Modern History

Home > Modern History > Core Study > World War I and its Aftermath 1914 - 1919: A Source-based Study > World War I: an overview 1914-1918

Soldiers sitting in a line

 

 

War on the Western Front

Geoff Lewis


 

| 1914     | 1915     | 1916     | 1917     | 1918

From this tutorial you will learn about the reasons for the stalemate on the Western Front and the various strategies and tactics to break the stalemate including key battles: Verdun, the Somme, and Passchendale. You will also learn about the 'Turning Points' of the impacts of the entry of the USA and of the Russian withdrawal and of Ludendorff's Spring Offensive and the Allied response.

This tutorial:

 

1914: From movement to deadlock

Now God be thanked who has matched us with His hour Rupert Brooke, 1914

The Schlieffen Plan failed - 80 kilometres from Paris

1,500,000 German troops under Helmuth von Moltke advanced on 4 August according to the Schlieffen Plan. Armies 1-5 were to wheel through Belgium, Armies 6 and 7 to attack the French border, aiming for a brief decisive swing to the south to capture Paris (1st Army under von Kluck) and to pin the French army against the Swiss border.

This opening German campaign failed due to:

  1. delays caused by:
    1. German advance through Belgium slowed up by destruction of railways by retreating Belgians and a twelve-day delay at the fortress/rail-link city of Liege
    2. the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), under Sir John French, arrived in Belgium on 17 August; it delayed von Kluck's 1st Army at the Battle of Mons then retreated largely intact.
  2. indecisiveness caused by this initial delay to the timetable of the German advance led to:
    1. the French armies under General Joffre having time to rush north, using railways
    2. von Moltke withdrawing some reserves from the Western front to reinforce his East Prussian armies after the initial Russian advance on the Eastern front
    3. von Kluck on the German right flank, fearing he was losing contact with the 2nd German army on his left, swung south earlier than planned, bringing him east of Paris, exposing his flank to regrouped French forces around Paris
    4. Joffre counter-attacking on the River Marne on 4 September. After five days the Germans retreated to defensive positions on the River Aisne and their advance halted while the British and French regrouped.
      This Battle of the Marne (4-18 September) proved to be the decisive blow to the Schlieffen Plan. The French army, bringing reserves by taxi from Paris, drove between two German armies and halted the rapid German drive 80 kilometres short of Paris. The French government had already abandoned Paris for the safety of Bordeaux. The Germans lost the chance of a quick victory and now faced the draining prospect of a war on two fronts. This battle saw the first trench fighting of the war
    5. von Moltke being far behind the front lines, communication between the advancing armies being poor, and the need for coordination between the separate German armies becoming crucial as the timetable changed
    6. the initial rapid advance of the German soldiers outstripping the capacity of their supply columns to resupply them over 128 kilometres of narrow country roads.
Go To Top

The French Plan XVII failed

The French army had intended to win a swift victory by punching a series of holes in the German lines at Lorraine, using superior numbers in vital sections. They tried this from 14 to 20 August but were repulsed and counter-attacked by the German 6th and 7th Armies.

The race to the sea

After both the French and German troop movements halted, the two armies engaged in a series of outflanking manoeuvres, made more urgent by the strategic need to capture crucial channel ports on the French and Belgian coastline, for resupply in the event of a drawn-out war. This period from October to 17 November involved heavy fighting, particularly the First Battle of Ypres in Belgium, where the British lost 50 000 casualties protecting a vulnerable salient but saving the main channel ports by preventing a German breakthrough.

Summary: 1914

The war had begun in August with both sides certain that their sudden attacks with cavalry and infantry would create a war of rapid movement which would bring them cheap and quick victory. The failure of the Schlieffen Plan and Plan XVII ended this possibility and led to a war of fixed entrenchment. The possibility of further outflanking movements was gone. For the next four years the rival commanders struggled and blundered in an attempt to find a way to break the stalemate which had emerged by the end of 1914.

