One such minor front was the Gallipoli Campaign. The idea, thought of in early 1915 was to attack Germany’s ally, Turkey. The Allies thought they were able to capture the Dardanelles by landing at Gallipoli. However, the planning and leadership was very poor and led to the failure or an Allied Naval assault. Poor commanding led the two sides to be tangled in weeks of pointless warfare. This led to casualties of over 500,000 on both sides and the Gallipoli Campaign was promptly withdrawn in late 1915. However, a more successful campaign was The Palestine Front and the Arab Revolt. In 1917, General Allenby led a more successful offensive, which captured Jerusalem in December that year. The Turks were decisively defeated in 1918, a process highly helped by an Arab revolt against their rule. This allowed the Allies to supply materials to Russia but played little importance compared with the vast significance that the Western Front played on the outcome of the war.
The other major front in size and resources was the Eastern Front. Contrary to the doomed Schlieffen plan the Russians did attack on a large scale more rapidly that the German Command had calculated and first the Germans were surprised and were pushed back into north-eastern Germany however, reinforcements and the arrival of the tactical geniuses Ludendorff and Hindenburg swung the battles. Consequentially the Germans halted the Russian advance and were able to conduct their own advance into Russian territory. Sooner rather than later, the Russians pulled out of the war and therefore played little role in the outcome of the war. It is therefore I dismiss the Eastern front as having any relative importance on the outcome of the war the role it did play, if any, was vastly eclipsed by events further west.
The war in the air was highly regarded as a very important part of the war, used to support land and sea forces. The reconnaissance ability of aircraft allowed vastly improved fighting tactics. The fighter aces that were created also played a large role in helping morale on both sides. Planes helped artillery locate enemy forces, and to fire upon them, and to avoid artillery fire for their side. The main role of the war in the air was the reconnaissance ability. It allowed detailed maps to be constructed and to make slight adjustments that could prove vastly effective to tactics and battles. It is obvious that the reconnaissance abilities of aircraft were very valuable and led to the static ground war, however, aircraft were used to support land and sea forces. That meant they were always second to the land forces and it is therefore that I state that the Western Front. The most aircraft could do was to support events on the Western Front and was regarded by German and Allied commanders alike to be secondary to events on the Western Front.
The final other aspect of the war was the war at sea. Ships could be used for many things that were helpful such as the convoy system and more importantly blockades. Other uses for ships did occur but the blockade and the convoy system played the primary role of ships during the Great War. Both sides thought that another tactic for winning the war was the blockade system. The Germans thought that by starving Britain, they could force Britain to surrender. The Allies thought similarly, if they could weaken the German troops sufficiently then a break through the German line would be considerably easier. Many German civilians did go hungry during the war, but opinions vary as to whether this was because of the British Naval Blockade. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the whole blockade was to cause unrest among the German sailors. Friction was created between the naval officers and ratings. The German sailors revolted three times and helped to topple the Kaiser and end the war. However, it only helped. The convoy system kept Britain fed and supplied with materials during the war. Big fighting ships would escort merchant vessels through the Atlantic. This allowed Britain to be well fed throughout the war. The War at Sea did play a large role on the outcome of the war, larger than the role played by the War in the Air. However, overall the naval efforts were eclipsed by events further south. Victory and defeat would be decided on terra firma, in the muddy trenches of Belgium and France, not the icy waves of the North and Baltic seas.
It is clear that the war would be won and lost on the Western Front. No other ‘front’ would be as important as the Western front. The final victory was not until 1918, when the Allies broke the German line on the Western Front. In summate; obviously, the majority of the fighting that occurred in the Great War took place on the Western Front. This was with good reason as both sides understood the importance of the Western Front; far more important than any other aspect of the war.
