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The "Race to the Sea", a period of WWI in which both German and allied forces engaged in a series of out-flanking movements in a rush to the North Sea, was a major incitement in the evolution of trench warfare. This segement of the war concluded in a stalemate, and to ward off advancement of allied forces, German regiments began digging protective stationary trenches. Mobility on the battlefields had become a challenging and precarious endeavor due to militaristic progression on behalf of both forces and the development of new weapons such as machine guns and artillery shells, both of which further encouraged the use of trenches. By the spring of 1914, more than 400 miles of trenches sliced through the European countryside from the northern coast of France to the border of Switzerland.
Soldiers who were fortunate enough to survive their encounter with war would be forever plagued by the psychological imprint left by life in the trenches. Death in such close proximity was a large component of the traumatization which soldiers endured, as well as horrendous infestations of rats which gorged themselves on the remains of corpses lying in the trenches. The rats spread disease and infection among the regiments, and contaminated food supplies. Some soldiers who escaped death by machine guns and artillery barrages were not so fortuitous in avoiding the diseases that infiltrated the trenches. Lice were also a common perpetrator of irritation and adversity to soldiers. They caused a sickness known as "Trench Fever" which warrented approximately twelve weeks away from the front for efficient recovery. As the war progressed, cities standing in the way of advancing forces were destroyed, and many civilian lives were subsequently lost. By the end of the war, casualties of both soldiers and civilians had reached extreme heights.
The "Race to the Sea", a period of WWI in which both German and allied forces engaged in a series of out-flanking movements in a rush to the North Sea, was a major incitement in the evolution of trench warfare. This segement of the war concluded in a stalemate, and to ward off advancement of allied forces, German regiments began digging protective stationary trenches. Mobility on the battlefields had become a challenging and precarious endeavor due to militaristic progression on behalf of both forces and the development of new weapons such as machine guns and artillery shells, both of which further encouraged the use of trenches. By the spring of 1914, more than 400 miles of trenches sliced through the European countryside from the northern coast of France to the border of Switzerland.
Soldiers who were fortunate enough to survive their encounter with war would be forever plagued by the psychological imprint left by life in the trenches. Death in such close proximity was a large component of the traumatization which soldiers endured, as well as horrendous infestations of rats which gorged themselves on the remains of corpses lying in the trenches. The rats spread disease and infection among the regiments, and contaminated food supplies. Some soldiers who escaped death by machine guns and artillery barrages were not so fortuitous in avoiding the diseases that infiltrated the trenches. Lice were also a common perpetrator of irritation and adversity to soldiers. They caused a sickness known as "Trench Fever" which warrented approximately twelve weeks away from the front for efficient recovery. As the war progressed, cities standing in the way of advancing forces were destroyed, and many civilian lives were subsequently lost. By the end of the war, casualties of both soldiers and civilians had reached extreme heights.
