10th Euro Studies 3.1.18 The Race to the Sea Life in the trenches NONE Turn in: Nothing Take out : Previous notes Note-taking devices Today’s Learning Objectives: I can explain how technology and trench warfare impacted combatants as The Great European War began. Today’s Agenda: The Race to the Sea Life in the trenches HW: NONE

Trench Warfare…An Adventure!

Trench Warfare…An Adventure! …in the summer of 1914, teenager Len Thompson was thrilled by the prospect of war. It was a month since the assassination of the Austrian archduke in Sarajevo, and now Russia and Germany were mobilizing their armies. Britain was being drawn into the conflict. ‘We were all delighted when war broke out on August 4,’ he would recall, ‘bursting with happiness.’ In the beginning, the youthful wish for excitement was as important as the rush of bash-Kaiser-Bill patriotism. It would be over by Christmas - everyone said so - so don’t be left behind, get in quickly and grab your piece of the action. We were damned glad to have got off the farms…for the first time in my life there was no strenuous work.

Trench Warfare Again, back to the Schliffen Plan & Plan XVII… “The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men [often go awry]”--Robert Burns 1785 http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history/videos/tech-developments-of-world-war-i http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/western_front/index_embed.shtml

Trenches- WWI Be able to define the following trench terms: Saps, Parapet, Fire Step, Duck boards, No-Man’s land

Duck boards

Trench Construction diagram from 1914 British Army Manual

Aerial View of Trenches in WWI

Soldiers returning from battle with Mustard and Chlorine gas wounds

Water in the Trench

Trench Foot

Diseases in the Trenches TRENCH FEVER Diseases in the Trenches Two diseases were extremely prevalent in the trenches. The first was trench fever. Symptoms of this included headaches, skin rashes such as the one in the picture, inflamed eyes and leg pains. Although not a very serious illness with a recovery period of five or six days, this proved to be the chief illness in the trenches. It was not until 1918 that it was discovered to be caused by lice. The other was trench foot. Many soldiers fighting in the First World War suffered from trench foot. This was an infection of the feet caused by cold, wet and unsanitary conditions. In the trenches men stood for hours on end in waterlogged trenches without being able to remove wet socks or boots. The feet would gradually go numb and the skin would turn red or blue. If untreated, trench foot could turn gangrenous and result in amputation. Trench foot was a particular problem during the early stages of the war. The only remedy for trench foot was for the soldiers to dry their feet and change their socks several times a day. By the end of 1915 British soldiers in the trenches had to have three pairs of socks with them and were under orders to change their socks at least twice a day. As well as drying their feet, soldiers were told to cover their feet with grease made from whale-oil. It has been estimated that a battalion at the front would use ten gallons of whale-oil every day. TRENCH FOOT

Rats Richard Beasley, interviewed in 1993. “If you left your food the rats would soon grab it. Those rats were fearless. Sometimes we would shoot the filthy swines. But you would be put on a charge for wasting ammo, if the sergeant caught you.” There two types of rat in the trenches – the black rat and the brown rat. The brown rat was especially dangerous, being the one that could carry disease. These rats however were no normal rats – feasting themselves on the remains of the dead soldiers they grew to the size of cats. When bored, soldiers made games out of hunting them down and killing them using their guns or bayonets. This was pointless however – one rat couple can produce 900 offspring. Nits and lice were an even worse problem in the trenches. Every single soldier was infested with them. It sounds disgusting now, but in the trenches it was quite normal to hang a soldier upside down and whack them with a hard-backed book or something similar; and seeing the little black insects fall in showers out of their hair.

Body Lice

Life in the Trenches http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-i/world-war-i-history/videos/life-in-a-trench?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false

Who won the Battle of the Somme – Primary Sources  Read the primary sources & with a partner discuss, and answer, each of the 5 questions. **Pay attention to author, year, and bias in each source**  FIND SPECIFIC EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT YOUR OPINIONS