Both sides had become aware that it was easier to hold a defensive position than it was to launch an offensive. However, this did not stop them launching repeated disastrous offensives, relying on weight of men, artillery and supplies.

The war began to turn into one of attrition, one where the likelihood of a sudden decisive battle was small and where instead each side attempted gradually to wear the other down.

The generals decided only a 'big push' would be able to break through the enemy lines and restart the war of rapid movement. This was not achieved until the attrition of 1915-18 finally weakened the German lines in mid-1918.

The initially hastily constructed trenches took on a more permanent look as two massive armies consisting of over 4 million men faced each other over 800 kilometres of continuous trench lines from the coast of Belgium to the Swiss border.

The British and French armies deployed their troops separately, not as a unified command, with the British just north of the River Somme and the French to the south.

Von Moltke was destroyed by the Battle of the Marne and was replaced with Erich von Falkenhayn in December 1914 as the German commander.

Casualties (dead and wounded) so far were:

On Christmas Day 1914 troops on both sides declared an unofficial truce, sang songs to each other across no man's land and then came out and exchanged gifts.

Questions

Further information can be found at Military plans and the First World War

Go To Top

1915

A year of 'battles which had no meaning except as names on war memorials'. A.J.P. Taylor

Germany

The German generals' policy in 1915 was to hold their newly won gains in the rich industrial and mining sector of north-eastern France and Belgium and to concentrate their offensives on the Eastern front, to destroy the Russian army. On the Western front they concentrated on strengthening their trench lines and raising a larger army. The only major offensive battle launched by the Germans in the west in 1915 was in April, when in the Second Battle of the Marne they attacked the British troops, using poison gas for the first time in the war. They advanced eight kilometres but were then halted.

France and Britain

The allies were determined to launch a series of offensives to drive the Germans out of France and Belgium. These all failed.

The French began this effort in the Champagne region, where after a campaign lasting from January to March and 90 000 French casualties, their advance ground to a halt only eight kilometres ahead.

They campaigned again in May and September at Vimy Ridge, capturing little of the strategic high ground and losing 100 000 casualties.

The British began their first offensive in March at Neuve Chapelle, where they traded 12 000 dead British soldiers for two-and-a-half square kilometres of ground. They made another major effort against Loos in September, where they used gas against the Germans, lost 50 000 casualties and lost the five kilometres which they briefly gained. After this failure John French was sacked and replaced by Douglas Haig.

Summary: 1915

Both armies were learning how to adapt to these new conditions of entrenched warfare. Massive artillery bombardments (e.g., 700 000 French shells sent into the German lines during the Vimy Ridge campaign), barbed wire, trench networks, strong points, the machine gun, the supply problems, the need for massive recruitment and railway timetables all served to turn the war into a vast planning exercise for generals and governments.

Total war had arrived. It was now clear that military factors alone would not win the war. A nation's ability to marshal all its economic, social and political capacities to allow it to endure longer than its opponent would be the decisive factor. In this sort of war the allies had the greater resources advantage.

The central powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary et al.) had considerable success during the year on other fronts. Bulgaria joined them in 1915, Serbia and Rumania were overrun, and the Turks were holding the Middle East and the Dardanelles. The Russian army was retreating. After 1915 the Germans concentrated on achieving victory on the Western front. Zeppelin raids on Britain began.

The allies (Britain, France et al.) had not achieved their expected breakthrough in France and had suffered great losses in their efforts to achieve this. The small British army was reduced alarmingly and this led to conscription of troops in 1916. The British had run out of artillery shells at Neuve Chapelle and began a massive preparation for their next assault.

The conflict had extended world-wide. Germany lost most of her colonies (Japan took her Chinese territories), and colonial troops poured into Europe. The British navy controlled the seas and had created a very effective blockade of the German ports. The Germans retaliated with an intense submarine campaign against merchant fleets around Britain and France. The 'Lusitania' was sunk in May. Italy joined the allies in May, fighting the Austrians on her border.

