What was life like in the WW1 trenches?
Life in the trenches during the First World War took many forms, and varied widely from sector to sector and from front to front. Undoubtedly, it was entirely unexpected for those eager thousands who signed up for war in August 1914. A War of Movement? Indeed, the Great War – a phrase coined even before it had begun – was expected to be a relatively short affair and, as with most wars, one of great movement. The First World War was typified however by its lack of movement, the years of stalemate exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914 until spring 1918. Not that there wasn’t movement at all on the Western Front during 1914-18; the war began dramatically with sweeping advances by the Germans through Belgium and France en route for Paris. However stalemate – and trench warfare soon set in – and the expected war of movement wasn’t restored until towards the close of the war, although the line rippled as successes were achieved at a local level. (Click here to view brief film foo
