Eene Duitsche tweede linie loopgraaf tijdens den slag van Champagne door de Franschen veroverd (September 1915) (...) 1915

This photograph, taken in September 1915 by Sémaphore, shows a German trench in the Champagne region after it was captured by French forces. The image presents a stark view of the war's brutal impact on both the landscape and the men fighting in it. The Great War was one of the first in which photographs were widely used for propaganda purposes. Images like this would have been carefully managed by military authorities to convey a particular message. The destruction of the trench serves as a powerful symbol of military victory, but it also hints at the terrible human cost. What social and political purpose did this image serve at the time? Was it intended to embolden French forces, or to demoralize the enemy? To answer questions like these, historians draw on a wide variety of resources, from military archives to newspaper articles to personal accounts. The meaning of this photograph is not fixed, but rather shifts depending on the social and institutional context in which it is viewed.