Artillery was the new and upgraded versions of cannons. Never in the history of man, were there so many cannons used in one war alone. For four years the British had been using artillery and firing 170 million shells in that time. For years, German scientists were developing the biggest artillery ever known. It was called the ‘Big Bertha’. Big Bertha was so powerful it could fire at the heart of Paris from 120 kilometres away.
Gas grenades were highly toxic and very effective weapons. The Germans had invented 3 main gas grenades. The first was Chlorine gas, which was used at the battle of Ypres in 1915, killing thousands. Second was Phosgene gas and third was Mustard gas. This burned the lungs of the inhaler leaving them to die in agony. Gas masks were issued to everyone in the country, but they weren’t so useful and many people still died from gas grenades.
Tanks were known as ‘The Chariots of God’ at first, they were giant blocks of metal that could carry 1-2 people and travelled at about 5 kilometres per hour. But scientists and developers kept making new and improved tanks and by 1918 the Anglo-American Mark 8 could carry up to 8 men, and at the same time fire 208 shells and up to 13,000 bullets. Although these beasts were powerful, they were not so reliable. Most broke down and a good example is the battle of Amiens. The British sent 525 tanks, and after four days, only 25 were left in working order. Rifles were issued to most soldiers in the army and were mostly used in man-to-man combat though there would be snipers at the front of each line who were better trained and could shoot off any body parts which happened to appear over the top of the opposite trench.
It is estimated that at least 10 million soldiers were killed and 20 million injured during WWI. Shell shock was a major problem during World War 1. Shell shock was the result of the stress and trauma of war. Soldiers would contract it by living in the frontline for a time and becoming unstable from being exposed to the constant shelling and general stress of war which magnified the horror of it. The affects of shell shock varied depending on the case, mostly it lead to extreme panic and losing control mentally.
Shell shock would build up from a number of symptoms. Firstly a soldier would become tired from the constant shelling and other factors that would keep them awake or becoming very tired from fighting. The constant shelling would cause headaches among all of the soldiers, these two put together eventually lead to a man becoming very irritable. Eventually a soldier would not be able to concentrate at all and would lead to a complete mental breakdown. The condition would affect different men in different ways, but all the same it would affect almost everyone who lived long enough to go through it. Doctors tried many different methods to make the men fit for going back to the frontline, many of which successful. Shell shock also saw host to a new method of treatment known now as ‘Psychiatric treatment’.
Everyday life: how terrible were living conditions in the trenches?
Everyday life was hard for all soldiers during but war veterans seemed to be able to cope with life much more easily than newcomers. Typically, a battalion would be expected to serve a spell in the front line. This would be followed by a period spent in support, and then in reserve lines. A time of rest would follow - generally short in duration - before the whole cycle of trench duty would start afresh.
In reality the cycle was determined by the necessities of the situation. Even while at rest men might find themselves tasked with duties that placed them in the line of fire. A man might expect in a year to spend some 70 days in the front line, with another 30 in nearby support trenches, further 120 might be spent in reserve. Only 70 days might be spent at rest. The amount of leave varied, with perhaps two weeks being granted during the year. The daily routine of life in the trenches began with the morning ''.
An hour before dawn everyone was woken up by the company orderly officer and sergeant and ordered to climb up on the to guard against a dawn raid by the enemy, bayonets fixed. With stand to over, in some areas rum might then be given to the men. They would then attend to the cleaning of their equipment, which was followed by its inspection by officers.
Breakfast would next be served. In essentially every area of the line at some time or other each side would adopt an unofficial truce while breakfast was served and eaten. This truce often extended to the wagons which delivered such sustenance. Truces such as these rarely lasted long; usually a senior officer would hear of its existence and quickly stamp it out. Nevertheless it persisted throughout the war, and was more common in quieter sectors of the line.
After breakfast the men would be inspected by either the company or platoon commander. Once this had been completed NCOs would assign daily chores to each man (except those who had been excused duty for a variety of reasons). Daily chores included the refilling of , the repair of the duckboards on the floor of the trench and the draining of trenches. Particularly following heavy rainfall, trenches could quickly accumulate muddy water, making life ever more miserable for its occupants as the walls of the trench quickly became misshapen and were prone to collapse. Pumping equipment was available for the draining of trenches; men would also be assigned to the repair of the trench itself while others would be assigned to the .
