1. Essential Question: Did the benefits of trench warfare outweigh the negative impacts?

2. What was trench warfare?
Trench warfare was a system of warfare
where opposing armies
dug ditches to protect
themselves from enemy
machine guns and
artillery.

4. What did the soldiers say about the trenches?
“The duckboard track was constantly shelled, and in places a hundred yards of it had been blown to smithereens. It was better to keep off the track when walking back and forth, but then a man had to make his way sometimes through very heavy mud…..wet snow had begun to fall, which turned into rain and some parts of the land were soon a bog of mud to get drowned in”
Frank Richards

5. What did the soldiers say about the trenches?
“To give a recipe for getting a rough idea, in case you want to, I recommend the following procedure. Select a flat ten-acre ploughed field, so sited that all the surface water of the surrounding country drains into it. Now cut a zig-zag slot about four feet deep and three feet wide diagonally across, dam off as much water as you can so as to leave about one hundred yards of squelchy mud; delve out a hole at one side of the slot, then endeavour to live there for a month on bully beef and damp biscuits, whilst a friend has instructions to fire at you with his Winchester every time you put your head above the surface.”
Bruce Bairnsfather

6. Why did they need trenches?

7. How did trenches impact the health of the soldiers?
Trench foot
Trench fever
Trench mouth

8. Trench Mouth
It earned the name trench mouth because of the pervasiveness amid soldiers fighting in trenches during WWI without any way to care for their teeth appropriately.
Bleeding from the gums when they are pressed very slightly
Gum pain which is severe
Swollen and red gums
Gray film on the gums
Pain when swallowing or eating
Crater-like ulcers or sores between the teeth and the gums
Bad breath
Foul taste in the mouth
Fever

11. How did trench warfare impact the land?

12. The map above shows the northern half of the 500 miles of continuous ditches the armies occupied in for most of the war.

13. No Man’s Land

14. Essential Question: Did the benefits of trench warfare outweigh the negative impacts?
Using evidence from your text that you wrote on your note taking sheet, answer the above question.
Suggested Outline:
Paragraph 1—What was trench warfare, why did they use it, and what were the positives?
Paragraph 2—What were the negatives of trench warfare?
Paragraph 3—Answer the Essential Question by giving your opinion and facts that support it.