Trenches became valuable to WW1 armies because they were a defensive solution to modern weaponry. Before the war, many people thought ... be fully cleared - the French government estimates it ...

This story originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of National Geographic magazine as "The Hidden World of the Great War ... French soldiers warm up glasses of wine to drink in the trenches.

The term was first described in 1812 by a French army surgeon, but trench foot is most known for running rampant during World War I, when soldiers stood in cold, waterlogged trenches for extended ...

old-fashioned warfare turned modern. In the late afternoon, a green cloud - poisonous chlorine gas - rose from the German trenches and moved slowly with the wind over the French lines. The French ...