Life in the Trenches and New Technology

War of Attrition

• New technology and large armies made it difficult for either side to make great strides in the war

• Armies started to dig trenches for defensive positions along the western and eastern fronts

• Nobody gained any land• Each side wanted to see who could outlast who

so they each sent more troops to the front lines

Trenches

• Went from 400 miles of trenches in 1914 to 25,000 miles by 1918

• Three sections for soldiers– Front lines– Support lines– Reserves

No Man’s Land

• The land in between both sets of trenches• Called no man’s land because nobody could

survive if they entered this part of the war zone

No Man’s Land

• Each side sent waves of soldiers into No Man’s Land daily

• Soldiers added barbed wire or tried to get into the trenches of the enemy

• Soldiers were sent at night into this land for intel– Had to use hand to hand combat if they found the

enemy

Life in the Trenches

• Daily shelling by enemy guns killed many soldiers

• Snipers threatened all who looked over the top of the trench wall

• Rats ran freely eating the dead before they could be removed from the trenches

• Rats brought disease and death

Life in the Trenches• Lice brought on Trench Fever-took 12 weeks

to recover from it• Slugs and horned beetles lived in the mud of

the trenches and on the soldiers as they slept• Trench Foot was common– Solution-amputate the foot/feet

New Technology of War

• Tanks– used as troop carriers around No Man’s Land

• Flamethrowers– first used by Germany– Could kill the enemy in the trenches without destroying them

New Technology of War• Poison Gas– Chlorine gas was pumped into enemy trenches– Caused blindness and a choking feeling of the

lungs which led to death

New Technology of War

• Airplanes– First used for gathering information– Then became popular with the use of machine guns

• Depth Charges– Underwater bombs to destroy u-boats

• Hydrophones– First radar to find u-boats/submarines

New Technology of War• Aircraft Carriers– Could launch planes, but they could not land on the boat

• Mobile X-Ray Machines– Size of a car/small bus

New Technology of War

• Zeppelin – (filled with hydrogen)- Airships used by Germany- Used for intel and as bombers• Tracer Bullets- Allowed soldiers to see where they were shooting

Sources• Google Images• http://mentalfloss.com/article/31882/12-

technological-advancements-world-war-i• http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/

trenchlife.htm• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-

trenches-are-dug-on-the-western-front• http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/

ch1_trench.html• Textbook: The American Republic Since 1877