Ww1: Was Mud The Worst Thing About The Trenches?

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World War 1 Essay: ‘The Worst thing about the trenches was the mud’? I agree that Mud was one of the worst things in the trenches. The Mud was very unpleasant. There was so much rain, the trenches filled with water and mud. The soldiers' uniforms and kilts were often heavily soiled with mud. In the winter, the troops had to contend with the bitter cold and numb body parts. Of course the mud wasn’t the only problem the soldiers had to face. The rats, lice and flies swarmed the trenches, not bothered by the chaos around them. There were other problems to do with food, shelling, diseases and noises. Some people say that the diseases that were caused were the worst thing that could have happened to them. In the spring of 1918 large numbers of soldiers in the trenches in France became ill. The soldiers complained of a sore throat, headaches and a loss of appetite. Although it appeared to be highly infectious, recovery was rapid and doctors gave it the name of 'three-day fever'. At first doctors were unable to identify the illness but eventually they decided it was a new strain of influenza. The soldiers gave it the name Spanish Flu but there is no evidence that it really did originate from that country. In fact, in Spain they called it French Flu. Others claimed that the disease started in the Middle Eastern battlefields, whereas others blamed it on China and India. A recent study argued that the disease was brought to the Western Front by a group of USA soldiers from Kansas. For the next few months soldiers continued to be infected with the virus but there were very few fatalities. However, in the summer of 1918, symptoms became much more severe. About a fifth of the victims developed bronchial pneumonia or septicemic blood poisoning. A large percentage of these men died. Others developed heliotrope cyanosis. Doctors were able to identify this by the bluish

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