Go To Top

1916

A titanic grapple General Ludendorff

Escalation

In this middle year of the war both sides intensified their efforts, resulting in two of the most horrific campaigns in history, the German battles of attrition waged on the French fortress of Verdun and the following British and French campaign of the Somme.

Battle of Verdun

Aim: attrition

Falkenhayn accepted that there was little likelihood of a sudden breakthrough but still believed one decisive campaign would win the war. His tactic was to attack a point on the French line which the French would defend at any cost. He aimed to draw the bulk of the French army into a small space so that German artillery and infantry attacks could slowly destroy the French and sap their morale. A weakened French army would then find it harder to defend the long front lines and the French government would be open to surrender terms. Verdun was an old French fortress/mountain, psychologically vital to the French, but strategically insignificant. It already protruded in a salient from the French line and so was vulnerable to fire from three sides. Its defences had been allowed to run down by the French and had no rail supply line.

The campaign

The German attack began in February. Massive artillery bombardments (up to 100,000 shells per hour including 100,000 gas shells a day) preceded a series of huge German assaults. Under the leadership of Pétain ('They shall not pass') two-thirds of the French army rallied to defend Verdun. The French slowed the German advance by April, but major assaults continued until June, when the Somme campaign (from 1 July) relieved the pressure. Smaller assaults continued until December.

Results

Casualties at Verdun by June were:

Both the French and German military commanders were destroyed by the campaign. Joffre, who had openly endorsed attrition as a strategy, was replaced by Nivelle. Falkenhayn was replaced by von Hindenburg and Ludendorff.

The fortress was defended successfully, but it bled the French and German armies dry. The morale of the French army was severely weakened by the relentless slaughter. In 1917 open mutiny developed throughout the French army.

The Battle Of The Somme

Aim

Haig planned to break through, using unprecedented weight in the Somme River valley. The 'secret' preparations were soon known to the Germans as the British and French massed supplies, and the Germans reinforced their positions. The date was pushed forward to help relieve the besieged French at Verdun.

The campaign

A week of artillery bombardment at the end of June preceded the attack on 1 July. Germans emerged from their deep shelters and caused 40 000 wounded and 20 000 killed of the 100 000 British troops in the first day of the assault. Three-quarters of the officers were gone. The campaign turned into one of attrition and continued until bad weather intervened in November. Reinforcements filled the rapidly expended ranks. The British used tanks for the first time in the war in September, but without enthusiasm and in small numbers. Mechanically unreliable and isolated, they were easily destroyed. Australians arrived from Gallipoli and their first major battle was at Fromelles on 19 July, where they lost 5000 men in a day. In a separate campaign at Pozières they lost 23 000 killed along two kilometres of ridge.

Results

Casualties were:

Almost 60% of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) were casualties. There was no breakthrough, only minor dents pushed into the front lines. The campaign was a defeat for all. The Germans were at the point of total collapse. Haig had the support of King George V and kept power. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George felt it unwise to brawl with a popular general. Attitudes had changed. Many now saw the war as unwinnable, mismanaged and meaningless.

Summary: 1916

The tactic of frontal assaults was stubbornly persisted with by the generals. It produced no successes, but both sides were encouraged after each failure to prepare for the next offensive on the assumption that attrition of the enemy caused by the last attack would finally allow the decisive breakthrough. By 1916 the glory and romance had gone out of war. War and civilisation were now seen as incompatible by many.

On other fronts the Russians launched a brief counter-offensive but failed. The British and Australians made some headway in the Middle East. The long awaited clash between the German and British navies occurred in the North Sea at Jutland. It proved inconclusive and both navies withdrew. The British blockade of Germany remained intact.

Questions

Further information can be found at How to use sources - The Battle of the Somme

Go To Top

1917

Good God, did we really send men to fight in that? Sir Launcelot Kiggell, one of Haig's staff officers on visiting Passchendaele

Germany

Ludendorff launched no major offensives in 1917. He consolidated his defensive position in March by withdrawing his troops from vulnerable points on his front line to a newly constructed and heavily fortified entrenchment called the Hindenburg line, a chess board of concrete strong points. In retaliation for the British blockade, the Germans announced unrestricted submarine warfare in January. This made the United States' entry into the war more likely.

