USA HISTORY

AMERICAN IMPERIALISM(1890 1919)

CAUSES OF WORLD WAR I

[SOURCES]
True or False:General living conditions in the trenches were dirty, full of pests, and dangerous.

(A) ** TRUE

(B) FALSE

EXPLANATIONS BELOW

Concept note-1: -The unsanitary conditions of trench life, especially the cold, persistent dampness, resulted in trench foot, a frost-bite-like infection that in extreme cases, led to gangrene and amputation.

Concept note-2: -Trenches were long, narrow ditches dug into the ground where soldiers lived. They were very muddy, uncomfortable and the toilets overflowed. These conditions caused some soldiers to develop a problem called trench foot. There were many lines of German trenches on one side and many lines of Allied trenches on the other.

Concept note-3: -Still, life in the front line was always dangerous. Snipers’ bullets and stray shell-bursts were constant hazards. Periodically, the trenches were subjected to heavy artillery bombardments in support of raids and patrols, or against groups of troops moving up to the line.

Concept note-4: -Nighttime in the trenches was both the busiest and the most dangerous. Under cover of darkness, soldiers often climbed out of their trenches and moved into No Man’s Land, the blasted landscape separating the two armies.

Concept note-5: -Often it rained and due to many of the bombardments, the land was totally destroyed which made the trenches very wet and muddy, the perfect time for Trench Foot to occur. The rain also created a damp environment which in many cases, caused injuries to become infectious because there wasn’t a dry environment to heal in.