Trench warfare
In his diary of 15 September 1914, General Haig refers to what was to become a central feature on the Western Front of the First World War — trenches.
Initially, the digging of trenches was a short-term means of holding ground in the face of the enemy.
Eventually, an increasingly complex system of trenches was to stretch from the Channel ports to the Swiss border, as the new technologies of war necessitated a defensive approach.
