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Western Front (World War I)
Encyclopedia
Following the outbreak of World War I
in 1914, the German Army
opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg
and Belgium
, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France
. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne
. Following the race to the sea
, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches
, stretching from the North Sea
to the Swiss
frontier with France. This line remained essentially unchanged for most of the war.
Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along this front
. The attacks employed massive artillery
bombardments and massed infantry
advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun
nests, barbed wire
, and artillery
repeatedly inflicted severe casualties on the attackers and counter attacking defenders. As a result, no significant advances were made.
In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new military technology
, including poison gas
, aircraft
and tank
s. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored.
In spite of the generally stagnant nature of this front, this theater would prove decisive. The inexorable advance of the Allied
armies in 1918 persuaded the German commanders that defeat was inevitable, and the government was forced to sue for conditions of an armistice.
, designed to quickly attack France through neutral Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border. Belgium's neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London; the invasion brought the British into the war. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck
and Karl von Bülow
attacked Belgium on the 4 August 1914. Luxembourg
had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège
, which lasted from 5–16 August. Liège was well fortified and surprised the German army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. However, German heavy artillery was able to pound the key forts into ruin within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian army retreated
to Antwerp
and Namur
. Although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August.
For their part, the French had five Armies deployed on their borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII
, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine
following the outbreak of hostilities. On 7 August the VII Corps attacked Alsace with its objectives being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with 1st and 2nd Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine. In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French advanced the 3rd and 4th army toward the Saar River
and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back. The French VII Corps captured Mulhouse after a brief engagement on August 7, but German reserve forces engaged them in the Battle of Mulhouse
and forced a French retreat.
The German army swept through Belgium, causing great suffering on the part of the civilian population. The wartime allied propaganda immediately seized this opportunity to portray the German invasion as the "Rape of Belgium
". (A modern author uses the term only in the narrower sense of describing the war crime
s committed by the German army during this period.) After marching through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Ardennes
, the German Army advanced, in the latter half of August, into northern France where they met both the French army, under Joseph Joffre
, and the initial six division
s of the British Expeditionary Force, under Sir John French
. A series of engagements known as the Battle of the Frontiers
ensued. Key battles included the Battle of Charleroi
and the Battle of Mons
. In the former battle the French 5th Army was almost destroyed by the German 2nd and 3rd Armies and the latter delayed the German advance by a day. A general Allied retreat followed, resulting in more clashes such as the Battle of Le Cateau
, the Siege of Maubeuge
and the Battle of St. Quentin
(Guise).
The German army came within 70 km (43.5 mi) of Paris
, but at the First Battle of the Marne
(6–12 September), French and British troops were able to force a German retreat by exploiting a gap which appeared between the 1st and 2nd Armies, ending the German advance into France. The German army retreated north of the Aisne River
and dug in there, establishing the beginnings of a static western front that was to last for the next three years. Following this German setback, the opposing forces tried to outflank each other in the Race for the Sea, and quickly extended their trench systems from the North Sea
to the Swiss frontier
. The resulting German-occupied territory held 64% of France's pig-iron production, 24% of its steel manufacturing and 40% of the total coal mining capacity, dealing a serious, but not crippling setback to French industry.
On the Entente side
, the final lines were occupied by the armies of the allied countries, with each nation defending a part of the front. From the coast in the north, the primary forces were from Belgium, the British Empire and France. Following the Battle of the Yser
in October, the Belgian forces controlled a 35 km length of Belgium's Flanders
territory along the coast, with their front following the Yser
river and the Yperlee canal, from Nieuwpoort
to Boesinghe
. Stationed to the south was the sector of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Here, from 19 October until 22 November, the German forces made their final breakthrough attempt of 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres
. Heavy casualties were suffered on both sides but no breakthrough occurred. By Christmas, the BEF guarded a continual line from the La Bassée Canal to south of St. Eloi in the Somme valley. The remainder of the front, south to the border with Switzerland
, was manned by French forces.
Between the coast and the Vosges
was an outward bulge in the trench line, named the Noyon
salient for the captured French town at the maximum point of advance near Compiègne
. Joffre's plan of attack for 1915 was to attack this salient on both flanks in order to cut it off. The British would form the northern attack force by pressing eastward in Artois
, while the French attacked in Champagne
.
On 10 March, as part of what was intended as a larger offensive in the Artois region, the British
and Canadian army attacked at Neuve Chapelle
in an effort to capture the Aubers Ridge. The assault was made by four divisions along a 2 miles (3.2 km) front. Preceded by a concentrated bombardment
lasting 35 minutes, the initial assault made rapid progress, and the village was captured within four hours. However, the assault slowed because of problems with logistics
and communication
s. The Germans then brought up reserves and counter-attack
ed, forestalling the attempt to capture the ridge. Since the British had used about one-third of their total supply of artillery shells
, General Sir John French blamed the failure on the shortage of shells, despite the success of the initial attack.
Despite the German plans to maintain the stalemate with the French and British, German commanders planned an offensive at the Belgian
town of Ypres
, which the British had captured in November 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres
. This Second Battle of Ypres
was intended to divert attention away from major offensives in the Eastern Front
while disrupting Franco-British planning, and to test a new weapon: the second large-scale use of chemical weapons. (Ypres is frequently mistaken as the first use of gas, but this designation in fact belongs to Bolimow
, on the Eastern Front.) On 22 April, after a two-day bombardment, the Germans released 168 tons of chlorine gas
onto the battlefield. Being heavier than air, the gas crept across no man's land and drifted down into the British trenches. The green-yellow cloud asphyxia
ted the defenders, and those in the rear fled in panic
, creating an undefended four-mile (6 km)-wide gap in the Allied line. However, the Germans were unprepared for the level of their success and lacked sufficient reserves to exploit the opening. Canadian troops quickly arrived and drove back the German advance.
The gas attack was repeated two days later and caused a three-mile (5 km) withdrawal of the Franco-British line. But the opportunity had been lost. The success of this attack would not be repeated, as the Allies countered by introducing gas masks and other countermeasure
s. An example of the success of these measures came a year later, on 27 April, when, at Hulluch
, 25 miles (40.2 km) to the south of Ypres, the 16th (Irish) Division's troops were able to withstand determined German gas attacks.
Several weeks later Garros was forced to land behind German lines. His plane was captured and sent to Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker
, who soon produced a significant improvement, the interrupter gear
, in which the machine gun is synchronized with the propeller so it fires in the intervals when the blades of the revolving propeller are out of the line of fire. This advance was quickly ushered into service, in the Fokker E.I
(Eindecker, or monoplane, Mark 1), the first single seat fighter aircraft
to combine a reasonable maximum speed with an effective armament; Max Immelmann
scored the first confirmed kill in an Eindecker on 1 August.
This started a back-and-forth arms race, as both sides developed improved weapons, engines, airframes, and materials, which continued until the end of the war. It also inaugurated the cult of the ace
, the most famous being the Red Baron
. Contrary to the myth, however, antiaircraft fire claimed more kills than fighters.
The final Entente offensive of the spring was fought at Artois
, with the goal of trying to capture the Vimy Ridge. The French 10th Army attacked on 9 May after a six-day bombardment and advanced 3 miles (4.8 km). However, they retreated as they had come into sights of machine gun nests and the German reinforcements fired artillery at the attackers. By 15 May the offensive had ground to a halt, although the fighting continued until 18 June.
In May the German army captured a French document at La Ville-aux-Bois
describing a new system of defence. Rather than relying on a heavily fortified front line, the defence is arranged in a series of echelons. The front line would be a thinly manned series of outposts, reinforced by a series of strongpoints and a sheltered reserve. If a slope was available, troops were deployed along the rear side for protection. The defense became fully integrated with command of artillery at the divisional level. Members of the German high command viewed this new scheme with some favour and it later became the basis of an elastic defence in depth
doctrine against Entente attacks.
During autumn of 1915, the "Fokker Scourge
" began to have an effect on the battlefront as Allied spotter planes were nearly driven from the skies. These reconnaissance
planes were used to direct gunnery and photograph enemy fortifications, but now the Allies were nearly blinded by German fighters.
In September 1915 the Entente allies launched major offensives, with the French attacking at Champagne
and the British at Loos
. The French had spent the summer preparing for this action, with the British assuming control of more of the front in order to free up French troops. The bombardment, which had been carefully targeted by means of aerial photography
, began on 22 September. The main French assault was launched on 25 September and, at least at first, made good progress in spite of surviving wire entanglements and machine gun posts. Rather than retreating, the Germans adopted a new defense-in-depth scheme that consisted of a series of defensive zones and positions with a depth of up to 5 mi (8 km).
On 25 September, the British began their assault at Loos
, which was meant to supplement the larger Champagne attack. The attack was preceded by a four-day artillery bombardment of 250,000 shells and a release of 5,100 cylinders of chlorine
gas. The attack involved two corps in the main assault and two more corps performing diversionary attacks at Ypres. The British suffered heavy losses, especially due to machine gun fire, during the attack and made only limited gains before they ran out of shells. A renewal of the attack on 13 October fared little better. In December, British Field Marshal Sir John French
was replaced by General Douglas Haig
as commander of the British forces.
, believed that a breakthrough might no longer be possible, and instead focused on forcing a French capitulation by inflicting massive casualties. His new goal was to "bleed France white".
As such, he adopted two new strategies. The first was the use of unrestricted submarine warfare
to cut off Allied supplies arriving from overseas. The second would be targeted, high-casualty attacks against the French ground troops. To inflict the maximum possible casualties, he planned to attack a position from which the French could not retreat for reason of both strategic positions and national pride
and thus trap the French. The town of Verdun
was chosen for this because it was an important stronghold, surrounded by a ring of forts, that lay near the German lines and because it guarded the direct route to Paris
. The operation was codenamed Gericht, German for "court", but meant "place of execution".
Falkenhayn limited the size of the front to 3–4 miles (4.8–6.4 km) to concentrate their firepower and to prevent a breakthrough from a counteroffensive. He also kept tight control of the main reserve, feeding in just enough troops to keep the battle going. In preparation for their attack, the Germans had amassed a concentration of aircraft near the fortress. In the opening phase, they swept the air space of enemy spotters which allowed the accurate German artillery spotters and bombers to operate without interference. However, by May, the French countered by deploying escadrilles de chasse with superior Nieuport
fighters. The tight air space over Verdun turned into an aerial battlefield, and illustrated the value of tactical air superiority, as each side sought to dominate air reconnaissance.
began on 21 February 1916 after a nine-day delay due to snow and blizzards. After a massive eight-hour artillery bombardment, the Germans did not expect much resistance as they slowly advanced on Verdun and its forts. However, heavy French resistance was encountered. The French lost control of Fort Douaumont
. Nonetheless, French reinforcements halted the German advance by 28 February.
