The trench experience involved the terror of mud, slime and disease and the constant threat of shellfire. Heavy artillery and new weapons such as poison gas threatened death from afar; but hand to hand combat with clubs and knives killed many during the grisly business of trench raids.
Trenches became trash dumps of the detritus of war: broken ammunition boxes, empty cartridges, torn uniforms, shattered helmets, soiled bandages, shrapnel balls, bone fragments. Trenches were also places of despair, becoming long graves when they collapsed from the weight of the war.
Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead.
The loss of life was greater than in any previous war in history, in part because militaries were using new technologies, including tanks, airplanes, submarines, machine guns, modern artillery, flamethrowers, and poison gas.
Barrages of immense artillery shells snuffed out lives by the thousands, trenches filled with water and rats and worse were home for months on end to weary soldiers, and geographical orientation was often impossible.
The casualties in World War II were much higher. Over 15 million died in battle — nearly double the number from World War I — and 25 million were wounded. Additionally, World War II resulted in over 45 million civilian deaths.
World War II was the most destructive war in history. Estimates of those killed vary from 35 million to 60 million. The total for Europe alone was 15 million to 20 million—more than twice as many as in World War I.
English physician Charles Myers, who wrote the first paper on “shell-shock” in 1915, theorized that these symptoms actually did stem from a physical injury. He posited that repetitive exposure to concussive blasts caused brain trauma that resulted in this strange grouping of symptoms.
Despite prevailing notions of masculine bravery, soldiers' letters, diaries, and memoirs described the fear experience - associated with “baptism by fire”, different kinds of weaponry (including gas and air bombs), panicking or retreating units, and other feelings such as hatred, revenge, and shame.
By far, artillery was the biggest killer in World War I, and provided the greatest source of war wounded.
Two shots in Sarajevo ignited the fires of war and drew Europe toward World War I. Just hours after narrowly escaping an assassin's bomb, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, are killed by Gavrilo Princip.
Getting to sleep
When able to rest, soldiers in front line trenches would try and shelter from the elements in dugouts. These varied from deep underground shelters to small hollows in the side of trenches – as shown here.
Stinking mud mingled with rotting corpses, lingering gas, open latrines, wet clothes and unwashed bodies to produce an overpowering stench. The main latrines were located behind the lines, but front-line soldiers had to dig small waste pits in their own trenches.
With the development of trench warfare, increasingly large artillery was developed to fire high explosive shells and smash enemy trenches, like this battery of 9.2 inch howitzers. The majority of casualties on the Western Front were caused by artillery shells, explosions and shrapnel.
The dangers of trench warfare were plentiful. Enemy attacks on trenches or advancing soldiers could come from artillery shells, mortars, grenades, underground mines, poison gas, machine guns and sniper fire. Soldiers in the trenches endured conditions ranging from barely tolerable to utterly horrific.
The First World War was the first time that the psychological trauma of warfare was formally recognised both by doctors and society at large. The condition became known as 'shell shock'. While moving up to the trenches during his first time on the Western Front, NCO Frederick Holmes witnessed someone suffering from it.
Those who can prove a religious, ethical or moral opposition to all wars may apply for a discharge or transfer to a non-combat job as a conscientious objector.
Trench life involved long periods of boredom mixed with brief periods of terror. The threat of death kept soldiers constantly on edge, while poor living conditions and a lack of sleep wore away at their health and stamina.
About twice as many American soldiers showed symptoms of PTSD during World War II than in World War I. This time their condition was called “psychiatric collapse,” “combat fatigue,” or “war neurosis.”
Post-traumatic stress disorder was a major military problem during World War I, though it was known at the time as “shell shock.” The term itself first appeared in the medical journal The Lancet in Feb. 1915, some six months after the “Great War” began.
Varying estimates suggest that Russia may have suffered the highest number of military and total fatalities in the First World War.
The three bloodiest conflicts have been American Civil War (1861–1865), World War I (1917–1918), and World War II (1941–45).
If Germany had won on the Western Front, it would have acquired some French territory and maybe Belgium. The Germans probably wouldn't have been able to enjoy their victory for long. Britain would have retained its independence, protected by its navy that might have continued the hunger blockade against Germany.