History- Trench Warfare Flashcards
One of the reasons why the war was so terrible was the development of trench warfare.
Trench warfare created deadlock.
The generals in charge, including Sir John French, were not used to this type of fighting. They knew more about the type of battles where everyone met up on a big field, then the cavalry charged in, followed by the foot soldiers and backed up with that artillery.
After the Marne and Ypres, neither side could drive the other back. Both armies dug trenches. By the end of 1914 the trenches stretch from the Alps to the North Sea. This line of trenches was called the Western front.
The trenches were easy to defend and difficult to attack
If you made it to the enemy trench in one place, it was hard to hang onto your position because you were surrounded by the enemy forces in the rest of the trench.
Machine guns mowed down attacks
Heavy guns were behind the trenches
Guards spotted the attacks from the other side
Trenches led back from the front line to bring in men and supplies
Trenches were protected by barbed wire
Artillery was meant to break through the enemy’s barbed wire and wear them down to make an attack easier – in practice it just warned the other side an attack was coming
Between the trenches was often knee deep or even waste deep in mud.
Thousands of lives were lost for small gains
