Trench Warfare: 1850-1950

by Anthony Saunders

Although many books have been published about the Western Front, few of them look beyond the Great War to consider trench warfare in a wider historical context. Trench warfare was not an aberration of the Western Front. On the contrary, it was a watershed in a greater upheaval in warfare which started in the 1850s and continued well beyond the First World War. This book examines how trench warfare was fought, studying the Crimea, American Civil War and Japanese War 1904-05. He looks at how the Western Front of 1914-18 differed from the trench fighting of the Second World War and the Korean War.

The book examines the evolution of trench warfare, technologically and tactically, from the Crimean War to the Korean War, during which time developments in military technology often advanced far beyond tactical thinking. Trench Warfare 1850 – 1950 discusses the impact of trench warfare on military thinking and considers how the stalemate of the Western Front was overcome. Emergency technologies, from the hand grenade to the tank, are discussed to highlight their impact on trench warfare and, ultimately, on warfare as a whole. Tactically, trench warfare led to the development of the concept of deep battle which was later employed by the Red Army in the Second World War.

Genres: War, Military History, Military Fiction

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

Reviews

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first glance it is easy to get the impression that author's goal with this book is provide a chronological analysis of developments in trench warfare during 'modern era'. And indeed, the author starts of with a rather vanilla analysis of Crimean War, American Civil War and Russo-Japanese War. The focus of the narrative is predictably put on how trench warfare was implemented in those conflicts. Similarities and differences are described, reasons are provided, effects are discussed...

Once the author reaches to the elephant in the room - World War I - the pure, technical analysis transforms from being a goal into itself into a tool wielded skillfully by the author's in an attempt to prove his main argument in this book. The point Mr. Saunders is trying to make is simple, but undoubtebly quite controversial - based on his analysis, Western Front during World War I was not an excercise in futility that cost milions of lives to no real purpose. Instead, the period of 1914-18 needs in his opinion to be regarded as an extremly dynamic and prolific period of military evolution, absolutely essential to development of modern warfare. Author's dissection of how Western Front developed between 1914 and 1918 and forced changes in fighting techniques, equipment and indeed, how the fortification systems themselves were employed, provides very compelling argument for his thesis.

This book is without a doubt to be recommended to anyone interested in World War I, fortifications or military history in general. At the same time a word of warning - this is not a 'primer' for beginners. To get the most out of this book and truly appreciate author's arguments, reader needs to possess previous knowledge of military history, as well as of the hardware and tactics employed during the period discussed in this book. Or, in simple terms, the content of this book is, for the lack of better word, quite 'nerdy' and if your interest in the topic is of general nature, you'll probably find it to be a 'hard read'.

[Akira Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book mentions the second Gulf War twice. It gives a different date each time. Neither date given begins with 2003. Other than that, quite informative, if perhaps slightly dry.