Life in the Trenches WW1 | Trench Warfare Explained
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- Опубликовано: 14 июн 2024
- When it comes to the First World War there's one thing that instantly comes to mind - trenches.
Muddy, rat-infested hell holes with death around every corner. Places so bad that only going over the top could be worse. Trenches dominate our perspective. But are our perceptions really accurate?
In this episode of IWM Stories we answer three big questions: Why did trenches exist? What were conditions like inside the trenches? And how did trench warfare come to an end?
The Battle of the Somme explained: • What most people get w...
How did WW1 begin?: • How did WW1 Start? | C...
0:00 Intro
0:48 How prevalent were they?
1:11 Why were trenches used?
2:19 Trench layouts
3:08 Life in a trench
4:04 Food in the Trenches
4:50 Mental health in the Trenches
5:50 Breaking the deadlock
7:34 The Battle of Amiens
8:07 Conclusion
Let us know what topics you want us to cover next in the comments below!
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As a former teacher I used to love teaching this topic with my students. I had a fun activity where they put there desks down on the floor and hid behind them on opposite sides of the room, and I said if anyone can get from one side to the other and get the oppositions flag without getting hit by a paper ball that the opposite side was constantly throwing, you win. No one ever won.
I saw an interview with a former soldier recorded in the 1980’s. I believe he was in his 90’s at the time of the interview. He told a story of a friend who was bitten on the face by a rat while they were resting. The young man’s face swelled up like a balloon and he died. He kept referring to it as “rat poison”.
Just watched that one. Very profound and chilling explanation of that war
The more I see of such videos the more I understand why my grandfather, who served in the European trenches, didn't speak about it. A great uncle died between the two attacks on Gaza so would appreciate seeing videos on that era of the war.
Indeed. Those I know who fought in various theatres were extremely reluctant to discuss their experiences, and when they did it was as witnesses to a crime.
They felt the shame and confusion of having survived and deep sadness at the loss of friends and family and their own youth.
My grandfather was deployed to the Italian theatre during world war 2, he was there when the social republic fell. Indian forces are not remembered in this important event in history and it’s tragic.
My great grandfather survived WW1 infantry from 16 to 18 one of greatest men I've ever met yet barley spoke. Loved him dearly God bless.
Crazy how digging holes in the ground has been a defining feature of (defensive) warfare since civilisation and large scale warfare began 6000 years ago. For the largest part of history we just called them ditches and moats and sat behind them, and then when guns became so prolific and effective the entire sky above a battleground was filled with lethal projectiles, we decided that maybe sitting inside our moats was a better idea. So we made them smaller and called them trenches.
We are terrestrial, after all.
You are correct, trenches and ditches have been used historically to protect troops from projectiles and infantry.
I would say though what makes ww1 unique is the scale (race to the sea) and tactics. The best examples of trench warfare as we know it that pre-dates WW1 would be the US civil war and Russo-Japanese war, where artillery and machine guns became the standard. European military staff ignored the facts of those wars and attemped to wage a war using napoleonic tactics on the modern battlefield, which is why it ended up being a war of attrition that lasted 5 years.
Moats are for poop mainly
@@suspicioustumbleweed4760 to be fair there was likely loads in trenches too
I don't think trenches were very common 6000 years ago, so I'm not sure you could call them a "defining feature".
My grandfather served on the western front. I remember what he said to this day. He did not want to be buried. I asked why. He said he didn't want to be eaten by maggots and rats.
Everyone who was sent here "by their teachers"
Im not.
I just like history. And WW1
You need help
Same
Yall gonna get bad jobs if u don't know ur history m8
i suddenly like WW1 and playing WW1 games and I like trenches cause idk
omggg he’s different 😣😩🥶
WW1 is always taught as a mindless exercise in pointless frustration and waste of life (and it very much was), such that no one is interested in studying it further. But when you study it instead as a transition between eras, and in a struggle to adapt to the modern technology and weapons, it's far more interesting.
It effectively broke the back of colonialism allowing democracy to become the prominent system. That, plus the middle east and many other conflicts today can be traced back to WW1.
