Hell On Earth Dbq

It is very appropriate to describe the conditions on the Western Front in WW1 as 'Hell on earth'. The soliders were 'trapped' in a nightmarish landscape of trench warfare, freezing temperatures with mud and water all around and death waiting for them from either the enemy or the living conditions in the trenches. Many of the sources focous on the suffering of the men in the trenches, due to the physical hardship of the weather and the actual, living conditions of the trenches. The conditions were really shocking, as we see in Sources 1-11. It was not just the combat, it was the life on the battle field which is the subject of these sources. From studying the sources, it appears as though this would be the worst place to be- it truly was a living hell. For the

The terrible living conditions in the trences are highlighed in Sources 6 & 7. We see very cramped conditions, with little room to sleep, earth all around the men as they wait to die. Again we realise this was a living hell for these young men. Frank Hurley's diary (Source 8) is an emotional response to the loneliness and horror of war, he uses emotive language, 'smashed and splintered' and 'gloom and death' to express the hardship of the men. The repetition of 'lonely' and 'loneliness' make us realise how isolated these men were in this battle. The inhumane conditions of the trenches which caused as many deths as the battes is discussed in Source 9. The ANZAC's had only two bankets to keep warm, their eyelids were often 'frozen shut' and thir feet 'swelled to three times their size' by standing in water. Trench feet was a result of long periods of time standing in water, this is shown in Source 10 when the reader is confronted with a very shocking visual image. Major Claridge through his personal reflection and using the technique of personification and repetition. He clearly explaines death as if it were a person waitig to take