Why was World War One fought in trenches on the western front?
Starael is kind of right but very simplistic. The real need for trenches on the Western Front of the First World War was because military technology had advanced beyond military tactics. Machine guns and machine gun emplacements rendered the cavalry (horse) and infanrty assaults obsoelete. Once the initial Central Powers (Imperial Germany and Austria) offensive slowed down and the French and British were able to mount counter offensives both sides began digging in…digging trenches. Trenches had actually been used to good effect prior to WW1 in the Crimean War (charge of the light brigade) and the American Civil War (the Petersburg and Richmond defenses). There is a link to a good wikipedia article on Trench Warfare…you also might like to follow this up with a nice retelling of the opening of the entire conflict in Barbara Tuchman’s “Guns of August.” A brilliant book that is still readily available. Good luck.
