Trench Warfare

WWI

Schlieffen Plan

• German Military Strategy– Strike France 1st through Belgium (neutral)– GB stranded– Focus on Russia

Trench Warfare

• Warfare on Western Front• Long trenches• No Man’s Land– Separated the 2 sides– Barbed wires, land mines, artillery, machine guns

Trench Warfare Contd

• Artillery barrages to start• “over the top” – soldiers jump out of trenches

to attack other side

Issues with trenches

• Trench foot – infection of the food due to wet feet• Trench Rats/ lice• Lack of food/water• Dirty/Mud• Boredom• Diseases

Discussion Question

• Which aspect of trench warfare would you hate the most?

Early Battles – DON’T COPY

• Verdun – city in France– German offensive– 21 hour artillery barrage where more than 1

million shells were fired– 1 million soldiers of the German 5th Army

advanced on some 200,000 French defenders– Longest battle of war – more than 1 million

casualties

Battle Continued – DON’T COPY

• Battle of the Somme – northern France– Allied Powers offensive– British forces suffered some 60,000 casualties in a

single day– 4 months more than 1 million dead and wounded

New Weapons

• Machine guns• Tanks – Battle of Somme• Poison Gas• Airplanes• Submarines – U-Boats

The Aces

Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Eddie Rickenbacker

Draw or write about a Trench

• 2 options to choose:– 1. Draw a layout of a battle field with 2 trenches.• Must include 8 things that are associated with a

trench (weapons, miscellaneous items)• Must have 1-2 sentence attached to each picture

– 2. Write 4 diary entries on a typical day in the trenches• Must include 2 keywords/OK per entry• Each entry must be at least 5 sentences long