Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Description of life in the trenches
Description of life in the trenches
Trench warfare in world war 1 compared to world war 2
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Description of life in the trenches
World War I was an unexpectedly long war. A war that most thought would last a few months turned out to last four long years. World War I was fought on two fronts; the Eastern Front consisted of very mobile armies, and the Western Front was a long slow battle without much advancement. After the First Battle of the Marne, the Allied and the Central Powers quickly dug trenches to protect themselves during the war. Trenches were one of the causes that the war lasted for four long years. Trench warfare was not beneficial to World War I because the terrible living conditions, no successful battle strategies, all leading to a stalemate in the trenches along the Western Front.
During the war, soldiers were sent to the Western Front to fight. By the end of the war, trenches along the Western Front ran for over twelve thousand miles on each side. Soldiers that fought along the Western Front lived in the trenches. Everyone had a role he had to fulfill, and the conditions the soldiers had to live in were far from ideal. At first, trenches were built for temporary protection, but soon both sides were building trenches to hold their ground. As the trenches became more permanent, they became more elaborate, and living conditions worsened, leaving the soldiers very prone to disease.
When trenches began to change from temporary protection to a permanent system, the trenches became more elaborate. They were intricately set up to protect the soldiers from the opposing forces. Contrary to what people thought, the trenches were one of the safest places to be during World War I. Trenches were able to protect the soldiers from the worst parts of the modern weapons, and the most dangerous periods of fighting in the trenches were when the...
... middle of paper ...
...as improving, was not beneficial to the war. The stalemate along the Western Front still caused many casualties in World War I because the men in the trenches were becoming casualties.
The trenches along the Western Front did not help the cause of World War I. Trench warfare made the Western Front of World War I unproductive. The trenches caused advancement on the Western Front to be agonizingly slow. Neither force could overtake the other force’s trenches. Poor living conditions in the trenches and battle strategy in the trenches caused the Western Front to be non beneficial. Many soldiers died in the trenches from disease rather than actual battle. Each force would be set up the same way with the same tactics and weapons. All this led to a stalemate between the Allied and the Central Powers along the Western Front for the entire length of World War I.
Imagine four years of justing trying to capture the other teams trench, how dreadfully boring. World war one a great war of powers, invoked first by serbia’s overwhelming feeling to be their own people separate from Austria-hungary which thus lead to the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand of the Austrian-hungarian empire, which then lead to all the countries allied with Austria-hungary to support Austria in it’s attack on serbia, then all the countries allied with serbia to bring up arms on Austria, and Austria’s allies. This in terms of alliances had come upon through imperialism that lead to germany already against Austria in terms of expansion.
World War I, also known as the Great War, lasted from the summer of 1914 until the late fall of 1918. The war was fought between the Allies, which consisted mainly of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers, which consisted mainly of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Alliances - Entente and Central Powers). In total, it is estimated that twelve million civilians and nine million combatants died during this horrific and devastating war (DeGroot 1). When the war first began in 1914, many people thought that it would be a war of movement that would quickly be over. However, that changed when the Germans, who were trying to reach and capture the city of Paris in France, were forced to retreat during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914 (Ellis 10). German General von Falkenhayn, who felt that his troops must at all cost hold onto the parts of France and Belgium that they had overtaken, ordered his men to dig in and form defensive trench lines (Ellis 10). The Allies could not break through the enemies lines and were forced to create trenches of their own (Ellis 10). This was only the beginning of trench warfare. A war of movement had quickly come to a standstill on the Western Front. A massive trench line, 475 miles long, quickly spread and extended from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier (Ellis 10). With neither side budging, soldiers were forced to live in the most miserable of conditions. Simply put, life in the trenches was a living hell. A lieutenant of the 2nd Scottish rifles wrote, “No one who was not there can fully appreciate the excruciating agonies and misery through which the men had to go [through] in those da...
