History is in just a bunch of names and dates and facts.

It's the collection of all the stories throughout human history that explain how and why we

got here.

Welcome to the History Unplugged Podcast, where we look at the forgotten, neglected, strange,

and even counterfactual stories that made our world what it is.

I'm your host, Scott Rank.

The trench was a horrible sight.

Dead were stretched out on one side, one on top of each other, six feet high.

I thought at the time I should never get the peculiar disgusting smell of the vapor of

warm human blood heated by the sun out of my nostrils.

I would rather have a smell gas a hundred times.

I could never describe the faint, sickening, horrible smell, which several times nearly

knocked me up altogether.

That's why British captain who was in the trenches throughout World War One, this episode

we're going to be getting deep into the trenches because this is important to understand

the experience of the war.

Why were there so many people who suffered terrible diseases?

Why were there so many people who crumbled psychologically?

Why was it so dangerous to charge an omans land?

That's what we're beginning or going to be getting into with the trenches.

So kick us off, James.

What should we know about the trenches?

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