During the First World War, then referred to simply as “the Great War”, battles were fought with boots on the ground. Despite the modest presence of air and sea, WWI became synonymous with artillery and trench warfare. The Great War would bear witness to the creation of the tank in 1916, which would play a peripheral role due to its slow speed, unreliability, and tactical limitations. This was long before the days of sophisticated machinery, cyber attacks, and drones.
As detailed in texts documenting the battles on the Western Front, infantrymen would commonly be separated by trenches with only a wide stretch of land between them. This area was referred to as “No Man’s Land”. Breaching the trench and running across No Man’s Land in an attempt to reach the opposite side was certain suicide. A stretch of dirt with no owner. One which claimed the lives of many men.
Most people’s association with the phrase stems from the war. But it originates from medieval Engli…