The First World War saw a new form of warfare known as Trench warfare which involved trenches which were deep long dugouts made by the soldiers that lived in these trenches. The trenches proved useful as they protected the soldiers from artillery and bomb fire and were most likely situated in the eastern and western fronts of Europe. However the conditions of the trenches were far from exuberant but were in fact severely terrible. There was bad hygiene throughout the trenches, for example soldiers bathed probably only once a month and as such were prone to diseases such as trenches fever (which were due to the lice attracted by the bad hygiene). The weather was no exception as well, in the summer it would be too hot and in the winter it would be too cold and due to the nature of the trenches, when it rained the trenches would be filled with water, and due to such conditions welcomed the disease known as trench foot which was due to prolonged exposure to water and claimed the foots of many soldiers. There was also the constant danger of bomb fire and snipers would always be on the lookout for any movement. Latrines, which were toilets used in the trenches also sprouted fear as the enemy could see them in this area of the trenches and therefore were in constant danger of death. Soldiers also had to follow a strict code of conduct which was known as trench etiquette which ordered them to respect higher officers and they would have to be punished if the trench etiquette was ignored.
Life on the Western Front During World War One A dispassionate look at the numbers of the horrendous casualties sustained by the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers on the Western Front in WW1, clearly indicate that these casualties figures are far inferior to what might be anticipated if, indeed, total war had reigned in every location, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and along all the 475 miles of trenches that extended from the North Sea to Switzerland. A couple of simple examples will readily make the case. Imagine two front-line trenches separated by only 20 to 30 yards of ‘No Man’s Land’ (in some extraordinary situations, distances were even less). A determined and prolonged effort by a few hand-grenade bombers on either side could make any hope of a sustained tenancy quite impossible. Again, given the accuracy and rapidity which trench mortars could be deployed against routinely manned trenches (one battalion per 1,000 yards) and their associated dug-outs, a quite short, but determined, and mutually hostile, barrage could readily reduce both trench systems to total ruin.
In response to machine guns and heavy artillery, soldiers dug trenches. The Central Powers and Allies both had a system of trenches that was composed of a series, usually three, of parallel trenches that were connected by perpendicular trenches used for communication and transportation. The opposing trench systems were separated by barbed wire and “no man’s land,” a crater marked land. The trenches were defended with machine guns and heavy artillery. The permanent positions of the trenches prevented any soldiers from conquering land. This lead to a stalemate that lasted for the rest of the war. To try and break the stalemate, the army tried blowing up enemy trenches from underground. Trench warfare lead to a long war of attrition that was finally broken by the introduction of fresh troops from the United States of America. (Hadingham; “Trench
Unsanitary hospitals and camps kept the wounded soldiers in large groups, which were ideal places for infection, fevers and disease to spread. Soldiers were not immune to childhood diseases like the measles and smallpox. Medical science has not yet discovered the importance of antiseptics in preventing infection. Water was contaminated and soldiers sometimes ate unripened or spoiled food. There weren’t always clean rags available to clean wounds.
What would you do if you knew you could be dead in the matter of a few months? That’s the question Michelle, an inpatient dealing with leukemia struggles with on the daily. Although she’s a high school student with a bright future ahead of her, she can’t help but be pessimistic about her illness, and focus on the negative. In the story “the michelle i know” written by Alison Lohans, the author uses literary devices such as characterization, foreshadowing, and mood to convey the message that there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Initially, the author uses characterization to effectively portray the theme of the story.
World War 1 start July 28, 1914 and end in November 11, 1918. The war involved the whole nation in the world. The trenches only a few of army were inside it, it was the most dangerous places to be in during the war. Behind the trenches their were many supplies like training establishments,stores, workshops, headquarters, food, water, and guns supplies. That’s where most of the army was were employed during the war. The trenches were there because they were the domain of the infantry, with the supporting arms of the mortars and machine-guns, the engineers, the medics and the forward positions of the artillery observers and others. The main reason why they used trenches was because they could be protected from powerful enemy artillery and small
In September of 1914 trench warfare was introduced, less than 2 months after the start of WWI. Trench warfare got increasingly better as the war continued. By the next year,1915, the trench defenses increased not only by size, but also by effectiveness. As Robert Donald from the Daily Chronicle stated, “I do not see why the war in this area should not go on for a hundred years... The trenches are deeper, dug-outs better made, tunnels are longer, and the charges of explosives heavier.”
