What were some health issues?
There were many health issues in WW1, most of them due to life in the trenches. The soldiers shared the trenches with millions of rats that fed on dead soldiers left unhurried from the battle. They grew to the size of cats with all the available food and they spread diseases-such as types of plague-from the rats running across the faces of sleeping soldiers. (Carrodus, Delaney& Howitt, 2012)
Another constant issue was lice. Lice lived in the seams of soldiers uniforms, and the men were often unable to bath or change their clothes even when washed it was close to impossible to get rid of the lice eggs. Lice spread ‘trench fever’ which gave the soldiers headaches, sore muscles, bones, joints and other out breaks of the skin and back. If they were lucky they ended up in the military hospital for up to 12 weeks. (Carrodus, Delaney& Howitt, 2012, Trench Fever. 2013)
Trench foot occurred when it rained and the soldiers were standing in the muddy water for hours. It was a fungal infection of the foot that caused swelling; they would go numb and start to turn red or blue. If the feet are untreated it became so affected that flesh started to come off and the foot/feet would need to be amputated. (Gorman, M. 2002)
There was also the complication of mustard gassing. Mustard gassing was a way to break the stalemate of fighting which was an uneasy deadlock. The mustard gas was so deadly because it burned from the inside out and it was a slow and very painful death; it ended up being banned in wars after World War One because how inhumanly the death was and no one should experience that. The gas is hard to detect but it had a funny smell so soldiers could realise by the smell that it was a mustard gas attack. Mustard gas can cause the skin to burn from ten cubic meters away, after a few hours or maybe even a day your skin would from spots which soon turned into blisters. If the attack happened straight away and a soldiers inhaled the gas it would not be long before their nose starts to swell and the throat developed blisters sealing airways. (Briggs, J. 2013)
Another constant issue was lice. Lice lived in the seams of soldiers uniforms, and the men were often unable to bath or change their clothes even when washed it was close to impossible to get rid of the lice eggs. Lice spread ‘trench fever’ which gave the soldiers headaches, sore muscles, bones, joints and other out breaks of the skin and back. If they were lucky they ended up in the military hospital for up to 12 weeks. (Carrodus, Delaney& Howitt, 2012, Trench Fever. 2013)
Trench foot occurred when it rained and the soldiers were standing in the muddy water for hours. It was a fungal infection of the foot that caused swelling; they would go numb and start to turn red or blue. If the feet are untreated it became so affected that flesh started to come off and the foot/feet would need to be amputated. (Gorman, M. 2002)
There was also the complication of mustard gassing. Mustard gassing was a way to break the stalemate of fighting which was an uneasy deadlock. The mustard gas was so deadly because it burned from the inside out and it was a slow and very painful death; it ended up being banned in wars after World War One because how inhumanly the death was and no one should experience that. The gas is hard to detect but it had a funny smell so soldiers could realise by the smell that it was a mustard gas attack. Mustard gas can cause the skin to burn from ten cubic meters away, after a few hours or maybe even a day your skin would from spots which soon turned into blisters. If the attack happened straight away and a soldiers inhaled the gas it would not be long before their nose starts to swell and the throat developed blisters sealing airways. (Briggs, J. 2013)
What were some dangers?
The many dangers that the soldiers of WW1 faced were horrific. They were always at risk of catching life threatening diseases and infections, trench foot and mustard gassing. Bombs were frequently going off and blowing up soldiers and if soldiers were too close their eardrums could be damaged and lose hearing. The soldiers had to be careful when in the trenches that they didn’t stand up because their heads could get blown off from the opposing side’s machine or other types of guns. The soldiers were always in danger or being gunned down by the opposing side; they were never safe and had to put up with the discomfort of the terrible conditions as well. (AWM. 2010)