+1982 Which of the following most accurately describes how trench warfare affected soldiers during World War I?
A. It led to worse conditions for soldiers but helped shorten the war.
B. It led to higher casualties and poor conditions for soldiers.
C. It resulted in fewer causalities but poor conditions for soldiers.
D. It kept the pace of the war slow, resulting in less trauma for soldiers.
I'm going to drill down each choice to what I think is its most significant element:
A. helped shorten the war - False; the entry of the United States helped shorten the war, and of course the mechanized weaponry, most of which the US brought.
B. higher casualties - Definitely. Trench warfare is essentially man to man combat. The job of the armed forces is to k**l people and b**w up stuff. You can't realistically b**w up holes in the ground, aka trenches, so the only thing that leaves is to k**l people.
C. fewer casualties - Fewer than what? No way; trench warfare was one of the very origins of the term cannon fodder
D. less trauma for soldiers - No; they used a lot of mustard gas and fragmentation ordnance. Also, medicine wasn't very modern back then.
My answer would be B.
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