By December 1914 the First World War had reached a dilemma on the western front that neither the triple entente nor the triple alliance had expected. The war had reached a stalemate, a state where both sides are so evenly balanced that neither can breakthrough against the enemy. The advances in Technology played a big role in creating the stalemate through strong defensive weaponry such as Machine Guns and Artillery, this caused ‘trench warfare’ (BOOK 48). Trench war is when troops from both sides are protected from the enemy’s firepower through trenches. Many advances in technology also attempted to break the stalemate throughout the war with tanks, gas and aircraft, these however failed. Eventually the stalemate was broken through a combination of improved technology, new strategies and the blockading of the German ports.
"First World War.com - Feature Articles - Life in the Trenches." First World War.com - A Multimedia History of World War One. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Mar. 2011. .
World War 1 played with focusing on trench warfare. While World War 2 played with a focus of Blitzkrieg, which was invented to avoid trench warfare. The soldiers had a rough time while being in the trenches. The trenches were smelly, dirty, and full of diseases. Trenches were used to be able to hide in the ground during the battles, that way the soldiers were not out in the open. The most devastating battle for World War 1 was the no man's land. this was an area that had trenches in it that the soldiers had a tough time advancing towards the enemy (Life in the trenches, 2012). This shows to be devastating because a lot of soldiers were killed while trying to advance towards the next
World War I is recognized as the first war, the Great War, the war of the nations and the war to end all wars. It was a conflict of wars that lasted from august 1914 to the final truce on November 11, 1918. Although it only lasted four years, it was the most destructive war that had ever happened in history. The death toll was about eight and a half million people and it wounded roughly twenty million or more. The war ended up destroying empires and economies and forever changing all of Europe. The allied powers had defeated the central powers, therefor leading to the fall of four empires and a huge change in the map of Europe. There are plenty of reasons on why World War I was so different from all the past conflicts. For example it was the first time in nearly one hundred years that all major countries where fighting. Another reason on why it was a different type of war was of the fact that the over sea had possessions. All the fighting was inevitable. A huge roll that made World War I truly modern was the Industrial Revolution. It was no longer a man-to-man war. The invention of guns as well as the machine gun made anybody a death threat.
Trench Warfare World War 1 is perhaps best known for being a war fought in trenches, ditches dug out of the ground to give troops protection from enemy artillery and machine-gun fire. The trenches spread from the East to the West. By the end of 1914, trenches stretched all along the 475 mile front between the Swiss border and the Channel coast. The trench system on the Western Front consisted of front-line, support and reserve trenches. Three rows of trenches covered between 200 and 500 yards of ground.
The First World War introduced a new type of warfare. New weapons were combined with old strategies and tactics. Needless to say, the results were horrific. However, a new type of warfare was introduced: trench warfare. In the movie War Horse, the character that owned the horse originally while he worked on his farm, Albert Narracott, finally was old enough to join the army. His first sight of battle was the Battle of Somme which took place in France near the Somme River. During this battle, the British troops start out in trenches, which were pretty much tunnels dug strategically to avoid gunfire. The soldiers would wait until they were told to advance, and they would run from one trench to the next. Trenches and the area between trenches were muddy and the trenches themselves were poorly conditioned (http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/ch1_trench.html). Many of the soldiers who fought in trenches succumbed to a foot disease called trench foot and if not treated immediately, gangrene could infect the foot and an amputation would be necessary for survival. Commanding officers ordered one or t...