Why did movement take place in 1918
after years of stalemate in WW1?
From 1915 to 1917, the trench warfare on the western front produced remarkably few decisive results. The front line during this time didn’t move more than a few miles either way (with the exception of the German withdrawal to the Hindenburg line in March 1917), despite several massive and bloody offensives from both sides. This was mainly due to the nature of the war – a war of attrition with modern weapons. In these circumstances it was almost always the defenders who had the advantage.
It became clear to commanders on both sides quite early on in the war that it was going to become a matter of numbers – to achieve success the attackers would have to overwhelm the defenders numerically. However due to massive errors of judgement, bad weather conditions and poor planning, numerical advantages were lost by both sides in in a series of attacks resulting in catastrophic losses of life; most notably were the Allied offensives at the Somme and Ypres and the German offensive at Verdun. Because of these neither side was in a position to win a decisive victory, and the western front remained in stalemate. But several things changed as 1918 drew closer, which eventually led to the end of the stand-off and broke the western front into open warfare.