Why WW1 Turned Into Trench Warfare (WW1 Documentary)

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2 ай бұрын

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Trench Warfare is one of the lasting symbols of the First World War, especially on the Western Front. But when the war began, the German and French armies envisioned sweeping advances and defeating the enemy swiftly. So, how and why did the Western Front in 1914 turn into the trench system we associate with WW1?
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» SOURCES
Addington, Larry. The Patterns of War since the Eighteenth Century. 2nd ed. Bloomington, 1994.
Ashworth, T. Trench warfare, 1914-18 : The Live And Let Live System. 2000.
Doyle, Peter and Robin Schaefer. Fritz and Tommy: Across the Barbed Wire. 2016.
Griffith, P. and Dennis, P. Fortifications of the Western Front 1914-18. 2013.
Ferro, Marc. La Grande guerre : 1914-1918. 1968.
Hart, Peter. The Great War 1914-1918. 2014.
Imperial General Staff. Field entrenchments : spadework for riflemen, hasty fire-cover, fire-trenches, communications, concealment, obstruction, shelters. 1916.
Kendall, P. Aisne 1914: The Dawn of Trench Warfare. 2012.
Linnenkohl, Hans. Vom Einzelschuss zum Feuerhagel. Die Entwicklung der Artillerie- und Infanteriebewaffnung im Ersten Weltkrieg. 1990.
Legrand-Girarde, E. and H. Plessis. Manuel complet de fortification. 1909. gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt...
Loez, André (ed.). Mondes en guerre. Tome III : Guerres mondiales et impériales 1870-1945. 2020.
Palmer, Svetlana and Sarah Wallis. A War in Words. 2003.
Philpott, W. (2021). Warfare 1914-1918 | International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1). [online] 1914-1918-online.net. Available at: encyclopedia.1914-1918-online... [Accessed 16 Sep. 2023]. 
Saunders, A. Trench Warfare, 1850-1950. 2010.
Strachan, Hew. The First World War. Vol 1: To Arms. 2003.
Zabecki, D. “Military Developments of World War I” in 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. encyclopedia.1914-1918-online...
Philpott, William. “Warfare 1914-1918,” in: 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War. encyclopedia.1914-1918-online...
Stevenson, David. 1914-1918: the History of the First World War. 2004.
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Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Philipp Appelt
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Research by: Jesse Alexander, Evan Chaisson
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Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
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Пікірлер: 454

@TheGreatWar 2 ай бұрын

Get a NordVPN with a 2-year plan plus 4 additional months with a huge discount and 30-day money back guarantee: nordvpn.com/thegreatwar

@kohtalainenalias 2 ай бұрын

Will NordVPN protect us from enemy artillery fire?

@tonyboss1875 Ай бұрын

Awesome video, ww1 history is so interesting

@MH-jg6vk Ай бұрын

Wasn’t the last major European war in 1877-1878 with the Russo Turkish war? This war often gets overlooked for 1870-1871 yet it would become a key factor to the origins of ww1.

@robertjarman3703 Ай бұрын

I would also have added that many soldiers is simply a gargantuan number to field over a front line that was as relatively short as it was. You can operate a far denser defense line and all the things that make such a thing work like logistics, reinforcing any weaknesses in your lines, suppressing any breakthroughs by the enemy, all sorts of things like that, with more soldiers per square kilometre, and there was nowhere to flank them or creative geography that was all that useful the way that East Prussia and Galicia create a bulge that was hard for the Russians to defend, or how few soldiers per square kilometre there were in Africa to defend their possessions even though they had modern weapons like big artillery cannons, machine guns, soldiers with modern rifles, and even some aircraft.

@Wokerr Ай бұрын

Hello, great materials, they are the best possible. Will we see a film about the genocide in Volhynia by the UPA and the local Ukrainian population, where over 100,000 Poles died in terrible suffering in the years 1943-1945, where Poland as a state did not exist and the Ukrainians committed genocide against Poles? I will be very grateful, there are many people who would like to know this story, but this topic is often silenced by the Ukrainian side because they do not want the truth to come to light. Thank you for the fantastic history videos.

