War+in+the+Trenches

War in the Trenches


Life in a Trench Over the Top Video

At the beginning of the war, British Field Marshal John French claimed that the troops would be "home by Christmas." They were not. Instead, across Belgium and northern France, British and French troops faced the German army in ditches, or trenches, only a few hundred metres apart. In this war soldiers had to live underground in mud and water, because the human body was no match for the new weapons that had been developed. Machine guns, hand grenades, exploding shells, and long-range artillery guns forced soldiers into constant hiding.

Never had there been such a stalemate - a situation in which no side is winning. There were millions of casualties in the trenches, and only the severely wounded spent Christmas 1914 back home.

In previous wars, soldiers would stand in lines and advance on each other while firing. When they got close to each other they would engage in hand to hand combat. Battles usually lasted less than a day.

Trench warfare was dangerous and dirty. The area between the opposing trench lines was often criss-crossed by barbed-wire fences to prevent surprise attacks. Officers frequently ordered soldiers to charge across this narrow zone, nicknamed no-man's land. Skilled snipers were ready to pick off anyone who showed his head above the parapet.

Death and injury could come in other ways, too. Soldiers ate and tried to sleep in these muddy ditches. Life was made even more miserable by the rats and lice that thrived in the filth. Disease was rampant.



Shell Shock (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)
[|Shell Shock]

Questions
1. Why was most of this war fought from trenches?

2. How did this change warfare from how war had been fought before?

3. Create a list of as many adjectives as possible that describe the conditions soldiers faced in the trenches. <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 200%; line-height: 1.5;">4. What is Shell Shock?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 200%;">5. With trench warfare, do you think there would have been a lot of movement of the soldiers, in terms of taking enemy territory? Why or why not?

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 200%;">Read the following article <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 26px;">carefully and follow the links for more information!

<span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 200%;">Trench Conditions <span style="font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif; font-size: 200%;">media type="file" key="Trench Article.mp3" width="240" height="20"