Question

describe trench warfare

Answer 1

people dug trenches and tried to shoot each other from the trenches. It sucked because you were usually stuck for days in the trenches and conditions were horrible. Mostly used in World War 1

Answer 2

It's a form of warfare that began with the invention of weapons that could kill from a distance, e.g. bows and later guns. The problem is that a distance weapon like that can kill you long before you can get near the guy who's firing it at you. So you need to hide from him, and perhaps use your own weapon to fire back.

If you have cover -- trees, hills, rocks -- that's fine. But what if you're on an open plain? Or what if you're besieging a city and the defenders have thought of removing the rocks and trees from in front of the city, and filling in any holes?

In that case, you dig holes to hide in, so only your head is exposed when you shoot, and you can duck down to hide in between. Since you'd like to be able to move around without exposing yourself hopping from hole to hole, you connect the holes to form trenches. Trenches were usually dug during sieges, in front of cities, and sometimes they would be dug right up to the walls of the city, where you might try to put bombs underneat the walls, and blow them up. They were used in the 18th century, and 19th, including the Civil War.

Where they became famous is the First World War, and not because of the trenches, but because of the invention of the machine gun. The machine gun was a fearsome weapon and you could train (focus) it on the enemies trenches, and just wait for him to climb out to attack. Then rat-a-tat-tat, you just mow your enemy down before he can get to you, with guns that fire hundreds of bullets per minute.

As a result, the trench became useless. You could hide in it, sure, but you could never advance out of it, because the machine guns would slaughter you. That didn't prevent the combatants in the First World War from trying -- hoping that enough men, running fast enough, and brave enough, could somehow overcome the wall of bullets. It didn't work, however, and millions of young men died proving that. This gave "trench warfare" the evil name it now has.

The ultimate solution was the invention of the armored tank, which also happened in the First World War, but towards the end. The tank was a way to attack even though your enemy had machine guns. Your soldiers just all pile into the tank, and drive across to the machine guns of the enemies -- the bullets bouncing harmlessly off the tank's armor -- and squish the machine gunner.

Just as the machine gun destroyed the trench as an effective tool of offensive warfare, the tank destroyed the machine gun as an effective tool of defensive warfare, and the advantage went back to the side that was most aggressive. This is why the First World War was a war of defense, where little movement took place, while the Second was a war of offense, where lots of movement took place.

In case you're wondering, the answer to the tank is the airplane, but this still leaves the advantage in war to the offense.