- the plan relied on
rapid movement on
the germans
behalf----belgiums
resistance
prevented this
Belgium and Brittain had a
treaty that if Belgium was
invaded Brittain would help
out "Treaty of London"
Russia mobilised quicker than expected.
Within 10
days Russia
had invaded
Germany =
Germany
now fighting
on 2 battle
fronts
Tactical & Strategic Problems
Movement by rail....made rapid rate of
advance posible ony in areas where
track had been laid. Soldiers became
delayed due to insufficient track and
station managment. CONTRARY to
this the rail ways did allow the rapid
movment of soldiers to plug gaps in
the front lines = reinforcing the
stalemate
Problems in communication
commanders were situated far from front,
messages were delivered by horse back or
on foot, messages were from 24 and 48
hours between event and news
the nature of trench warfare
War on the
western front was
a new kind of
warfare.
During the First Battle of the
Marne in September 1914,
however, the Germans were
pushed back by Allied forces.
They subsequently "dug in" to
avoid losing any more ground.
Unable to break through this line
of defense, the Allies also began
to dig protective trenches.
Conditions
Rats
spreading infection and
contaminating food. The rat
problem remained for the
duration of the wa
Mud
Trench foot
Lice
Trench Fever
Germans got the best trenches
because they built their
trenches on high land leaving
the other side down the bottom
getting all the water = trench
foot was a bigger problem for
the brittish
Germans also had better
adapted to trench life they built
them like proper batilions with
plank pathways and
underground bunks
Stratergies and tactics to break the stalemate
Key Battles
Verdun = February 21st 1916 -
December 16th in 1916. General
Philippe Pétain
The Somme = July 1st 1916 -
November 1916. epitomise the
futility of trench warfare.
Passchendaele = July 1917 " the battle of
mud"
Battle of Jutland 1916
Advances in technologies
German flame thrower
Gas bombs
Machine Guns
Tanks
Submarines
changing attitudes of allied german soldiers to the war
1914- young men volunteering for
the war....after the battle of the
Somme men didnt want to apply =
conscription
Brittain relied souly on volunteers for
the war because of the prestige of the
army...they had very high standards