@Bloatlord_the_Magnificent 2 ай бұрын

265,000 French dead in the first two months of the war is absolutely insane

@lachainebackup5339 2 ай бұрын

The "agressive spirit" is Likely to be blame for that.

@shaider1982 2 ай бұрын

@@lachainebackup5339Lugi Cadorna’s “morale above anything else”

@faithlessberserker5921 2 ай бұрын

It's a number unfathomable to me. When wars get to numbers like that sometimes my brain doesn't process it really well. I maybe know 800 people pretty well in my own life. Maybe know 1000 by name and maybe have 10,000 acquaintances if I had to guess, I might say I have met around 240,000 people in my whole life give or take. If everyone I ever met in my entire life died within 2 months that's about equal to what happened to the French population. Still can't fully imagine it.

@Autobotmatt428 2 ай бұрын

Well the French were the least prepared army on the western front when the war started. The uniforms were something out of the 19th century. The Label was out dated 2 years after its creation by the clip fed rifles of the Germans, Austrians and so on. The french did use a clip fed rifle but early models only held 3 rounds. And as noted the French tactics at this stage in the war were not the best. the results the highest losses of all the armies on the western front in 1914.

@kohtalainenalias 2 ай бұрын

male privilege

@edjohnson8017 2 ай бұрын

People are so critical of World War One tactics, but the generals of the time wasn’t callous idiots. There simply was almost no way to break a deadlock without huge casualties

@davidmarsh3104 2 ай бұрын

I know most about the Canadian involvement and, for the most part, Canadian generals were not professional soldiers and, with the exception of Arthur Currie, were incompetent.

@ryan-tc3rk 2 ай бұрын

Exactly if the Allies sat on the defensive the German army could out number them 2:1 even with heavy loses it was still in their favour

@KarlBunker 2 ай бұрын

Probably true, but the statement of Captain Billiard (granted, not a general) at 5:22 is a piece of bare-faced murderous stupidity no matter how you slice it.

@edjohnson8017 2 ай бұрын

@@KarlBunker but; all he had to go on was the Russo-Japanese war where the attacking spirit did pay off, I’m Sure he changed his values by 1916/17/18

@JaMeshuggah 2 ай бұрын

I mean they were undoubtedly callous. They shot their own men for having PTSD or not charging to their doom.

2 ай бұрын

I think it is an interesting historical irony that the mobility focused picture of a future war inhibited the development of tanks before 1914, because they would have been to slow to matter in these sweeping maneuvers.

@FernandoMendoza-dw8nz Ай бұрын

And I don't think there was a way to properly change that. Imagine a time traveler telling them to hold off on the idea of mobile warfare until we can develop more powerful and faster tanks. 😅 Guys let's hold off on naval warfare until our ships can withstand a cannon ball to the side. 😂

@umjackd 2 ай бұрын

It's ironic that while trench warfare is the best remembered aspect of WW1, most casualties actually came from the mobile warfare at the beginning and end of the conflict. That said, one dedicated video to mountain warfare in the Alps and Dolomites would be amazing.

@Hankeshon 2 ай бұрын

it was the act of trying to break trench warfare that was the deadliest.

@alphamikeomega5728 2 ай бұрын

Sabaton History has Indy Neidell talking about alpine warfare in Soldier of Heaven.

@senpainoticeme9675 2 ай бұрын

The Battles of Verdun and the Somme beg to differ.

@randomname3109 Ай бұрын

@@Hankeshon no actually, it wasnt. the first and last three months of the war were horrifically lethal

@Hankeshon Ай бұрын

@@randomname3109 Because in the first three months they were getting introduced to Trench warfare and the last 3 months (german spring offensive, operation michael, 100 days offensive) they were breaking trench warfare.

@pax6833 2 ай бұрын

The one thing that always seems to happen no matter when in modern times is the significant underestimation on how much ammo would need to be stockpiled for the war. The shell crunch was a huge unseen factor. If anyone had had a couple million shells in 1914, it's possible the early trenches would've been broken straight away and a decisive victory would've happened far more quickly.