The Germans turned their focus to Le Mort Homme to the north from which the French were successfully shelling them. After some of the most intense fighting of the campaign, the hill was taken by the Germans in late May. After a change in French command at Verdun from the defensive-minded Philippe Pétain
to the offensive-minded Robert Nivelle
the French attempted to re-capture Fort Douaumont on 22 May but were easily repulsed. The Germans captured Fort Vaux
on 7 June and, with the aid of the gas diphosgene
, came within 1,200 yards (1 km) of the last ridge over Verdun before stopping on 23 June.
Over the summer, the French slowly advanced. With the development of the rolling barrage
, the French recaptured Fort Vaux in November, and by December 1916 they had pushed the Germans back 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from Fort Douaumont, in the process rotating 42 divisions through the battle. The Battle of Verdun—also known as the 'Mincing Machine of Verdun' or 'Meuse Mill'—became a symbol of French determination and sacrifice.
ns who had also suffered great losses. On 1 July, after a week of heavy rain, British divisions in Picardy
launched an attack around the river Somme, supported by five French divisions on their right flank. The attack had been preceded by seven days of heavy artillery bombardment. The experienced French forces were successful in advancing but the British artillery cover had neither blasted away barbed wire, nor destroyed German trenches as effectively as was planned. They suffered the greatest number of casualties (killed, wounded and missing) in a single day in the history of the British army, about 57,000.
Having assessed the air combat over Verdun, the Allies had new aircraft for the attack in the Somme valley. The Verdun lesson learnt, the Allies' tactical aim became the achievement of air superiority and the German planes were, indeed, largely swept from the skies over the Somme. The success of the Allied air offensive caused a reorganization of the German air arm, and both sides began using large formations of aircraft rather than relying on individual combat.
After regrouping, the battle continued throughout July and August, with some success for the British despite the reinforcement of the German lines. By August General Haig had concluded that a breakthrough was unlikely, and instead switched tactics to a series of small unit actions. The effect was to straighten out the front line, which was thought necessary in preparation for a massive artillery bombardment with a major push.
The final phase of the battle of the Somme saw the first use of the tank
on the battlefield. The Allies prepared an attack that would involve 13 British and Imperial divisions and four French corps. The attack made early progress, advancing 3,500–4,500 yards (3.2–4.1 km) in places, but the tanks had little effect due to their lack of numbers and mechanical unreliability. The final phase of the battle took place in October and early November, again producing limited gains with heavy loss of life. All told, the Somme battle had made penetrations of only five miles (8 km), and failed to reach the original objectives. The British had suffered about 420,000 casualties and the French around 200,000. It is estimated that the Germans lost 465,000, although this figure is controversial.
The Somme led directly to major new developments in infantry organization and tactics; despite the terrible losses of 1 July, some divisions had managed to achieve their objectives with minimal casualties. In examining the reasons behind losses and achievements, the British, and the Colonial contingents, reintroduced the concept of the infantry platoon, following in the footsteps of the French and German armies who were already groping their way towards the use of small tactical units. At the time of the Somme, British senior commanders insisted that the company (120 men) was the smallest unit of manoeuvre; less than a year later, the section of 10 men would be so.
and Erich Ludendorff
. The new leaders soon recognized that the battles of Verdun and the Somme had depleted the offensive capabilities of the German army. They decided that the German army in the west would go over to the strategic defensive for most of 1917, while the Central powers would attack elsewhere.
During the Somme battle and through the winter months, the Germans created a prepared defensive position
behind a section of their front that would be called the Hindenburg Line. This was intended to shorten the German front, freeing 10 divisions for other duties. This line of fortifications ran from Arras
south to St Quentin
and shortened the front by about 30 miles. British long-range reconnaissance aircraft first spotted the construction of the Hindenburg Line in November 1916.
to be occupied by the Allies. This withdrawal negated the French strategy of attacking both flanks of the Noyon salient, as it no longer existed. However, offensive advances by the British continued as the High Command
claimed, with some justice, that this withdrawal resulted from the casualties the Germans received during the Battles of the Somme and Verdun, despite the Allies suffering greater losses.
Meanwhile, on 6 April the United States
declared war on Germany. Back in early 1915 following the sinking of the Lusitania
, Germany had stopped their unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic because of concerns of drawing the United States into the conflict. With the growing discontent of the German public due to the food shortages, however, the government resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917. They had calculated that a successful submarine and warship siege of Britain would force that country out of the war within six months, while American forces would take a year to become a serious factor on the western front. The submarine
and surface ships had a long period of success before Britain resorted to the convoy system, bringing a large reduction in shipping losses.
By 1916–17, the size of the British army on
the western front had grown to two-thirds the total
numbers in the French forces. In April 1917 the British Empire forces launched an attack starting the Battle of Arras
. The Canadian Corps
and the British 5th Infantry Division, attacked German lines at Vimy Ridge
, but received heavy casualties. The Allied attack ended with the refusal to provide reinforcements to the region.
During the winter of 1916–17, German air tactics had been improved, a fighter training school was opened at Valenciennes
and better aircraft with twin guns were introduced. The result was near disastrous losses for Allied air power, particularly for the British, Portuguese, Belgians, and Australians who were struggling with outmoded aircraft, poor training and weak tactics. As a result the Allied air successes over the Somme would not be repeated, and heavy losses were inflicted by the Germans. During their attack at Arras, the British lost 316 air crews and the Canadians lost 114 compared to 44 lost by the Germans. This became known to the RFC as Bloody April
.
The same month, French General Robert Nivelle
ordered a new offensive against the German trenches, promising that it would be a war-winner. The attack, dubbed the Nivelle Offensive
(also known as Chemin des Dames
, after the area where the offensive took place), would be 1.2 million men strong, to be preceded by a week-long artillery bombardment and accompanied by tanks. However, the operation proceeded poorly as the French troops, with the help of two Russian brigades
, had to negotiate rough, upward-sloping terrain. In addition, detailed planning had been dislocated by the voluntary German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, secrecy had been compromised, and German planes gained control of the sky making reconnaissance difficult. This allowed the creeping barrage to move too far ahead of the advancing troops. Within a week 100,000 French troops were dead. Despite the heavy casualties and his promise to halt the offensive if it did not produce a breakthrough, Nivelle ordered the attack continued into May.
On 3 May the weary French 2nd Colonial Division, veterans of the Battle of Verdun, refused their orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Their officers lacked the means to punish an entire division, and harsh measures were not immediately implemented. Thereupon the mutinies
afflicted 54 French divisions and saw 20,000 men desert. The other Allied forces attacked but received massive casualties. However, appeals to patriotism and duty, as well as mass arrests and trials, encouraged the soldiers to return to defend their trenches, although the French soldiers refused to participate in further offensive action. Nivelle was removed from command by 15 May, replaced by General Philippe Pétain
, who suspended large-scale attacks. The French would go on the defensive for the following months, in order to avoid high casualties and to give back confidence to soldiers in their own High Command.
, south of Ypres, to retake the ground lost in the First and Second Battles of Ypres in 1914. Since 1915 specialist Royal Engineer tunnelling companies
had been digging tunnels under the ridge, and about 500 tonnes (roughly 500,000 kg) of explosives had been planted in 21 mines under the enemy lines. Following four days of heavy bombardment, the explosives in 19 of these mines were set off resulting in the deaths of 10,000 Germans. The offensive that followed again relied on heavy bombardment, but these failed to dislodge the Germans. The offensive, though initially stunningly successful, faltered due to the flooded, muddy ground, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.
On 11 July 1917 during this battle, the Germans introduced a new weapon into the war when they fired gas shells delivered by artillery. The limited size of an artillery shell required that a more potent gas be deployed, and so the Germans employed mustard gas
, a powerful blistering agent. The artillery deployment allowed heavy concentrations of the gas to be used on selected targets. Mustard gas was also a persistent agent, which could linger for up to several days at a site, an additional demoralizing factor for their opponents. Along with phosgene
, gas would be used lavishly by both German and Allied forces in later battles, as the Allies also began to increase production of gas for chemical warfare
.
On 25 June the first U.S. troops began to arrive in France, forming the American Expeditionary Force
. However, the American units did not enter the trenches in divisional strength
until October. The incoming troops required training and equipment before they could join in the effort, and for several months American units were relegated to support efforts. In spite of this, however, their presence provided a much-needed boost to Allied morale.
Beginning in late July and continuing into October the struggle around Ypres was renewed with the Battle of Passchendaele (technically the Third Battle of Ypres, of which Passchendaele was the final phase). The battle had the original aim of pushing through the German lines and threatening the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, but was later restricted to advancing the British Army onto higher (and drier) ground around Ypres, no longer constantly under observation from German artillery. Canadian veterans from the Battle of Vimy Ridge
and the Battle of Hill 70
joined the depleted ANZAC and British forces and took the village of Passchendaele on 30 October despite extremely heavy rain and casualties. Again the offensive produced large numbers of casualties for relatively little gain, though the British made small but inexorable gains during periods of drier weather. The ground was generally muddy and pocketed by shell craters, making supply missions and further advancement very difficult.
Both sides lost a combined total of over a half million men during this offensive. The battle has become a byword among British historians for bloody and futile slaughter, whilst the Germans called Passchendaele "the greatest martyrdom of the War". It is one of the two battles (the other is the Battle of the Somme) which have done most to earn British Commander in Chief Sir Douglas Haig
his controversial reputation.
s on their fronts to bridge trenches and 4 m-wide (12-foot-wide) German tank traps. Special "grapnel tanks" towed hooks to pull away the German barbed wire. The initial attack was a success for the British. The British forces penetrated further in six hours than had been achieved at the Third Ypres in four months, and at a cost of only 4,000 British casualties.
However, the advance produced an awkward salient and a surprise German counteroffensive on 30 November drove the British back to their starting lines. Despite the reversal, the attack had been seen as a success by the Allies and Germans as it proved that tanks could overcome trench defences. The battle had also seen the first massed use of German stosstruppen on the western front, which used infantry infiltration tactics
to successfully penetrate the allied lines; bypassing resistance and quickly advancing into the enemy's rear.
Following the successful Allied attack and penetration of the German defences at Cambrai, Ludendorff and Hindenburg determined that the only opportunity for German victory now lay in a decisive attack along the western front during the spring, before American manpower became a significant presence. On 3 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
was signed, and Russia withdrew from the war. This would now have a dramatic effect on the conflict as 33 divisions were now released from Eastern Front
for deployment to the west. It is important to remember, however, that the Germans occupied almost as much Russian territory under the provisions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as they did in the Second World War: this considerably restricted their troop redeployment. However, they still had an advantage of 192 divisions to the Allied 178 divisions, which allowed Germany to pull veteran units from the line and retrain them as sturmtruppen. In contrast, the Allies still lacked a unified command and suffered from morale and manpower problems: the British and French armies were sorely depleted, and American troops had not yet transitioned into a combat role.
