trench warfare

What was life like in the trenches?

-risky -difficult -unsanitary -shortage of food & water

when and where did trench warfare begin

During the Battle of the Aisne (12 -15 September 1914) the character of the First World War changed entirely when both sides began to dig trenches.

trench warfare cause

Halting the retreat After the Allied success at the Battle of the Marne, which put an end to the German advance through France, the German Army had been steadily retreating. By the middle of September the Allies were approaching the River Aisne. Field Marshall Sir John French took the decision to send his troops across the river, however he had no way of knowing whether the Germans were still retreating. In fact the German Army had dug-in in shallow trenches along the Chemin des Dames ridge. When French sent his men against the German positions, time and again they were cut down by machine-guns and artillery fire. The mobile warfare that had been a central part of World War 1 up to September 1914, came to a bloody end at the First Battle of the Aisne. The order is given It soon became clear that this was not simply a rear-guard action and that the German retreat was at an end. French then issued an order to the British Expeditionary Force to begin digging trenches. The British soldiers used whatever tools they could find, taking shovels from nearby farms, and even in some cases digging the earth with their hands. They could not have known that these shallow holes would soon stretch the length of the Western Front, or that both sides would occupy them for the next three years.

Why did trench warfare develop?

It was a way for armies to keep the territory that they had gained.

what was the impact of trench warfare

No Man's Land was a place both armies would used to patrol, repair or add barbed wire to their front lines. Trench warfare had a massive impact on soldiers as it caused huge amounts of casualties on the battlefield and also caused health problems of the battlefield.

what spread in the trenches?

disease. body lice.unsanitary conditions, infectious diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid fever were common and spread rapidly. Constant exposure to wetness caused trench foot, a painful condition in which dead tissue spread across one or both feet, sometimes requiring amputation. Trench mouth, a type of gum infection, was also problematic and is thought to be associated with the stress of nonstop bombardment. As they were often effectively trapped in the trenches for long periods of time, under nearly constant bombardment, many soldiers suffered from "shell shock," the debilitating mental illness known today as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

trench warfare problems and pros

initially in World War I, forces mounted attacks from the trenches, with bayonets fixed to their rifles, by climbing over the top edge into what was known as "no man's land," the area between opposing forces, usually in a single, straight line and under a barrage of gunfire. Not surprisingly, this approach was rarely effective, and often led to mass casualties. Later in the war, forces began mounting attacks from the trenches at night, usually with support of covering artillery fire. The Germans soon became known for effectively mounting nighttime incursions behind enemy lines, by sending highly trained soldiers to attack the trenches of opposing forces at what they perceived as weak points. If successful, these soldiers would breach enemy lines and circle around toattack their opponents from the rear, while their comrades would mount a traditional offensive at the front. The brutality of trench warfare is perhaps best typified by the 1916 Battle of the Somme in France. British troops suffered 60,000 casualties on the first day of fighting alone

where were trenches common

western front.an area of northern France and Belgium that saw combat between German troops and Allied forces from France, Great Britain and, later, the United States. Although trenches were hardly new to combat: Prior to the advent of firearms and artillery, they were used as defenses against attack, such as moats surrounding castles. But they became a fundamental part of strategy with the influx of modern weapons of war. Long, narrow trenches dug into the ground at the front, usually by the infantry soldiers who would occupy them for weeks at a time, were designed to protect World War I troops from machine-gun fire and artillery attack from the air. As the "Great War" also saw the wide use of chemical warfare and poison gas, the trenches were thought to offer some degree of protection against exposure. (While significant exposure to militarized chemicals such as mustard gas would result in almost certain death, many of the gases used in World War I were still relatively weak.)