Trench Warfare

• Much of the war's combat involved trench warfare, where hundreds often died for each meter of land gained.

• Many of the deadliest battles in history occurred during the First World War.

• Artillery was responsible for the largest number of casualties during the First World War.

MYTH

REALITY

From your reading…

• How were trenches set up during WWI?• How did Allied trenches differ from German trenches?• How did they try to keep morale up in the trenches?• What were conditions like in the trenches?

• Front line• Communication

trench• Support trenches• No Mans Land• Barbed wire

BRITISH TRENCH

TRENCH FOOT

Barbed Wire & Artillery

• Barbed wire slowed infantry advances• Artillery & machine guns, made crossing open

ground extremely lethal

Poison Gas

• 1915- both sides were using poison gas.

• Won’t win battle with gas, but it made life even more miserable in the trenches

• Tear gas, mustard gas, phosgene • Gas masks came at the end of the war 

Tanks • Tanks were introduced in World

War I by the British and created mechanized warfare that dominated the rest of the 20th century.

Aircraft

• Fixed-wing aircraft were first used militarily during the First World War.

• Initially used for recon missions• Developed into ground-attack and fighter

duties • Strategic bombing aircraft were created

by the Germans and British.