The Trenches: What Life Was Really Like in World War I

Through diaries, letters and field reports we trace the daily hardships faced by soldiers—mud, disease, shell shock, and the constant threat of gas. The episode examines how these conditions shaped combat tactics and influenced the home front as well as later military reforms. It also looks at what contemporary sources tell us versus the romanticised myths that have entered popular memory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices