Everything You Want to Know About Trench Warfare

Trench warfare on WWI's Western Front (1914–1918) emerged from a strategic stalemate between industrialized armies whose defensive firepower outpaced offensive mobility. After the failure of rapid war plans in 1914 such as the Schlieffen Plan, opposing forces entrenched themselves across France and Belgium, creating a continuous front where territorial gains were measured in meters rather than miles. This form of warfare reflected the realities of modern conflict: mass conscription, machine guns, heavy artillery, and rail-based logistics which made frontal assaults devastatingly costly and difficult to sustain.