Western Front

• The First World War is characterized by a war that is quite static rather than one that relied on lots of movement of the armies
• The British army had some incredible successes during World War 1
• Battles of Ypres


  • Occurred in Belgium between 1914 and 1918
  • Last major Belgian city not controlled by the Germans
  • Center of an important road and rail network
  • Became a salient, part of the line sticking into the German defenses
• First Battle of Ypres (1914)


  1. British, French and Belgians stopped repeated attempts by Germans to take the city

  2. Both sides then dug their trenches
• Second Battle of Ypres (April 1915)


  1. Second huge German effort to take Ypres

  2. Failed

  3. Marked the first widespread use of poison gas in World War One
• Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele, 1917)

  1. Huge British and Allied effort to push the Germans back

  2. Started well with tunnels and mines under German positions

  3. Heavy mud and weather prevented success

  4. Tens of thousands killed with little ground gained
• Battle of the Somme (July-November 1916)


  1. Supposed to be a huge breakthrough winning the war on the first day

  2. British army lost 19,240 men killed and nearly 50,000 wounded on the first day

  3. Germans suffered heavy losses too, never fully recovered

  4. Put extraordinary pressure on medical services
• Battle of Arras (April-May 1917)


  1. Unusual terrain with chalk-based land allowing tunnels and underground hospital

  2. Used extensive airplanes for spying and attacking

  3. Costly for the British with short life expectancy for pilots
• Battle of Cambrai (November-December 1917)


  1. British used new weapons and tactics including 378 tanks

  2. Tanks broke through but couldn't hold the ground

  3. Lack of infantry reinforcements allowed Germans to recapture most of the land
• The new tactics used at Cambrai, including short artillery bombardment, tanks, aircraft and rapid infantry support, would be used to push the Germans back for 100 days in a row in 1918, winning the war
• World War 1 is remembered for static trench warfare, but there were also instances of mobile warfare
• Powerful defensive weapons made it difficult to attack enemy trenches, so both sides developed new technologies like aircraft, gas and tanks
• The battles around Ypres were characterized by muddy conditions and heavy casualties
• The Battle of the Somme saw the deadliest day in British military history
• The Battle of Arras saw the use of vast underground hospitals to treat the wounded
• The Battle of Cambrai saw the first use of tanks in large numbers, though it ultimately failed to break the deadlock
• Lessons learned at Cambrai helped the British break through in 1918
• Schlieffen Plan


  German plan in 1905 to bypass French defenses by going through neutral Belgium
• The Schlieffen Plan did not work as expected in 1914
• Why the Schlieffen Plan failed

  1. Fierce Belgian resistance

  2. British Expeditionary Force delayed Germans

  3. French army stopped Germans at the Battle of the Marne
• Both sides suffered terrible losses in the Battle of the Marne
• By the end of summer 1914, a stalemate developed with both sides digging in
• Trench


  • Sharp corners to help contain bomb blasts
  • Command trench about 20m behind front line
  • Communications trenches joining trenches
  • Support trench 200m behind line with HQ, reserves, latrines, dressing station
• Soldiers spent only about 15% of their time in the front line trenches, 40% in command/support trenches, and 45% behind the lines
• Types of sources


  • Written sources (private, official, unofficial)
  • Oral/spoken sources
  • Non-written sources (archaeology, landscape, artifacts)
• Written sources


  • Diaries
  • Government records
  • Newspaper reports
• Oral/spoken sources


  • Eyewitness interviews
• Trench warfare was muddy, uncomfortable, and led to disease as well as danger, with artillery being the biggest daily threat
• Weapons of Defense in World War One

  • Outweighed the weapons of attack
  • Machine guns
  • Barbed wire
• Offensive attacking weapons in World War One

  • Rifles
  • Light machine guns
• By the end of 1914, both sides were dug into their trenches and were essentially evenly matched
• Breaking the stalemate of trench warfare


  Developing new technologies and tactics
• Frontal assault


  Attacking straight towards the enemy in full view
• Bolt action rifle


  • Could fire up to 10 bullets before needing reloading
  • Pointed bullets cause deeper wounds
  • Accurate
  • Long-ranged
  • Deadly in trained hands
• Machine gun


  • Could fire up to 600 bullets a minute
  • Deadly against attacking troops advancing in the open
• Artillery


  • Biggest killers of the war
  • Caused almost half of all casualties
  • Could fire high explosives or shrapnel
  • Recall mechanisms made them more accurate
• Gunshot wound (GSW)


  Wound caused by a bullet
• Bullet wounds


  • Entrance wound
  • Concussive blast damage causing wide cavities
  • Exit wound or lodged bullet fragments
• Shrapnel wounds


  • Caused by large pieces of shrapnel from artillery shells
  • Worse than bullet wounds
  • Early in the war, men hit in the legs had only a 20% survival rate
• Gas weapons


  • Chlorine gas - suffocated people and caused acid to build up in the lungs
  • Phosgene - most deadly, caused nerves to shut down
  • Mustard gas - caused horrible blisters and could cause blindness