War on the Western Front

War on the Western Front

1. Reasons for the Stalemate

   • Failure of the Schieflen Plan
     • - the plan relied on rapid movement on the germans behalf----belgiums resistance prevented this
       • Belgium and Brittain had a treaty that if Belgium was invaded Brittain would help out "Treaty of London"
     • Russia mobilised quicker than expected.
       • Within 10 days Russia had invaded Germany = Germany now fighting on 2 battle fronts
   • Tactical & Strategic Problems
     • Movement by rail....made rapid rate of advance posible ony in areas where track had been laid. Soldiers became delayed due to insufficient track and station managment. CONTRARY to this the rail ways did allow the rapid movment of soldiers to plug gaps in the front lines = reinforcing the stalemate
   • Problems in communication
     • commanders were situated far from front, messages were delivered by horse back or on foot, messages were from 24 and 48 hours between event and news

2. the nature of trench warfare

   • War on the western front was a new kind of warfare.
   • During the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, however, the Germans were pushed back by Allied forces. They subsequently "dug in" to avoid losing any more ground. Unable to break through this line of defense, the Allies also began to dig protective trenches.
   • Conditions
     • Rats
       • spreading infection and contaminating food. The rat problem remained for the duration of the wa
     • Mud
       • Trench foot
     • Lice
       • Trench Fever
   • Germans got the best trenches because they built their trenches on high land leaving the other side down the bottom getting all the water = trench foot was a bigger problem for the brittish
   • Germans also had better adapted to trench life they built them like proper batilions with plank pathways and underground bunks

3. Stratergies and tactics to break the stalemate

   • Key Battles
     • Verdun = February 21st 1916 - December 16th in 1916. General Philippe Pétain
     • The Somme = July 1st 1916 - November 1916. epitomise the futility of trench warfare.
     • Passchendaele = July 1917 " the battle of mud"
     • Battle of Jutland 1916
   • Advances in technologies
     • German flame thrower
     • Gas bombs
     • Machine Guns
     • Tanks
     • Submarines

4. changing attitudes of allied german soldiers to the war

   • 1914- young men volunteering for the war....after the battle of the Somme men didnt want to apply = conscription
   • Brittain relied souly on volunteers for the war because of the prestige of the army...they had very high standards