ipl-logo

Trench Warfare Essay

1309 Words6 Pages

Each side has their evidence as to why they believe what they believe. The continuation camp believes that trench warfare was a result of warfare over the past wars eventually evolving into what became trench warfare. On the other side, the break or transition camp believes that there was an event or other circumstance that caused warfare to completely change and become trench warfare. The first camp believes that there was no major break in the way warfare was fought and that trench warfare was the same as previous wars just fought in the trenches. In the second camp, the scholars believe the exact opposite of the first camp in that there was an event or idea that completely changed World War I warfare and created the new system of trench …show more content…

World War I saw several different weapon advancements that would literally change the way the war would be fought. The biggest and probably most significant weaponry advancement was the creation of the machine gun at the beginning of the war in 1914. Even though the machine gun had its problems with overheating and jamming, it was still a major killer on the battlefield. The machine gun could fire massive quantities of bullets in just a short amount of time and across a wide area. Unfortunately, the machine gun early on, required teams of men to use it which made the soldiers operating them more exposed to enemy gunfire because they were responsible for reloading and making sure the gun did not malfunction. The machine gun was a significant player in trench warfare and the shift towards it, in that it made defending trenches from enemy soldiers very easy for the defending troops because of the high fire rate and wide range of fire the machine gun had. The invention of the machine gun was a factor for the break of conventional warfare in World War I and for the emergence of trench warfare. The usual strategy that was used in prior wars was no good in World War I. Soldiers could no longer run at the enemy head on and attack them because the machine gun was too quick to out maneuver or ambush. With this advance in weaponry, there needed to be an advancement in mobility to counter or at least match the ferocity of the machine gun. Unfortunately, there was no advancements in mobility and the machine gun was able to tear through enemy forces with ease as there was a lack of mobility to provide protection for the defending forces. This caused troops to dig into the earth and build trench walls in order to defend themselves from the hail of machine gun

Show More
Related

The Danger Lurking In Just One Drink Summary

209 Words | 1 Pages

I agree with the author's point of view in the article “The Danger Lurking in Just One Drink”, by Jeannie Ralston. She provides many statistics that surround teenage binge drinking and how it is negative and dangerous to teenagers. In the beginning, the article starts off with a short story about a girl from Massachusetts, named Taylor Meyer, who was too drunk to find her way home and ended up drowning in a swampy area in the woods. “Your brain on alcohol becomes a dumber, more unpredictable version of itself and the consequences can be catastrophic” (Ralston, p.7). If Taylor had not drank that night she would have been able to find her way home safely and unharmed.

Read More

How Technology Advancements Affected The Civil War

1178 Words | 5 Pages

Soldiers were able to fight at much larger distances and with the invention of repeating rifles they were able to fire more bullets in a shorter amount of time. This caused army generals to have to rethink battle plans and come up with new strategies to avoid

Read More

How The Tactics Of Trench Warfare During The American Civil War

1100 Words | 5 Pages

Furthermore, trenches provided a safe place to shelter while on the defensive, one man with a gun in the trench could kill three men approaching and still be safe from fire as he was mostly hidden behind the trench. Additionally, trenches protected and sheltered the men from enemy fire and artillery. Trenches revamped the way wars were fought around the world for centuries and changed the outcome of many wars in the

Read More

Battle Of Bunker Hill Essay

559 Words | 3 Pages

So they decided to do something about it. This is when the battle of Bunker Hill began. (www.theamericanrevolution.org/battledetail.aspx?battle=5) There was one British

Read More

World War 1 Trench Warfare

259 Words | 2 Pages

However, gaining ground was a very slow process which could take up to weeks, even months. The term “trench warfare” may sound familiar to people, but not

