspects of the world which can be attributed directly to the development of World War II, and later, the Cold War. The use of technology as deadly weapons disturbed many on both sides of the court. Despite the messiness of the war and the events that happened afterwards, many great things were kick started by this particular event in history.

World War One(1914-1918) was a war that changed the world. The introduction of new war technologies and the use of old battle tactics proved deadly for the soldiers, proven by the final death rate. The high death rate on the battlefields was not solely attributed to the military technology utilised. Firstly, in-army deaths such as executions and suicides performed by the soldiers contributed to the death rate. Secondly, diseases that ravaged the trenches contributed to the deaths.

The early 1900s had easily shown that war was not a sport for young men to take part in. The Great War, the name World War 1 had garnered due to the sheer scale of it, brought about destruction on unseen levels. From the front lines of the war, soldiers were given a first look at how new technologies and medical practices would change warfare forever.

During the portions we viewed in class, The Last Voices of World War I covered the dangers of trench warfare, as well as the medical system devised to treat casualties. Trench warfare developed as a result of the old style of fighting, where formations of soldiers would battle on open fields, met modern weaponry such as artillery and machine guns. This led to extreme danger, not only during, but after battles. Filth, and vermin developed quickly due to the close quarters or the trench. Thus, a strong effort was made by the British to develop top of the line medical care for the wounded. This included stretcher bearers to move the men to first aid tents, then to hospitals. Consequently, World War I became one of the first wars where disease was not the primary cause of death. Disease, notwithstanding, was still a factor, as well as ailments such as trenchfoot.