  The present review is intended to revisit the advances and debates in the
comprehension of the mechanisms of subcritical crack propagation in silicate
glasses almost a century after its initial developments. Glass has inspired the
initial insights of Griffith into the origin of brittleness and the ensuing
development of modern fracture mechanics. Yet, through the decades the real
nature of the fundamental mechanisms of crack propagation in glass has escaped
a clear comprehension which could gather general agreement on subtle problems
such as the role of plasticity, the role of the glass composition, the
environmental condition at the crack tip and its relation to the complex
mechanisms of corrosion and leaching. The different processes are analysed here
with a special focus on their relevant space and time scales in order to
question their domain of action and their contribution in both the kinetic laws
and the energetic aspects.