Read More

Revolutionary War: The Siege Of Yorktown

2187 Words | 9 Pages

The purpose of this essay will primarily focus on how artillery played a pivotal

Read More

How Did Barbed Wire Affect World War One

883 Words | 4 Pages

Many new technologies were also implemented in ww1, like tanks, planes, machine guns, poison gas, and the purpose of this essay, barbed wire. History of Barbed Wire Barbed wire is usually a long metal wire or wires, with sharpened wire strung around it at frequent intervals. Barbed wire was invented in 1874 by Joseph

Read More

Technological Advances During The Civil War

652 Words | 3 Pages

Both the Civil War and World War I had their respective shares of technological advancements prior to both conflicts taking off. Leadership found the advancements both appealing and appalling. The advancements changed the way the battles were fought, but at what cost in the beginning? With the Civil War edging closer to the horizon in 1861, a new terrifying weapon was being brought to the forefront.

Read More

Describe The Major Changes In The Western Trenches

1284 Words | 6 Pages

The trenches were a significant change to this battle, not only in early 1914, in the first World War, but for the later wars and battles that would follow. The trench system stretched from the North coast of Belgium to the South of France. It stretched through French towns and even into Switzerland. If the trenches were laid end to end, they would stretch more than twenty five thousand miles.

Read More

WW1: The First Modern War

70 Words | 1 Pages

WW1 is known as the first modern war because it saw the incorporation of mechanical weapons. The Central Powers and Allies both used a variety of weapons such as machine guns, chemical weapons , clothing, biplanes, artillery, tanks, grenades, and rifles. These weapons were state of the art for the early 20th century. These weapons caused casualties to skyrocket as the Allies and the Central Powers were in a stalemate.

Read More

Battle Of Amiens Essay

650 Words | 3 Pages

Trenches were used as defensive structures for soldiers to hide in while firing at enemy troops that would try to break through the defense. Gas and other techniques were used in an attempt to kill soldiers hiding in trenches. Near the end of the war, new weapons were being designed to improve the outcome of battles. New weapons such as tanks were used to cross “no-man’s-land” as moving shields and guns because the old weapons such as cavalry and muskets were ineffective against modern weapons, but the tanks were slow and unreliable. Propeller planes were also designed to target enemy positions and attack with their mounted machine guns.

Read More

Progressive Education During World War I

1551 Words | 7 Pages

World War I is an extremely important and influential war that continues to affect modern society of the entire world through progressive

Read More

World War 1 Trench Warfare Essay

853 Words | 4 Pages

“Imagine yourself in the pitch dark, after two or three days of wet, cold, hunger, sleeplessness, staggering down a trench, knee-deep in mud, carrying various burdens that almost equal your own body-weight” (Ellis, 48). This was the everyday life of the typical soldier involved in the World War I trench warfare. During WWI trench warfare was common. It began in September 1914 with the German army digging themselves in for a battle that would last what seemed like a life time for the soldiers involved. Soldiers on either side alike lived in deplorable conditions.

Read More

Similarities Between WW1 And Ww2

1863 Words | 8 Pages

Technology The wars were different partly because of progress in technology. World War 1 began when the world still had it’s rear end grounded in Nineteenth Century culture and technology. It happened 49 years after the American Civil War, but not in a lot had changed since then. Lots of new technology had been invented, but nobody had learned how to use it in practice.

Read More

Battle Of Normandy Essay

1004 Words | 5 Pages

The Battle of Normandy otherwise known as “D-Day” was one of the most famous battles to be held during World War II and took place over a fifty mile stretch of the Normandy coastline. Allied forces that included the United States, United Kingdom and Canada took over Nazi forces which eventually lead to the mass destruction of the German forces. This intense invasion started on June 6th, 1944 and included parachute landings, air and naval attacks and many different phases of land and sea invasions throughout the day. The Allied forces were equipped with a staggering amounts of weaponry including, fifty thousand vehicles, four thousand warships and over eleven thousand planes ready to send into action. Choosing a supreme commander for this attack was crucial and

Read More

More about Trench Warfare Essay

Related Topics

Open Document