@user-ou9qd9no5n 2 ай бұрын

They have light shrapnel shells with small trajectory angles

@booradley6832 Ай бұрын

Woodrow Wilson was actually the damning factor. Well maybe fatty McTaft too. It's at least entertained today that if Teddy Roosevelt won, he would have thrown the US into the war by 1915 stacking the odds so heavily in the favor of the entente that it could have ended years earlier and without the total collapse of the world political order. Wilson was the worst president in American history, although this is one of his forgivable mistakes since he thought he was doing the right thing.

@Aedlmonrl Ай бұрын

@@user-ou9qd9no5n they needed stronger calibers to punch through the tougher lines, and they slowly ran out. Ultimately strong caliber is important too

@andrewsoboeiro6979 2 ай бұрын

Fun fact: the "French 75" cocktail was in fact named after the gun. Legend has it that in 1915, Harry's New York Bar in Paris was serving a new champaign cocktail recipe, which they served to some soldiers who were there on leave. The soldiers remarked that the drink had such a kick to it that it was like being shelled with a French 75 cannon!

@Crim_tams 2 ай бұрын

I've heard old generals being unable to adapt to modern weaponry and warfare but it's interesting hearing about factors like communications and logistics that aren't often mentioned. Great and informative video as always 👏

@kemarisite 2 ай бұрын

Melanite was the French version of picric acid, formally 2, 4, 6-trinitrophenol. It was very popular as a shell filler at the time, because it was powerful and easy to set off, as well as because it could be poured as a liquid into the burster cavity in the shell body. It was known as Shimose powder to the Japanese, Lyddite to the British, and Ecrasite to the Austro-Hungarians. The Germans would, for greater stability and reduced shock sensitivity, use blocks of TNT stacked inside the shell body. It was the shock sensitivity, along with poor fuses, that led to the poor British shell performance at Jutland/Skagerack in 1916. Also, and with apologies to Monty Python: "No one expects the artillery shell shortage!"

@pax6833 2 ай бұрын

It's ironic that if the Germans had been able to score a major fleet engagement in 1914, they could've badly hurt the British on account of the poor shell performance. And if Scheer had not made so many mistakes at Jutland, the battle could've been a lot worse for the Brits as well.

@clydecessna737 2 ай бұрын

The late great Gen. Powell, US Army, did a thesis on the Somme and showed how lateral movement by the defenders along light railways always moved troops and equipment to the point of defense much faster than the attacking force advancing over open ground could advance.

@cheydinal5401 Ай бұрын

I guess the french could consider themselves lucky that the Germans hadn't broken their rail network in half early on

@johnl.7754 2 ай бұрын

The reasons why trench warfare started in WW1 sounds increasingly familiar to why it has grown rapidly in Ukraine War after initially it was not.

@alphamikeomega5728 2 ай бұрын

In Ukraine, the main issues are that nobody has air superiority, and that there's a shell shortage on both sides (mostly on Ukraine's side thus far, though Russia's shortage is due to really hit in 2025).

@robbstark8275 2 ай бұрын

@@alphamikeomega5728Russia produces more and more

@alphamikeomega5728 2 ай бұрын

@@robbstark8275 Russia is burning through Soviet stockpiles - which are large, but finite. Russia's also facing a labour shortage between those conscripted and those fleeing conscription. And it's easy to increase output by running your factory six days a week instead of five, but harder to run it eight days a week instead of seven.

@robbstark8275 2 ай бұрын

@@alphamikeomega5728 yeah right 😄 There's no conscription in Russia (there was a limited one in September-October 2022). Now there's a constant flow of volunteers (around 1500 per day). And there are more shells and aviabombs produced in Russia than in EU and US combined. Ukraine forces are bombarded with hundreds of shells every day, that's why they are losing.

@joebidome1445 2 ай бұрын

@@robbstark8275 >aviabombs Правильно будет air bombs, ну или air launched munitions.

@classic.cameras Ай бұрын

Whenever I look at photos of either side of WW1 I just think about how great and fun so many of these guys would have been to hang out with in non War circumstance. They were guys just like anyone else. Its sad how many of them died never having a chance at a long life.

