How They Fought World War I and the Vietnam

War
The Vietnam War and World War I were fought in very different ways, yet they
were quite similar in many ways for the soldiers experiencing them. WWI used
trench warfare, with over 15 million men dying in the war, 200,000 of which died in
the trenches the war relied on (Jacobs). The Vietnam War used jungle warfare, with
more than 58,000 US soldiers dying, and somewhere between 2.1 and 3.8 million
Vietnamese soldiers dying (Rosen).
Trench warfare involved two sides fighting each other from entrenched
positions dug into the ground. During WWI trenches were in parallel sets of 2-4 that
ran for a mile or more (The Editors of Encyclopdia Britannica). The trenches were
filthy. They were filled with water that often reached 2 feet, and critters such as lice,
and large rats that would feed on the dead. Soldiers on the front lines spent most of
their time entrapped in the trenches, surrounded by dirt, and the sky above them
(Fussell). This was broken up with sniper fire should a soldiers head get a little too
high, and shellfire coming down on them (Jacobs).
The jungle warfare was much more based on movement. Soldiers would go in
units on patrols of the Vietnamese jungles that often lasted over 30 days
(Defensape). Units would often go into hostile territory where they were open to
traps, and attacks from enemy shooters that theyd often never see. American troops
were often left to wait around for the enemy to attack (Palmer). They were also
exposed to the gases and napalm bombs (Taylor). When not on patrol in the jungle,
soldiers spent their time at camp, where the true challenge was to fight off boredom
and laziness (Defensape).
While the methods of trench warfare and jungle warfare were quite different,
it created a very similar experience for the soldiers fighting it. Both soldiers dealt with
boredom. The soldiers of Vietnam with waiting around for the enemy to attack and

sitting around waiting at base camps, and the soldiers of WWI as they became
enclosed by the trenches and tried to keep their feet from rotting in the water
(Defensape, Jacobs). When action did start though it was brutal for these soldiers.
They both dealt with gas, bombs, and sniper fire out of nowhere. These soldiers
rarely knew when an attack would come, and the wait in between attacks could feel
endless. This is what connected two vastly different fighting strategies for groups of
soldiers 50 years apart.
JP