Ludendorff's strategy would be to launch a massive offensive against the British and Commonwealth designed to separate them from the French and her allies, then drive them back to the channel ports. The attack would combine the new storm troop tactics with ground attack aircraft, tanks, and a carefully planned artillery barrage that would include gas attacks.
s, very nearly succeeded in driving the Allied armies apart, advancing about 40 miles (64.4 km) during the first eight days and moving the front lines more than 60 miles (100 km) west, within shelling distance of Paris for the first time since 1914.
As a result of the battle, the Allies finally agreed on a unified system of command. General Ferdinand Foch
was appointed commander of all Allied forces in France. The unified Allies were now better able to respond to each of the German drives, and the offensive turned into a battle of attrition.
In May, the American divisions also began to play an increasing role, winning their first victory in the Battle of Cantigny
. By summer, 300,000 American soldiers were arriving every month. A total of 2.1 million American troops would be deployed on this front before the war came to an end. The rapidly increasing American presence served as a counter for the large numbers of redeployed German forces.
In July, Foch initiated an offensive
against the Marne salient produced during the German attacks, eliminating the salient by August. A second major offensive was launched two days after the first, ending at Amiens
to the north. This attack included Franco-British forces, and was spearheaded by Australian and Canadian troops, along with 600 tanks and supported by 800 aircraft. The assault proved highly successful, leading Hindenburg to name 8 August as the "Black Day of the German Army".
The German army's manpower had been severely depleted after four years of war, and its economy and society were under great internal strain. The Entente now fielded a total of 216 divisions against 197 understrength German divisions. The Hundred Days Offensive
beginning in August proved the final straw, and following this string of military defeats, German troops began to surrender in large numbers. As the Allied forces broke the German lines, Prince Maximilian of Baden
was appointed as Chancellor of Germany in October in order to negotiate an armistice. Because of his opposition to the peace feelers, Ludendorff was forced to step aside and he fled to Sweden
. Fighting was still continuing, but the German armies were in retreat when the German Revolution
put a new government in power. An armistice
was quickly signed, that stopped all fighting on the Western Front on Armistice Day
(11 November 1918). The German Imperial Monarchy collapsed as Ludendorff's successor General Groener
agreed, for fear of a revolution like that in Russia the previous year, to support the moderate Social Democratic Government under Friedrich Ebert
rather than sustain the Hohenzollern Monarchy.
. The result was the Treaty of Versailles
, signed in June 1919 by a delegation of the new German government.
The terms of the treaty would effectively cripple Germany as an economic and military power. The Versailles treaty returned the border provinces of Alsace-Lorraine to France
, thus limiting the coal required by German industry. The Saar
, which formed the west bank of the Rhine, would be demilitarized and controlled by Britain and France, while the Kiel Canal
opened to international traffic. The treaty also drastically reshaped Eastern Europe. It severely limited the German armed forces by restricting the size of the army to 100,000 and disallowing a navy or air force. The navy was sailed to Scapa Flow
under the terms of surrender but was later scuttled
, under the order of German admirals, as a reaction to the treaty.
Germany in 1919 was bankrupt, the people living in a state of semi-starvation, and having no commerce with the remainder of the world. The allies occupied the Rhine cities of Cologne, Koblenz and Mainz, with restoration dependent on payment of reparations. Among the German populace, the myth arose—openly cultivated by the Army Chief of Staff Hindenburg—that the defeat was not the fault of the 'good core' of the army but due to certain left-wing groups within Germany; this would later be exploited by Nazi
party propaganda to partly justify the overthrow of the Weimar Republic
. See Stab-in-the-back legend.
France suffered heavy damage in the war. In addition to losing more casualties relative to its population than any other great power, the industrial north-east of the country had been devastated by the war. The provinces overrun by Germany had produced 40% of the nation's coal and 58% of its steel output. Once it was clear that Germany was going to be defeated, Ludendorff had ordered the destruction of the mines in France and Belgium. His goal was to cripple the industries of Germany's main European rival. In order to prevent similar German aggression in the future, France later built a massive series of fortifications along the German border known as the Maginot Line
.
The war in the trenches left a generation of maimed soldiers and war widows. The unprecedented loss of life had a lasting effect on popular attitudes toward war, resulting later in an Allied reluctance to pursue an aggressive policy toward Adolf Hitler
(himself a decorated veteran of the war). The repercussions of that struggle are still being felt to this day.
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in 1914, the German Army
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had...
. Following the race to the sea
Race to the Sea
The Race to the Sea is a name given to the period early in the First World War when the two sides were still engaged in mobile warfare on the Western Front. With the German advance stalled at the First Battle of the Marne, the opponents continually attempted to outflank each other through...
, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
, stretching from the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
to the Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
frontier with France. This line remained essentially unchanged for most of the war.
Between 1915 and 1917 there were several major offensives along this front
Front (military)
A military front or battlefront is a contested armed frontier between opposing forces. This can be a local or tactical front, or it can range to a theater...
. The attacks employed massive artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
bombardments and massed infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
nests, barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...
, and artillery
Artillery
Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...
repeatedly inflicted severe casualties on the attackers and counter attacking defenders. As a result, no significant advances were made.
In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new military technology
Technology during World War I
Technology during World War I reflected a trend toward industrialism and the application of mass production methods to weapons and to the technology of warfare in general. This trend began fifty years prior to World War I during the U.S...
, including poison gas
Poison gas in World War I
The use of chemical weapons in World War I ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas and the severe mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene and chlorine. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the 20th century. The killing capacity of...
, aircraft
Aircraft
An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air, or, in general, the atmosphere of a planet. An aircraft counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines.Although...
and tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored.
In spite of the generally stagnant nature of this front, this theater would prove decisive. The inexorable advance of the Allied
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
armies in 1918 persuaded the German commanders that defeat was inevitable, and the government was forced to sue for conditions of an armistice.
1914—German invasion of France and Belgium
At the outbreak of the First World War, the German Army (consisting in the West of Seven Field Armies) executed a modified version of the Schlieffen PlanSchlieffen Plan
The Schlieffen Plan was the German General Staff's early 20th century overall strategic plan for victory in a possible future war in which the German Empire might find itself fighting on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east...
, designed to quickly attack France through neutral Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border. Belgium's neutrality was guaranteed by Britain under the 1839 Treaty of London; the invasion brought the British into the war. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck
Alexander von Kluck
Alexander Heinrich Rudolph von Kluck was a German general during World War I.- Military career :He enlisted in the Prussian army in time to serve in the seven-week Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War, where he was wounded twice in the Battle of Colombey-Neuilly...
and Karl von Bülow
Karl von Bülow
Karl von Bülow was a German Field Marshal commanding the German 2nd Army during World War I from 1914 to 1915.-Biography:...
attacked Belgium on the 4 August 1914. Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège
Battle of Liège
The Battle of Liège was the opening engagement of the German invasion of Belgium, and the first battle of World War I. The attack on the city began on 5 August 1914 and lasted until the 16th when the last Belgian fort finally surrendered...
, which lasted from 5–16 August. Liège was well fortified and surprised the German army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. However, German heavy artillery was able to pound the key forts into ruin within a few days. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian army retreated
Withdrawal (military)
A withdrawal is a type of military operation, generally meaning retreating forces back while maintaining contact with the enemy. A withdrawal may be undertaken as part of a general retreat, to consolidate forces, to occupy ground that is more easily defended, or to lead the enemy into an ambush...
to Antwerp
Siege of Antwerp
The Siege of Antwerp was an engagement between the German and the Belgian armies during World War I. A small number of British and Austrian troops took part as well.-Strategic Context:...
and Namur
Namur (city)
Namur is a city and municipality in Wallonia, in southern Belgium. It is both the capital of the province of Namur and of Wallonia....
. Although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August.
For their part, the French had five Armies deployed on their borders. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII
Plan XVII
Plan XVII was the name of a "scheme of mobilization and concentration" that was adopted by the French General Staff in 1913, to be put into effect by the French Army in the event of war between France and Germany but was not ‘a prescribed narrative for the campaign’ or battle...
, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine
Alsace-Lorraine
The Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine was a territory created by the German Empire in 1871 after it annexed most of Alsace and the Moselle region of Lorraine following its victory in the Franco-Prussian War. The Alsatian part lay in the Rhine Valley on the west bank of the Rhine River and east...
following the outbreak of hostilities. On 7 August the VII Corps attacked Alsace with its objectives being to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with 1st and 2nd Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine. In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French advanced the 3rd and 4th army toward the Saar River
Saar River
The Saar is a river in northeastern France and western Germany, and a right tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Vosges mountains on the border of Alsace and Lorraine and flows northwards into the Moselle near Trier. It has two headstreams , that both start near Mont Donon, the highest peak...
and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau, before being driven back. The French VII Corps captured Mulhouse after a brief engagement on August 7, but German reserve forces engaged them in the Battle of Mulhouse
Battle of Mulhouse
The Battle of Mulhouse , which began on August 9, 1914, was the opening attack of World War I by the French army against Germany...
and forced a French retreat.
The German army swept through Belgium, causing great suffering on the part of the civilian population. The wartime allied propaganda immediately seized this opportunity to portray the German invasion as the "Rape of Belgium
Rape of Belgium
The Rape of Belgium is a wartime propaganda term describing the 1914 German invasion of Belgium. The term initially had a figurative meaning, referring to the violation of Belgian neutrality, but embellished reports of German atrocities soon gave it a literal significance...
". (A modern author uses the term only in the narrower sense of describing the war crime
War crime
War crimes are serious violations of the laws applicable in armed conflict giving rise to individual criminal responsibility...
s committed by the German army during this period.) After marching through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Ardennes
Ardennes
The Ardennes is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian Ardennes mountain range, primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France , and geologically into the Eifel...
, the German Army advanced, in the latter half of August, into northern France where they met both the French army, under Joseph Joffre
Joseph Joffre
Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre OM was a French general during World War I. He is most known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in 1914. His popularity led to his nickname Papa Joffre.-Biography:Joffre was born in...
, and the initial six division
Division (military)
A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...
s of the British Expeditionary Force, under Sir John French
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer...
. A series of engagements known as the Battle of the Frontiers
Battle of the Frontiers
The Battle of the Frontiers was a series of battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium shortly after the outbreak of World War I. The battles represented a collision between the military strategies of the French Plan XVII and the German Schlieffen Plan...
ensued. Key battles included the Battle of Charleroi
Battle of Charleroi
The Battle of Charleroi , or the Battle of the Sambre , was fought on 21 August 1914, between French and German forces and was part of the Battle of the Frontiers. The French were planning an attack across the Sambre River, when the Germans launched an attack of their own...
and the Battle of Mons
Battle of Mons
The Battle of Mons was the first major action of the British Expeditionary Force in the First World War. It was a subsidiary action of the Battle of the Frontiers, in which the Allies clashed with Germany on the French borders. At Mons, the British army attempted to hold the line of the...
