Turkish troops occupy a machine gun position with German officers. Fort Douaumont before left and after right the battle of Verdun. British troops occupying a German trench on the Somme. One soldier is on lookout duty while the others rest. Beauchamp, T. Marine Biology. Electrical Engineering. Computer Science. Medical Science. Writing Tutorials. Performing Arts. Visual Arts. Student Life. Vocational Training. First World War. In , Germany adopted a defensive strategy on the Western Front to counter the growing strength of the Allies.
Despite launching several offensives, and suffering heavy casualties, the Allies achieved mixed results. A breakthrough remained elusive, but experiments in new fighting methods hinted at a possible end to the deadlock. Efforts to contain the Allied offensives of proved costly for the Germans. Their high command therefore decided on a defensive strategy for Between February and April, they withdrew to a new fortified position known as the Hindenburg Line.
Significantly shorter, and protected with pillboxes and deep belts of wire, it gave the Germans a stronger position to defend. During their withdrawal, the Germans destroyed buildings, wells and watercourses, roads and railways. This prevented the Allies from fully exploiting the abandoned ground.
Initially, the Allies had planned a joint offensive with the Russians in the Spring. But, following revolution in February , Russia withdrew its commitment to attack on the Eastern Front. In March, the French instead opted to advance along the River Aisne. But the Allies eventually agreed that the British would launch a diversionary attack at Arras, drawing German troops away from the Aisne and assisting the French attack.
The Battle of Arras began with a barrage on 4 April The Allies had learnt valuable lessons from their mistakes on the Somme. Specialised artillery units targeted German guns through counter-battery fire. By adopting new methods like sound ranging and flash spotting, they neutralised enemy batteries before the attack.
The British were aware that they could not wipe out the Germans with shells. But their extended bombardment exhausted and demoralised enemy troops by pinning them down inside their dugouts without access to rations or supplies. The British guns fell silent on 8 April.
The troops then advanced. The weather proved an unlikely ally. A sudden squall of heavy snowfall blew towards the German lines, allowing many of the attackers to reach their goals in poor visibilty. Good progress was made, with elements of the First, Third and Fifth Armies advancing up to 8km 5 miles in the first two days. The attack also achieved its objective of drawing German troops away from the Aisne in advance of the French assault.
But the early progress was eventually halted by tough German resistance and logistics problems. Reinforcements, artillery and supplies could not keep up with the advancing troops. By 16 May - the official end of the battle - the Arras front had returned to the stalemate of trench warfare. Casualties surpassed , for the British and Canadians, and , for the Germans. Once again, there had been no breakthrough, although the Canadian Corps gained some success in taking Vimy Ridge, a key feature that dominated the surrounding area.
Several days later, the French offensive on the Aisne also ground to a halt after massive casualties. Still, the Arras operation showed that the British had learned lessons from the Somme. They were developing new methods for set-piece attacks against German defences, including infantry-tank co-operation and close air support. The British began another assault on 7 June , with a series of huge mine explosions at Messines Ridge.
They killed around 10, Germans and totally disrupted their lines. Following the detonation of the mines, nine Allied infantry divisions attacked under a creeping artillery barrage, supported by 72 Mark IV tanks. They gained their initial objectives due to the devastating effect of the mines.
They were also helped by the German reserves being positioned too far back to intervene. German counter-attacks continued until 14 June. But, by then, the entire Messines salient was in Allied hands. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig intended to use the captured ridge and salient as a launch point for another offensive.
This operation was designed to drive a hole in the enemy lines, advance to the Belgian coast and capture the ports, thus removing the German submarine threat to the British war effort. An attack would also take the pressure off the French.
Their army had experienced a series of mutinies following the disastrous Nivelle offensive and needed to recuperate. Unfortunately, Haig was persuaded to delay this new assault. World War 1 - Breaking of the Stalemate.
World War I Coursework. World War One: Stalemate. Why stalemate broke down on the Western Front World Questions on World War One. Not the one? Search for your essay title World War 1 - Breaking of the Stalemate The Americans joined the war on the 6th of April , due to German unrestricted submarine warfare and Germany's persuading Mexico to attack them.
World War I Coursework In October , there was a communist revolution in Russia and in March , the new government pulled out of the war. World War One: Stalemate there were strikes and demonstrations in the northern cities as many civilians demanded an end to the war. See more essays. Save Sign up now Want to read the rest? Read more The above preview is unformatted text. Found what you're looking for? Looking for expert help with your History work? Take me to free Study Guides.
The conventional explanation offered by historians for the stalemate on the western front an area stretching from Belgium all the way down to the Alps is that by technology and industrialism had overtaken military strategy and tactics, making them obsolete.
Supposedly machine guns and rapid-fire artillery had made the traditional tactics worthless; linear tactics and cavalry charges were things of the past by , and also bad choices were made by inexperienced commanders. It makes one wonder had the British commanders really been clued up to the art of modern warfare maybe the war might not have been so disastrous in terms of casualties.
The new technology of WW1 included machine guns, gas, tanks, bayonets, flamethrowers, rifles and grenades. Machine guns and poison gas are two of the most well-known and notorious weapons of World War 1. Firing several hundred bullets per minute, machine guns were deadly weapons, especially when used against enemy troops.
First used by the Germans during the war, it soon became a popular weapon choice for battle. Going into the war, the fighting on the Western Front slowed down and eventually turned into a stalemate.
With no other options at hand, both sides had to adapt to circumstances in order to hold down their fronts, which led to the use of trench warfare. Trench warfare was one of the most innovated methods that was used during World War I, which in itself was highly effective.
After the periods of major industrial breakthroughs, new technologies came around, which made the way war was fought much more complex. The Battle of the Bulge had a very strong lead up to the battle, had many attacks through the actual battle, and had deadly human costs to On January 1st Hitler launched an all out attack on the American and Allied armies to try and free the German troops.
However, with losing so many troops and resources during the first couple weeks of the battle, the attack certainly was a failure on the German side. With constant fighting from both sides left very heavy casualties on both sides.
The strong led up to the battle was certainly a key in the battle. Open Document. Essay Sample Check Writing Quality. By December the First World War had reached a dilemma on the western front that neither the triple entente nor the triple alliance had expected.
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