Trench Warfare

Words: 690
Pages: 3

LIFE IN THE EUROPEAN TRENCHES AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE DIGGERS DURING WORLD WAR 1
When Men went off to fight in World War 1 they realised that they could die but the thing many didn’t realise was the life they would have to live during the war. Many were in the trenches all day long nearly every day. A trench is a long, narrow ditch, but to the soldiers the trenches during WW1 were just series of wet, muddy long holes littered with the waste of war.

TRENCH WARFARE
When soldiers left to go to war they expected lush battlefields and valiant fighting, instead they got dirty, unhygienic trenches with battles playing out for months to year on end in an uneasy stale mate. Trench warfare was horrific and the ongoing effects as a result were extensive (Weebly, n.d.). Trench warfare was very common during WW1 and was actually a smart strategy with soldiers having more protection than in the battlefield. Even though it was harder for them to get shot by other soldiers there was fear of the snipers so the soldiers had to stay very low to blend into their muddy surrounding environment.

THE CONDITIONS IN THE TRENCHES
The soldiers life’s during the trenches were harsh and always at risk
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In the trenches there were many illnesses, infections and issues that would affect the soldiers enormously. One of the worst and most common issue in the trenches was trench foot which was a painful condition of the feet caused by long immersion in cold water or mud and marked by blackening and death of surface tissue. This was very common within the soldiers as well as many illnesses. For example trench fever, it was a disease caused by body lice during World War One. This fever was easily passes between the soldiers, causing many to suffer from high fever, headaches, aching muscles and sores on the skin and would normally take around 12 weeks to recover