@@ryucartel351 the psyops aspect of WW1 and how it was then used to influence the US ever since is very interesting, but frightening at the same time. Most people are still oblivious to it and until they wake up and see it, it will/can continue.
But in studying how such pysops can work so well, you really learn a lot about the human psychy at the same time though too.
@@ryucartel351 can you elaborate a bit?
@@tmclaug90 Your being invited to explore a number of 'rabbit holes'. It will be up to you to search and evaluate.
@@scruffscruffeton986 lmao. No, I'm good. If you could actually give me a brief run down it may or may not peak my interest. But you can't seriously just expect me to Google, what, ww1 secret agenda and sift through all of that to reach the same conclusion as you? You wanna reach people, than actually try! I have a fairly open mind.
I have seen that first photo of the men in the foreground going down the trench while a couple of men are going over the top at the end, I believe the regiment is The Cameronians, my grandfathers regiment. He went to France in November 1914, and was very fortunate to survive.
He fought to the end of the war? That would be miraculous
It is a well known photograph. I remember reading that it was developed after the camera was recovered from the trench following a direct artillery hit which killed the photographer and most or all of the men in the picture.
My teacher made me watch this also
Ye
What happened to ur teacher??
Same
Same
Omg same🤣
I've watched countless hours of ww1 footage, but never learned once about the weaponry invented for infentry like in this "short" video. Many thanks!
Thanks for vid. My grandfather from Blackburn Lancashire joined British Army 1915 aged 17. Served as rifleman in East Lancashire Regiment. Never talked about the war unless you asked him something and answers always in general terms exception being the night he was wounded area of Passchendaele 1918 (taking him out of the war) with his childhood friend beside him being killed. Recall him mentioning trench life being rats, mud/water and trench foot it caused, lot of men being sick especially in winter - said the NCOs would make them all take a big spoon of vaseline every other day to protect the throat.
really cool vid, learned loads
The US Civil war started Napoleonic and ended up presaging WW1. The Crimean war was similar, but the repeating firearms of the US Civil War made open maneuver insanity. It's interesting that little seemed to be learned by generals of "digging in" from these previous conflicts.
Not really, only 3 of the ~12 fronts during WW1 used extensive trench warfare. The trenches on the Western front had more to do with the high concentration of soldier in a small area. Try to build any trenches on the Eastern front and you would never achieve the necessary concentration of forces required to defend them and counterattack when the first trench falls, which it will.
Love the stock footage in these documentaries.
I went to the British war museum in London back in 2006ish,
They had a WW1 Trench warfare exhibit occupying one of the main wingsof the building.
The entire place was done up like a trench that you walked through as they made audio and lighting backdrop. It still looked fake but something about it conveyed the horror of it...
It's stuck with me ever since.
I was just thinking of that when I saw the start of this video and saw to whos channel this video was from. I was there about the same time, 2005 or 2006. I have watched a number of WW1 videos. But the IWM had always been on my bucket list. I have been there twice. I also find that the Gallipoli campaign was fascinating. There is an hour long video on youtube about that campaign.
I remember seeing that same exhibition
Please never use « ish » again
I went on my own one day and walked around the corner to about 15 german school kids with their teacher in that trench. They stopped talking and looked at me and I looked back, and while I do not find humour in anything relating to the world wars it did put a little smile on our faces
Yes, I remember that. On the way out you turned and came face to face with a terrified trench soldier.🎉
Excellent explanation! Will be very helpful in teaching my 5th graders about this horrible and complicated war.
thanks for the info
5:59 everyone else layed their gun down with ease while that one guy struggles lol
it wasn’t funny. You should try living in a 2 feet wide 5 feet tall muddy, bloody, rat filled, dead bodies laying down right beside you, missing your family, trying to not die, gets barely any sleep, starving, seeing your friends and buddies die, wearing 30 pound armor so you shouldn’t be judging anyone ESPECIALLY soldiers.
@@AgentHxrrorr bro chill they were literally training and he made a slip up and someone called it out... It isn't that serious.
Timmy tenders IRL
@@AgentHxrrorr arent friends and buddies the same thing?
