One of the most deadly legacies of the 20th century is the use of landmines in warfare. Anti-personnel landmines continue to have tragic consequences years after a battle and even the entire war has ended. As time passes, the location of landmines is often forgotten, even by those who planted them. These mines continue to be operative for many decades, causing extra damage, injury, and death.

Landmines are basically explosive devices that are designed to explode when triggered by the pressure of someone’s foot or a tripwire. These devices are typically found on or just below the surface of the ground. The purpose of mines, when used by armed forces, is to disable any person or vehicle that comes into contact with it by an explosion or fragments released at high speeds.

Landmines are easy to make, cheap, and effective weapons that can be situated easily over large areas to prevent enemy movements. Mines are typically placed in the ground by hand, but there are also mechanical machines that can dig the earth and drop and bury mines at specific intervals.

Nowadays, there are more than 100 million landmines located in seventy countries around the world, according to OneWorld International. Since 1975, landmines have killed or injured more than 1 million people, which has led to a worldwide effort to ban further landmine use and clear away existing landmines.

https://science.howstuffworks.com/landmine.htm