The Trenches
When war was declared, both sides on the Western Front were going to take part in a massive military manoeuvres. No-one was expecting a quick fight between to evenly matched teams. A stalemate then occurred because powerful long-range artillery weapons and rapid-fire machine guns made it very dangerous for soldiers to fight in an unprotected and open way. They only way they could survive was to build trenches.
By the end of 1914, a network of trenches stretched along the Western Front from the Belgian coast to the north down through eastern France to the Swiss border, 400 miles in the south.
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