WWI: Trenches and new weaponry

This is how a war would look, in former days... Soldiers in colourful uniforms, marching toward each other. Lining up, Ready, aim, And fire! During the early 19th century, weapons were weak. The rifles of that time couldn't kill from more than 50 meters.

The armies had to get close up to each other. It was good they wore colourful uniforms, so they could tell their friends from the enemies. But now it's 1914, World War I has broken out, and you can't fight a war like this anymore. The latest rifles can kill from a distance of several hundred meters -- cannons reach even further, and the machine gun can mow down scores of soldiers in seconds. With weapons like these, it's a good idea to wear clothes that make you blend in with the surroundings, so you're hard to spot.

This is something France hasn't realised yet, this early in the war. Their bright blue and red clothes are visible from a long distance. Thousands of their soldiers die - before their uniforms are replaced. More soldiers survive too, after both sides provide helmets for their soldiers, instead of soft caps. But, it takes more than new uniforms to protect yourself from these modern weapons.

They start hiding from enemy bullets by digging deep ditches - trenches. Soldiers dig trenches, long, narrow, and deep enough to stand up in. They extend throughout a huge stretch of France, all the way from the North Sea coast, down to Switzerland. The trenches make it almost impossible for the Germans to move deeper into France; but neither could France, combined with Britain, push the Germans out again. Because, with your own soldiers - and the enemy's - down in trenches, it's pretty hard to shoot at each other.

The major battles start with the cannons shooting at the enemy for days and nights. Those who survive the shelling are devastated from horror and lack of sleep. When the cannons finally silence, thousands of soldiers rush up from their trenches and attack. It's a several hundred meter long run, straight into the line of machinegun fire, and through barbed wire. Few...

manage to get across to the other side. Hundreds of thousands of people die in battles like these. Two of the most famous battles, are Verdun and Somme. In the battle of Verdun, some 700,000 soldiers are either killed or wounded. And Germany advances about 10 kilometers into France.

Germany loses more than 30 soldiers for each meter of ground they advance. During the battle of the Somme, about 1,200,000 people are wounded or killed. The advancing British and French soldiers win barely any ground at all. In order to take over the enemy's trenches and win the war, lots of new weapons are invented. Cannons have been around for a long time, but during World War I, they are further developed.

Now they can shoot longer distances, and more accurately. Grenades are developed, that become more powerful, spreading more death and destruction where they land. In order to reach the enemy's trenches without too many casualties, the tank is invented. That's going to be even further developed, and become one of the deadliest weapons in the next big war. Same thing with the aeroplane, which is developed fast during World War I, but it's still mostly being used to spy on the enemy.

Most feared of all weapons however, is probably poisonous gas, used as a chemical weapon. Anyone inhaling it, burns their lungs, goes blind, is maimed, or killed, while suffering terrible pain. One soldier - who took in just a small amount of gas, before getting his gas mask on - describes that it felt like he was going to cough his lungs out. The Industrial Revolution has already transformed the economy and society. With World War I, warfare is also being industrialised.