. In the former battle the French 5th Army was almost destroyed by the German 2nd and 3rd Armies and the latter delayed the German advance by a day. A general Allied retreat followed, resulting in more clashes such as the Battle of Le Cateau
Battle of Le Cateau
The Battle of Le Cateau was fought on 26 August 1914, after the British, French and Belgians retreated from the Battle of Mons and had set up defensive positions in a fighting withdrawal against the German advance at Le Cateau-Cambrésis....
, the Siege of Maubeuge
Siege of Maubeuge
The Siege of Maubeuge took place between August 24 and September 7, 1914 when the French garrison of the Maubeuge Fortress finally surrendered to the Germans at the start of World War I on the Western Front....
and the Battle of St. Quentin
Battle of St. Quentin (1914)
The Battle of St. Quentin was fought during World War I.On the night of 26 August 1914, the Allies withdrew from Le Cateau to St...
(Guise).
The German army came within 70 km (43.5 mi) of Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, but at the First Battle of the Marne
First Battle of the Marne
The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had...
(6–12 September), French and British troops were able to force a German retreat by exploiting a gap which appeared between the 1st and 2nd Armies, ending the German advance into France. The German army retreated north of the Aisne River
Aisne River
The Aisne is a river in northeastern France, left tributary of the river Oise. It gave its name to the French département Aisne. It was known in the Roman period as the Axona....
and dug in there, establishing the beginnings of a static western front that was to last for the next three years. Following this German setback, the opposing forces tried to outflank each other in the Race for the Sea, and quickly extended their trench systems from the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
to the Swiss frontier
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The resulting German-occupied territory held 64% of France's pig-iron production, 24% of its steel manufacturing and 40% of the total coal mining capacity, dealing a serious, but not crippling setback to French industry.
On the Entente side
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
, the final lines were occupied by the armies of the allied countries, with each nation defending a part of the front. From the coast in the north, the primary forces were from Belgium, the British Empire and France. Following the Battle of the Yser
Battle of the Yser
The Battle of the Yser secured part of the coastline of Belgium for the allies in the "Race to the Sea" after the first three months of World War I.-Strategic Context:As part of the execution of the Schlieffen Plan, Belgium had been invaded by Germany...
in October, the Belgian forces controlled a 35 km length of Belgium's Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
territory along the coast, with their front following the Yser
Yser
The Yser is a river that finds its origin in the north of France, enters Belgium and flows into the North Sea at the town of Nieuwpoort.-In France:The source of the Yser is in Buysscheure, in the Nord département of northern France...
river and the Yperlee canal, from Nieuwpoort
Nieuwpoort, Belgium
Nieuwpoort is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Nieuwpoort proper and the towns of Ramskapelle and Sint-Joris. On January 1, 2008 Nieuwpoort had a total population of 11,062....
to Boesinghe
Boezinge
Boezinge is a village north of the city of Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium, on the N369 road in the direction of Diksmuide.Artillery Wood Cemetery, near the village, is a First World War cemetery. It is the location of the grave of Hedd Wyn, the 1917 National Eisteddfod-winning Welsh poet, and of...
. Stationed to the south was the sector of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF). Here, from 19 October until 22 November, the German forces made their final breakthrough attempt of 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres
First Battle of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres, also called the First Battle of Flanders , was a First World War battle fought for the strategic town of Ypres in western Belgium...
. Heavy casualties were suffered on both sides but no breakthrough occurred. By Christmas, the BEF guarded a continual line from the La Bassée Canal to south of St. Eloi in the Somme valley. The remainder of the front, south to the border with Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, was manned by French forces.
1915—Stalemate
Vosges
Vosges is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.-History:The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been...
was an outward bulge in the trench line, named the Noyon
Noyon
Noyon is a commune in the Oise department in northern France.It lies on the Oise Canal, 100 km north of Paris.-History:...
salient for the captured French town at the maximum point of advance near Compiègne
Compiègne
Compiègne is a city in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.The city is located along the Oise River...
. Joffre's plan of attack for 1915 was to attack this salient on both flanks in order to cut it off. The British would form the northern attack force by pressing eastward in Artois
Artois
Artois is a former province of northern France. Its territory has an area of around 4000 km² and a population of about one million. Its principal cities are Arras , Saint-Omer, Lens and Béthune.-Location:...
, while the French attacked in Champagne
Champagne (province)
The Champagne wine region is a historic province within the Champagne administrative province in the northeast of France. The area is best known for the production of the sparkling white wine that bears the region's name...
.
On 10 March, as part of what was intended as a larger offensive in the Artois region, the British
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and Canadian army attacked at Neuve Chapelle
Battle of Neuve Chapelle
The Battles of Neuve Chapelle and Artois was a battle in the First World War. It was a British offensive in the Artois region and broke through at Neuve-Chapelle but they were unable to exploit the advantage.The battle began on 10 March 1915...
in an effort to capture the Aubers Ridge. The assault was made by four divisions along a 2 miles (3.2 km) front. Preceded by a concentrated bombardment
Bombardment
A bombardment is an attack by artillery fire directed against fortifications, troops or towns and buildings.Prior to World War I the term term was only applied to the bombardment of defenceless or undefended objects, houses, public buildings, it was only loosely employed to describe artillery...
lasting 35 minutes, the initial assault made rapid progress, and the village was captured within four hours. However, the assault slowed because of problems with logistics
Logistics
Logistics is the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of destination in order to meet the requirements of customers or corporations. Logistics involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and...
and communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
s. The Germans then brought up reserves and counter-attack
Counter-Attack
Counter-Attack is a 1945 war film starring Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman as two Russians trapped in a collapsed building with seven enemy German soldiers during World War II...
ed, forestalling the attempt to capture the ridge. Since the British had used about one-third of their total supply of artillery shells
Shell (projectile)
A shell is a payload-carrying projectile, which, as opposed to shot, contains an explosive or other filling, though modern usage sometimes includes large solid projectiles properly termed shot . Solid shot may contain a pyrotechnic compound if a tracer or spotting charge is used...
, General Sir John French blamed the failure on the shortage of shells, despite the success of the initial attack.
Gas warfare
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
town of Ypres
Ypres
Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...
, which the British had captured in November 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres
First Battle of Ypres
The First Battle of Ypres, also called the First Battle of Flanders , was a First World War battle fought for the strategic town of Ypres in western Belgium...
. This Second Battle of Ypres
Second Battle of Ypres
The Second Battle of Ypres was the first time Germany used poison gas on a large scale on the Western Front in the First World War and the first time a former colonial force pushed back a major European power on European soil, which occurred in the battle of St...
was intended to divert attention away from major offensives in the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...
while disrupting Franco-British planning, and to test a new weapon: the second large-scale use of chemical weapons. (Ypres is frequently mistaken as the first use of gas, but this designation in fact belongs to Bolimow
Bolimów
Bolimów is a village in Skierniewice County, Łódź Voivodeship, in central Poland. It is the seat of the Gmina called Gmina Bolimów. It lies approximately north of Skierniewice and north-east of the regional capital Łódź. The village has a population of 930...
, on the Eastern Front.) On 22 April, after a two-day bombardment, the Germans released 168 tons of chlorine gas
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
onto the battlefield. Being heavier than air, the gas crept across no man's land and drifted down into the British trenches. The green-yellow cloud asphyxia
Asphyxia
Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from being unable to breathe normally. An example of asphyxia is choking. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which primarily affects the tissues and organs...
ted the defenders, and those in the rear fled in panic
Panic
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction...
, creating an undefended four-mile (6 km)-wide gap in the Allied line. However, the Germans were unprepared for the level of their success and lacked sufficient reserves to exploit the opening. Canadian troops quickly arrived and drove back the German advance.
The gas attack was repeated two days later and caused a three-mile (5 km) withdrawal of the Franco-British line. But the opportunity had been lost. The success of this attack would not be repeated, as the Allies countered by introducing gas masks and other countermeasure
Countermeasure
A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept it implies precision, and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process...
s. An example of the success of these measures came a year later, on 27 April, when, at Hulluch
Battle of Hulluch
The Battle of Hulluch was a conflict in World War I, 27–29 April 1916, involving the 16th Division of the British Army's 19th Corps.The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers on the night of the 27th suffered a heavily-concentrated German chlorine gas attack near the German-held village of Hulluch, a mile...
, 25 miles (40.2 km) to the south of Ypres, the 16th (Irish) Division's troops were able to withstand determined German gas attacks.
Air warfare
This year also saw the introduction of airplanes specifically modified for aerial combat. While planes had already been used in the war for scouting, on 1 April the French pilot Roland Garros became the first to shoot down an enemy plane by using machine guns that fired forward through the propeller blades. This was achieved by crudely reinforcing the blades so bullets which hit them were deflected away.Several weeks later Garros was forced to land behind German lines. His plane was captured and sent to Dutch engineer Anthony Fokker
Anthony Fokker
Anton Herman Gerard "Anthony" Fokker was a Dutch aviation pioneer and an aircraft manufacturer. He is most famous for the fighter aircraft he produced in Germany during the First World War such as the Eindecker monoplanes, the Fokker Triplane the and the Fokker D.VII, but after the collapse of...
, who soon produced a significant improvement, the interrupter gear
Interrupter gear
An interrupter gear is a device used on military aircraft and warships in order to allow them to target opponents without damaging themselves....
, in which the machine gun is synchronized with the propeller so it fires in the intervals when the blades of the revolving propeller are out of the line of fire. This advance was quickly ushered into service, in the Fokker E.I
Fokker E.I
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Boyne, Walter J. The Smithsonian Book of Flight for Young People. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1988. ISBN 0-689-31422-1....
(Eindecker, or monoplane, Mark 1), the first single seat fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft
A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
to combine a reasonable maximum speed with an effective armament; Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann
Max Immelmann was the first German World War I flying ace. He was a great pioneer in fighter aviation and is often mistakenly credited with the first aerial victory using a synchronized gun...
scored the first confirmed kill in an Eindecker on 1 August.
This started a back-and-forth arms race, as both sides developed improved weapons, engines, airframes, and materials, which continued until the end of the war. It also inaugurated the cult of the ace
Flying ace
A flying ace or fighter ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down several enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The actual number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an "ace" has varied, but is usually considered to be five or more...
, the most famous being the Red Baron
Manfred von Richthofen
Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen , also widely known as the Red Baron, was a German fighter pilot with the Imperial German Army Air Service during World War I...