Given that each side's front line was constantly under watch by snipers and look-outs during daylight, movement was logically restricted until night fell. Thus, once men had finished their assigned tasks they were free to attend to more personal matters, such as the reading and writing of letters home. Meals were also prepared. Sleep was snatched wherever possible - although it was seldom that men were allowed enough time to grab more than a few minutes rest before they were given another task to attend to.
With the onset of dusk the morning ritual of stand to was repeated, again to guard against a surprise attack launched as light fell. Supply and maintenance activities could be undertaken, although danger invariably accompanied these as the enemy would be ready for such movement. Men would be sent to the rear lines to fetch rations and water. Other men would be assigned sentry duty on the fire step. Generally men would be expected to provide sentry duty for up to two hours. Any longer and there was a real risk of men falling asleep on duty - for which the penalty was death by firing squad.
A blighty was a wound that was either self inflicted, or been deliberately acquired from enemy fire by raising an arm or leg over the top of the trench or cover such as sand bags. Not because they enjoyed getting shot, but so that they would be sent home to recover and get away from the war. In those times it was a dishonourable thing to do, as it showed that you were either a coward or more importantly, were not willing to die for your country.
Trench foot results from a lot of hours or days of exposure to wet or damp conditions at a temperature just over or freezing, hence why it is often contracted during times in the trenches. Conditions in the trenches were often like this because of all the rain and mud covering the bottom of the trenches, the soldiers couldn't escape it while fighting and had no option but to stand in these conditions all day.
Proper toilets in trench warfare often weren't used for several reasons. Mainly because while you were at the frontline finding a chance to `sneak' off to the toilet while you were fighting was almost impossible. It was also quite dangerous to go to the toilet as the opposition would probably know where the toilets were and you didn't want to get shelled while you were `relieving yourself' or shelled at all. The toilets were not hidden in bunkers or dugouts and so you would not survive the attack. Because of these reasons many soldiers would just find a quieter spot and quickly go in the trench it self.
Lice became a major problem in World War 1. Almost all off the soldiers would be infected with them; they would live in soldier’s clothes and roam the human body sucking blood. The lice would cause intense itching and uncomfortable living situations. Lice would spread through the trenches very quickly because of cramped living conditions. Soldiers would often group together during breaks in the war and attempt to get rid of lice through various methods such as running a lighter round your jacket and listening for the pops of the eggs. Even if the men were successful at ridding lice from themselves, they were very likely to get them again from someone else and so lice were constantly a problem through the war.
Rats also became a problem in trenches during World War 1. They were attracted by the despicable smell and damp conditions. Rats would eat men's uniform, generally just run around in the trenches and sometimes even bite soldiers, in desperation of hunger, causing them pain and often leading to infection. In extreme cases, a wounded or unprotected soldier could be eaten alive by a large rat or group of rats. Dead corpses would often be eaten by the rats. One soldier described the rats as `small dogs' that would attack and eat anything; he also said that they were almost as much of a threat as the Germans! Wounded men were often afraid to go to sleep in their beds and men tried to secure their food during the night to stop rats eating it.
What were the attitudes of soldiers to the war? Did they see it as terrible?
Ernst Jünger's The Storm of Steel is a unique and interesting book. Jünger's view of the war was a violent one and he did not hesitate to describe horrible wounds in great detail. Unlike other memoir writers, however, Jünger did not feel revulsion at the violence of war. To him, war was primarily a beneficial experience that left soldiers with a positive legacy of friends made and lessons learned: "Time only strengthens my conviction that the war, for all its destructiveness, was an incomparable schooling of the heart." This view is expressed in Private Ernest Todd’s rendition of events “The lads would sit on this fire step and talk and sing.” “During those summer months of 1915 you could forget there was a war on, you really could!” Here he seems quite comfortable with his situation, although perhaps he would prefer not to be there he seems to be making the most of what he has. Later on, Todd even refers to death with slight jollity in his tone: “It did happen sometimes- people would forget and get careless, and before you knew where you were they had got a bullet through the head whilst sitting on the latrine or something.”
