Trench warfare came about during World War I. After France and Britain were able to stop Germany's advancement on Paris at the Battle of the Marne the war became mostly about postion rather than movement. Each side dug out trenches with barbed wire fences around it in order to keep their position. In order to protect themselves, armies dug trenches because if they had stayed above ground there was little to no protection. Due to the improvements of artillary (machine guns, etc.) there was a need for more protection on the battle field and the only option was to dig down.
Soldiers were obviously affected the most by the trench warfare. Those stuck in the trenches had to face many horrors. The development of trenches caused a placed called "No Man's Land" between the trenches. This is the place between opposing trenches. If one was to come up from the trench and try to advance, they were killed almost on spot because they were so easily seen. Therefore, all soldiers were stuck in the trench, and they had to do everything in the trench, even releasing excrement. This caused for much disease to spread such as Dysentery. The damp ground of the trenches caused for even more complications, such as Trench Foot. The use of chemical warfare made life in trenches even worse. Chemicals were very heavy agents and would sink into the ground, killing more and more soldiers. Civillians were also affected by the fact that the lands used in warfare could not be used by civillians. The rising death toll also meant that civillians had to go and fill in the jobs that were left empty. The government was affected by the rising death toll and having to gather more and more troops became stressful upon the government. Trenches made the war very stagnant and hard to progress further in the war. This caused a very long drawn out process that constantly had to have money and resources poured into it by the government.
Soldiers were obviously affected the most by the trench warfare. Those stuck in the trenches had to face many horrors. The development of trenches caused a placed called "No Man's Land" between the trenches. This is the place between opposing trenches. If one was to come up from the trench and try to advance, they were killed almost on spot because they were so easily seen. Therefore, all soldiers were stuck in the trench, and they had to do everything in the trench, even releasing excrement. This caused for much disease to spread such as Dysentery. The damp ground of the trenches caused for even more complications, such as Trench Foot. The use of chemical warfare made life in trenches even worse. Chemicals were very heavy agents and would sink into the ground, killing more and more soldiers. Civillians were also affected by the fact that the lands used in warfare could not be used by civillians. The rising death toll also meant that civillians had to go and fill in the jobs that were left empty. The government was affected by the rising death toll and having to gather more and more troops became stressful upon the government. Trenches made the war very stagnant and hard to progress further in the war. This caused a very long drawn out process that constantly had to have money and resources poured into it by the government.