French and British campaigns

There were some minor successes. In April the Canadians captured Vimy Ridge, but their advance stopped instantly at the Hindenburg line. Losses were:

In June Britain exploded nineteen mines with 450 tons of explosive under the Messines Ridge, south of Ypres, and captured this high ground but could not penetrate further.

The failures were again on a grand scale. The new French commander, Nivelle, planned a massive offensive at St Quentin on the River Aisne. The Germans discovered the full plan and the attack was a disaster. It lasted from April to May. There were 187,000 French casualties. Mutiny erupted throughout the French army, making it ineffective for the rest of the year. The troops were tiring of the futility of the suicidal frontal attack. The slaughter was seen as senseless, discipline in the army was cruel and autocratic, leave was refused, and food and medical aid were poor. Nivelle was instantly replaced by Pétain. Over 500 mutineers were sentenced to death, although only about 50 were killed. Many were sent to the harshest fronts or to overseas colonies. Leave was doubled, and food was improved. The media totally censored the crisis. Immediate offensive plans were abandoned by the French.

The Battle Of Passchendaele

The most horrific failure was the British campaign, variously called Flanders, Passchendaele, or more precisely the Third Battle of Ypres. Haig was again seeking his decisive breakthrough, this time to capture the Belgian ports. The rainy season coincided with the British offensive and created a new vision of hell on the battlefield. 4 500 000 shells in ten days preceded the attack. The campaign lasted from August to November. The British lost 360 000 casualties for an 11-kilometre gain, and the Germans lost 245 000. In a November battle at Cambrai the British at last successfully used the tank. Particular battles in this campaign involving Australians occurred at the Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde. Haig and Lloyd George were blamed, the Germans were weakened, but the Hindenburg line had held. This campaign was the last major siege offensive of the war.

Turning Point: The impacts of the entry of the USA and of the Russian Withdrawal

Two crucial events which made 1917 a turning point in world history were the US entry into the war and the Russian withdrawal from the war.

US entry into the war

America declared war on Germany in April. President Woodrow Wilson had earlier tried to act as a mediator to bring about peace talks. This had been rejected by both sides. The US had financial and commercial interests to protect. Private and public assistance to Britain and France from the US dramatically increased, to pay for the massive cost of the war. American trade with, and loans to, Germany fell.

The German U-boat campaign had alienated much American public opinion after the sinking of the liners Lusitania and Sussex (even though the Lusitania was secretly carrying armaments to Britain, not just passengers). The British controlled the trans-Atlantic cable and fed America with propaganda about German atrocities.

The Zimmerman telegram (a secret message from Germany to the German Foreign Secretary, Zimmerman, in Mexico asking him to get the Mexican government to form an alliance with Germany against the USA if war broke out, was intercepted by Britain) decided the issue. The Americans abandoned their policy of isolation.

Russian withdrawal from the war

Russia withdrew from the war in December. The Russian army's morale was low by 1917. Tsar Nicholas II had taken personal charge of the war, equipment was poor, desertions high, there were food shortages throughout the country, and in March 1917 a revolt in the cities led to the forced abdication of the Tsar. The new interim government continued the war effort, worsening the civil crisis, and a further revolt occurred in November. This resulted in a small group of revolutionaries, Lenin's Bolsheviks, seizing power. They immediately withdrew Russia from the war, signed a truce in December and accepted a humiliating peace treaty with Germany, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, in March 1918. This freed almost 1 million German troops for one last offensive on the Western front. Britain was so annoyed by the Russian withdrawal that she soon sent troops to crush this new Russian government.

On other fronts the British blockade was now producing food riots in Germany. The Italian front was deadlocked. The submarine campaign against Britain reached its peak, but convoys and ASDIC began to reduce its impact. Turkey had collapsed in the Middle East.

