Blood and Muck: The WWI Trench Warfare Quiz

Advances in weapons far outpaced army mobility, so as a result, moving soldiers anywhere on the front line meant heavy casualties. In response, armies dug in or attempted endless flanking maneuvers. The result was a war of attrition.

"No man's land" was the area between opposing trenches. Any soldier who was forced to charge through no man's land was subjected to terrifying enemy fire.

Early in the war, officers packed men shoulder to shoulder in the trenches, thinking that the soldiers would be safe. But they quickly learned that high density equaled death from artillery shells … so the soldiers began to spread out.

Soldiers mistrusted public news. They began distributing their own papers, with names like "The Dead Horse Corner Gazette" and "The Listening Post." Canadian troops alone printed dozens of different papers during the long conflict.

In some areas, no man's land was a tiny strip of land just 10 yards wide. Enemy soldiers were so close that they could hear men from across the line speaking to each other.

The parapet was the top of the trenches. Peeking over the parapet could get you instantly killed by a sniper. Some new soldiers were killed within a single day of action because they failed to take basic precautions.

Darkness offered cover to men languishing in the trenches. At night, they could crawl forward and repair barbed wire barricades, start new trenches and perform other activities too perilous in daylight.

Even when there were no advances taking place, the trenches saw a continuous stream of death, often from artillery shells that fell directly into the trenches.

The soldiers particularly despised brown rats. That's because they could grow to the size of small cats, skittering and chattering their way through the quagmire of the trenches.

The trench rats were incredibly prolific. Just one mating pair could produce around 900 offspring. It's no wonder these creatures overran the trenches. Some soldiers kept dogs (like terriers) bred to hunt varmints. The dogs helped to keep the infestations somewhat under control.

Engineers would sit in total silence, listening for enemy tunnelers. Tunnelers would create passageways to enemy trenches, stack explosives, and then blow the whole thing sky-high. If they caught these plots in time, engineers plotted their own tunnels to counter the enemy.

Most trenches were about 12 feet deep and about six feet wide. They were just big enough to hide men from bullets and wide enough for soldiers to pass each other.

"Saps" referred to sap trenches. These were short, often temporary trenches that extended towards enemy lines. They could be used as listening stations or as places to stage an attack.

After the war, the French government isolated a huge part of no man's land called Zone Rouge, where unexploded ordnance and chemical traces made human habitation impossible. Today, there are still parts of Zone Rouge that are too dangerous for people.

Barbed wire was a mainstay of no man's land. Some units placed incredibly long, wide sections of barbed wire in front of trenches, making it impossible for enemies to launch attacks on foot.

The Germans expended tremendous energy to create deep, complex trenches. In some places, they were reinforced with concrete and went as deep as three stories, where they were impervious to artillery attacks.

Snipers on both sides became incredibly adept at shooting enemy soldiers who peeked over the parapet. In response, some units developed periscope rifles that used mirrors to spot targets, and better yet, didn’t require the shooter to expose himself at all.

The rats gorged themselves on dead soldiers. And they often started with the soft, easily-accessible eyes, which only added to the horror of the situation.

Straight trenches meant death. Artillery shrapnel could blast along straight trenches, and in the event of a breach by the enemy, straight trenches meant that the invaders had a clear line of sight to shoot. That's why trenches were zig zags, with hiding spots along their length.

The Allies knew that front-line trench life was horrendous. They quickly rotated men in and then back out. Often, soldiers were on the front line only for a day or two before they were sent to other (safer) areas. Unfortunate soldiers sometimes spent much longer stretches in front-line situations.

No man's land claimed countless lives, and it was often too dangerous to retrieve bodies for burial. So fallen soldiers were left for weeks or months until there was nothing left to bury.

Trench sweepers were the soldiers who were especially skilled at close quarters trench combat. They'd dive into enemy trenches on daring attacks … or they'd "clean out" invaders who dared enter their own trenches.

Every morning, soldiers would "stand to" by climbing firing steps and looking for signs of an enemy attack. Then they'd unleash "morning hate," a volley of gunfire and shells to start the day.

Lice infested trenches no matter how hard soldiers tried to avoid them. In desperation, some soldiers shaved their heads to prevent (at least a little) of the itchiness and general awfulness of lice.

Both sides deployed mustard gas, which would drift through enemy trenches, killing them or burning them in horrible ways. It was hard to detect, meaning that many soldiers clung to gas masks for fear of dying in a sudden chemical attack.

Front-line soldiers dug short tunnels to latrine trenches, which quickly accumulated human waste. The smell, as you can imagine, was overwhelming, and these trenches were often more vulnerable to enemy fire, making the process terrifying as well as disgusting.

The Germans were big on redundant defensive positions, and they often built three lines of trenches, a firing line, a support line and a reserve line. In the event of a retreat, the soldiers would simply fall back to one of the lines and begin their defense anew.

Aircraft were brand-new creations during World War I. The flimsy planes were used mostly for spotting purposes, and they had a tremendous impact in helping both sides anticipate (and then stop) enemy offensives.

If you were ordered to "go over the top," it meant that you had to climb out of the trench and charge into no man's land. Going over the top was every solider's worst nightmare. Many men were killed in just seconds.

Early grenades were primitive and unreliable. But trench warfare expedited the development of grenades, and front-line soldiers used them in countless numbers. After all, it was safer to lob a grenade than to fire a rifle.