@drot13 27 күн бұрын

This is true in every war. Regular people on both sides fighting each other for some distant cause...

@indianajones4321 2 ай бұрын

One of my favorite history KZfaqrs

@HistoryHaty 2 ай бұрын

I agree with you.

@orgenb_ 2 ай бұрын

what are the others?

@indianajones4321 2 ай бұрын

@@orgenb_ World War Two, Armchair Historian, Simple History, Task & Purpose (for more modern history)

@MrKconnell1 2 ай бұрын

I love the sourcing and use with photos and videos.

@lordhamster9452 Ай бұрын

Same

@user-ip1ow7hf8c Ай бұрын

When you are fighting a war in a way that has never been fought before, losses are heavy. The technology and advancements at the time were deadly against old tactics that were not updated. Now, imagine being on of the first to face a tank.. how scary that would be in the open.

@MrStevoslayer 2 ай бұрын

Those ending lines. Years later Im still here for it

@Dave1-08 2 ай бұрын

I've always wondered what the extreme edges of the western front looked like. Did the trenches go all the way up to the beaches on the channel? Did the trenches simply stop at the Swiss border?

@Giloup92 2 ай бұрын

You can fin videos showing these two ends.

2 ай бұрын

@@Giloup92 how can I find them? I'm trying but I just can't.

@Giloup92 2 ай бұрын

@ I don’t remember. There is a video on Belgian trenches on the channel beaches and one on Swiss trenches on the French border.

@ZKP314 2 ай бұрын

Now I’m imagining a Swiss official marking the border and telling them “Okay, okay…stop.” And then promptly got up a mountain to get as far away from the Inavitable carnage.

@eighthelement Ай бұрын

Fighting along the border would cause political crisis due to some shells inevitably falling inside Switzerland. Solution was to avoid any fighting few miles away from the border. Have some entrenched troops there but under strict orders not to do much.

@HoopTY303 2 ай бұрын

I fell asleep listening to Martin Gilbert FIRST WORLD WAR [audiobook] so I woke up in a muddy trench ( mentally).

@edjohnson8017 2 ай бұрын

If you like World War One History I’d really recommend “mud blood and poppycock”

@shaider1982 2 ай бұрын

The old great war episodes which was hosted by Indy Neidell heavily refenced on Martin Gilbert.

@anbu94 Ай бұрын

For some reason I was imagining Gilbert Gottfried. That would definitely put you into a mental state.

@christopherconard2831 2 ай бұрын

Real Time History. The only channel that will issue you a real shovel, not just a folding entrenching tool, to dig your trenches.

@richardthomas598 2 ай бұрын

There is trench warfare and there is trench warfare. Fighting from earthworks is ancient. What made WW1 unique was industry being able to field an army so large as to present a continuous front for hundreds of miles. You could remove the machine gun, barbed wire or even quick firing artillery, and you would still have gotten an attritional stalemate because of the sheer numbers involved.

@pax6833 2 ай бұрын

No, those weapons, especially the machine gun, were vital to why the stalemate occurred. The troops needed to be able to delay the other side's attack long enough for reinforcements to counterattack. Without machine guns and barbed wire, the first wave would hit the trenches too intact and quickly cause the other side to fall back. It's what happened on the eastern front where there weren't enough guns and wire to cover everything.

@thatguyoverthere9634 Ай бұрын

@@pax6833 yeah machineguns, smokeless repeating rifles, and breach loading quick fireing artillery all greatly contributed to the mountain of casualties sustained. Without these advancements, a trench line could simply be broken by concentrating enough forces. Sure the same could be done in WW1 but the numbers required to break a line with infantry alone would be simply too immense to justify.

@HistoryHaty 2 ай бұрын

Glad you are back. Trenchs of the Great War saw some of the most brutal fighting in history.

@Ice_Karma Ай бұрын

First-time viewer here! I'm really enjoying your ability to pronounce French [edited:] and German[/edit] names, your high-quality, _referenced_ captions, and your unapologetic use of metric. 😻

@KarlBunker 2 ай бұрын

A totally excellent video. Probably the best short coverage of the topic I've seen or ever expect to see.

