World War I was fought from 1914-1919 and was characterized by brutal trench warfare on the Western Front. Opposing armies dug extensive trench systems that stretched across northern France and Belgium, living for years in underground bunkers and trenches under miserable conditions with rats, lice, flooded trenches, and disease. Between the opposing trench lines lay "no man's land", a desolate landscape filled with shell holes, destroyed buildings and trees. Soldiers would emerge from the trenches to charge across no man's land with just rifles and helmets, facing heavy casualties from machine guns and artillery in battles like the Somme. Life in the trenches was grim and dangerous.

1. World War I
1914-1919

2. The Western Front, 1914, Source: voiceseducation.org

3. Trench Warfare
• Western Front
• Warring armies burrowed into vast systems of trenches, stretching from
Swiss frontier to English channel.
• Underground network linked bunkers, communications trenches and
gun emplacements.
A trench in modern day France, Source: History.com

4. Source: wp.lps.org

7. Source: arrowhistory.files.wordpress.com

8. Source: historyonthenet.com

9. • Millions of soldiers roasted under broiling summer sun
or froze through long winters. Shared food with rats and
beds with lice

11. Australian soldiers using periscopes in a trench during the battle of Gallipolli, 1915,
Source: hsiestage5resources2013.wikispaces.com

13. A flooded trench, Source: s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com

14. Trench foot inspection, Source: news.bbcimg.co.uk

15. A case of trench foot, Source: http://history.amedd.army.mil/

16. This terrier caught this many rats after hunting for 15 minutes in a trench, Source: http:
//news.bbcimg.co.uk/

17. Soldiers pick lice out of their clothes, Source: History.com

18. Soldiers get hot rations, Source: news.bbcimg.co.uk

19. • “No man’s land”: Empty tract, pocked with shell holes,
destroyed houses and trees, lays between opposing
trench lines

20. Fake tree for snipers to hide in, Source:
http://spartacus-educational.com/
Sniper with rifle, Source: warhistoryonline.com

21. British soldiers fight the deadly Battle of the Somme, Source: History.com

22. • “Over the top”: with no protection but helmets and rifles,
soldiers charge across land toward enemy lines
Canadian soldiers go over the top, Source: History.com

23. Bullet wound to the face, Base Hospital #28, Source: kumc.edu

24. A shell shocked soldier (lower left), Source: http://ahp.apps01.yorku.ca/

25. • Trenches elaborately constructed, cleverly concealed
Artist’s rendition of trench life, Source: hsiestage5resources2013.wikispaces.com