Trench Warfare In The Trenches

In the beginning of World War One the common outlook on warfare was that of a primarily mobile and open method of attack. Trench warfare was thought to be a temporary phenomenon which would be replaced by infantry and cavalry skirmishes. No one had predicted that only after a couple of months of open and mobile warfare, the November of 1914 would begin four years of static trench warfare.

Trench warfare was going on the whole of WWI, yet the the bigger battles only occurred at specific times. In the book, Trench Warfare 1914-1918, Ashworth focuses on trench warfare since he believes that it is “the larger part of the total war experience” (p. 2).

Since the French had relatively recently fought in the Napoleonic wars, they had an image of

The rats would swarm the trenches, and could grow to the size of a cat by eating the flesh of the dead soldiers. They also got infected with lice, which attributed to a louse’s infective prowess.
The only way to kill lice at this time was to use a candle, by burning them with the flame of a candle or with the hot wax. Soldiers constantly removed lice from their clothing, but since the lice hid in the folds of their clothing, they could not remove all of the lice. Because the lice can produce ten eggs per day, removal of all but one louse meant that they victim would again be infected. Lice, aside from being pestilent, spread trench fever. Trench fever was a disease that caused severe pain in the head and legs, followed by a fever. The only way to recover was to be taken away from the trenches, for a long 12