@jessealexander2695 2 ай бұрын

Thank you!

@SherlockSpiner Ай бұрын

No other channel keeps me so engaged like this one. Thank you guys for all your hard work.

@Waakala 2 ай бұрын

I'm always glad to play another round of the great game of predict which line will close the new episode, what a great channel

@bigsarge2085 2 ай бұрын

Always incredible history stories. Thank you!

@neilwilson5785 Ай бұрын

Really excellent video. I like the detail for both the tactical and strategic aspects.

@chrisharris5630 2 ай бұрын

There is an ambiance/ sleep sound playlist on KZfaq that is the “sounds of the western front trenches”. I fell asleep to it once

@DeadPixel1105 Ай бұрын

Yeah, I saw that a few months ago. Just for fun, I let it play while I was in bed trying to go to sleep.

@cheydinal5401 Ай бұрын

C'mon do we really have to be all cute-sy about a literal open-air murder chamber?

@jbflores01 2 ай бұрын

excellent video! like always! well explained, well illustrated, and very well-researched!

@Stew-kv8nw 2 ай бұрын

Once again this is a well done production.. big fan of the channel

@TheGreatWar 2 ай бұрын

Much appreciated!

@dieselmech7227 Ай бұрын

Great video, always been curious about the battles before they dig in 👍

@Nyx571 2 ай бұрын

thank you great war team for continuing your work, makes learning and teaching history more entertaining!

@alexlower505 10 күн бұрын

I haven't seen Great War in a while, but this looks great! Solid content and awesome visuals/effects.

@stevearchtoe7039 2 ай бұрын

Great video Jesse and team!

@mickeymcafee7615 2 ай бұрын

It takes more than courage to win on the modern battlefield. A lot more. I'm currently writing a book about failed tactics of WW1 and several other wars of that era.

@christopherkucher6902 2 ай бұрын

i always enjoy your work

@flyforce16 2 ай бұрын

From mud, through blood, to the green fields beyond...

@mohammedsaysrashid3587 2 ай бұрын

It was an informative and wonderful historical episode about reasons that converted mobilizes warfares to stubbornly trenching wayfarer....thank you 🙏( RTH) channel for sharing this magnificent historical coverage episode

@oneshotme 2 ай бұрын

I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

@Rosie-yt8nd Ай бұрын

I understand the benefits of the trench but I used to have a hard time grasping how you got from no trench to trench. you dig while being shot at? yes, yes they did. It was one scene in Band of Brothers where they throw themselves into ditches, any kind of hole, even shallow. whatever you can find or make. the desperation of that moment. being shot at while digging is better than sitting ducks

@fmita_ Ай бұрын

One thing not mentioned is how artillery during WWI was completely inaccurate. If an army fired 10,000 shells of artillery, about 5-10 would actually hit a trench and do damage. Armies would pound a trench for days, even weeks with thousands upon thousands of shells of artillery, and it still wouldn’t be enough to break the lines. Such a crazy war

@shantanusapru 2 ай бұрын

Great analysis!!

@cameronferguson7145 Ай бұрын

I greatly recommend Dr. Nicholas Murray's lecture on this topic, given as part of the Pershing Lecture Series. The density, lethal range, accuracy, and ubiquity of firepower, and the way it increased by orders of magnitude between 1860 and 1914, is just mindblowing.

@thomasfairhurst1212 Ай бұрын

i love this channel so much man

@firun2635 Ай бұрын

The resupply situation and railways resp. railheads being a big factor is an interesting new thought (to me). Thank you for that.

@kidpagronprimsank05 10 күн бұрын

Tactics a win battle, logistics win the war

@wellston2826 Ай бұрын

Some damned fool gave one of 'em a shovel, and things just snowballed from there.

