In 1882 the Triple Alliance was formed, the Triple Alliance was a group of countries, these countries were Germany, Austria Hungary and Italy, they all signed a document stating that if any of them got into a war the rest of the countries would help them in the war. In response with this Great Britain, France and Russia made a similar agreement also stating that they would help each other if a war started, they call themselves the Triple Entente.
World War 1 started because the Arch Duke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by a Bosnian called Gavrilo Princip in 1914. Austria-Hungary orders Serbia to take the blame for the murder, Serbia refuses and allies with Russia, Germany and Russia declare war on each other, since Germany is part of the Triple Alliance and Russia is part of the Triple Entente, the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente went to war.
What Was Different About This War?
Before World War 1 the British had not fought anyone that had similar weapons, for example the British invaded Africa and all the people of Africa had to defend themselves were spears and swords they had no real military and they had no guns.
Being a soldier in the British army in these types of wars meant that all you to do when you saw the enemy was shoot some bullets and they would be dead and you didn't have any real chance of dying unless you fought them in close combat.
However when World War 1 arrived the soldiers had to fight enemies who had the same or even better military than them. And this time there was a real threat of loosing the war and dying.
In World War 1 trenches were built to keep out the opposing army. Trenches were a network of tunnels dug in to the ground and were used as barriers to keep the opposing army out
Trenches had been used long before World War 1 they had been used in the American Civil Wars and in the Russo-Japanese War.
Here is an advantage and disadvantage of using trenches:
Since the trenches stretched over quite a large amount of land, if a soldier does get in to the enemies trenches there would be tunnels leading everywhere even to dead ends so the soldier would not no where to go and would get lost. The disadvantage of this is that the armies own soldier could get lost in his own trench.
Life In The Trenches
Life was unpleasant for British troops in World War 1, some of the reasons were because they were likely to catch a disease in the trenches, some of the diseases were common diseases such as a cold or flu but some diseases were deadly such as Trench Foot or Trench Fever.
The cause of Trench Foot was that the trenches were the soldiers were living were usually wet, so the soldiers clothes became wet and the soldiers did not have any change of clothes so all the water in their socks made mould grow on their feet, this mould usually grew until the soldier had to amputate his entire foot, knee or possibly their entire leg. Trench Fever was spread by lice.
Other reasons were that food was rationed and sometimes soldiers did not get enough food, also because of the war, dead bodies would be lying around the trenches, sometimes the bodies would be eaten by rats this could be linked to the diseases in the trench. Also some of the rats ate the food in the trenches; this was one of the reasons for there not being enough food for the soldiers.
Also there was nothing much for the soldiers to do in there spare time apart from talking to their friends, playing cards or by writing a letter home.
Methods Of Attack Using The Trenches
One method of attack the British used was sending men “over the top” (going over your own trenches). A group soldiers would go over there trenches and run across “no mans land” and capture the enemy's trenches. The problem with this idea was that by the time the men had gone “over the top” and were half way across “no mans land” they had all been either killed or were badly injured.
This was the main technique of attack and it cost the army the lives of millions of people, even though this was killing most of their soldiers the British army never changed this method of attack.
Other methods of attack included throwing grenades, using gas which the Germans first used, using machine guns and by using tanks.
Conclusion
In conclusion trench warfare is when two armies fight using trenches; trench warfare is usually slow and tedious and requires patience. The main method of attack in trench warfare is by sending soldiers “over the top”.
Trench warfare was not the only type of fighting in World War 1 there were other types of fighting, for example: tanks and aeroplanes.
Trench warfare used in World War 1 and the tactics of trench warfare continued to be used in World War 2 even though trench warfare tactics were not very good..