. Contrary to the myth, however, antiaircraft fire claimed more kills than fighters.
Continued Entente attacks
Second Battle of Artois
The Second Battle of Artois, of which the British contribution was the Battle of Aubers Ridge, was a battle on the Western Front of the First World War, it was fought at the same time as the Second Battle of Ypres. Even though the French under General Philippe Pétain gained some initial victories,...
, with the goal of trying to capture the Vimy Ridge. The French 10th Army attacked on 9 May after a six-day bombardment and advanced 3 miles (4.8 km). However, they retreated as they had come into sights of machine gun nests and the German reinforcements fired artillery at the attackers. By 15 May the offensive had ground to a halt, although the fighting continued until 18 June.
In May the German army captured a French document at La Ville-aux-Bois
La Ville-aux-Bois
La Ville-aux-Bois is a commune in the Aube department in north-central France.-References:*...
describing a new system of defence. Rather than relying on a heavily fortified front line, the defence is arranged in a series of echelons. The front line would be a thinly manned series of outposts, reinforced by a series of strongpoints and a sheltered reserve. If a slope was available, troops were deployed along the rear side for protection. The defense became fully integrated with command of artillery at the divisional level. Members of the German high command viewed this new scheme with some favour and it later became the basis of an elastic defence in depth
Defence in depth
Defence in depth is a military strategy; it seeks to delay rather than prevent the advance of an attacker, buying time and causing additional casualties by yielding space...
doctrine against Entente attacks.
During autumn of 1915, the "Fokker Scourge
Fokker Scourge
The Fokker Scourge was a term coined by the British press in the summer of 1915 to describe the then-current ascendancy of the Fokker Eindecker monoplane fighters of the German Fliegertruppen over the poorly-armed Allied reconnaissance types of the period....
" began to have an effect on the battlefront as Allied spotter planes were nearly driven from the skies. These reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
planes were used to direct gunnery and photograph enemy fortifications, but now the Allies were nearly blinded by German fighters.
In September 1915 the Entente allies launched major offensives, with the French attacking at Champagne
Second Battle of Champagne
The Second Battle of Champagne was a French offensive against the invading German army beginning on 25 September 1915, part of World War I.-September 25 - October 6:...
and the British at Loos
Loos, Nord
-References:* -External links:*...
. The French had spent the summer preparing for this action, with the British assuming control of more of the front in order to free up French troops. The bombardment, which had been carefully targeted by means of aerial photography
Aerial photography
Aerial photography is the taking of photographs of the ground from an elevated position. The term usually refers to images in which the camera is not supported by a ground-based structure. Cameras may be hand held or mounted, and photographs may be taken by a photographer, triggered remotely or...
, began on 22 September. The main French assault was launched on 25 September and, at least at first, made good progress in spite of surviving wire entanglements and machine gun posts. Rather than retreating, the Germans adopted a new defense-in-depth scheme that consisted of a series of defensive zones and positions with a depth of up to 5 mi (8 km).
On 25 September, the British began their assault at Loos
Third Battle of Artois
The Third Battle of Artois was on the Western Front of World War I, is also known as the Loos-Artois Offensive, including the major British offensive, known as the Battle of Loos....
, which was meant to supplement the larger Champagne attack. The attack was preceded by a four-day artillery bombardment of 250,000 shells and a release of 5,100 cylinders of chlorine
Chlorine
Chlorine is the chemical element with atomic number 17 and symbol Cl. It is the second lightest halogen, found in the periodic table in group 17. The element forms diatomic molecules under standard conditions, called dichlorine...
gas. The attack involved two corps in the main assault and two more corps performing diversionary attacks at Ypres. The British suffered heavy losses, especially due to machine gun fire, during the attack and made only limited gains before they ran out of shells. A renewal of the attack on 13 October fared little better. In December, British Field Marshal Sir John French
John French, 1st Earl of Ypres
Field Marshal John Denton Pinkstone French, 1st Earl of Ypres, KP, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCMG, ADC, PC , known as The Viscount French between 1916 and 1922, was a British and Anglo-Irish officer...
was replaced by General Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, was a British senior officer during World War I. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force from 1915 to the end of the War...
as commander of the British forces.
1916—Artillery duels and attrition
The German Chief of Staff, Erich von FalkenhaynErich von Falkenhayn
Erich von Falkenhayn was a German soldier and Chief of the General Staff during World War I. He became a military writer after World War I.-Early life:...
, believed that a breakthrough might no longer be possible, and instead focused on forcing a French capitulation by inflicting massive casualties. His new goal was to "bleed France white".
As such, he adopted two new strategies. The first was the use of unrestricted submarine warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchantmen without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules...
to cut off Allied supplies arriving from overseas. The second would be targeted, high-casualty attacks against the French ground troops. To inflict the maximum possible casualties, he planned to attack a position from which the French could not retreat for reason of both strategic positions and national pride
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
and thus trap the French. The town of Verdun
Verdun
Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...
was chosen for this because it was an important stronghold, surrounded by a ring of forts, that lay near the German lines and because it guarded the direct route to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. The operation was codenamed Gericht, German for "court", but meant "place of execution".
Falkenhayn limited the size of the front to 3–4 miles (4.8–6.4 km) to concentrate their firepower and to prevent a breakthrough from a counteroffensive. He also kept tight control of the main reserve, feeding in just enough troops to keep the battle going. In preparation for their attack, the Germans had amassed a concentration of aircraft near the fortress. In the opening phase, they swept the air space of enemy spotters which allowed the accurate German artillery spotters and bombers to operate without interference. However, by May, the French countered by deploying escadrilles de chasse with superior Nieuport
Nieuport
Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.-Beginnings:...
fighters. The tight air space over Verdun turned into an aerial battlefield, and illustrated the value of tactical air superiority, as each side sought to dominate air reconnaissance.
Battle of Verdun
The Battle of VerdunBattle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...
began on 21 February 1916 after a nine-day delay due to snow and blizzards. After a massive eight-hour artillery bombardment, the Germans did not expect much resistance as they slowly advanced on Verdun and its forts. However, heavy French resistance was encountered. The French lost control of Fort Douaumont
Fort Douaumont
Fort Douaumont was the largest and highest fort on the ring of 19 large defensive forts protecting the city of Verdun, France since the 1890s. However, by 1915 the French General Staff had concluded that even the best protected forts of Verdun could not resist bombardments from the German 420mm ...
. Nonetheless, French reinforcements halted the German advance by 28 February.
The Germans turned their focus to Le Mort Homme to the north from which the French were successfully shelling them. After some of the most intense fighting of the campaign, the hill was taken by the Germans in late May. After a change in French command at Verdun from the defensive-minded Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
to the offensive-minded Robert Nivelle
Robert Nivelle
Robert Georges Nivelle was a French artillery officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion, and the First World War. In May 1916, he was given command of the French Third Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916...
the French attempted to re-capture Fort Douaumont on 22 May but were easily repulsed. The Germans captured Fort Vaux
Fort Vaux
Fort Vaux, located in Vaux-Devant-Damloup, Meuse, France, became the second Fort to fall in the Battle of Verdun. The first fort to fall had been Fort Douaumont which was virtually undefended and had been captured by a small German raiding party in February 1916 . Fort de Vaux , on the other hand ,...
on 7 June and, with the aid of the gas diphosgene
Diphosgene
Diphosgene is a chemical compound with the formula ClCO2CCl3. This colorless liquid is a valuable reagent in the synthesis of organic compounds...
, came within 1,200 yards (1 km) of the last ridge over Verdun before stopping on 23 June.
Over the summer, the French slowly advanced. With the development of the rolling barrage
Barrage (artillery)
A barrage is a line or barrier of exploding artillery shells, created by the co-ordinated aiming of a large number of guns firing continuously. Its purpose is to deny or hamper enemy passage through the line of the barrage, to attack a linear position such as a line of trenches or to neutralize...
, the French recaptured Fort Vaux in November, and by December 1916 they had pushed the Germans back 1.3 miles (2.1 km) from Fort Douaumont, in the process rotating 42 divisions through the battle. The Battle of Verdun—also known as the 'Mincing Machine of Verdun' or 'Meuse Mill'—became a symbol of French determination and sacrifice.
Battle of the Somme
In the spring allied commanders had been concerned about the ability of the French army to withstand the enormous losses at Verdun. The original plans for an attack around the river Somme were modified to let the British make the main effort. This would serve to relieve pressure on the French, as well as the RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns who had also suffered great losses. On 1 July, after a week of heavy rain, British divisions in Picardy
Picardy
This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...
launched an attack around the river Somme, supported by five French divisions on their right flank. The attack had been preceded by seven days of heavy artillery bombardment. The experienced French forces were successful in advancing but the British artillery cover had neither blasted away barbed wire, nor destroyed German trenches as effectively as was planned. They suffered the greatest number of casualties (killed, wounded and missing) in a single day in the history of the British army, about 57,000.
After regrouping, the battle continued throughout July and August, with some success for the British despite the reinforcement of the German lines. By August General Haig had concluded that a breakthrough was unlikely, and instead switched tactics to a series of small unit actions. The effect was to straighten out the front line, which was thought necessary in preparation for a massive artillery bombardment with a major push.
The final phase of the battle of the Somme saw the first use of the tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
on the battlefield. The Allies prepared an attack that would involve 13 British and Imperial divisions and four French corps. The attack made early progress, advancing 3,500–4,500 yards (3.2–4.1 km) in places, but the tanks had little effect due to their lack of numbers and mechanical unreliability. The final phase of the battle took place in October and early November, again producing limited gains with heavy loss of life. All told, the Somme battle had made penetrations of only five miles (8 km), and failed to reach the original objectives. The British had suffered about 420,000 casualties and the French around 200,000. It is estimated that the Germans lost 465,000, although this figure is controversial.
The Somme led directly to major new developments in infantry organization and tactics; despite the terrible losses of 1 July, some divisions had managed to achieve their objectives with minimal casualties. In examining the reasons behind losses and achievements, the British, and the Colonial contingents, reintroduced the concept of the infantry platoon, following in the footsteps of the French and German armies who were already groping their way towards the use of small tactical units. At the time of the Somme, British senior commanders insisted that the company (120 men) was the smallest unit of manoeuvre; less than a year later, the section of 10 men would be so.
Hindenburg line
In August 1916 the German leadership along the western front had changed as Falkenhayn resigned and was replaced by Generals Paul von HindenburgPaul von Hindenburg
Paul Ludwig Hans Anton von Beneckendorff und von Hindenburg , known universally as Paul von Hindenburg was a Prussian-German field marshal, statesman, and politician, and served as the second President of Germany from 1925 to 1934....
and Erich Ludendorff
Erich Ludendorff
Erich Friedrich Wilhelm Ludendorff was a German general, victor of Liège and of the Battle of Tannenberg...