“Lol” so disrespectful, the amount of fear and trauma this soldiers had to experience are beyond our modern minds. They missed their families, they Fought for their lives every second, they had no food to eat, barely any clean water to drink, and exhausted so much energy to win their wars, and here you are, having the balls to even post such a disrespectful comment, in their comfort of your couch or bed, and they were laying on the ground with blood stains, dead bodies, and stinky rat filled trenches. Disgraceful.
3:51 “flies move from corpses to toilet to food” oh man that sentence is horrifying
#1 trenches kept them out of direct fire from machine guns and rifle fire. Reduced the possibility of injury from exploding shells, unless it landed in the trench. #2 they were muddy, rat infested, smelled, had lice, the dugouts in them weren’t very great either. Note* The German trenches were the same, but the dugouts were much better. Up to 30 feet underground, some with electricity, desks, beds, and some with wallpaper even. The British high command wanted them sparse to keep the allies in an “advance mentality.” The German high command didn’t have the same mental attitude. #3 there was never any major breakouts of the trenches. The allies won by attrition, and starving the Germans with the naval blockade of Germany. The allies had more men, bullets, bombs, guns, shells, aircraft, food, and the other supplies to keep armies in the field. Three questions answered in only a few minutes.
This helped me with an assignment, thanks😎
A thing I was taught by russian friends grandfather's who told their fathers stories was "you lived in the trenches, you died in the trenches unless you died on no man's land"
uim in a live lesoon anyone from my class watching this
Me! 🛀
Me
Just watched all quiet on the western front so had to learn more
Why are we all watching this for class 😪
yeah :(
So it doesn't happen again
I’m crying in English
Not me lol
@@lespectator4962 it can’t
There’s planes
I was at high school in the 1970s and our O level history course stopped at 1900 so we never learnt about the 2 world wars.
Still no doubt there will be people in the comments shouting about how kids aren’t taught about the wars when they have been now for years.
I learnt most of my military history from books as I grew up with veterans in my family who encouraged my love of history.
Didn't know this about shells :)
What hell it must have been, just seems so wasteful to be engaged in such circumstances.
For all the people saying here for class lesson ...you only in class because of these brave men
this was truly hell on earth :(
I've read dozen of books and watched dozens of films and documentaries about the First World War but nowhere does anyone explain in detail HOW the trenches were first created. With both sides at a stalemate facing each other often just yards apart how on earth did they manage the process f digging those very first trenches- was there some kind of truce to enable both sides to "dig in"- how did they remove the spoil? I really wish someone would take time to explain this is detail.
They first started when the Germans having failed to win a quick victory in France still had to go take care of Russia on the other side so they left just enough divisions in France to hold on until Russia had been beaten so without their full force and with the new weapons and the flat terrain, they had to find a way to survive and hold their positions, that's how it all started. At the beginning they barely protected the men who had to crawl to avoid being shot and the digging was done at night by the men themselves.
Later, special teams were assigned to do only that and they became deeper, more and more complicated, comfortable and they offered a much better protecion. As was to be expected, the Germans developed the science to a much higher degree than the allies who fought with feet in an advanced state of decomposition pretty much for the whole of the war.
That's all I know, I'm sure google could take over here.
Cheers.
@@rosesandsongs21 Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have that info and am very knowledgeable about all aspects of the War including the politics in each country. What is always missed is the process- the "nuts and bolts" about how both sides managed to dig the trenches while only yard apart- no one has ever explained that in detail. I've seen documentaries and read about the construction of trenches but it's the practical problems of how each army coped with their enemy so close!
@@knockshinnoch1950 Good. It's true that when you think about it how did they manage to feed so many soldiers and how do they bring it all to the front, and where does it come from..., we never see those aspects. And when they make thousands of prisonners on the same day, how do they cope with that, they can't carry tons of food just in case?
I do remember seeing a documentary on trench construction but that was long ago and my memory is not what it used to be! : )
Take good care now.
ruclips.net/video/CgykKEhfEok/видео.html
Seems like the original soldiers dug in foxholes during active combat and then later expanded upon.
