cause of the stalemate

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What caused the stalemate on the western front

From the end of 1904 until March 1918 the war on the western front was in complete Stalemate. The stalemate on the western front was a problem unforeseen by either side. The stalemate meant that side were in a total deadlock and could not make any progress. The stalemate was made by many different occurrences.

Neither side had foreseen the problem of the stalemate. The Germany thought that with the Schlieffen plan it would be a quick decisive battle, which would finish the war. The plan was to invade France by going through Belgium and conquering Paris. Then get ready to attack Russia when they came to defend France and that Britain would not come at all. There were six main reasons that caused the Schlieffen plan to fail.                                                                                                                                          The Germans had thought that cause Belgium’s army was a tenth of the size of Germanys and it was neutral in the war that they could go through without any resistance. Though when they did go through Belgium they thought back for almost a month giving the French and there allies warning and time to prepare. The Germans also used a lot of there artillery to destroy the Belgium forts Liege, Namur and Antwerp. This caused a constant threat for the German supplies on the northern lines. The attack on Belgium caused many other neutral countries against Germany. The German troops were exhausted as the German army had to cover from 20 - 25 miles a day. So they were getting emotionally and physically drained. Making them weaker when they went into battle..                                                         Another problem for the Schlieffen plan was the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) it was a small force of 75000. the goal was to quickly defeat the germans in Alsace. The French did not believe that there would be an attack there due to the rapid German advance through Belgium, the British were almost annihilated several times, but they managed to delay the Germans long enough for French and British reinforcements to arrive. While the BEF were froced to retreat the first mounst in agust they sill mangaed to give time for the british to arrive.                                                                                     The germans thought that the Russian would take about six week to get to France and by that time france would be defeted and they would be ready for the Russians. The Russians moved a lot faster that expected gaing more ground in eastern prussia. Although the bigger problem for germany was that they were dangerrously close to berlin. The geman to pull even more men from their main force, in order to reinforce the Eastern Front.                               Also The delay from the british and Belguim the french could transfer troops from the border at Alsace-Lorraine. The german had expected that this would take a lot more time. So by the time the germans got there the french were ready.                                                                                                                 Italy believed that the Alliance was only a defensive purposes and that it was started by a Austro-Hungarian Empire which was not in there Aliance. Germany had made the Italian a big part in the plan and when they refused they had to make a lot of changes to the plan.                                                The chief of the gereral staff helmeth von Moltke made changes to the Schlieffen plan reinforcing the right wing amys with 180000 from the Defence. Thus weakening the defence.  he also further reinforced the left wing of the amy with Corps from the right to prevent Allies armies from getting too far into Germany itself. This caused problem because the germans were meant to fall back and lure the french away from Paris where the right wing forces were to attack but now there were bringing them closer together. The falure of the shcliefen plan resluted in the defeat at the first battle in manes in 1914,  the stalemate and a two-front war for Germany.

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Another reason for the stalemate was the role of the commanders none of them really knew how to attack well though there were good at defence witch was more to do with manpower than skill. Commanders Haig and Smith-Dorrien were vital help in stopping the Germans and starting the stalemate. Other commanders were not effective leaders and helped contribute to the stalemate of 1914. The commanders were often called “donkeys” and the soldiers “lions” because the commanders did not care for the soldiers at all. They sat in the trench while they sent the troops over the barbed wire to ...

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