Trench warfare in World War I

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Trench warfare in the First World War dominated the Western Front in particular from late autumn 1914 to spring 1918, but also, to varying degrees, on the Eastern Front, the Isonzo Front and the Gallipoli Peninsula. After the initial German advance under the Schlieffen Plan had been halted at the First Battle of the Marne and the subsequent Race to the sea ended without a strategic breakthrough, the front line became deadlocked along a stretch of around 700 kilometres between the Channel coast of northern France and the Swiss border. Trench warfare developed into a complex, deeply echeloned system. It comprised front-line trenches, communication and reserve trenches behind them, as well as extensive shelters, bunker complexes and barbed-wire entanglements. Machine guns and the massive use of artillery made infantry attacks extremely costly in terms of casualties. To break the deadlock, the warring parties turned to innovative military methods and tactics, including the use of poison gas...

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