They literally just took cover on the flat ground and just began digging. Cant remember which book exactly, but one of the many WW1 memoirs had a passage depicting what you're asking about. Digging the cold hard ground with your hands and bayonet out of sheer desperation while being sporadically shot at by the other guys who have also started digging. A slight dip in the ground becomes a muddy hole, eventually individual foxholes are enlarged and connected into a single trench, you and the enemy are trying to outflank each other so the trenches keep being made larger in length all the way to the North Sea and boom, you're balls deep in WW1 and have a hell of a problem on your hands to overcome
Rommel's book Infantry Attacks also goes into some of the logistical side of things mentioned here, like how food & supplies were brought to the front. Basically it was a fuckin mess but they HAD to be brought up, so the men just...got killed doing it. No choice in the matter, they have to get to the front, no other way for it. No food today because the courier was hit by artillery.
Interesting look at one of the defining features of WW1. Another seems to be using poisonous gasses in combat, almost unique to this war and rarely seen since in human conflict. What were these weapons, their effects on people physically and psychologically and how did the use of them evolve throughout the war?
You failed to mention that trenches were a regular feature of siege warfare for centuries.
You can find a lot of media about it but you have to look carefully at it cause they speak a lot about the use of it by axis side but the "missed" the part of informing who did it first...and the allies specifically french where the ones who started the use of gas and that decision change the curse of war totally among other cruel things down by allies like the use of forbidden weapons in trench warfare by the American soldiers those protest did not have any political effect during war but a very good one in remaining and surviving troops that was carry on to the next one
Poison gas was mainly used to try and clear trenches, they started off with white phosphorus & tear gasses, then it escalated to the use of chlorine gas, mustard gas and finally phosgene.
Many gasses were just irritants however notorious ones like mustard gas took a horrendous toll on soldiers both psychologically and physiplogically. Phosgene was the deadliest gas used in the great war.
The evolution wasn't anything crazy, the first gas attacks were often just released on to the battlefield from massive containers, allowing the poison gas to waft towards the enemy fortifications; the problem there is if the wind direction changed, the gas could blow back on to friendly lines.
Artillery shells that could carry poison gas payloads pre-dated the war but they were eventually included and became one of the primary methods of gassing enemy troops. Pretty much every major armed force utilized poison gas during the great war.
Lastly I don't know if you were aware but Adolf Hitler suffered injuries from a gas attack in ww1, many people believe that's why Nazi Germany never employed chemical weapons on the battlefield.
Just to be clear Im not saying the Nazis were above the use of chemical compounds in warfare, they did rely on Zyclon-B to commit mass murder in their gas chambers, however I do find it interesting that they chose not to use their stockpiles of chemical munitions in combat.
@@festumstultorum1462 You have to keep in mind that the French used tear gas against the Germans. The use of white phosphorus and CS gas (irritants, granted white phosphorus can be deadly in high concentrations) predates WW1.
The germans were the first to use poison gasses as opposed to irritants like white phosphorus or CS gas. If I recall correctly the first use of poison gas (chlorine) was launched by German troops versus Canadian forces.
@@dosidicusgigas1376 the difference wasn't in the kind of gas they used but the quantity and the hidden purpose behind
It that is what cause the retaliation in a higher level
A great video. I'd like to see a video on women spies in WW1 please. Also, VAD nurses and army nurses in WW1 -- what they did.
This video was very informative, but despite answering the why, I don't feel like this answered the burning question which I've had ever since first studying the war back at secondary school, which is the how. How do two armies enter a field and both dig out huge trench networks parallel to one another? Did they have periods of amnesty? Were battle lines negotiated? Was it considered improper to attack while trenches were dug? I simply don't understand the logistics.
It's hard to explain tbh, but once everyone got into "position" to fight they basically stalemated instantly lol, and to protect yourself from snipers, artillery etc they built trenches to move around, they weren't really supposed to be permanent defenses as you're meant to attack from them.
The barrage lift was called a creeping barrage and was developed by the Canadians🇨🇦
Those tanks are so dang cool!
Shockingly monstrous to the German troops 1st witnessing them. It must've been like the rebels in the Empire strikes back,on the planet of hoth when faced with the at at's, Striding towards them
seriously, I am french and I have to wach this for class ...
