Germany did seem to be having an advantage though: they were advancing very quickly, faster than expected. This turned into a disaster, when the supplies could not keep up with the army, thus making the army short of food, ammunition and medical supplies. Also when they advanced, taking the land, they were unable to with hold what they gained and found themselves being quickly pushed back. The German troops soon found themselves exhausted after several weeks of fighting, meaning they lost their moral and determination to win the war, resulting to many men ‘faking’ an injury to go home.
The conditions the men were put through were often appalling, unless they were a general or of a higher ranking. The wet and muddy conditions were not suitable for quick attacks, such as the conditions of the battle of Somme. In the trenches the living conditions were so unsuitable, there were rats eating the dead corpses and left over food. Following on, in The Battle of Passendale, the ground became so sodden that men were laying duck boards in their trenches. Many men lost their life’s due to the horrific conditions of the battle fields as many men drown in the mud, mainly due to the 20kilograms of equipment they had to carry. Furthermore, a new regulation was made so that if a man fell in danger his fellow troops were not allowed to save him.
Some examples of early battles where neither sides could break stalemate are Mons in August 1914 where the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) sent their first troops over the top from Britain. They managed to slow down the German advance but they were unable to stop it all together. The German Keiser called them a “contemptible little army”. The Battle of Marne was a 5 day success, whereby they protected the Germans from having control over Paris and forcing them to retreat to the river Aisne. The Battle of Ypres was ‘The Race to Sea’, where each side ‘dashed to the sea’ in their opposing lines to have control over the coastline. These battles all made stalemate even longer, as the Germans had not planned for this to happen in the Schlieffen Plan. In all of these battles neither allies were strong enough to break all stalemate. In some places stalemate was broken but easily taken back as they couldn’t keep up the defence.
The following were equally important reasons why the stalemate on the western front was broken:
New technology like the tank
The American entry into the war
The blockading of German ports
The German offensive in March 1918
Explain how far you agree with this statement.
The new technology invented in the duration of World War One made a dramatic impact to the events which occurred. The impact was usually immediate, such as when the German U-boat was introduced it sank three British Cruisers in the North Sea. Though the technology was not always successful or efficient.
The Tanks were first introduced on the 15th September 1916 in the Battle of The Somme, Lead by Sir Douglas Haig. This had very little impact on as they were used in too small of a number, only 49 to reinforce infantry attacks, and 18 of those broke down all too easily. The intension was to scare German infantry, though all they saw was shambles. The first positive use of tanks was at the Battle of Cambrai, where there were 380 tanks present and they broke the stalemate but were unable to hold the land they gained.
When aircraft was first introduced it was mainly for reconnaissance, as at the time aeroplanes were weak, expensive and unreliable. After September 1914, British and German planes were used for raiding each others territory. The German Zeppelins carried out heavy bombing of London, though they were easily seen, and therefore were unsuccessful as they were regularly shot down.
Gas was a dangerous weapon as it was unrecognisable at first, and protection was not available until advanced respirators were developed. The gas was fearsome and unreliable due to the lack of control it left you with, and the formidable results caused by it. Gas was used for the first time in 1915 alongside tanks though neither of these had any major effect in any breakthroughs.
In April 1917, the USA had declared war on Germany, due to the Germans sinking four US ships and the Zimmerman Telegraph being discovered. The Americans still joined although the President, Woodrow Wilson, had wanted to keep out the war in Europe. Germany had also tried to encourage Mexico to become an ally, and as a direct threat, persuade them to attack America. The American Declaration of war made the Germans aware that they needed to win the war as soon as possible. Therefore, Germany came up with yet another plan, ‘Operation Michael’, which was suppose to bring the war to an end before US forces had arrived. The US army along with the French army halted the German forces from capturing Paris, this made the German soldiers exhausted. Most of the German defence had advanced so fast that they ended up in a huge bulge, resulting in Allies attacking them from the flanks. As more American troops joined they pushed the enemy back. The Germans found themselves weak and beginning to lose stalemate, after America joined. The Germans now found themselves fighting a war many times bigger than they expected.
The British Navy blocked German ports after the Battle of Jutland in 1916. This was nicknamed ‘the iron curtain’ as it prevented any resources passing in or out of Germany. It stopped all food supplies, making there a sudden food shortage, which therefore lead to rationing. In 1918 Germany’s citizens caused huge riots about this, as people started to starve. People became so desperate that it resulted into men, women and children sacrificing the lives of domestic pets for food. The soldiers soon became aware of the problems at home so consequently they lost moral in the war and their intentions were to go home to their families.
At the German Offensive in March 1918 was Germany’s Final attempt to win the war, it was named ‘Operation Michael’ which consisted of new tactics and weapons. The new weapons were the submachine gun which had a large impact as the intensity, speed and accuracy increased immensely. Storm troopers were the new army of whom had extreme training and were given the latest and most advanced equipment. The new tactics were to attack in the early morning to surprise Britain as they crept into no mans land through the dark. They also covered themselves in thick fog as well as firing a surprising amount of gas shells to frighten the defence lines. This worked considerably well at first until the Germans looted too far allowing Britain to attack them from the flanks, leaving them without supplies meaning it started the chain reaction of the German troops losing moral. The Germans eventually ground to a halt, allowing the British to regroup.
All of the above were very important in breaking the stalemate on the western, though you should not be mislead that any of them broke stalemate single handed. The new weapons that were introduced were an important stage of winning the war, as well as a huge advance in technology. The weapons were not all that great, as when Britain invented a new machine gun or ship, Germany soon copied and Visa Versa. As time went on and the German men became tired, Britain decided to block the German ports. The blockade of German ports meant that no supplies could get through and the German females and children began to starve. The soldiers became concerned for their families, and lost moral to continue with the war, resulting in them becoming weaker. Germany’s final attempt to win the war, ‘Operation Michael’ was destroyed when America entered the war in April 1917. The fresh new soldiers and supplies made British stronger and Germany was becoming considerably weak. Eventually, the British along with the Americans pushed Germany back into her own country, but before this could happen they asked for an armistice and it was signed on 11 November 1918. This peace treaty was signed at Versailles in January 1919: it told the Germans they had to return land, African colonies were to be shared, they had to accept blame and to pay war reparations of £6600 million.
