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  • The first World War was one of the deadliest conflicts

  • in the history of the human race, in which over 40

  • million military men and civilians died.

  • The life of a trench soldier was a living hell.

  • They endured disease, hunger, rats, horrific smells,

  • corpses everywhere.

  • And most importantly, they had to come

  • to terms with the reality that they could die at any moment.

  • Today we're going to find out what

  • it was like to be a World War I trench soldier.

  • But before we do, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History

  • Channel.

  • And let us know what historical events you

  • would like to hear about.

  • Now, on to the trenches.

  • From October, 1914, to March, 1918, British, French, German,

  • Russian, and Ottoman forces fought in trenches,

  • an interconnected series of muddy paths

  • dug about seven feet deep and six feet wide into the ground

  • at the front lines the battlegrounds.

  • While the trenches gave soldiers cover and protection from enemy

  • fire, they also, ironically, were

  • the cause of many deaths due to their sewer-like conditions.

  • When you hear about the trenches of World War I,

  • you might envision a bunch of crudely dug walkways.

  • But these trenches had a purposeful, strategic design.

  • The Allies and the Central Powers

  • designed their trenches as a defense mechanism.

  • Aggressive, heavy weapons forced both sides to hunker down.

  • So trenches became a way to hold a line without making

  • soldiers vulnerable.

  • The trenches were also dug in zigzags and curves, which

  • created corners and corridors, giving soldiers better vantage

  • points and hiding spots.

  • Those zigzag patterns kept infiltrating enemies

  • from jumping into the trench and wiping out everyone in sight.

  • And these trenches all served a different purpose.

  • Some trenches served as holding corrals

  • for troops on R&R. Some trenches were for supply storage.

  • And other trenches were for waste.

  • Something about being covered in soupy mud is fun.

  • People pay good money to get slathered in organic mud

  • at fancy day spas in the name of healthier skin.

  • But during World War I, prolonged exposure

  • to flooded, muddy trenches could cause trench foot.

  • You could lose your toes-- or worse, your feet.

  • Trench foot was so rampant and commonplace,

  • it impacted roughly 75,000 British soldiers alone.

  • It was also discovered in World War I

  • that soldiers gave each other regular foot inspections.

  • The men would be paired up in twos,

  • and each partner made responsible

  • for the feet of the other.

  • And they would generally apply whale oil

  • in an effort to prevent trench foot, that could happen

  • under all cold, wet conditions.

  • As a matter of fact, some concertgoers

  • were reported to have developed trench foot at the Glastonbury

  • Festivals, the Leeds Festivals, and Download Festivals

  • as a result of the consistent cold, wet, and muddy conditions

  • at those events.

  • Even though advanced medical techniques

  • meant that doctors were better equipped

  • to manage the health of soldiers in World War I

  • than they had been in previous conflicts,

  • it was still common for soldiers to simply get sick and die.

  • The cold, damp, and unsanitary conditions in the trenches

  • did nothing to fortify soldiers.

  • And the unforgiving elements made them prone to illness.

  • Lice circulated in the trenches and spread maladies

  • like trench fever.

  • And it wasn't uncommon for soldiers

  • to wake up finding rats eating their rations--

  • or them.

  • Yes, the rats were so bold they'd take bites

  • out of sleeping soldiers.

  • And let's not forget that the trenches were the breeding

  • ground for one of the deadliest outbreaks in history,

  • the influenza pandemic of 1918.

  • Due to World War I, soldiers' already low immune systems,

  • weakened by malnourishment as well as the stresses of combat

  • and chemical attacks, their susceptibility to the disease

  • was imminent.

  • World War I changed on April 22, 1915,

  • when German forces shocked Allied soldiers

  • along the Western Front by firing more than 150 tons

  • of lethal chlorine gas against two French colonial divisions

  • at Ypres, Belgium.

  • The United States, which entered World War I in 1917,

  • also developed and used chemical weapons.

  • Future President Harry S. Truman was the captain of a US field

  • artillery unit that fired poison gas against the Germans

  • in 1918.

  • All in, approximately 100,000 tons of chemical weapons

  • were used in World War I, injuring around 500,000 troops

  • and killing nearly 30,000 men, including 2,000 Americans.

  • Gas attacks were terrifying.

  • It was a new level of warfare that no one was expecting.

  • A gas attack could severely injure or end

  • anyone unlucky enough to come into proximity with it.

  • It also could depend on how the breeze was blowing

  • at that particular time.

  • Soldiers weren't in the trenches 24/7 for months on end.

  • Soldiers actually only spent between one and seven

  • days at a time in the trenches, in close reserve, and at rest.

  • This process limited the amount of time

  • a soldier spent in the bleak trenches.

  • And the rotation was incredibly important in managing

  • their stress.

  • "Rest" could be a misnomer, though.

  • If regiments were understaffed, soldiers

  • were usually recruited to expand and repair the trenches.

  • On the other end of the spectrum,

  • some soldiers also took advantage of their time

  • away from the trenches by visiting brothels.

  • By 1918, 1 million French soldiers

  • had been treated for STIs.

