So, now that Europe is mired in full-scale war...and the German's "Schlieffen Plan" was an absolute failure, life in the miitary is about to get very uncomfortable and, in most cases, very deadly, as trench warfare becomes a way of life, especially along the western front between France and Germany.
The Germans had made their initial push into France, attempting to get to Paris, to subdue the French military. However, as we discussed yesterday, the French didn't fight the way the Germans were expecting and fought a defensive, rather than offensive, battle. To counter the German push, the French dug in, creating hundreds of miles of trenches that they lived in, fought from, and died in. The Germans dug their own set of trenches pretty much parallel to the French tunnels and ditches, with the area between the two sets of trenches known as "no man's land". This area was usually riddled with dead bodies, filled with bomb craters, and marked off by barbed wire and barricades that made "no man's land" virtually unpassable without getting shot.
Life in the trenches wasn't a whole lot better for the average World War I soldier. Among the problems, other than being shot at:
Rats--There were two main types, the brown and the black rat. Both were despised but the brown rat was especially feared. Gorging themselves on human waste and remains, these rats could grow to the size of a cat or small dog. Men, exasperated and afraid of these rats (which would often scamper across their faces in the dark), would attempt to rid the trenches of them by various methods: gunfire, using bayonets, or clubbing them to death. There are reports that fires were set to ward off the rats as well. Nothing they did mattered, however, as a single rat couple could produce up to 900 offspring in a year, spreading infection and contaminating food.
Lice--Lice were a never-ending problem, breeding in the seams of filthy clothing and causing men to itch unceasingly. Even when clothing was periodically washed and deloused, lice eggs invariably remained hidden in the seams; within a few hours of the clothes being re-worn the body heat generated would cause the eggs to hatch. Lice caused what was called "trench fever" which caused severe pain and fever and could only be recovered from if you were fortunate enough to get time away from the trenches.
Trench Foot--Another nasty disease that was a major problem for trench dwelling soldiers. It was a fungal infection of the feet caused by the cold, wet and unsanitary trench conditions that the men constantly found themselves in during World War I. Trench Foot could start off seemingly as inconvenient as what we now call Athlete's Foot, but it could quickly turn gangrenous and many times the victim would have to have the foot (or feet) amputated to save their life. Trench Foot was more of a problem at the start of trench warfare; as conditions improved in 1915 it rapidly faded, although a trickle of cases continued throughout the war.
Other problems, ranging from lack of food and clean water, to sanitation, contributed to the miserable life in this style of fighting.
Here is a short video about some of the daily life in the trenches during World War I:
For some more GREAT information about daily life in the trenches (some of which was mentioned in the video), check out this site: http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/trenchlife.htm
Chemical Warfare
Chemical warfare was used prior to World War I, but not nearly to the same extent. Trench warfare lent itself to chemical warfare because, quite honestly, there was very little you could do to escape a gas cloud that was floating down on you while you were in the trenches. There were a variety of chemicals used, from those that were more annoying than anything, to those that were completely lethal. The video below gives a brief history of chemical warfare in World War I:
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