Pls,feature the Korean War & the French & Indian War.
Just watched they don't live to be old documentary. The utter bravery these men had was scary. Knowing you were going to die over a meaningless war of cousins fueding was interesting. The men on both sides didn't even question why they were going. Men as young as 16. Russia had a revolution over it, many monarchies lost, and a man created Ww2 from it. It too 4 years for one side to come together and storm the other. And the british treated it like this is normal. With the amount of new fire power this war should of lasted a year without trenches. It's like they tried to use old tactics with new fighting and know one knew what they were doing.
Great analysis
the fascinating thing is trench warfare is still used to this day
War explained.... insane
The British were taught about trench warfare when they tried to invade New Zealand and were met by Pa fortified with deep trenches behind fences made of Manuka branches ( world first barbed wire ) The attacking soldiers thought they were dealing with primitive natives, when in fact as they broke down the stick fence a Maori warrior , woman or even youth would impale each man with a spear ( taiaha ) or clubbed to death with a stone Patu..The numbers killed were large and when a Pa was finally taken only women , children and old men were found ..after suffering major losses the Treaty was written .
I'd love to know where I can find the photograph at 1:34, amazing..
a quick google search brought it up: The Allies set off 19 such mines of various sizes beneath the German lines in the opening moments of the Battle of the Somme in 1916. The largest, which was dug beneath what was known as the Hawthorn Ridge Redoubt, consisted of18 tons of high explosives. The resulting blast, which tore a hole in the enemy position could be felt in the streets of London. It was the largest man-made detonation history to that point.
World war 1 - slow fight
World war 2 - Trench Warfare?
Nah my new technique Bliekrieg
Imagine living there for months to years.
So we all students here.....
Not me. I find it interesting. I suspect that the Spanish Flu originated in these trenches.
no
I’m a student watching this for school
Sent from online school
The first real attempt to use combined arms warfare effectively was actually during the Kaiserschlacht or Unternehmen Michael. The Germans didn't use many tanks though, but the coordination between infantry and artillery was outstanding if one considers that radio wasn't a thing during that time. Together with the focus on Sturmtruppen for the advance, the Germans were able to achieve a 20 kilometers breakthrough already in the first three days. The battle of Amiens was the counteroffensive which pushed the Germans back to their initial positions.
Thought this was about Chicago
In ogni monumento o cippo delle nostre città o nelle nostre piazze DOVREBBE ESSERE IMPESTATO DI FIORI E DI CORONE
........SOLO PER TUTTO QUELLO CHE HANNO PROVATO. ......VISTO E PASSATO😢😢😢😢😢
All the armies had access to machine guns and had numerous machine guns in their inventory, but none of them gave any thought to how machine guns would make their style of war obsolete. When attacking an defensive position, it's preferable to have more numbers than the enemy, but an enemy with a machine gun negates any sort of numerical advantage.
If you want to see Haig's birthplace, it is in Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. Another place where the idea of Haig as an uncaring man is overturned is the Central Freemason's Hall in London. (Haig was a Freemason.)
Here from Mr Jolly
The chap cat tying the wounded soldier on his back survived the war and lived in Ilford Essex to a reasonable age So I’m told Well played Sir
My great Opa migrated to the US before WWI, and served the US in the war against his native country. I never got to meet him, but I have his uniform shirt.
HELLO FELLOW STUDENTS
lets go
Cindy Landolt
Poor bastards. The look in the eyes of the soldier at 0.20. Absolute shock & trauma from what they've just gone through. No wonder they never talked of it all when they returned home. Why would they want too?? This type of footage is so important.
you made background sounds louder than the Expert.
Any one know the regiment of the soldier carrying the injured soldier on his back ?
I watched this video last night while dunk and eating a kebab. I'm back again and I'm impressed.
One name should have been mentioned here. General Sir John Monash.
What had Monash got to do with the trenches.
Who's here from there online lesson 😂
me
Meee
me XD
me
me
How do you make a video about trenches but not discuss how they went about digging them
Our class watched this in history HAHA
Ye me I got to hand dis in tomorrow
Please put some addirional considerations on sound quality, please.
Amateur dramatics are more terrifying than an artillery shell....
