WW1 - Trench Warfare?

Question

Why were trenches created in the first place? Wikipedia states:

Trench warfare arose when there was a revolution in firepower without similar advances in mobility and communications.

Does this mean that the Germans had further technological advantages as they had tanks long before the British?

Answer 1

That means that when enemy weapons could kill everyone of your soldiers before they could reach the enemy lines (revolution in firepower), and there was no significant advance in ways to reach the enemy before being killed (similar advance in mobility) or avoid those death traps (and communication) the soldiers dug trenches.

Answer 2

Trenches existed long before WW1, being a major feature of seige warfare once the era of cannons was established.
They were essential to provide cover against the defender's artillery, and were slowly advanced until the attacker's (mobile, less heavy) artillery could be brought into play, and eventually an infantry assault mounted.

The American civil war produced extensive earthworks and trenches wherever there was a critical objective, or insufficient room to outflank them.

Remember that the most lethal weapon system by far in WW1 was the artillery, not rifle fire or machine guns.

The breaking of the seige-like trench lines was possible before the invention of tanks (by the allies: Germany had few and poor tanks)
The bigger difficulty was exploiting a successful attack. Moving men, supplies but above all artillery forward over a shelled area was a nightmare. The issues of logistics and mobility set the limits of what could be done.

The German innovations were principally poison gas and the strategic use of submarines, together with the tactical development of the infitration attack methods of the stormtroops. Not the tank, where they actually used more capured British tanks than they made of their own designs.

Answer 3

The Germans did not have tanks long before the British. Tanks were a British invention. The revolution in firepower at the beginning of WWI was in machine guns, better rifles and heavy artillery. Tanks were designed as a way to protect infantry attacking the existing trenches and were not properly used until the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.

Answer 4

It means that the ability to kill was far exceeding the ability to move troops out of harms way.

Before this war the range and the fire rate of guns were no where as fast as in WWI and that is why Trenches were made hence also why Tanks were made to break through any barbed wire and trenches.

Both sides had similar technology relatively at leat.

Answer 5

No. It means both sides had machine guns, but "Lightning advance" still meant a cavalry charge to most of the generals, and they didn't have walkie-talkies.