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Aspects of Trench Warfare Essay
Aspects of Trench Warfare Essay
Aspects of Trench Warfare Essay
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In September of 1914, the British and French troops met the German troops at the Marne River. The German troops had been advancing toward Paris. The British and French troops were victorious in this battle and they crushed the hopes of Germany who wanted a quick takeover of the Western Front. After this battle, both sides dug trenches to maintain their positions. Both sides entered into a stalemate over the next four years. Each side battled from trenches making very little progress in their efforts to defeat each other. The trench warfare that took place over a few hundred yards of territory and cost both sides enormous casualties. Trench warfare proved to be a failure for both sides. The trenches built by both sides started as simple ditches. These foxholes were meant to provide protection for the troops during short battles. But as the fighting continued, more elaborate trenches were dug. As trenches evolved, they were built in a zig-zag pattern so that if an enemy got into the trench, he would not be able to shoot down the length of the trench. The front wall of the trench was ...
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.
Thus, a prolonged occupation of either of the combatant’s trench systems would be untenable: It is said that a single Stokes 2 in. Mortar projector on the hands of a well-trained mortar squad could have fifteen rounds in the air before the first one hit the target. Imagine the effect of a sustained barrage of this ferocity on even a lightly manned trench. Obviously, then, some form of compromise must have developed, on some occasions, between the warring sides; at least during the inevitable prolonged periods of inactivity in the majority of the sector... ... middle of paper ... ...
As countries adapted to trench warfare, new techniques and tactics emerged. For instance, the countries made trenches in a zigzag pattern and surrounded them with barbed wire so the enemy could not bomb them in a straight...
There is a general discord among stakeholders on the definition of irregular warfare and where the term and concept fits within the joint and the individual services’ doctrine. The 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review report uses the term “irregular” only once in its one hundred and five pages and only in terms of a focus on building the joint force’s capability and capacity to deal with irregular warfare while maintaining a clear conventional and nuclear global superiority. Currently, the definition is ambiguous and results in conflict or duplication of efforts across Department of Defense stakeholders. For the purposes of this paper, the stakeholders discussed are the Army and the Marine Corps. Stakeholders must reach a consensus and clearly define irregular warfare in order to establish comprehensive irregular war policy and strategy.
The factors and themes of trench warfare during the twentieth century led to a mass communication failure. During the time of technical development of steel and communication, which had extended the Western Front stalemate of 1914-1918----. As the situation began to exacerbate, miscommunication based on trench warfare paved the way as a form of rite of passage which led to battlefield failures in all degrees. Although new methods of communication expanded exponential growth during the war years, the recognition of communication holistically failed to reach full potential. Especially on the Western Front as it only achieved interminable stalemate of causalities.
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.
Trenches weren’t dug in straight lines, but were instead dug in a zig-zag pattern. The WW1 trenches were built as a system, in a zigzag pattern with many different levels along the lines. They had paths dug so that soldiers could move between the levels.
These trenches were fourteen-thousand miles long and six to eight feet deep. This strategy wasn’t very successful as it went on for years. The trenches resulted in many deaths which usually lead to infections and disease spread throughout the troops. Some of these infections were deadly and killed more troops than the actual battle did. The trenches favored the defender because they just sit in the trenches since there is no need to push on the enemy trenches. The enemy has to send soldiers down through no man's land where most will get shot down by soldiers firing from the defender's trenches or by artillery fire.The trench warfare was not the best strategy at the
French Soldier Thomas has died bravely fighting for the French army. I hope I can return his journaling to his family as soon as possible. But to conclude,The Battle of the Marne saw the German attempt to win the war against the British and French in a month, failed. Instead, the German Army was forced to fall back to the line of the Aisne River, the line between the opposing sides. The British Expeditionary Force occupied positions to the north of the Marne River. The Cavalry Division lay around Lucy le Bocage on the right, the most advanced of the British formations. 5th Cavalry Brigade lay at La Baudière, just west of the Cavalry Division. All though both sides suffered many casualties, the Allies managed to conquer their
The trenches were originally constructed to provide protection for the soldiers during the warfare. The men quickly realized that the trenches did not provide the shelter originally sought after. The majority of trenches were around one-to-two meters wide and three meters deep, leaving little to no space to move around comfortably. Enemy bombs and gunfire made it necessary to constantly repair the trenches (KidsKonnect). The trenches tried providing “shelter” for the men (a hole cut into the side of the trench- similar to a crawl
Axes, as well as spades, bayonets and knives, as well as axes, - in fact every utensil that could be found was used.” Because proper digging tools were in short supply during the civil war, many men resorted to using inefficient tools such as their knives and bayonets to dig the trenches. There was more than one style of trench system used by the soldiers. Entrenchment – when men dug tunnel-like structures through the ground was the easiest, and the fastest way of making trenches but also the most dangerous. It was dangerous because it left the men susceptible to enemy fire. When digging aids were unavailable soldiers relied on natural ridges and breastworks of chevaux-de frise – a defense made of sharpened, wooden spikes, inserted through large pieces of timber and used in the same fashion as modern barbed wire. The safest and most secret way to prepare a trench was tunneling, but it was also the most difficult and time consuming. As the name implies, soldiers dug a tunnel and when finished, removed the roof. Trenches were no easy defense to make, walls often caved in before the men could frame the trenches in with huge logs and scraps of metal, when tunneling soldiers had to make sure the roof did not collapse on them, and they also filled up with water quite regularly. Trenches were simple when finished, they looked like huge mazes running throughout the battle field. Ladders
Trench Warfare devastated the British and French soldiers fighting in France during World War One through the destruction of land. Shell bursts and land mines were a vital factor in the destruction of French land during World War One. "If you were a British officer peering into no man's land, what met your gaze resembled the cratered surface of the moon..." (Hochschild 135). The shell bursts that were launched from allied and enemy trenches completed destroyed French land, which made it hard for soldiers to move across the battlefield. Besides explosions, land was destroyed by militaries building camps and trenches for the war. "The simple presence of military forces took land out of agricultural use for camps, training grounds, firing ranges, airfields, and many other purposes, and gave rise to localized destruction" (Clout 33). The presence of the military gave rise to localized destruction, which ruins the natural resources that soldiers can use. The military also ravaged the land and used anything they came across for themselves in battle. A French soldier reported: "Close to the front, the enemy stripped houses of doors, shutters, cupboards and especially bedding, which they carried into the trenches...They slaughtered farm animals, taking the best parts to eat and leaving the rest to rot" (Clout 33-34). The
Prior to the First World War, militaries would stand in multiple consecutive straight lines and march toward the opposing side. While they were marching, they would fire their guns at the other side. In the Revolutionary War, the soldiers would have to reload their muskets which could take up to several minutes. The first row would fire their one shot, then the second row would go in front of them while they were reloading their musket1 2. This would continue until “they saw the white’s of the enemies eyes”2. In time, they would eventually move to trench warfare1. Trenches were dug for an army to fire at another army that is in an opposing trench. Not as many soldiers were killed or wounded since they have the trench4. However, these trenches were disease filled. People died from illnesses, disease and infection. In fact more, people died from infection than the actual war
The trenches were dug by the soldiers; sometimes the soldiers would just dig the trenches straight into the ground. They would need to build the trenches quickly because of enemy fire. Sometimes they would extend the trench from the end of the old one, it was a lot safer but, it still took a long time.