Wasn't Amiens also so successfull because the germans had gained all that land by using stormtroopers and other new tactics until they ran out of supplies and men mostly and than had to go back to the Siegfriedstellung?
Bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so op
People always overlook the german trenches.
It would seem I'm one of the few here due to their own volition.
Writing a story about trench warfare on Mars isn't easy. The hardest part is knowing fact from fiction. Ironic that I'm using fact to write fiction.
Same here. I’m just interested in history.
I’m a history fanatic and got hooked on The Great War when I read a book called The Proud Tower by Harriet Tuckman. It was on Europe at the turn of the 20th century and gave the reader an insight of events then. Try to imagine what problems we would have avoided if Franz Ferdinand wasn’t killed, the war was won by either side by Christmas, the flu started in late 1914, etc. the alternative history scenarios are endless.
The war ended the way it did. The politicians screwed up the peace and we got the The Even Greater War in 1939. We are still suffering from it.
Fifty years ago, I saw a textbook that was written just after the war. I flipped through it and one page at the end said that if a good peace treaty wasn’t signed, another war was in the future.
Where can we find your story?
@@cainanneedham9022 I'm far from done, but possibly on the Agorist nexus or Amazon books. if all else fails, i may just narrate it myself and use it as video content.
Curious how you Mars trench story is going. Sounds cool.
LDR:
Q: But is it really that bad?
A: Yeah, probably a bit worse
Monash, the Aussie who invented combine arms assaults
The size of some of those rats, look almost like muskrats
4:51 Zero war protection and those guys don't even flinch
S/O madame Ray
My grandfather was in WW1. Never talked about it but said they would stack the dead bodies in trench and put pallets on top of them to walk on.😞
3:40 ;Look at the size of the rat in the front. That thing probably weighs 10 lbs
Who knew when this video was posted that we would see flooded horribe trenches in the stalemate in Ukraine in 2023/23?
on the cover there is a soldier in a red circle ...why?
Drones have made trench warfare obsolete.
3:18 is that a pair of feet?
How come there was no mention that trench warfare was learned by the British from the Maori of New Zealand?
I've been wondering who the head of the first world war was, now I know
Who else is here in their history lesson?😅
Sry
Nah I'm watching outta fun
I would be happy if this was in my history subject
Me
Nope.... here for literature
MAKES you wonder why anyone ever goes to war .
Just pure savagery. These men suffered harshly...
Usually really like your presentations, but you might want to think of re-doing the audio on this one. The parts of Wakefield (I think that's his name) are nearly unintelligible. Very tinny and echoing. Had the volume up so loud to discern his valuable contributions to the video, that it actually hurt my ears. Had to give up on it.
None of your other videos have this distortion & are quite clear.
So it would be much appreciated if you were to clear it up & resubmit it for our learning. Thank you very much for your research and information.
The comments from the expert at the end are a little strange, almost like he is saying it wasnt that bad...
I wonder if he's ever had a job where he's not sat behind a desk?
LEST WE FORGET 🤔
Anyone elses history teacher recommend this? 😭
What a ridiculous question!….”what were trenches for”!?
i love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just here to learn random history
Crazy how trench warfare is coming back in Ukraine etc.
To say “they never lost faith that they had to fight through to a successful conclusion” may be true of some but it cannot be true of all. It’s an absurdly glib remark.
Millions died. Millions.
If the brits decided to actually use their removal box magazines, I feel they could have fought more efficiently.
Incorrect.
An individual magazine is an integral part of the Lee-Enfield system. The angle and position of the feed lips are critical if the rifle is to feed correctly and baning them around in packs etc, doesn't help. Stripper clip systems remained in place long after WW1 (even with a semi-automatic rifle such as the WW2 Garand, for example).
@@robertstallard7836 it works very well on my smle
17 million they said for ww1
a soldier is actually two different jobs. a fighter AND a digger.
when they are not digging trenches they dig graves
@@Overthinking-rain in a modern war sometimes there's nothing left to bury. So no gravedigging required. Especially no graves for the russians.
I think it was the Australians that were sometimes referred to as 'diggers', although I'm not entirely sure why that was.