How did the fighting on the Western front change?

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How did the fighting on the Western front change?

The fighting on the Western front did not stay exactly the same between 1914 and 1918.  Some aspects of warfare changed little, but some changed a great deal, for example trenches became the main defensive strategy and quick battles with Calvary charges and heavy infantry quite literally became a thing of the past and were replaced with stalemates and week/month/year long trench battles.  Another major change was the artillery – at the beginning of the war it was very inaccurate and by the end it was much more precise and powerful.  Tanks also proved useful in crushing barbed wire defences although they were very primitive at the beginning and often broke down in the mud.

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People did not expect the war to develop in the way it did.  In 1914 people expected that Britain would win the war and be home by Christmas.  In reality the new trench warfare and complicated tactics meant that both alliances held out and battles resulted in stalemate many times.

New techniques and equipment were developed after 1914 to tackle these new challenges.  There were new artillery and tanks and new tactics to get past trenches and get around barbed wire.

At the beginning of the war the artillery was not accurate and often meant that they ...

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