Questions

Go To Top

1918: From deadlock to movement

If any question why we died / Tell them because our fathers lied. Rudyard Kipling

War weariness

War weariness was entrenched at the front. Executions for "cowardice" and "desertion" had risen steadily throughout the war, peaking in 1918. By then it was not unusual for officers to shoot one of their own men to get their platoon "over the top". The worsening conditions at home, especially in Germany, increased war weariness, as supplies grew scarcer.

Turning Point - Ludendorff's Spring Offensive and the Allied Response

Aim

In March Ludendorff and Hindenburg launched their final offensive, reinforced by troops from the Russian front. They hoped to make the elusive breakthrough and force a French surrender before the Americans arrived in large numbers, and before their allies fell (Austria-Hungary was collapsing into internal wars of liberation; Bulgaria and Turkey were on the point of surrender). There were now over 7 million troops entrenched in France and Belgium: 3.75 million German, 1.2 million British and 2 million French. Each month 200 000 US troops were arriving.

The campaign

The Germans probed along the whole front then attacked the juncture of the French and British armies, using rolling barrages, with 1 million troops attacking a 60-kilometre front, avoiding strong points and moving ahead rapidly. They burst through, and four more offensives took them closer to Paris than in 1914 before their attack ground to a halt and the allied counter-attack began. Again the paradox of the war emerged: that military success exposed you to greater risk of defeat. The salients forced in the lines by this advance exposed the Germans to supply problems and made their flanks vulnerable. Germany had no replacements for her casualties. Revolution was brewing at home.

The Allied counter-attack

After the first German breakthrough the British and French finally decided that one overall commander was necessary and the Frenchman Foch was appointed. The initial casualties were severe. There were 150 000 British casualties in March. However, the allied retreat halted in July and a counter-attack began, using fresh US troops and massed tanks as spearheads. The German advance collapsed and they were pushed back to the Hindenburg line. The attack in the Amiens-Somme salient on 8 August was crucial, forcing a surprise breakthrough with tanks. It took 40 000 German casualties and forced Germany to continue to retreat. In October the allies broke through the Hindenburg line. On 29 September Ludendorff advised the German government to sue for peace immediately.

Further material on the events of 1918 can be found at World War One - Battles of Bullecourt and Hamel

Go To Top

The end of the war

In January President Wilson had proposed a plan (the Fourteen Points) to create a negotiated peace. The Germans now tried to revive this possibility so as to avoid an unconditional surrender. However, this time the US did not support the German offer. At home the German economy, society and government were collapsing. Many called for the abdication of the Kaiser, the resignation of Ludendorff and Hindenburg and a return to civilian rule. Wilson insisted on a civilian democratic government if he were to agree to a negotiated surrender.

After 3 November political faction fighting erupted on city streets, strikes became widespread, the navy mutinied at Kiel, food riots continued, and communist Soviets sprang up in several cities to replace the discredited government. A civilian provisional government was appointed to negotiate peace terms. It was led by a socialist majority under Ebert. The allies insisted on an unconditional surrender. The Kaiser abdicated on 10 November. The unconditional surrender of Germany took effect on 11 November. Her troops were still on French and Belgian soil, and Germany had not been occupied or invaded. The right-wing militarists and ultra-nationalists who had begun and executed the war fled the scene. Responsibility for the chaos and the humiliation of the peace terms became the burden of the new left-wing government, many of whom had opposed the war.

Casualties

  Mobilised Killed Wounded
British Empire
8 900 000 1 000 000 2 000 000
France
8 400 000 1 360 000 4 000 000
Russia
12 000 000 1 700 000 5 000 000
USA
1 750 000 80 000 180 000
Italy
5 600 000 460 000 900 000
Germany
11 000 000 1 800 000 4 200 000
Austria-Hungary
7 800 000 1 200 000 3 000 000
Turkey
2 850 000 650 000 950 000

Questions

Go To Top
Neals logo | Copyright | Disclaimer | Contact Us | Help