Why did Trench Warfare begin?
Previous to the time of World War I trench warfare had been a normal way of battle, but it was a temporary way of battle; for example, it was used in the US Civil War, the Russian-Japanese War, and other wars at this time. However, it was used on an unprecedented scale on the Western Front during World War I. The two armies had come to a stale mate where neither side could advance and overtake the other so they dug. The actual definition of trench warfare would be when opposing armies conduct battle at close range from a series of ditches dug into the ground. In the first few weeks of WWI German troops gained a lot land; they swept through parts of Belgium and northeastern France, but in September that changed. September of 1914, the Germans were pushed back and so they "dug in" in order to avoid losing more ground. The opposing armies were unable to break through this so they dug in protective trenches too. By October, neither army could advance due to the heavy artillery and machine guns thus starting the stalemate. The generals of each side of the war thought, at first, the trench warfare would be temporary, like any other war, but it became one of the biggest parts of the war at the Western Front for the next 4 years. The early trenches were just ditches meant for protection during short battles, but when it was obvious this wasn't a 'short battle', they dug more. By the end of 1914, the trenches stretched 475 miles, from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier.