Trenches Of Death During World War I

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

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.

The long period that the soldiers had to spend within the trenches,normally because dirty rain flood,with soaked shoes in mud puddles,rats and decomposing bodies,caused the

Trench warfare was adopted to maintain an area of land, to prevent the enemy from capturing that land. The importance of this investigation was to show the significance of trench warfare during the First World War and how effective it was on how it had prevented many full on, front lined, assaults. World War I could have had a great impact in history with the amount of war casualties, which would have been historically shocking, but instead it created the stalemate, which prevented such numbers of deaths from happening.

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

During the Great War, many different types of trenches were used. This includes the frontline trenches, and the reserve trench. In the front

2. What were the main· features of trench warfare for the troops involved? What would happen to people who managed to live through this experience?

The military technological advancements of trench warfare, poison gas, and tanks were just a few of the many important military innovations in the First World War. In WWI, the advent (no—trench warfare had existed since the American Civil War) of trench warfare slowed battles to vicious, bloody scraps over a few meters of ground, often lasting months and even years. Be sure you have a clear introduction on the AP exam. This is critical. Warfare in the nineteenth-century demanded the concentration of large masses of troops over open ground to compensate for the extremely inaccurate musket.

Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived day and night. There were many lines of German trenches on one side and many lines of the trenches on the allied side. In the middle there was no-man’s land, so called because it didn’t belong to either army. Soldiers crossed no- man’s land when they wanted to attack. Soldiers in the trenches did not get much sleep, but when they did it was in the afternoon during daylight and at night for only 1 hour at a time. They were woken up at different times, either to complete one of the daily chores or the go to fight. The system of trenches was employed because a German commander, General Erich von Falkenhayn, decided that his troops must at all costs hold onto those parts of France and Belgium that Germany still occupied. Falkenhayn ordered his men to dig trenches that would provide them with protection from the advancing French and British troops. The Allies soon realised that they could not break through this line and they also began to dig trenches.

This war brought the introduction of machine guns (pp.784-785), tanks, chemical weapons, and the use of trench warfare (787-788) to survive from the unimaginable horrors of war. The devastating

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

To explain the main features of trench warfare we must look at all the points the trench design, the modern technology etc. Trenches were designed in a specific way. They were built in a zigzag fashion to accommodate for bombs destroying them. If a bomb did hit them then only a corner of the

During World War I, there became a new way of warfare that changed our thoughts on how wars are fought. On the Western Front, armies of millions faced each other in lines of trenches and fought over the course of four years. Trenches are large ditches that were dug in the ground to protect the soldiers from artillery. Trench warfare lead to disease, fatigue, and horrible times for the countries involved.

Trench warfare is a brutal type of war and extremely deadly. With the rise of the industrial age it changed the tactics and mindsets commanders and generals. During this era it become extremely easy to mass produce the tools of war such as machine guns and artillery. With what seemed like unlimited resources tactics and strategy used in trench warfare did not accommodate the price of a living human's life but instead saw it as another tool such as a gun. Trench warfare was unlike any other type of war the world had seen at this point and was extremely deadly and not just because war is deadly but because of some of the strategy used.

The trenches were created as a defence mechanism put in place to provide protection to soldiers during enemy attack. This tactic began as barely small dirt hills which overtime was transformed into a complex trench system, with the main sections being frontline, support line and communications. As displayed in source A, typical trench systems were a major part of the nature of warfare within WW1. These trenches were a defence mechanism, put in place to provide protection to soldiers during enemy attack. The zigzag trench pattern visible in Source A, prevents infiltrating enemy troops from firing down the complete length of trench lines, additionally helping prevent the spread of gas