. The new leaders soon recognized that the battles of Verdun and the Somme had depleted the offensive capabilities of the German army. They decided that the German army in the west would go over to the strategic defensive for most of 1917, while the Central powers would attack elsewhere.
During the Somme battle and through the winter months, the Germans created a prepared defensive position
Fortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
behind a section of their front that would be called the Hindenburg Line. This was intended to shorten the German front, freeing 10 divisions for other duties. This line of fortifications ran from Arras
Arras
Arras is the capital of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The historic centre of the Artois region, its local speech is characterized as a Picard dialect...
south to St Quentin
Saint-Quentin, Aisne
Saint-Quentin is a commune in the Aisne department in Picardy in northern France. It has been identified as the Augusta Veromanduorum of antiquity. It is named after Saint Quentin, who is said to have been martyred here in the 3rd century....
and shortened the front by about 30 miles. British long-range reconnaissance aircraft first spotted the construction of the Hindenburg Line in November 1916.
1917—British offensives
The Hindenburg Line was built between two and thirty miles behind the German front line. On 9 February German forces retreated to the line and the withdrawal was completed 5 April, leaving behind a devastated territoryScorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
to be occupied by the Allies. This withdrawal negated the French strategy of attacking both flanks of the Noyon salient, as it no longer existed. However, offensive advances by the British continued as the High Command
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
claimed, with some justice, that this withdrawal resulted from the casualties the Germans received during the Battles of the Somme and Verdun, despite the Allies suffering greater losses.
Meanwhile, on 6 April the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
declared war on Germany. Back in early 1915 following the sinking of the Lusitania
RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. The ship entered passenger service with the Cunard Line on 26 August 1907 and continued on the line's heavily-traveled passenger service between Liverpool, England and New...
, Germany had stopped their unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic because of concerns of drawing the United States into the conflict. With the growing discontent of the German public due to the food shortages, however, the government resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in February 1917. They had calculated that a successful submarine and warship siege of Britain would force that country out of the war within six months, while American forces would take a year to become a serious factor on the western front. The submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
and surface ships had a long period of success before Britain resorted to the convoy system, bringing a large reduction in shipping losses.
By 1916–17, the size of the British army on
the western front had grown to two-thirds the total
numbers in the French forces. In April 1917 the British Empire forces launched an attack starting the Battle of Arras
Battle of Arras (1917)
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German trenches near the French city of Arras on the Western Front....
. The Canadian Corps
Canadian Corps
The Canadian Corps was a World War I corps formed from the Canadian Expeditionary Force in September 1915 after the arrival of the 2nd Canadian Division in France. The corps was expanded by the addition of the 3rd Canadian Division in December 1915 and the 4th Canadian Division in August 1916...
and the British 5th Infantry Division, attacked German lines at Vimy Ridge
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...
, but received heavy casualties. The Allied attack ended with the refusal to provide reinforcements to the region.
During the winter of 1916–17, German air tactics had been improved, a fighter training school was opened at Valenciennes
Valenciennes
Valenciennes is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies on the Scheldt river. Although the city and region had seen a steady decline between 1975 and 1990, it has since rebounded...
and better aircraft with twin guns were introduced. The result was near disastrous losses for Allied air power, particularly for the British, Portuguese, Belgians, and Australians who were struggling with outmoded aircraft, poor training and weak tactics. As a result the Allied air successes over the Somme would not be repeated, and heavy losses were inflicted by the Germans. During their attack at Arras, the British lost 316 air crews and the Canadians lost 114 compared to 44 lost by the Germans. This became known to the RFC as Bloody April
Bloody April
During the First World War, the month of April 1917 was known as Bloody April by the Royal Flying Corps . The RFC suffered particularly severe losses — about three times as many as the Imperial German Army Air Service over the same period — but continued its primary role in support of the ground...
.
Low French morale
Robert Nivelle
Robert Georges Nivelle was a French artillery officer who served in the Boxer Rebellion, and the First World War. In May 1916, he was given command of the French Third Army in the Battle of Verdun, leading counter-offensives that rolled back the German forces in late 1916...
ordered a new offensive against the German trenches, promising that it would be a war-winner. The attack, dubbed the Nivelle Offensive
Nivelle offensive
The Nivelle Offensive was a 1917 French attack on the Western Front in the First World War. Promised as the assault that would end the war within 48 hours, with casualties expected of around 10,000 men, it failed on both counts. It was a three-stage plan:...
(also known as Chemin des Dames
Chemin des Dames
In France, the Chemin des Dames is part of the D18 and runs east and west in the département of Aisne, between in the west, the Route Nationale 2, and in the east, the D1044 at Corbeny. It is some thirty kilometres long and runs along a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Aisne and Ailette...
, after the area where the offensive took place), would be 1.2 million men strong, to be preceded by a week-long artillery bombardment and accompanied by tanks. However, the operation proceeded poorly as the French troops, with the help of two Russian brigades
Russian Expeditionary Force in France
The Russian Expeditionary Force was a World War I military force sent to France by the Russian Empire. In 1915 the French requested that Russian troops be sent to fight alongside their own army on the Western Front. Initially they asked for 300,000 men, an absurdly high figure, probably based on...
, had to negotiate rough, upward-sloping terrain. In addition, detailed planning had been dislocated by the voluntary German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, secrecy had been compromised, and German planes gained control of the sky making reconnaissance difficult. This allowed the creeping barrage to move too far ahead of the advancing troops. Within a week 100,000 French troops were dead. Despite the heavy casualties and his promise to halt the offensive if it did not produce a breakthrough, Nivelle ordered the attack continued into May.
On 3 May the weary French 2nd Colonial Division, veterans of the Battle of Verdun, refused their orders, arriving drunk and without their weapons. Their officers lacked the means to punish an entire division, and harsh measures were not immediately implemented. Thereupon the mutinies
French Army Mutinies (1917)
The French Army Mutinies of 1917 took place amongst the French troops on the Western Front in Northern France. They started just after the conclusion of the disastrous Second Battle of the Aisne, the main action in the Nivelle Offensive, and involved, to various degrees, nearly half of the French...
afflicted 54 French divisions and saw 20,000 men desert. The other Allied forces attacked but received massive casualties. However, appeals to patriotism and duty, as well as mass arrests and trials, encouraged the soldiers to return to defend their trenches, although the French soldiers refused to participate in further offensive action. Nivelle was removed from command by 15 May, replaced by General Philippe Pétain
Philippe Pétain
Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Joseph Pétain , generally known as Philippe Pétain or Marshal Pétain , was a French general who reached the distinction of Marshal of France, and was later Chief of State of Vichy France , from 1940 to 1944...
, who suspended large-scale attacks. The French would go on the defensive for the following months, in order to avoid high casualties and to give back confidence to soldiers in their own High Command.
British offensives, American troops arrive
On 7 June a British offensive was launched on Messines ridgeBattle of Messines
The Battle of Messines was a battle of the Western front of the First World War. It began on 7 June 1917 when the British Second Army under the command of General Herbert Plumer launched an offensive near the village of Mesen in West Flanders, Belgium...
, south of Ypres, to retake the ground lost in the First and Second Battles of Ypres in 1914. Since 1915 specialist Royal Engineer tunnelling companies
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies
Royal Engineer tunnelling companies were specialist units of the Corps of Royal Engineers within the British Army, formed to dig attacking tunnels under enemy lines during the First World War....
had been digging tunnels under the ridge, and about 500 tonnes (roughly 500,000 kg) of explosives had been planted in 21 mines under the enemy lines. Following four days of heavy bombardment, the explosives in 19 of these mines were set off resulting in the deaths of 10,000 Germans. The offensive that followed again relied on heavy bombardment, but these failed to dislodge the Germans. The offensive, though initially stunningly successful, faltered due to the flooded, muddy ground, and both sides suffered heavy casualties.
On 11 July 1917 during this battle, the Germans introduced a new weapon into the war when they fired gas shells delivered by artillery. The limited size of an artillery shell required that a more potent gas be deployed, and so the Germans employed mustard gas
Sulfur mustard
The sulfur mustards, or sulphur mustards, commonly known as mustard gas, are a class of related cytotoxic, vesicant chemical warfare agents with the ability to form large blisters on exposed skin. Pure sulfur mustards are colorless, viscous liquids at room temperature...
, a powerful blistering agent. The artillery deployment allowed heavy concentrations of the gas to be used on selected targets. Mustard gas was also a persistent agent, which could linger for up to several days at a site, an additional demoralizing factor for their opponents. Along with phosgene
Phosgene
Phosgene is the chemical compound with the formula COCl2. This colorless gas gained infamy as a chemical weapon during World War I. It is also a valued industrial reagent and building block in synthesis of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds. In low concentrations, its odor resembles...
, gas would be used lavishly by both German and Allied forces in later battles, as the Allies also began to increase production of gas for chemical warfare
Poison gas in World War I
The use of chemical weapons in World War I ranged from disabling chemicals, such as tear gas and the severe mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene and chlorine. This chemical warfare was a major component of the first global war and first total war of the 20th century. The killing capacity of...
.
On 25 June the first U.S. troops began to arrive in France, forming the American Expeditionary Force
American Expeditionary Force
The American Expeditionary Forces or AEF were the United States Armed Forces sent to Europe in World War I. During the United States campaigns in World War I the AEF fought in France alongside British and French allied forces in the last year of the war, against Imperial German forces...
. However, the American units did not enter the trenches in divisional strength
U.S. 1st Infantry Division
The 1st Infantry Division of the United States Army is the oldest division in the United States Army. It has seen continuous service since its organization in 1917...
until October. The incoming troops required training and equipment before they could join in the effort, and for several months American units were relegated to support efforts. In spite of this, however, their presence provided a much-needed boost to Allied morale.
Beginning in late July and continuing into October the struggle around Ypres was renewed with the Battle of Passchendaele (technically the Third Battle of Ypres, of which Passchendaele was the final phase). The battle had the original aim of pushing through the German lines and threatening the submarine bases on the Belgian coast, but was later restricted to advancing the British Army onto higher (and drier) ground around Ypres, no longer constantly under observation from German artillery. Canadian veterans from the Battle of Vimy Ridge
Battle of Vimy Ridge
The Battle of Vimy Ridge was a military engagement fought primarily as part of the Battle of Arras, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France, during the First World War. The main combatants were the Canadian Corps, of four divisions, against three divisions of the German Sixth Army...
and the Battle of Hill 70
Battle of Hill 70
The Battle of Hill 70 was a localized battle of World War I between the Canadian Corps and five divisions of the German Sixth Army. The battle took place along the Western Front on the outskirts of Lens in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France between 15 August 1917 and 25 August 1917.The primary...
joined the depleted ANZAC and British forces and took the village of Passchendaele on 30 October despite extremely heavy rain and casualties. Again the offensive produced large numbers of casualties for relatively little gain, though the British made small but inexorable gains during periods of drier weather. The ground was generally muddy and pocketed by shell craters, making supply missions and further advancement very difficult.
