Why was there a stalemate on the Western Front?
why did the war become bogged down in the trenches
there were many lines of German trenches one one side and many lines of Allied trenches on the other
in the middle was no man's land marked with barbed wire which they crossed to attack the other side
Germans dug in deep and made their trenches strong because they had won a lot of enemy land and didn't need to move foward
the Allies needed to push German's back
defending in trenches was easy but nobody made the first move in attack. Neither side understood trench warfare and didn't know what to do so there was a deadlock. Generals also ignored or misused new weapons, such as gas and tanks, which were often unreliable
what was living and fighting in the trenches like
soldiers were organised into platoons of 60 men and each platoon was supposed to spend 4 days in the front line, 4 days in a reserve trench and 4 days resting behind the front line
half an hour before dawn, all soldiers had to stand to in case of enemy attack, during day soldiers took turns to keep watch, collect supplies, rebuild trenches and fortify defences. Soldiers stood down at dusk, sentries were sent to stand on duty, go out into no man's land to listening posts to repair barbed wire or on raiding parties.
conditions
lice: tiny insects lived in soldiers clothing and sucked their blood
disease: soldiers didn't wash, toilets were unhygienic, and there was little fresh water meant disease was very common. Such as British dysentery and kidney infection on the Western Front
rats: they thrived in the poort conditions of dead bodies, discarded food and other waste
the weather: trenches flooded with rain and in some cases, soldiers disappeared in mud. Wet weather brought trench foot which led to gangrene. In winter there was frostbite and in summer the heat made the smell of dead bodies, house manure and soldiers latrines unbearable
shell shock: known as post-traumatic stress because of the war caused soldiers to have mental break downs
boredom: during the long wait between major battles trench life was tedious soldiers usually used their rest to write letters and diaries and to play cards amongst themselves
how important were new developments such as tanks, machine guns, aircrafts and gas?
tanks: the first tanks were slow, unreliable, frequently got stuck, ran out of fuel and were dangerous for their own crew. Many of them broke down before they got into the battlefield but only the sight of them caused panic in German trenches. Tanks were used to break through barbed wire, cross no man's land, destroy enemy machine-gun posts and clear way for following infantry.
machine guns: each gun could fire between 400-600 rounds of ammunition per minute and was deadly at a range of over a kilometre. At first they were very heavy and needed about three to six gunners to operate, they were used as defensive weapons, later on they were lighter and could be managed by one gunner, it was used as offensive weapon.
aircraft: the main role of aircraft was to observe enemy troops but without radios, they couldn't pass the message immediately. Then pilots fired pistols at each other midair, later on, machine guns were mounted on the upper wings of planes and eventually synchronised machine guns were installed that could be shot through a propeller
gas: there were three types of posionous gas, chlorine gas, phosgene gas and mustard gas. Gas could be released from canisters and allowed to drift fowards the enemy if the wind blew in the right direction. Gas shells which broke open when they hit the ground were also used. Masks were made for protection
what was the significance of the battles of Verdun and the Somme
in 1916 Germans aimed to break the deadlock and win the war on the Western front by attrition whilst the British hoped for a major breakthrough
battle of Verdun
German Commander, General von Falkenhayn launched a German offensive to attack the French major fortress in Verdun on 21 February 1019, he knew French pride would never allow them to surrender.
he expected France would surround and Britain would withdraw.
ended in 18 December 1916 in French victory
as long as the defensing side could sustain casualties, trench walfare made attacking virtually impossible
France fortifications were very strong and constanly repaired after German bombardements in battle
to relieve pressure on the French, the British launched the Battle of Somme
they wanted to force France to keep reinforcing Verdun, kill as many French soldiers as possible, break the morale of the French army and bleed France white
Battle of Somme
British believed that a major decisive victory on the Western Front after 18 months of deadlock would end the war, they introduced conscription
on 1 July 1016 British commander, Sir Douglas Haig launched a massive attack on German trenches at the River Somme
first, there would be heavy shelling for 7 days to destroy German defences, kill many soldiers, clear barbed wire and put off five large mines under German trenches. Then infantry would advance in the morning on 1 July and clear remaining Germans from front line trenches. Lastly, there would be a second wave of attack, including cavalry, would sweep through
the bombardment failed to destroy German barbed wire, and German's survived the attack because they knew it was coming after the shelling and sheltered in bunkers. Haigh ended the attack in November, German forces retreated to the Hindenburg Line after the battle
Hag leadership and tactics have were criticised. His planning war was poor, he allowed the attack to continue after it was clearly failing, he didn't learn from his mistakes, he refused to cooperate with other leaders, generals and his superiors, he didn't want to use new technology, the war on the Western Front was won copying German tactics, not his
Hag didn' deserve a bad reputation, he didn't have much time to plan the Battle of Somme, was given half the forces he believed he needed, wasn't the only one failing to understand how war had changed, his tactics imporved and atualy contributed to the defeat of Germany in 1918, in his private papers he felt deeply sorry about the losses of his men
The war of movement changed into a war of attrition.
Trench warfare developed as both sides dug trench to protect themselves from enemy fire.