How did the trenches help in WW1?

  • Thread starter Thread starter FlowerPower ♥
  • Start date Start date
F

FlowerPower ♥

Guest
How did they contribute to the war and why were thay so important?

Thank You
x
 
WWI was really the first war of the industrial age, the first really modern war. Other wars came close-the American civil war(the battles at Cold Harbor, the sieges of Vicksburg and Richmond all involved trench warfare. So did Gettysburg after the first day) and the Franco Prussian war(this conflict involved rapid fire guns the predecessors of machine guns) and the Russo Japanese war(where Japan lost 60% of their army in one mass frontal assault on Port Arthur)-but they lacked the enhanced lethality that science and mass production created in WWI.
WWI featured such innovations as the machine gun, poison gas, attack aircraft, submarines and tanks. there are many reasons why trench warfare was important but the simple answer is that armies on the offensive were less powerful then those on the defensive. One machine gun well sited could neutralize a battalion of infantry. Add to that riflemen in trenches(only the head would be visible), supporting fires (artillery) controlled by telegraph(or radio-in real time), with a impassable obstacle in front (barbed wire usually) and you can see that the attacking infantry is at a considerable disadvantage. Confounding the problem was that many generals were slow to realize the changes that technogly had wrought. Many military and national leaders assumed that WWI would be like the wars of the middle ages-limited in scope and duration, fought by small professional armies and that's how they tried to fight the war at first.
for more see the links
 
Tactics had not kept up with technology. Machine guns could mow down infantry advancing on foot. Barbed wire and mines further hampered the advancing troops exposing them to more small arms fire and artillery fire. Once the original race to the sea established the battle lines from Switzerland to the Channel the soldiers needed cover. Trenches allowed soldiers to fight and live on the front lines in some semblance of safety. If properly constructed the trenches were safe from direct fire. Special dugouts / barracks were safe from most artillery barrages which could last for hours. The trenches were built in depth to provide protection in case of an initial breakthrough. The soldiers could withdraw to the next trench and continue to defend against the attack. Even with the trenches the casualties were terrible. Human waves were sent across the pockmarked no man's land into the face of the entrenched enemy. Trenches were good defense and the lines barely moved through 4 years of war. Tanks, assault troops and sub-machine guns were invented to overcome the stalemate.
 
they could also be used as area's to treat their wounded,store their supplies and sleep, they doubled as escape,resupply,scouting and communication routes.
 
The trenches were fortified lines of defense. They protected troops by placing them below ground, yet allowed them to fire their weapons. The only contribution to the war was that they prolonged it. Little advancements were made by either side until the US came into the war and provided overwhelming numbers to overrun the Germans.
 
was it not beacause they could hide in them when getting fired at and it was a good source of cover =P
 
,it was the type of fighting like now and in Vietnam it is gorilla warfare.

here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_warfare
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trench_warfare
 
WWI was the first war with wide spread use of machine guns and massed artillery. At that time, armies just ran at each other and often fought hand to hand because the rifles sucked. Trenches let you get closer to the enemy so you can try to overrun machine guns. The trenches were dug at angles to move them forward and the straight across as a line. They also help protect from artillery.
 
Back
Top