@tomz5704 Ай бұрын

Like the scene in breaking bad where Jesse starts digging and the meth head takes over

@davidbowen5621 2 ай бұрын

Fantastic video! It would be awesome if you could cover the mobile warfare at the end of WWI

@erinaporter1985 Ай бұрын

Trench Warfare began in New Zealand during the Wars between Maori and the British. Maori liked to build fortified Pa during war as it was easier to win a defensive battle if you had inferior numbers then going head to head in the field. The British brought cannons and the old style of fortified Pa with wooden Palisade were easily breached with canon fire then overun with supporting troops. To combat this the Maori dug deep trenches to shelter from the canon fire and purposely left gaps under the Palisades so they could pop up and fire at the approaching troops from cover without the British being able to return fire accurately. This new "Modern Pa" became a major problem for the British as they began to increasingly lose troops during the attacks. Usually the British would onky capture the Pa after the Maori had abandoned it.

@jtsnowman66 2 ай бұрын

Quick, transfer more élans! Transferring more élans sir!

@py8554 Ай бұрын

The title asks “why WWI turned into trench warfare” but the video focuses only on the western front. Now I have this question: Did other fronts (the Russian front, the Balkan front, the Italian front and the Ottoman front) see the same level of trench warfare? The reasons given in the video, namely the firepower technology, the difficulty of combined arms, challenges of command and control, and the logistics issues for attacking mobile forces, should also apply to other fronts. If those fronts did not see the same level of trench construction, then there must be some additional factors that made the western front so trench dominated?

@jessealexander2695 Ай бұрын

We clarify in the first part of the video we are concentrating on the western front. In the east, the concentration of men and artillery was far less given the greater spaces, so there was more movement (even though also some trenches).

@py8554 Ай бұрын

@@jessealexander2695 Indeed it’s clarified a bit in the video. I just think that it’d be better if the title could make it clear that it covers only the western front instead of all the theatres of the war. That said the analysis of the western front is informative and well researched. Thanks!

@nobleman9393 Ай бұрын

The eastern front was so vast that it was impossible to have the same level of trenches.

@brandonmcmanis5528 15 сағат бұрын

I used to have a family Bible and there was a family tree in it. There were branches that were cut off because of both World Wars. If I'm remembering right it was 5 in the first war and 3 in the second war. It sent chills down my spine knowing that so many of my family members never got to grow up and have families of their own. I just imagine how different my family would have been if they didn't die in the wars. Crazy how life plays out.

@dqan7372 2 ай бұрын

Enjoyed that. Been too long since I watched.

@thehuntsmansniper Ай бұрын

The video time being 19:11 is almost perfect 🥺

@CrazyDude-mf5gk 8 күн бұрын

Just 7 seconds off

@akriegguardsman 2 ай бұрын

Sometimes artillery would limit attacks, Ernst Jünger wrote about his own artillery shelling himself because the guns where ordered to shell their max distance continuously

@zebwheeler5683 Ай бұрын

I cannot recommend the article “the cult of the offensive” enough! it explains the enormous casualties and the development of trenches in the 20th century

@shakazulu301 2 ай бұрын

Man, what a great day. A new video from the Great War channel 💜 I needed a pick me up for this week, and even though t took til Friday, I got it :) the dopamine really hit 😊 give me all the knowledge 💜

@dillonbuford 15 күн бұрын

I was just thinking about this channel

@kinnikuboneman 2 ай бұрын

4:07 this made me laugh, that dude at the end

@theromanorder 2 ай бұрын

Please do a video on tactics and warfare of the eastern and southern front, wasn't it trench warfare in Greece? And mabey the same for the ruso Japanese war

@yeedbottomtext7563 28 күн бұрын

Can you do a video on what the trench networks right on the Swiss border looked like? Thanks!

@jeremiahbowen8405 Ай бұрын

This was a war of countries literally learning a whole new military and battlefield

@welcometonebalia 2 ай бұрын

Thank you.

@baronmemez Ай бұрын

I recommend you to make a video on Lord Kitchener because of his role for the British in WW1

@TomLuTon 2 ай бұрын

With the speed at which technology was changing at the time, makes you wonder if WWI happened at the worst possible moment. Few years earlier and the weapons aren't as deadly, few years later and communications and tanks make trench warfare unlikely

@jaybeeonyt Ай бұрын

Tanks wouldn't of been invented if it wasn't for trench warfare, it was the stalemate that created the innovation.

