Why Was Stalemate Broken in 1918?

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Andreas Poole

Why Was Stalemate Broken in 1918?

        New technologies developed during the war were a major help in breaking the stalemate. One of the most useful developed was the tank. A formidable ally in the 1st world war. The tank first appeared in September 1916, but the first designs of the tank were actually useless, they blew up to easily, were not armoured enough or became stuck on objects to frequently, but the allies learnt from their mistakes and developed the tank until it worked. They were pretty much useless in trench warfare, although they did gain a little ground the trenches were to wide for them to cross. Nearing the end of the war tanks had greatly improved. Listed below are some usefull modifications that were made:

  • They were faster, more manoeuvrable, but still not very reliable.
  • More firepower. By 1918 the Anglo-American Mark VIII could carry 208 shells and 13,000 bullets.
  • By 1918 tanks were fitted with wooden beams which could pass clean around the tank to enable the machine to ‘unditch’ itself.
  • Were used on a much larger scale than earlier on in the war; enjoyed significant success at the battle of Cambrai in 1917.
  • Tanks made a valuable contribution to the successful allied offensive in 1918 but could not have broken stalemate alone.

 Another huge development was that of planes. They were usually used for recognisance but because of their noise and need to fly at a low level, they were always spotted and the enemy moved position before the plane could relay the information back to it's base camp. There moment of glory was once again at the counter attack to the spring offensive, where they were used to shoot at soldiers moving across open ground. Listed below are some of the modifications made to aircraft towards the end of the war:

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Beginning Of The War:

  • Royal Flying Corps only had 63 aircraft in France in 1912.
  • At the start of the war pistols were used by the pilots and co pilots!

End Of The War:

  • In 1918 the RFC had 22,000 aircraft around the world.
  • The speed, range and weaponry of aircraft improved considerably during the war. Top speeds had doubled since 1914 and the interrupter gear allowed machine guns to be fired through the propeller. Long distance bombers such as Britain’s Handley Page and Germany’s Gotha were developed.
  • Their role was largely restricted to a supporting ...

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