Some Desperate Glory is a young British subaltern's diary, never intended for publication; it was printed fifty years after the author had died. Vaughan's diary presents a straightforward account of the day-to-day thoughts and concerns of a British soldier on the western front during 1917. Vaughan did not mind being in the trenches in the months before August (Passchendaele). During this period he actively sought patrol duty in no man's land, claiming that "Fighting patrols are the finest stiffeners of morale." Vaughan's optimism remained despite the fact that he did not get along with any of his fellow soldiers. The author's attitudes changed greatly when he experienced the horrors of Passchendaele in August. Vaughan's diary reflects how the outlook of a soldier could radically change once he experienced the realities of a great battle. After months of light fighting, in a few hours Vaughan saw every other officer in his company killed or wounded, shattering his optimism of the first half of 1917. After a few days in the battle of Passchendaele he wrote: "I sat on the floor and drank whisky after whisky as I gazed into a black and empty future." Vaughan was lucky to be withdrawn after only a few days in the line. The greater part of life in the trenches may indeed have been rather boring or even enjoyable; but there is no doubt that this attitude could change quickly after only a day in battle.
Death came as quite a shock to many soldiers; some looked onward and were happy to be alive whilst others found it difficult to cope. Lieutenant Montague Cleeve: “One thing I shall never forget was my first experience of dead bodies.” “That was one of the most miserable memories I have of the Somme” Here he seems upset by events but goes on to say: “Eventually one just got over it and thought nothing of it. We couldn’t help it, we were alive and that’s what mattered. And being alive, we jolly well had to get on with it.” Now his attitude has changed and we can see that he, like many others, was initially shocked by all the tragedy of war but eventually had to get through it and learn to get on with life.
Evaluation of sources used
Most of the information I have used came from the internet, including sites such as;
Some came from inference from the books; All Quiet on the Western Front, The Storm of Steel Ernst Jünger and A Passionate Prodigality Guy Chapman. The rest came from information gathered in lessons.
The diagrams of trenches were all drawn on the computer but were copies from diagrams on and most of the information to match them also came from this site. The website was created by the Liverpool Scottish Regimental Museum. This means that it is likely to be reliable because the creators have probably done a lot of research and have accurate information from other sources, such as other museums. It is also dedicated to protecting war memorabilia which means it probably wants people to learn correctly about the past.
One of the sites I did not find very useful was . The most interesting pages were but they were letters from and to home which although interesting did not contain much information about what was going on and was mostly emotional thoughts. The rest of this part of the site would have been useful for those with a particular or personal interest in war memories but not as useful for me. This site is probably very reliable as it comes from a television programme which has to broadcast the truth as they know it and opinions from historians are always given as their opinions not as facts. The other problem is that because the site is about all aspects of history it is unable to go into much detail about many areas of WWI. The most vital thing I learned from this site was the world ‘attrition’ which I have now learnt means ‘slow destruction’.
The book The Storm of Steel was written by Ernst Jünger his attitude has caused many scholars to condemn Jünger as a bloodthirsty German nationalist. His story, although an exciting and cheerful read, is obviously biased. He was actually a nationalist who believed in the resurrection and rearmament of Germany; one of his goals was to continue the myth of an unbeaten German army. Therefore, his story is not factually correct and cannot be used as an evidential source; only as inference.
The information booklet received at school was useful for writing about everyday lives and attitudes of soldiers. Apart from the pictures all of the content is diary extracts from soldiers during the war. This means that most of what is written will stem from fact, no matter how it is dressed up. Anything that is written as reminiscence cannot be completely trustworthy as it is not possible to completely recall events accurately. Quite a lot of the substance appears to be true as different accounts tell the same types of story like two similar accounts of rats as provided by different men doing dissimilar jobs.
Generally, the hardest things to find out about were; materials used in trenches, types of defence systems and types of casualty. I think this was because a large amount of the information available is poems, stories, letters and diaries. These are commonly personal accounts or views, which as well as being biased may also not be factually correct. Many recollections explain the effects of events but are unable to clearly identify causes or reasons why things happened.
Trench warfare in World War One is usually taught in school as part of a unit about the Great War. I think that it is singled out as a project because it deals with thoughts and feelings of people rather than just events. Reading letters or diaries written by people who at some points felt that they could die any day can bring out emotions in individuals who feel they are in touch with those who wrote the passages. Whist it is possible to understand the influence the war had on the world it is much more difficult to appreciate the effects it had on individual people. Studying the everyday lives of soldiers helps us to understand to way a war works on a large scale as well as help us identify how a person could feel in such an extraordinary situation. It is a situation which most people today are unable to relate to and therefore must be properly studied in order to be fully understood.
