Trench Warfare – World War One
The First World War, thought to be at the time, the war to end all wars, was the first global scale conflict, predominately fought between [British Empire, France, Russia, Germany and Austria-Hungary] 28 July 1914 – 11 Nov. 1918. A major part of this war was Trench Warfare, impacting men strategically, physically and mentally. Trenches protected soldiers, helped soldiers strategically and ended up being known as one of the most brutal parts of war. When examining the devastating impact that trench warfare had on the soldiers it is important to look at the strategy, living conditions, and medical implications. Trench warfare was how the soldiers protected themselves from artillery and the enemy, in trenches. There
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These soldiers had to live and sleep in these trenches and become use to the conditions. This included freezing cold weather, wet surroundings, dead and dying bodies scattered everywhere, mud, dirt, lice and rats, bullets and guns, and soldiers upon soldier. These circumstances weren’t only uncomfortable, they were harsh, and extremely dangerous. The rations were small, and food was seen as a highly valuable source (Hillman.R, 2001) This only added to the discomfort of the men there. Many soldiers watched as their teammate was shot right in front of them, “You are eating a crust of bread and a man is shot dead in the trench next to you, You look calmly at him for a moment, and then you go back to eating your bread.” William Peden. They became prone to the tragedy and the horrible conditions that they had to endure on a daily basis. A photo was captured on the Western Front (Photo captured on July 1916, found in World War One in Photographs) showing a soldier walking through a huge puddle in the flooded trenches. The sandbags kept the sides up but did nothing to prevent the water. Things like this made even the smallest journeys very treacherous and hard to do. Many people lost these men due to exhaustion and therefore drowning in mud. Obviously, living conditions were a big part of trench warfare and contributed to it being a very brutal part of
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.
It was poorly constructed, polluted with human excrement and contained pools of water. Buried about a foot deep, hundreds of Germans and French lied in the trench since last October. Mud was my best friend, and sleep was interrupted by the booming of German shells. There was infection everywhere. Men were blown or shot to pieces, and their bodily fluids fed the rats. Those malicious critters were immense, crawling on and eating the decaying bodies. Some of the men had gotten a nasty disease that ate away at their feet. Trench foot, they called it. Unless we could dry our feet, our feet began to rot. Making up the majority of our diets were stale bread. With no appetite, I starved for most days. And containing no proper washrooms, we had areas in the trench where we relieved ourselves. Oh how the banging never ceased for sixty seconds! Some men were terrified of fighting, mama. Their minds went crooked, and their bodies twitched and trembled constantly. They wouldn't fight, or listen to orders. Most of them were executed, unless they had an injury that could send them home. Mama, Riley was shot in the heart yesterday. But, he died grateful. "It's an end to those shells, bombs, rats, lice and mud," he spoke his last
In World War 1, there were many new tactics that war has never seen before. Trench warfare was one of the new tactics that they used in World War 1. They used the trenches for many things. In World War 1 and All Quiet on the Western Front. They are an accurate portrayal of each other because of the way they fought while in cover, built them, and the way they put all their resources in them.
The men and women who served in the First World War endured some of the most brutal forms of warfare ever known. Millions were sent to fight away from home for months, even years at a time, and underwent a series of terrible physical and emotional experiences. The new technologies available to First World War armies combined with the huge number of men mobilized made the battlefields of 1914-18 horrific, deadly and terrifying places.
The grim reality of living in muddy, rat-infested trenches epitomizes the brutal and prolonged nature of this new form of combat. Soldiers endured constant peril from enemy fire, disease, malnutrition, and psychological trauma, locked in a deadly stalemate that exacted a heavy toll on both sides. In the document packet, document 4 talks about how trench warfare got very severe and how the introduction of new machinery changed warfare too when gasses were made and added into the fight. Its effect on the French was a violent nausea and faintness, followed by an utter collapse. It is believed that the Germans, who charged in behind the vapor, met no resistance at all, the French at their front being virtually paralyzed” This shows how trench warfare got extreme and soldiers were left injured in many ways if not
In 1915, the Battle of Ypres affected many Canadian soldiers during the First World War and many endured harsh environments. Using historical perspective allows one to understand and appreciate the sacrifice they made for their country. Men entered the army expecting a quick and exciting adventure, but were quickly shown the brutal truth. They were immediately thrown into the relentless environment that was filled with artillery, blood, and death and they would have to endure for the next five years. Trench warfare was brought up during this time where soldiers practically lived in mud and disease. There were rats and lice, diseases such as trench foot, and unbearable weather; every morning the troops would wake up in the unforgiving trenches
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.
World War 1 also known as the Great War (1914-1918) started due to the assassination of the Hungary-Austria archduke Franz Ferdinand. The war was fought mainly on the “Western Front”. and was a war fought only by industrialized countries such as the UK and France. This war had a strong effect on technological advancement of the world as new inventions kept needing to be created to stop the stalemate between the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance. This essay will use source material to outline how the nature of trench warfare in particular affected these soldiers in a significant and long-term way.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
The earliest recorded example of trench warfare occurred during the appropriately named Battle of the Trench, which took place in the year 627 A.D. Muhammad had ordered his Muslim followers to defend the region known as Medina, and in response, a man named Salman the Persian introduced the tactic of digging defensive trenches around the soldier’s positions as a means of protection and surprise (The Islam Project). The strategy earned the Muslims a decisive victory and has been implemented countless times throughout major wars in history ever since.