Why did a stalemate develop on the western front?

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Why did a stalemate develop on the western front?

The western front was a line of trenches stretching from the sea in the west to the Alps in the east. By December 1914 a stalemate had developed here meaning neither the German or French armies were taking any land or making any progress at all. There were many reasons for this.

Germany invaded Belgium on the 4th of August 1914, hoping to get through quickly and easily as predicted in the plan, but the Belgians had other ideas. They resisted and were able to hold up the Germans until French and British troops had mobilized, particularly at Liege. Already the schlieffen plan was failing; it required the British to not get involved. On 23rd of August the BEF (British expeditionary Force) arrived in France and met the German army at Mons. Under leadership from General Haig and Sir John French they were able to slow the Germans down using useful new artillery technologies such as the Lee Enfield Rifle. The plan’s 6 week limit had been exceeded, The BEF did not defeat the Germans but give them a ‘bloody nose’ at the high price of 50,000 British lives.

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The Battle of the Marne came next, beginning in September 1914 and lasting just one week. The Russians mobilized a lot quicker than the Germans had expected and were already in Germany. Helmuth Von Moltke, the German supreme commander, had to withdraw 100,00 troops from the army heading towards Paris and bring them back to Germany. Now the Germans were stuck right in the middle of what they had been trying to avoid, a war on two fronts. The rest of the German army continued marching towards Paris but were driven back 60km to the River Aisne when the ...

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