Both sides lost a combined total of over a half million men during this offensive. The battle has become a byword among British historians for bloody and futile slaughter, whilst the Germans called Passchendaele "the greatest martyrdom of the War". It is one of the two battles (the other is the Battle of the Somme) which have done most to earn British Commander in Chief Sir Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig was a British soldier and senior commander during World War I.Douglas Haig may also refer to:* Club Atlético Douglas Haig, a football club from Argentina* Douglas Haig , American actor...
his controversial reputation.
Battle of Cambrai
On 20 November the British launched the first massed tank attack during the Battle of Cambrai. The Allies attacked with 324 tanks, with one-third held in reserve, and twelve divisions, against two German divisions. To maintain surprise, there was no preparatory bombardment; only a curtain of smoke was laid down before the tanks. The machines carried fascineFascine
A fascine is a rough bundle of brushwood used for strengthening an earthen structure, or making a path across uneven or wet terrain. Typical uses are protecting the banks of streams from erosion, covering marshy ground and so on.-Early military use:...
s on their fronts to bridge trenches and 4 m-wide (12-foot-wide) German tank traps. Special "grapnel tanks" towed hooks to pull away the German barbed wire. The initial attack was a success for the British. The British forces penetrated further in six hours than had been achieved at the Third Ypres in four months, and at a cost of only 4,000 British casualties.
However, the advance produced an awkward salient and a surprise German counteroffensive on 30 November drove the British back to their starting lines. Despite the reversal, the attack had been seen as a success by the Allies and Germans as it proved that tanks could overcome trench defences. The battle had also seen the first massed use of German stosstruppen on the western front, which used infantry infiltration tactics
Infiltration tactics
In warfare, infiltration tactics involve small, lightly equipped infantry forces attacking enemy rear areas while bypassing enemy front line strongpoints and isolating them for attack by follow-up troops with heavier weapons.-Development during World War I:...
to successfully penetrate the allied lines; bypassing resistance and quickly advancing into the enemy's rear.
1918—Final offensives
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed on March 3, 1918, mediated by South African Andrik Fuller, at Brest-Litovsk between Russia and the Central Powers, headed by Germany, marking Russia's exit from World War I.While the treaty was practically obsolete before the end of the year,...
was signed, and Russia withdrew from the war. This would now have a dramatic effect on the conflict as 33 divisions were now released from Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War I)
The Eastern Front was a theatre of war during World War I in Central and, primarily, Eastern Europe. The term is in contrast to the Western Front. Despite the geographical separation, the events in the two theatres strongly influenced each other...
for deployment to the west. It is important to remember, however, that the Germans occupied almost as much Russian territory under the provisions of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk as they did in the Second World War: this considerably restricted their troop redeployment. However, they still had an advantage of 192 divisions to the Allied 178 divisions, which allowed Germany to pull veteran units from the line and retrain them as sturmtruppen. In contrast, the Allies still lacked a unified command and suffered from morale and manpower problems: the British and French armies were sorely depleted, and American troops had not yet transitioned into a combat role.
Ludendorff's strategy would be to launch a massive offensive against the British and Commonwealth designed to separate them from the French and her allies, then drive them back to the channel ports. The attack would combine the new storm troop tactics with ground attack aircraft, tanks, and a carefully planned artillery barrage that would include gas attacks.
German spring offensives
Operation Michael, the first of the German spring offensiveSpring Offensive
The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914...
s, very nearly succeeded in driving the Allied armies apart, advancing about 40 miles (64.4 km) during the first eight days and moving the front lines more than 60 miles (100 km) west, within shelling distance of Paris for the first time since 1914.
As a result of the battle, the Allies finally agreed on a unified system of command. General Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch
Ferdinand Foch , GCB, OM, DSO was a French soldier, war hero, military theorist, and writer credited with possessing "the most original and subtle mind in the French army" in the early 20th century. He served as general in the French army during World War I and was made Marshal of France in its...
was appointed commander of all Allied forces in France. The unified Allies were now better able to respond to each of the German drives, and the offensive turned into a battle of attrition.
In May, the American divisions also began to play an increasing role, winning their first victory in the Battle of Cantigny
Battle of Cantigny
The Battle of Cantigny, fought on 28 May 1918 was the first American offensive of World War I. The U.S. 1st Division, the most experienced of the seven American divisions then in France and in reserve for the French Army near the village of Cantigny, was selected for the attack...
. By summer, 300,000 American soldiers were arriving every month. A total of 2.1 million American troops would be deployed on this front before the war came to an end. The rapidly increasing American presence served as a counter for the large numbers of redeployed German forces.
Final allied offensives
Second Battle of the Marne
The Second Battle of the Marne , or Battle of Reims was the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front during the First World War. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by France overwhelmed the Germans, inflicting severe casualties...
against the Marne salient produced during the German attacks, eliminating the salient by August. A second major offensive was launched two days after the first, ending at Amiens
Amiens
Amiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris and south-west of Lille. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardy...
to the north. This attack included Franco-British forces, and was spearheaded by Australian and Canadian troops, along with 600 tanks and supported by 800 aircraft. The assault proved highly successful, leading Hindenburg to name 8 August as the "Black Day of the German Army".
The German army's manpower had been severely depleted after four years of war, and its economy and society were under great internal strain. The Entente now fielded a total of 216 divisions against 197 understrength German divisions. The Hundred Days Offensive
Hundred Days Offensive
The Hundred Days Offensive was the final period of the First World War, during which the Allies launched a series of offensives against the Central Powers on the Western Front from 8 August to 11 November 1918, beginning with the Battle of Amiens. The offensive forced the German armies to retreat...
beginning in August proved the final straw, and following this string of military defeats, German troops began to surrender in large numbers. As the Allied forces broke the German lines, Prince Maximilian of Baden
Prince Maximilian of Baden
Maximilian of Baden was a German prince and politician...
was appointed as Chancellor of Germany in October in order to negotiate an armistice. Because of his opposition to the peace feelers, Ludendorff was forced to step aside and he fled to Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Fighting was still continuing, but the German armies were in retreat when the German Revolution
German Revolution
The German Revolution was the politically-driven civil conflict in Germany at the end of World War I, which resulted in the replacement of Germany's imperial government with a republic...
put a new government in power. An armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
was quickly signed, that stopped all fighting on the Western Front on Armistice Day
Armistice Day
Armistice Day is on 11 November and commemorates the armistice signed between the Allies of World War I and Germany at Compiègne, France, for the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front of World War I, which took effect at eleven o'clock in the morning—the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day...
(11 November 1918). The German Imperial Monarchy collapsed as Ludendorff's successor General Groener
Wilhelm Groener
Karl Eduard Wilhelm Groener was a German soldier and politician.-Biography:He was born in Ludwigsburg in the Kingdom of Württemberg, the son of a regimental paymaster. He entered the Württemberg Army in 1884, and attended the War Academy from 1893 to 1897, whereupon he was appointed to the General...
agreed, for fear of a revolution like that in Russia the previous year, to support the moderate Social Democratic Government under Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert
Friedrich Ebert was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .When Ebert was elected as the leader of the SPD after the death of August Bebel, the party members of the SPD were deeply divided because of the party's support for World War I. Ebert supported the Burgfrieden and...
rather than sustain the Hohenzollern Monarchy.
Consequences
The war along the western front led the German government and its allies to sue for peace in spite of German success elsewhere. As a result the terms of the peace were dictated by France, Britain and the United States, during the 1919 Paris Peace ConferenceParis Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
. The result was the Treaty of Versailles
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, signed in June 1919 by a delegation of the new German government.
The terms of the treaty would effectively cripple Germany as an economic and military power. The Versailles treaty returned the border provinces of Alsace-Lorraine to France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, thus limiting the coal required by German industry. The Saar
Saar (League of Nations)
The Territory of the Saar Basin , also referred as the Saar or Saargebiet, was a region of Germany that was occupied and governed by Britain and France from 1920 to 1935 under a League of Nations mandate, with the occupation originally being under the auspices of the Treaty of Versailles...
, which formed the west bank of the Rhine, would be demilitarized and controlled by Britain and France, while the Kiel Canal
Kiel Canal
The Kiel Canal , known as the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal until 1948, is a long canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.The canal links the North Sea at Brunsbüttel to the Baltic Sea at Kiel-Holtenau. An average of is saved by using the Kiel Canal instead of going around the Jutland Peninsula....
opened to international traffic. The treaty also drastically reshaped Eastern Europe. It severely limited the German armed forces by restricting the size of the army to 100,000 and disallowing a navy or air force. The navy was sailed to Scapa Flow
Scapa Flow
right|thumb|Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern endScapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. It is about...
under the terms of surrender but was later scuttled
Scuttling of the German fleet in Scapa Flow
The scuttling of the German fleet took place at the Royal Navy's base at Scapa Flow, in Scotland, after the end of the First World War. The High Seas Fleet had been interned there under the terms of the Armistice whilst negotiations took place over the fate of the ships...
, under the order of German admirals, as a reaction to the treaty.
| Battle | Year | Allies | German |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Marne First Battle of the Marne The Battle of the Marne was a First World War battle fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month long German offensive that opened the war and had... |
1914 | 263,000 | 220,000 |
| First Battle of Ypres First Battle of Ypres The First Battle of Ypres, also called the First Battle of Flanders , was a First World War battle fought for the strategic town of Ypres in western Belgium... |
1914 | 126,921 - 161,921 | 134,315 |
| Verdun Battle of Verdun The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France... |
1916 | 400,000 - 542,000 | 355,000 - 434,000 |
| Somme | 1916 | 623,907 | 465,000 - 595,294 |
| 2nd Aisne Second Battle of the Aisne The Second Battle of the Aisne , was the massive main assault of the French military's Nivelle Offensive or Chemin des Dames Offensive in 1917 during World War I.... |
1917 | 118,000 | 40,000 |
| 3rd Ypres | 1917 | 200,000 - 448,000 | 260,000 - 400,000 |
| Spring Offensive Spring Offensive The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht , also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, beginning on 21 March 1918, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914... |
1918 | 851,374 | 688,341 |
| Hundred Days Offensive Hundred Days Offensive The Hundred Days Offensive was the final period of the First World War, during which the Allies launched a series of offensives against the Central Powers on the Western Front from 8 August to 11 November 1918, beginning with the Battle of Amiens. The offensive forced the German armies to retreat... |
1918 | 1,069,636 | 1,172,075 |
| Total Casualties | 1914-1918 | 3,619,838 - 4,077,838 | 3,370,731 - 3,684,025 |
Germany in 1919 was bankrupt, the people living in a state of semi-starvation, and having no commerce with the remainder of the world. The allies occupied the Rhine cities of Cologne, Koblenz and Mainz, with restoration dependent on payment of reparations. Among the German populace, the myth arose—openly cultivated by the Army Chief of Staff Hindenburg—that the defeat was not the fault of the 'good core' of the army but due to certain left-wing groups within Germany; this would later be exploited by Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
party propaganda to partly justify the overthrow of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
. See Stab-in-the-back legend.