@QZSW Ай бұрын

how to crochet a 3d star: R1: ch2, 6sc into first ch R2: 2sc in each st ( around 12sc) R3: [2sc in next st, sc in next st] around 18sc R4: 2sc in next st, sc in next 2 st (around 24sc) R5: 2sc in next st, sc in next 3 st (around 30sc) R6: sc in next 6 st R7: ch1, turn, skip first sc, sc in next 5 st-5sc R8: ch1, turn, skip first sc, sc in next 4 st-4sc R9: ch1, turn, skip first sc, sc in next 3 st-3sc R10: ch1, turn, skip first sc, sc in next 2 st-2sc

@davidnotonstinnett 17 күн бұрын

I think the influence of the US civil war is a big preview of the Western Front. Our Civil War was a big lesson to military commanders everywhere, as the commanders of that war were trained in Napoleonic Era tactics…and it was disastrous when those tactics met early mechanized warfare. The city of Petersburg, Virginia was once a metropolis that was like the “New York City of the South”…even moreso than Richmond or Atlanta. The city still has not recovered from the war, which took the form of Trench Warfare. The reasons for it are very similar to ancient siege warfare. But instead of walls, you build. “Hiding spots”..and then connecting trenches between those holes under the ground. In that war, the Union was able to outlast the Confederates…eventually leading to the south abandoning Petersburg and Richmond. I think a similar story could be told of the Western Front. Even though no ground was really gained on either side, the Central Powers just couldn’t sustain the war anymore. Tl;dr Trench warfare is basically a return of ancient siege warfare. The Western Front was like the Greeks sitting outside the walls of Troy for a decade.

@apersonontheinternet595 2 ай бұрын

Can you guys do a video on how conscription affected the economy and soldiers' morale?

@ForelliBoy 2 ай бұрын

Can't wait for the 110th Anniversary coverage of the Great War :^)

@ThomasEJohnson Ай бұрын

I love NordVPN. Your videos are great stuff.

@everythingsalright1121 Ай бұрын

Its kind of horrifying to think that likely every man we see filmed in the historical footage probably died in the combat in the first world war, given the insane death toll...its less terrible to think about when you just see numbers, but seeing all of those people...they had names, unique lives, but you realize after seeimg that, that to meet the death toll of millions...youd need to line up the groups of men in the footage thousands of times over next to each other...that takes up a lot of space...almost incomprehensible that WWI didnt have the highest death toll of an event in the 20th century. Just the beginning..

@Guest-jp3jl 24 күн бұрын

If this video was 3 seconds longer I would be a lot happier

@fabreezethefaintinggoat5484 2 ай бұрын

Thanks

@Jarod-vg9wq 2 ай бұрын

11:25 combined arms warfare wins battles, communication and logistics wins wars.

@biologicalengineoflove6851 2 ай бұрын

I had to look up Melinite, came across the Great Phenol Plot, and was surprised I hadn't heard of it. The Germans bought out as much of America's/Edison's phenol production as possible so the British couldn't use it for bombs. So much crazy history from this war.

@agmcg81 2 ай бұрын

Hi, I have a question. At around 5:53 in the video we can see a German machine gun crew. What are the 'loops' on the guys webbing (on his right thigh) who is controlling the machine gun? Any help is appreciated. Thanks, Alan. :) Great video BTW!

@TheGreatWar 2 ай бұрын

this looks like a sort of leather strap used for carrying something. maybe parts of the machine gun or ammunition?

@agmcg81 2 ай бұрын

@@TheGreatWar Cheers 🍻

@Zorglub1966 2 ай бұрын

@@TheGreatWarit was for moving the mg mounted on its carriage (i don't know how to call a tripod with 4 legs).

@jcole3489 Ай бұрын

im surprised there weren't more covert operations attempted in WW1 once the lines hardened; anyone know of any worth looking into?

@JayVolatileOfficial 4 күн бұрын

Weres indy? His narration on these videos is sublime :)

@TheRealSlimshadyyyyyy Ай бұрын

The first time I’ve heard the term “Clip” used accurately.

