Conditions in the trenches.

... Introduction World War I, the war, from 1914-1918, which began as a local European conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia on July 28, 1914; was transformed into a general European war by the declaration of war made by Germany against Russia, August 1, 1914; and eventually became a global war involving thirty two nations, twenty eight of which, known as the Allies and the Associated Powers, and including Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and the United States, opposed the coalition known as the Central Powers, consisting of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. Introduction Trench Many men killed in the trenches were buried almost where they fell. If a trench subsided, or new trenches or dugouts were needed, large numbers of decomposing bodies would be found just below the surface. These corpses, as well as the food scraps that littered the trenches, attracted rats. One pair of rats can produce 880 offspring in a year

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