Trench Warefare
- Fighting in the TrenchesUse these sources to learn more about the experience of fighting in the trenches.
- Life in the TrenchesTrenches—long, deep ditches dug as protective defenses—are most often associated with World War I, and the results of trench warfare in that conflict were hellish indeed.
- TrenchesAfter the early war of movement in the late summer of 1914, artillery and machine guns forced the armies on the Western Front to dig trenches to protect themselves. Fighting ground to a stalemate. Over the next four years, both sides would launch attacks against the enemy’s trench lines, attacks that resulted in horrific casualties.
Streaming Media
- Chemical Weapons: An Insidious WarChemical weapons, which the world awakened to, once more in Syria, are still a nightmare. This investigative film will tell the story of the past, present, and future of chemical weapons with unprecedented access to weapons inspectors, government officials, and the personal testimony of those who have experienced this horror. We will find out how they came to be, how hard they are to control, how dangerous they are, and how international efforts to control them are ushering a new era of cooperation to counter terrorists plots.
- Storm Troopers and Future DictatorsAttempts to break the immobility of trench warfare produced storm troopers, fearless warriors habituated to the trench landscape to a disturbing degree. Two ordinary soldiers seemed to enjoy the war too much: Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler.
- The Western Front ExperienceThe Western Front soon froze into static trench warfare and horrific slaughter from attempts to break this deadlock. Generals on both sides sought a breakthrough that would allow sweeping offensives and glorious cavalry charges. These never came.
- World War I: Clash of EmpiresPreceded by a rush of naïve optimism, World War I swiftly demonstrated the awful might and unheroic nature of modern warfare, shattering European innocence and pulling America onto the world stage. This ABC News program anchored by Peter Jennings documents the course of the war that blighted a generation—and the punitive peace that ensured future enmity. From the prewar arms race between Germany and Britain to the stalemate on the Western Front, Germany’s last grab for victory, America’s knock-out blow, and the Treaty of Versailles, the program offers an overview of a catastrophic chapter of 20th-century history.
- World War I BattlefieldsEurope's system of alliances and centuries-old tensions erupted into war in August of 1914. This week on Crash Course Euro, we're talking about the military history of World War I, and taking a look at the broad strokes of how the war unfolded. We'll take you from the guns of August through gruesome battles like Verdun and the Somme, and follow the thread all the way through to the Armistice in 1918. It didn't turn out to be the War to End All Wars, sadly, but there is a lot to learn from it.
Perspectives
Trench Warfare, 1914-1918
The story of the great battles of the First World War has been told by historians, journalists and others. The shock and slaughter of the Somme, Verdun and Passchendaele are a major theme of most books. Large scale battles, however, comprised the smaller part of soldiers' total time in combat. For 90% of that time soldiers fought small scale battles . These small conflicts were violent, continual and involved complex weaponry and specialised tactics. Yet, during small battles, soldiers could and often did, make choices not possible during large ones. From these choices, there evolved between enemies a curious culture of live and let live which constrained the war culture of kill or be killed in fundamental ways.
Eye-Deep in Hell
Millions of men lived in the trenches during World War I. More than six million died there. In Eye-Deep in Hell, the author explores this unique and terrifying world--the rituals of battle, the habits of daily life, and the constant struggle of men to find meaning amid excruciating boredom and the specter of impending death.
Passchendaele
The definitive account of Passchendaele, the months-long battle that epitomizes the immense tragedy of the First World War Passchendaele. The name of a small, seemingly insignificant Flemish village echoes across the twentieth century as the ultimate expression of meaningless, industrialized slaughter. In the summer of 1917, upwards of 500,000 men were killed or wounded, maimed, gassed, drowned, or buried in this small corner of Belgium. On the centennial of the battle, military historian Nick Lloyd brings to vivid life this epic encounter along the Western Front. Drawing on both British and German sources, he is the first historian to reveal the astonishing fact that, for the British, Passchendaele was an eminently winnable battle. Yet the advance of British troops was undermined by their own high command, which, blinded by hubris, clung to failed tactics. The result was a familiar one: stalemate. Lloyd forces us to consider that trench warfare was not necessarily a futile endeavor, and that had the British won at Passchendaele, they might have ended the war early, saving hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. A captivating narrative of heroism and folly, Passchendaele is an essential addition to the literature on the Great War.