[cyberia]

It has been estimated that if connected end to end, trench lines of the First World War could circle the globe, and then some.

Only an estimate, of course, but the fact is as the war ground to a stalemate combatants of all nations on all fronts had little choice but dig in.

A section of German trenches on the Western Front photographed by a French aircraft



Canadian troops entrenched on the Western Front, 1917



Turkish troops firing from their trenches at Gallipoli




Italian troops entrenched along the Montello Line



British troops fire from a shallow trench in France, 1916



A German sniper training from a trench line on the Western Front, 1917