France suffered heavy damage in the war. In addition to losing more casualties relative to its population than any other great power, the industrial north-east of the country had been devastated by the war. The provinces overrun by Germany had produced 40% of the nation's coal and 58% of its steel output. Once it was clear that Germany was going to be defeated, Ludendorff had ordered the destruction of the mines in France and Belgium. His goal was to cripple the industries of Germany's main European rival. In order to prevent similar German aggression in the future, France later built a massive series of fortifications along the German border known as the Maginot Line
Maginot Line
The Maginot Line , named after the French Minister of War André Maginot, was a line of concrete fortifications, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defences, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in World War I,...
.
The war in the trenches left a generation of maimed soldiers and war widows. The unprecedented loss of life had a lasting effect on popular attitudes toward war, resulting later in an Allied reluctance to pursue an aggressive policy toward Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
(himself a decorated veteran of the war). The repercussions of that struggle are still being felt to this day.
Dramatizations
- Aces HighAces High (film)Aces High is a 1976 British war film directed by Jack Gold and starring Malcolm McDowell, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker. As acknowledged in the opening credits, the film is based on the 1930s play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff and the memoir...
(1976 film) - Across the Black Waters (1939 novel), Mulk Raj AnandMulk Raj AnandMulk Raj Anand was an Indian writer in English, notable for his depiction of the lives of the poorer castes in traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, he, together with R.K...
- All Quiet on the Western FrontAll Quiet on the Western FrontAll Quiet on the Western Front is a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of World War I. The book describes the German soldiers' extreme physical and mental stress during the war, and the detachment from civilian life felt by many of these soldiers upon returning home from the front.The...
, Erich Maria RemarqueErich Maria RemarqueErich Maria Remarque was a German author, best known for his novel All Quiet on the Western Front.-Life and work:...
(1929 novel) - All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film)
- All Quiet on the Western FrontAll Quiet on the Western Front (1979 film)All Quiet on the Western Front is a television movie produced by ITC Entertainment, released on November 14, 1979, starring actors Richard Thomas from The Waltons fame as Paul Baumer, and Ernest Borgnine as Katczinsky...
(1979 TV film) - The Big ParadeThe Big ParadeThe Big Parade is a 1925 silent film. It tells the story of an idle rich boy who joins the US Army's Rainbow Division and is sent to France to fight in World War I, becomes friends with two working class men, experiences the horrors of trench warfare, and finds love with a French girl.The film was...
(1925 film) - Behind the Lines (film)Behind the Lines (film)Behind the Lines is a 1916 silent drama film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Edith Johnson - Nina Garcia* Harry Carey - Dr. Ralph Hamlin* Ruth Clifford - Camilla* Mark Fenton - Señor Garcia * Miriam Shelby - Señnora Cano...
(1916 film) - Beneath Hill 60Beneath Hill 60Beneath Hill 60 is a 2010 Australian war film directed by Jeremy Sims and written by David Roach.Set during World War I, the film tells the story of the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company’s effort to mine beneath a German bunker and detonate an explosive charge to aid the advance of British troops...
(2010 film) - BirdsongBirdsong (novel)Birdsong is a 1993 war novel by the English author Sebastian Faulks. Faulks' fourth novel, it tells of a man called Stephen Wraysford at different stages of his life both before and during World War I...
, Sebastian FaulksSebastian Faulks-Early life:Faulks was born on 20 April 1953 in Donnington, Berkshire to Peter Faulks and Pamela . Edward Faulks, Baron Faulks, is his older brother. He was educated at Elstree School, Reading and went on to Wellington College, Berkshire...
(1994 novel) - Blackadder Goes ForthBlackadder Goes ForthBlackadder Goes Forth is the fourth and final series of the BBC situation comedy Blackadder, written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton, which aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989 on BBC One....
(1989 TV series) - The Blue MaxThe Blue MaxThe Blue Max is an 1966 British war film about a German fighter pilot on the Western Front during World War I. It was directed by John Guillermin, stars George Peppard, James Mason and Ursula Andress, and features Karl Michael Vogler and Jeremy Kemp. The screenplay was written by David Pursall,...
(1966 British film) - The Dawn Patrol (1930 and 1938 film)
- Flyboys (film)
- The General (novel)The General (novel)Forester is best known for his famous series of Horatio Hornblower novels which he began in 1937; few of his other works are well-known: The General and The African Queen are exceptions and remain popular....
, C.S. Forester (1932 novel) - Generals Die in BedGenerals Die in BedGenerals Die in Bed is an anti-war novella by the Canadian writer Charles Yale Harrison. Based on the author's own experiences in combat, it tells the story of a young soldier fighting in the trenches of World War I...
, Charles Yale HarrisonCharles Yale HarrisonCharles Yale Harrison was a Canadian author and journalist, best known for his 1930 anti-war novella Generals Die in Bed.-Early life:...
(1936 novel) - Grand IllusionGrand Illusion (film)Grand Illusion is a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape.The title of the film comes from a...
(1937 film) - Johnny Got His GunJohnny Got His GunJohnny Got His Gun is an anti-war novel written in 1938 by American novelist and screenwriter Dalton Trumboand published by J. B. Lippincott company.-Plot:...
(1971 film) - Joyeux Noël (2005 film)
- King & CountryKing & CountryKing and Country is a 1964 British film, directed by American-born director Joseph Losey, shot in black and white, and starring Dirk Bogarde and Tom Courtenay...
(1964 film) - Legends of the FallLegends of the FallLegends of the Fall is a 1994 epic drama film based on the 1979 novella of the same title by Jim Harrison. It was directed by Edward Zwick and stars Brad Pitt, Anthony Hopkins and Aidan Quinn. The film was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction , and Best...
(1994 film) - The Lost BattalionThe Lost BattalionThe Lost Battalion is the 1919 film about units of the 77th Infantry Division penetrating deep into the Argonne Forest of France during World War I. The soldiers under the command of Major Charles Whittlesey are then trapped and surrounded by German soldiers...
(1919 film, 2001 TV remake) - PasschendaelePasschendaele (film)Passchendaele is a 2008 Canadian war film from Alliance Films, written, co-produced, directed by, and starring Paul Gross. The film, which was shot in Calgary, Alberta, Fort Macleod, Alberta, and in Belgium, focuses on the experiences of a Canadian soldier, Michael Dunne, at the Battle of...
(2008 film) - Paths of GloryPaths of GloryPaths of Glory is a 1957 American anti-war film by Stanley Kubrick based on the novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb. Set during World War I, the film stars Kirk Douglas as Colonel Dax, the commanding officer of French soldiers who refused to continue a suicidal attack...
(1957 film) - Rage of Angels, The, Alan FisherAlan FisherAlan Fisher is a Scottish broadcast journalist, who works for international news channel, Al Jazeera English and is based at its News Centre in Washington DC.- Early career :...
(1997 novel) - Sergeant YorkSergeant YorkSergeant York is a 1941 biographical film about the life of Alvin York, the most-decorated American soldier of World War I. It was directed by Howard Hawks and was the highest-grossing film of the year....
(1940 film) - The TrenchThe Trench (film)The Trench is a 1999 film directed by William Boyd that portrays a group of young British soldiers on the eve of the Battle of the Somme in the last 48 hours.-Synopsis:...
(1999 film) - Under FireUnder Fire (novel)Under Fire: The Story of a Squad by Henri Barbusse , was one of the first novels about World War I to be published...
, Henri BarbusseHenri BarbusseHenri Barbusse was a French novelist and a member of the French Communist Party.-Life:...
(1916 novel) - A Very Long EngagementA Very Long EngagementA Very Long Engagement is a 2004 French romantic war film, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou. It is a fictional tale about a young woman's desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed on the battle of the Somme, during World War I...
(2004 film) - The WarsThe WarsThe Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I. First published by Clarke Irwin, it won the Governor General's Award for fiction in 1977.-Plot overview:...
1977 novel made into a film - Westfront 1918Westfront 1918Westfront 1918 is a German film, set mostly in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I. It was directed in 1930 by Georg Wilhelm Pabst, from the novel Vier von der Infanterie by Ernst Johannsen, and deals with the impact of the war on a group of infantrymen...
(1930 film) - What Price Glory? (1926 film)
- What Price Glory?What Price Glory? (1952 film)What Price Glory is a 1952 World War I film based on a 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings, though it used virtually none of Anderson's dialogue. Originally intended as a musical, it was filmed as a straight comedy, directed by John Ford and released by 20th Century Fox on 22...
(1952 film) - WingsWings (film)Wings is a silent film about World War I fighter pilots, produced by Lucien Hubbard, directed by William A. Wellman and released by Paramount Pictures. Wings was the first film, and the only silent film, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Wings stars Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, and...
(1927 film) - Wooden CrossesWooden CrossesWooden Crosses is a 1932 French war film by Raymond Bernard, based upon a novel by Roland Dorgelès.-Cast :*Pierre Blanchar as Adjudant Gilbert Demachy*Gabriel Gabrio as Sulphart*Charles Vanel as Caporal Breval...
(1932 film) - "Yellow", Tales from the CryptTales from the Crypt (TV series)Tales from the Crypt, sometimes titled HBO's Tales from the Crypt, is an American horror anthology television series that ran from 1989 to 1996 on the premium cable channel HBO...
episode (1991)
External links
- The Western Front Museum
- Articles on the Western Front in Lorraine & Alsace at Battlefields Europe
- 'That Contemptible Little Army' by E. Alexander PowellE. Alexander PowellE. Alexander Powell was an American war correspondent during World War I and author. He generally published material under the name E. Alexander Powell; his full name was Edward Alexander Powell....
. The British Army Seen by an American Journalist in 1916 - Information and multimedia on the Western Front. An interactive forum area where Western front stories and pictures can be posted
- Maps of the western front
- Watch clips from the Australian War MemorialAustralian War MemorialThe Australian War Memorial is Australia's national memorial to the members of all its armed forces and supporting organisations who have died or participated in the wars of the Commonwealth of Australia...
's collection of films made on the Western Front 1917-1918 on the National Film and Sound ArchiveNational Film and Sound ArchiveThe National Film and Sound Archive is Australia’s audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national collection of audiovisual materials and related items...
's australianscreen online