World War I: Trench Warfare

World War I commenced in 1914 with violence and tensions throughout many European countries and ended in 1918 with high numbers of casualties. With the war and alliances, came the need for new technology and innovation for warfare. Since human progress is the ability to use innovation to benefit and protect oneself, it went to a minimal extent in World War I in indicating human progress. The utility of the trench warfare and the poison gas between countries did not benefit them in terms of victory and harmed those who used it instead. Through 1914 to 1918, World War I included a series of fights and tensions between certain countries of Europe as they all tried to gain land, power, and wealth. After the start of Germany’s “growing economic and military power”, surrounding countries held hostility which created the alliances of the war (Adas et al. 660). Helping Germany were Austria-Hungary and Italy as they came together to create the Central
Through the Battle of Verdun, both France and Germany utilized the trenches as a defensive system and to attack with stealth. The German trenches used through the war were seen as more superior and they believed they could override the French with their advanced trench system (Ellis and Esler 687). However, they overestimated their own scales and failed by not protecting their soldiers, leading to severe injuries. (Agenda Day 7). The trench warfare system did not indicate human progress to a far extent because of the harm it caused the soldiers. It was meant to be a defense method but injured soldiers instead; another example being the No Man’s Land which was “a sea of barbed wire” and occasionally entangled the troopers (Willmott 111). Even though the French won the battle, both sides suffered great losses of soldiers and that showed the ineffectiveness of the trench