Essay On Trench Warfare

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World war I is considered one of the bloodiest wars ever fought in the history of the world. A major contributor to the death toll of this war was the new tactic of trench warfare. Trench warfare is a battle strategy using man made trenches and weapons to attack and take the enemy’s trench. This battle strategy combined with the use of new war technology, and the living conditions in the trenches resulted in one of the deadliest wars ever fought by mankind.
For about four years France and Germany used trench war as their war tactic. The soldiers were told to dig the trenches for temporary shelter from gunfire. The trenches would provide a sufficient amount of cover as long as a soldier would duck. The trenches where long zig-zagging dugouts that were about six and a half feet deep in which one army hides and the other attacks. Once one trench is taken over, the army formerly inhabiting the trench retreats to one of the trenches behind them. If the attacking army retreats, the other army attacked them back. At the time that it was created, trench warfare sounded like a good idea, but it ended up resulting in a stalemate. This stalemate ended up lasting for four years.
Introducing new technology has always been a part of warfare. If war brings slaughter and science helps create efficiency, the result is a more efficient form of slaughter. Because both sides are trying to outdo each other technology wise, more and more people are killed with each invention. Some examples of the new technology that was introduced as a result of trench warfare include machine guns, tanks, heavy artillery, chemicals, and automatic weapons. Each of these inventions were made to cause mass destruction and death of the enemy forces. The new technology us...

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...susceptible to disease and other illnesses. The troops were exposed to damp and cool weather, so many became ill with bronchitis and pneumonia. There was often no ways to prevent this because there was no where to take cover. The hospitals where often unsanitary and very busy. Many times if a patient was said to be “beyond surgical aid” they were left to die. Men died from infection in the hospitals. The medical science was not advanced enough to deal with some of the soldier’s wounds.
In conclusion, many factors put together caused World War I to be considered one of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind. Some of these factors include the design of the trench, the new technology that was introduced during the war, the offensive and the defensive methods the soldiers used, the gruesome conditions that the soldiers lived in, and the lack of medical science.

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