Trench Warfare In The Trenches Essay

2. Introduction
Trench warfare played a major role in the outcome of world war one (WW1). Millions of soldiers died due to this method of fighting and many more were wounded. Since then they have not been used in wars dues to their ineffectiveness against modern technology such as planes, helicopters and nuclear weapons.

3. The Trenches and why they were Employed
Trenches are ditches in which soldiers can fight. The trenches in WW1 were built about two – three metres deep and measured two metres wide. They could be any length and were all interconnected. Trenches were used because they provided substantial cover from the enemies’ artillery and small arms fire. (BBC, 2015)

4. Armies involved and The Western Front
Both the allies and the central powers fought in the trenches with both sides suffering extreme casualties.
Many battle sites were dug in WW1. Most notable were those that were built on the ‘Western Front’, which ran from the Swiss border to the Belgian coast (about 700 km) and consisted of a series of trenches. The battles of Marne and Somme took place here and over the course of the war these and many other battle sites were the cause of about four million deaths.

5. Conditions for soldiers in the trenches
Conditions in the trenches were terrible. Many soldiers suffered from disease which spread easily in the confined trenches. Rats along with many other pests were also a severe problem. Rats would gouge on dead bodies or the soldiers’ limited rations and lice would settle on soldiers’ clothes and cause a persistent itch. As well as this lice were also found out to be the cause of the dreaded ‘trench fever’ which caused severe pain and a high fever. The weather conditions were horrible as well. Often cold and raining, this caused the trenches to become muddy and fill with water. It was this that caused the fungal infection called trench foot that often ended in the infected foot needing to be amputated. Toilets were also a major problem. Using the ‘bucket’ often left you vulnerable to enemy fire, so many soldiers would go to the toilet at their post which was very unhygienic. All these, and many other, factors meant the trenches were an utterly miserable place to live in. (Cheng, 2008)

6. Medical aid
There was some, but not a great deal of, medical aid in the trenches of WW1.
A soldier that was wounded would be transported by stretcher bearers to the makeshift hospital where they would receive treatment for their injuries from nurses and medics. Many men also went to the hospital if they were ill, often with diseases from the battlefields. However since the trenches caused many new diseases to arise, some hospitals didn’t have the required medicine. In severe cases men would be taken back to their home country away from the fighting so they could heal in more suitable, hygienic conditions.

7. The constant bombardment
Either side would be bombarded with all types of weapons in the trenches. Many soldiers carried rifles, machine guns, bayonets, pistols, and other weapons in war. However, tanks were also used as well as artillery. Tanks proved to be fairly useless in WW1, as they were still being developed and were extremely susceptible to breaking down. Artillery, however had the biggest impact. After being developed to be more accurate, bigger, and mobile, they were responsible for more deaths than any other weapon in WW1.

8.
Shell-shock
In 1914 British doctors working in military hospitals noticed patients suffering from "shell shock". This illness began with symptoms such as giddiness, poor concentration and headaches. Eventually a mental breakdown was suffered and this is what prevented men from serving on the front line.
The Australian and British authorities’ attitude towards men with shell-shock were both similar. They blamed previous mental- health issues, or a lack of character. Military personnel had much the same thoughts and deemed it as cowardice and weakness that caused shell-shock not the war itself. Eventually, doctors came to the conclusion that it was caused by the enemies’ artillery. They said the bursting shell creates a vacuum which lets air rush in and disturb the working of the brain. (Simkin, Shellshock, 2015)

9. How Modern governments and the military deal with these issues

It took a while for shell-shock to become an accepted reason for being ill. Now called Post Traumatic Stress disorder (PTSD), people can undergo therapy and take medication to become healthy again. No wars have recently been fought in trenches for many reasons. Some of the main reasons are that we have technology such as planes and helicopters which trenches would be extremely ineffective against and that trenches are so hard to manage. Trench warfare in WW1 took many millions of lives, and although modern wars also cause deaths, nothing like the number of military personnel have been killed.

10. Concluding Historical paragraph
There are significant pros and cons to the WW1 trenches. No one can deny that trenches provided substantial cover from enemy fire, were easy to build and cheap, however the weather was not taken into consideration. The appalling weather meant the trenches became a disease, faecal and pest ridden swamp. These terrible conditions and constant bombardment from the enemy’s lines made for a fairly miserable few years for anyone serving in the trenches