@lukeborst2751 2 ай бұрын

ive always wondered how both sides built the trenches at first like was it done at night? or did it evolve from the first fox holes?

@cheydinal5401 Ай бұрын

It's honestly insane that they didn't just all sue for status quo ante bellum peace in like 1915 or something. No, gotta feed the meatgrinder for another 3 years for basically no reason

@grapeape780 Ай бұрын

The evolution of tactic is like a boxing match turning into a wrestling match.

@billandmonicaschleicher9018 8 күн бұрын

will the "out of the trenches" series continue?

@Booberly Ай бұрын

Because when soldiers found put they could be in a hole instead of standing in direct line of fire they were super jazzed

@ivvan497 2 ай бұрын

Simple. Years of relative peace, very high rate of technological progress coupled with 19th century tactics and mentality, increase in population, european empires and politics, nationalism, massive nationwide conscription. Armies were largest they've ever been and weapons were deadlier than ever combined with mass production and mobilisation caused war with hige casualty number. Machine guns and high rate of fire weapons changed how warfare was conducted but tactics didn't exist at the start of the war. By the end of the war tactics and weapons to counter this threat were developed.

@audiencesmember Ай бұрын

Great video!

@MisterOcclusion 2 ай бұрын

I prefer to think of it as a siege, where both sides are besieging each other. It starts to make some sense then.

@kidmohair8151 2 ай бұрын

07:42 I’m sure the poilu with the pipe in his mouth *while loading the powder charge* has to be against *all* safety regulations…even in 1914.

@lordofthemound3890 Ай бұрын

Trenches have been used for thousands of years. The Achaeans defended their ships against Trojans in the Iliad. BUT, trenches were normally used by besieging armies against walled cities. Was The Great War the first instance of large-scale trench vs. trench fighting? It was, if I’m not mistaken.

@intoHeck1964 Ай бұрын

Total WW1 casualties (low estimate): ~9 million 2022 NY City population: ~8.3 million

@NoMoreCrumbs 2 ай бұрын

Trenches were the safest place to be. Mobile warfare is extremely unforgiving if your unit is caught in the open

@ChrisSmith-lo2kp 2 ай бұрын

preview of WW1 trench warfare can be seen in the Siege of Petersburg VA at the end of the American Civil War

@romin7255 2 ай бұрын

As usual : excellent Français !

@jessealexander2695 2 ай бұрын

Merci! Je l'ai quand même appris à la pré-maternelle... ;)

@romin7255 2 ай бұрын

@@jessealexander2695 😁👌

@adg1390 Ай бұрын

Reasons why they used trenches. 1- There was a war 2- They didn't want to die

@Mark-jp4vn Ай бұрын

Are there any games like this?

@MRBF1MAN 2 ай бұрын

Correct

@donnyboon2896 Ай бұрын

Yes

@heralds Ай бұрын

I heard LeBron James ordered an attack without artillery support

@robertszlendak Ай бұрын

You make great videos! Invest in a tailored jacket.

@budprepper3811 2 ай бұрын

I hope you rerun the world war 1 series this year like you did before. I believe it would be a hundred years. It's a great review

@adamzieba8364 Ай бұрын

WW1 was very tragic for Poles in a special way. Polish lands were divided into parts ruled by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, so Polish men were conscripted into every of these 3 armies and because of that they often had to shoot each other. During one month (11th November - 6th December 1914) there was a huge batlle between German and Russian armies raging around my home city of Łódź. Combined German KIA and MIA losses in this battle were around 48 000 and Russian KIA+MIA losses reached 198 000 while WIA were 76 000 and 118 000 respectively. There are dozens military cemeteries in the countryside around Łódź where the fallen soldiers of both armies are buried together (but not all of them - bones are sometimes found in the forests and fields to this day).

@jeremyseaton3314 Ай бұрын

I'm no expert, but it seems the solution to communication is to set it so every x amount of miles you have a small post; all the way up to where you want the communication to go. Post A communicates to post B, B to C etc. until the message reaches who it needs to reach. That way a round trip for each messenger is only x amount of miles instead of a whole journey.