An Unpredicted New kind Of Warfare.

        Tanks were invented to be the technical solution to the major problem of both barbed wire and machine guns. They had an armour plate to protect troops whilst attacking and caterpillar traction to allow them to cross-hilly and muddy ground. But the first Mark I tank was a weak and variable weapon. It was used at the Somme in 1916 but neither their performance nor numbers could help win the battle. It was not until Cambrai in 1917 that tanks were used on a large scale. They crunched their way over the barbed wire and German trenches creating a huge hole in the German defenses.

        A General on horseback commanded his armies in battle up until 1914. After 1914 telephones were working. Battles could be safely won from far away behind a desk. But though this development in communications may seem a great success, but telephones in reality were useless in attack, because the commanders didn’t have a good perspective of the war and didn’t know everything as they would be if they were sitting on horse and overlooking the battle which led to troops often pulling back because of lack of communications and broad view of the battle.

        In 1914 neither the French nor the British armies were trained for trench warfare. They had to adapt which took them several years and accounted for several of their failures and delays. French generals felt infantry charges were a necessity to win the war despite the huge advances in technology. And Germen generals thought that with enough ammunition and man power and gradually wearing down the enemy they would win the war.

        Eventually in 1917 the French army refused to attack any more, only to defend because of the horrific numbers of casualties lost for only a few miles gained. A term to explain this was the cannon fodder. The battle of Somme in 1916 is a good example for a shocking case of awful miscalculations by the leadership of both sides; Britain lost around 419,000 men for only a strip of land about 25 km long and 6km wide. These huge loses were due to bad planning. The men were untrained and advanced towards the enemy walking and carrying heavy packs on their backs. These “big pushes” which was a belief shared by British Kitchener and Haig were mere execution of side’s troops as they were walking straight into machine gun fire.

        The first World War was the first war between two vastly industrialized economies and factories on both sides mass-produced inconceivable amounts of artillery and ammunition. Industry was under an incredible amount of strain and it was not until 1917 that the munitions industry was able to produce adequate quantities of ammunitions. Railways played a major part in the transportation of troops form one area of the western front to the next along with food and other supplies. Both sides were also both able to keep going because of the huge numbers of men and supplies continuously brought by trains and trucks. Basically both the central powers and allies were never in a drought of resources.  

        At the outbreak of war on the Western Front, the Allies and the Germans were relatively equal in their strengths and weaknesses. Bad leadership held up many of the British and French attacks resulting in unnecessary numbers of casualties. Germany spread its men out over many of the fronts not only in the eastern front, but also in the Western Front. One argument is that if perhaps they had concentrated on only one front they may have had a chance of success as opposed to spreading out the troops over a large area.

        The deadlock ended in 1918 when it was broken by eventual collapse of the central powers. It was ultimately attrition that proved the crucial decider but it was a series of events and inventions that had not happened before which gave way to the end result. The submarine campaign was important as it brought America into the war with fresh troops and much needed resources and resulted in a huge blow to the German morale.

         In conclusion, there was no one true reason for deadlock on the western front, but that it was due to several problems. Technology advanced too rapidly, generals were not adequately trained for trench warfare. As one quote would say “The great war was fought with 20th century weapons and 19th century tactics”. The war was able to be kept going due to the fact they were both vastly industrialized economies and neither side was able to eliminate the other since and the governments of both sides directed the industries towards mass production of uniforms, ammunitions, ships, explosives etc...