Relating all these points back to the question trench warfare developed through the Schliffen plan because Germanys attempt at mobile war failed as well as Germanys incapability to realise the war was of attrition. The landscape also played a major part because it was a flat area & offered no kind of protection from enemy fire.
Moving on to the trenches.
The trenches were built as a defensive measure to stop enemy fire hitting you. Example: At the Ypres salient as an act to repel the Germans from being able to take control of the ports at the coast. This was important because if the Germans got to the ports then the British supply line would have been broken which inevitably would of made Britain leave the war. Another Example: At the battle of the Marne the British & French, were able to slow down the German army stop & then push them back toward the river Aisne
Another reason why trench warfare developed was the development of stalemate situations in a war of attrition
Both the German troops & British troops began to try & break through at Ypres areas towards the ports through ‘outflanking’ each other, by trying to take rule of the channel ports. Both sides then dug trenches to defend themselves from enemy fire, this was obviously because neither side could ‘outflank’ each other. This resulted in a stalemate & war of attrition
Also both Britain’s & Germanys armies had equal amounts of troops on the battlefields. Thus they were equally matched. As well as this Belgium’s landscape was very flat. This meant that the troops on either side had difficulty defending themselves, as there was nowhere to hide.
Relating this point back to the question trench warfare developed through the war of attrition& stalemate because both sides needed to defend themselves & thus dig themselves into the ground for protection.
Yet another major factor of developing trench warfare was the types of weapons being used. Examples:
- Mines were used as a weapon of mass destruction of the enemies they worked by one side digging tunnels underground all the way into the enemies’ trenches. The side digging then would fill the tunnel back up with the soil once the mine has been set & connected to the wire. After the tunnels had been refilled with soil the mines would be detonated destroying the enemy trenches & causing mass destruction. An example is at hill 60 & the caterpillar on the mesines ridge.
- Artillery was used for trench protection as they were hard to move & very slow to reload, thus they were used to bomb no-man’s-land. The range allowed them to fire up to 7000 yards. At the end of the war there was one artillery gun for every man in the front line trenches of both sides
- The Vickers machine gun was a defensive weapon because they were too heavy & took three people to move them. The Vickers machine gun could fire up to 4500 yards. The weapon was best suited for stationary warfare & ruled out any quick old style warfare e.g. British cavalry at high wood
- Gases were used as weapons of mass destruction like the mines. The army using the gas would have to make sure the wind was travelling in the direction of the enemies trenches & then release the gases, but the gases were not very accurate as the wind could change direction forcing the gas to follow
This proves that both Britain & Germany were both industrial advanced countries during the war & could supply nearly unlimited amounts of weapons & ammunitions because the industry was at its peak.
Relating back towards the question we can see trench warfare developed because of both sides being equally matched & thus needing protection from enemy fire.
A forth factor to why trench warfare developed was the Defence of the realm act (DORA). This gave the government the unprecedented powers to control most aspects of the peoples daily lives & also allowed the government to seize control of any buildings industries or land, which was very important to the war effort because this allowed the government to control the amount of weapons produced & also censor items about the war that would be damaging to the morale of the people
Munitions produced
Relating this point back to the question both Britain practically had the same weapons so neither side could break the deadlock & seize the advantage compared with wars like the Boer war. Thus a situation arose that no side could break the deadlock and therefore dug trenches for protection from enemy fire.
A fifth factor towards trench warfare developing was the availability of men. All leaders & generals of the British Empire, France & Germany could afford to lose thousands of men & replace them easily week by week
All three empires had mass armies & could easily recruit & then train more troops over a couple of months during the war, but mainly near the end Before the mass losses came about.
To get men & even teenagers to sign up Britain used propaganda to say that the war was worth signing up for unlike Germany who used methods like conscription. The years before the Somme (1914-1915) many Britons were keen to sign up to the war effort but once news of the atrocities at the Somme came out through newspapers there was an extreme fall in enthusiasm towards the war & signing up. This made the government change from optional signing to conscription
Relating back to the question trench warfare developed through this because of the leaders continually forcing men to the front line & certain death.
Finally a six factor was through the quality of leadership & tactics on both sides & how the decisions made were incredibly bad, more significantly of Britain with field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig.
For example Haig wanted the enemy quickly wiped out in a short amount of time without realising what is was like on the front line. In a famous quote someone said it was like ‘Donkeys leading Lions’. Haig continually sent soldiers after soldiers to a needless death on the front line with tactic like: Somme
Verdun
Passendale
Yet another famous quote from a soldier on the front line was ‘I don’t think he knew what a trench was’. This was said as field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig was stationed 50 km behind the frontline.
Another bad decision by Haig was at the battle of the Somme in 1916 when he ordered 5 day 24 hour bombardment of the German trenches to destroy the trenches, cut the barbed wire so it would be easier to get across & capture the Germans trenches. Just before the order was given to march the British set of the Loganhar mine, which was supposed to kill all the remaining living Germans, but nobody realised that the Germans had dug 60 ft into the ground & therefore the attack was ineffective causing a mass slaughter of British & French troops when they went over the top.
Relating this point back to the question it is clear to see that Haig caused trench warfare to develop because of he incapability to listen to others when they had key points to give thus Haig did what he wanted.
Summarising, this inevitably led to the end of trench warfare because of three main factors in my eyes. The first one was technological improvements. This meant the war gradually got away from being a stalemate in trenches as tanks & aircraft began to play more significant roles. Also the German commander later learned that it was important to put effort into navy & submarines through his mistakes.
Secondly tactics. This was important as the war needed to be a fast moving mobile warfare, which obviously it was not. We know this through TRENCH WARFARE. As well as this the commanders were unable to admit they were wrong i.e. Douglas Haig.
And finally public opinion was the third. This is in two areas. Firstly the opinion of the soldiers helped end trench warfare as they grew less convinced that war was the way forward after seeing so many of there friends die. Secondly the general publics morale decreased because they to saw how many were dieing on the western front & thus not as many people volunteered to sign up for the army.
