Life as a soldier
What was life like for the millions of professional, conscripted or recruited soldiers, who fought in the various European and international theatres of war? The trench experience involved the terror of mud, slime and disease and the constant threat of shellfire. Heavy artillery and new weapons such as poison gas threatened death from afar; but hand to hand combat with clubs and knives killed many during the grisly business of trench raids. When troops were not fighting, they were locked into trench deadlock, at which point boredom also became a serious issue.