Key battles

• First battle of Ypres

  • the area was surrounded on 3 sides by the enemy
  • Britain lost over 50,000 troops
  • Britain crucially kept control of the English channel ports
• Hill 60

  • Height of the hill was a strategic advantage
  • In April 1915, the British dug under the hill, placed 5 mines and blew it up to recapture it
• Second battle of Ypres

  • Germans used chlorine gas for the first time
  • The British lost 59,000 men
  • Germany moved 2 miles closer to Ypres
• Battle of the Somme

  • Around 20,000 British soldiers died on the first day
• Battle of the Somme

  • Around 20,000 British soldiers died on the first day
  • The British tried 2 new tactics: Creeping barrage (artillery was launched ahead of British troops as they advanced) and Tanks (which were unsuccessful due their low speed and unreliability)
  • In total the British lost around 400,000 lives
• Battle of Arras

  • Britain dug a network of underground cave at Arras
  • April 1917, 24,000men were attacked from the tunnels
  • British advanced 8 miles slowly
  • At the end, there were nearly 160,000 British and Canadian casualties
• Third Battle of Ypres

  • The aim was for the British to break out of the Ypres salient
  • Bad weather made the ground waterlogged and many men drowned
  • British regained 7 miles
  • British had around 245,000 casualties
• Battle of Cambrai

  • First successful large scale use of tanks (nearly 500 used)
  • Tanks could easily move over barbed wire and their machone guns were very effective