Daily life was often very dull and boring. It involved the cleaning and mending weapons; the construction and repair of trench defences; the removal of dead and wounded people from the trenches and no man's land; the transfer of supplies, food, and new equipment; observing enemy activity and movement; repairing barbed wire defences etc.
Conditions in the trenches were shocking. Soldiers had to live there in all types of weather. In winter, trenches flooded, and sometimes froze. As a result of wet conditions and poor hygiene, some soldiers suffered from "trench foot".
Front line soldiers could be expected to advance across no man's land towards the enemy frontline trenches, in the face of machine gun fire and barbed wire defences. Thousands of casualties could be expected in such an attack.
Soldiers had to live with the constant danger of enemy shelling and snipers; the sound of artillery bombardments which sometimes resulted in soldiers suffering from a breakdown known as "shell shock"; the death or injury of close friends; the dangers of poison gas attacks; rats and lice; the boring diet of tea, biscuits and tinned beef.
Soldiers suffered enormous casualties due to the deadly effects of modern artillery, grenades, mines and machine guns.
Attempts that were made to end the deadlock of trench warfare included the introduction of poison gas attacks and the tank. The gas could be effective if the wind blew in the right direction, and the enemy was taken by surprise. The British were the first to introduce the tank which could be effective if the ground was firm enough, and there were sufficient troops to hold on to enemy territory captured by using tanks to lead the troops across no man's land.