Life in The Trenches Virtual Tour
Troops are seen in a trench in France during the First World War
Soldiers emerge from a trench and go over the top into battle during the First World War
Although best known for its role in the long slog of World War I, trench warfare actually got its start on the battlefields of the American Civil War. Find out how new weapons and technology played a part in both its development and destruction.
Watch this film “The Trench”
War Horse Trench Warfare
Shell Shock
“COWARD” is a 28 minute film set during World War 1 that brings to light some of the brutal treatment soldiers received for suffering what would now be known as shell-shock. It follows two cousins, Andrew and James, from their home in Northern Ireland who join the British Army to fight for their Country and make their families proud. Through their eyes we see the reality of life on the front lines.
The video explains how trenches were built and how soldiers used to live there. Trenches were deep holes in the grounds. Soldiers could enter thanks to a ladder put in the hole. When you were down the only thing you could see was darkness: it was like a graveyard. Trenches were kilometers long and with the passing of the time they became stronger and stronger and deeper and deeper. They consisted of three rows used for the exchange of food and weapons: at the top there were boards and sacks of sand, while at the bottom there were long pieces of wood. The two lines were separated by the No one’s land; it was a place full of corpses, wounded men who could only shout their pain without receiving any help. The soldiers were always exposed to the danger of death and besides the war itself, also the fear and anxiety caused by it, consumed the soldiers who survived in dirty, cold, rainy, muddy conditions. There was no other choice, but to obey and to fight. The article is very interesting, too, because men survived or born after the war wanted to recreate the reality of war, digging trenches and living there in order to understand the misery of those soldiers, to share their mood and to overcome hunger, cold and stress. Apart those who consider war simply an event of the past, which they don’t care about, I have realized that there are men who bear the responsibility of the war and try to experience those four terrible years. Because only living directly an experience you became able to understand it and you win the right to judge, therefore, to punish or to forgive.