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World war 1was supposed to be the war to end all wars. How wrong they were. It was, arguably, the worst war the world had seen. It was certainly the worst war of the 20th century. During World War 1there were no rules of war. Yes, today most countries have agreed to various rules of war but then no one had ever thought about rules. Then came things like gas attacks; mustard and other gasses were used by both sides. Gas was later outlawed from war.

Writing about life in the trenches can in no way truly provide the reader with an entirely accurate description. You can't hear, feel or smell what the trenches were like and those are important things to truly understanding life in the trenches.

Trenches on the front lines were about 7 feet high and 6 feet wide. In order to fire at an attacking enemy there was what was called a fire step. This fire step would raise the soldiers to the top of the trench. These steps were 2 3 feet high.

Every moment there was a chance to die. Shell fire would rain down and if you were not killed by the blast directly then you could be buried by the dirt flying out from the shell burst.

Disease was rampant. If you weren't killed by a snipers bullet or a shell burst then one of the diseases might take you. Trench foot is an infection cause by cold, wet and insanitary conditions. Trench foot could rot away some of the foot, it often resembled frost bite and the result was often amputation. In one winter, more than 20,000 were treated for trench foot. It was easy to prevent; clean and dry the feet and use clean socks.

In the trenches there was nothing that resembled true hygiene. There was no running water for proper washing. The latrines on the forward lines were often just large buckets tucked off to the side of the trench. It was sometimes dangerous to use the buckets so some of the soldiers might find a shell hole or they might even go just where they were in the trench.

Many more diseases were caused by the ever present rats that inhabited the area. Rats would nibble exposed parts of sleeping soldiers until the soldier awoke and swatted the rat away. Wounded men who couldn't swat away the rats would have to endure being nibbled on until someone noticed and got rid of the rat.

Every soldier was given "chores" to do every day. Often they would have to work 8 hours a day, every day. They would fill sandbags, take care of the horses, and fix the trenches after they were destroyed by enemy artillery fire. There were many chores which were essentially make work programs. These make work programs were designed for 2 reasons; firstly these chores did need to be done but they also served to help break the monotony of trench life. Monotony, boredom, was a common feature of trench life. Boredom was ever present but it was broken up by moments of sheer terror.

I alluded to the smells of the trenches. It must have been truly repulsive. It would have been a combination of urine, feces, blood, vomit, live human body smells, dead and rotting bodies and whatever smells the live and dead rats had. There were likely many other smells but just imagine for a moment what that might smell like and then living with it.

Trench life during World War 1 was a horrible, muddy, disease filled, boring, terrifying and many other things. But it certainly wasn't fun.

Resources:
www.germannotes. com/hist_ww1_trenches_life.sht ml

www.firstworldwar.com/featur es/trenchlife.htm

www.spartacus .schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtrench.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/w orldwars/wwone/launch_vt_trenc h_life.shtml

http://www.history learningsite.co.uk/ww1.htm

http ://www.worldwar1.com/tlbtw.htm

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