  • Front-line soldiers, who were forced

  • to confront death and violence for days on end,

  • naturally developed damaging psychological wounds.

  • The high-stress climate of the trench warfare

  • led to extreme anxiety and panic attacks,

  • though medical and military officials used terms

  • like "shell shock" to describe what was happening,

  • which is now what we call post-traumatic stress disorder.

  • Many soldiers who had shell shock

  • were sent to convalescent homes to recuperate.

  • As a matter of fact, the term "shell shocked"

  • was coined during World War I. Some soldiers that

  • suffered from the condition were put on trial,

  • and even executed for military crimes,

  • including desertion and cowardice.

  • Think about it.

  • 266 British soldiers were executed

  • for desertion, 18 for cowardice, seven

  • for quitting a post without authority,

  • five for disobedience to a lawful command,

  • and two for casting away arms, all because no one knew

  • how to handle PTSD.

  • Trench food was a big thing during World War I. Naturally,

  • it was horrible.

  • But it was important to keep the troops going.

  • The British Army alone employed 300,000 field workers

  • to cook and supply the food.

  • The men's diet was made up of small rations

  • of boiled beef, bacon, vegetables, and bread,

  • although it could take up to eight days for the bread

  • to reach the trenches.

  • And by then, it was stale.

  • But crafty soldiers solved the stale bread dilemma

  • on their own by tearing the hard loaves up, adding potatoes,

  • onions, raisins, or whatever else was available,

  • and boiling the mixture in a sandbag.

  • By the winter of 1916, flour was in such short supply

  • the bread was being made with dried, ground turnips.

  • And the main meal was now a pea soup

  • with a few lumps of horse meat.

  • Soldiers may have had to deal with crappy food.

  • But the one thing they had to look forward to

  • was the alcohol they received that provided liquid courage

  • for the men in the trenches.

  • Even though millions of people perished

  • and it seemed like there was a new battle every day,

  • a soldier's life in the trenches was often

  • spent sitting around, doing nothing

  • but waiting around for the next volley of gunfire.

  • It seems like it would be impossible to get bored when

  • you're surrounded by the enemy.

  • But boredom was the most common state of being.

  • And officials and officers knew this.

  • They were worried that soldiers with nothing to do

  • would just get into trouble.

  • So the British military pushed them

  • to be creative as a way to raise morale.

  • One of the most memorable British artifacts

  • to come from the sheer boredom that came with trench life

  • was producing a trench magazine.

  • The Wipers Times was one such magazine that soldiers printed.

  • English soldiers stationed near Ypres--

  • which they mispronounced as "wipers"--

  • in Belgium found an old printing press and put it to good use

  • by publishing their own magazine and circulating it

  • in the trenches.

  • The magazine didn't report on the hard news of the war,

  • though.

  • It was filled with poems, essays and jokes,

  • and lampoons of the war they were fighting.

  • The tone was dark, humorous, and, at times, touching,

  • like a cross between The Onion and a high school newspaper.

  • As bad as World War I was, the first Christmas

  • of World War I, in 1914, brought forth

  • a spirit of humanity and unity that stood in stark contrast

  • to life in the trenches.

  • On Christmas Eve, a chorus of carols

  • from both British and German trenches

  • resulted in a tentative truce for the holiday.

  • Soldiers from opposite sides of No Man's Land

  • emerged from their trenches and met,

  • bringing goodwill and makeshift gifts.

  • It was odd to see French, German,

  • and British soldiers crossing trenches

  • into No Man's Land to exchange seasonal greetings and talk.

  • But there they were--

  • bartering for cigarettes, playing

  • football against each other, and exchanging food and souvenirs.

  • Unfortunately, the peace did not last long.

  • Fighting resumed the next day.

  • And the goodwill hardened again into animosity.

  • The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires

  • to congregate and retrieve the dead bodies

  • of their fellow soldiers shot down in No Man's Land.

  • But the truces weren't nearly as widespread as in 1914,

  • due in part to orders from those in high command of both sides

  • prohibiting truces.

  • One of the most interesting and surprising World War I legacies

  • was its effect on language.

  • The blending of soldiers' nationalities,

  • languages, dialects, accents, and social backgrounds

  • of the trenches produced an unusual glossary

  • of military slang.

  • For example, British soldiers called enemy grenades "potato

  • mashers," and used the phrase "storm troopers"

  • to describe soldiers that performed

  • risky, lightning-fast attacks.

  • The term "basket case" was another bit of slang

  • that originated during World War I. "Basket cases" were injured

  • soldiers who were carried out of the trenches

  • in long, casket-shaped baskets because of their lost limbs.

  • "Cooties" is a word that came into play in 1915

  • from the coot, a type of duck known

  • for being infested with lice and other parasites.

  • So would you want to be a trench soldier in World War I?

  • Let us know in the comments below.

  • And while you're at it, check out some of these other videos

  • from our weird history.

The first World War was one of the deadliest conflicts

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What It Was Like To Be a Trench Soldier in WWI

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    joey joey に公開 2021 年 05 月 20 日
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