b)
A stalemate developed on the Western Front for four main reasons, one being that the Schlieffen plan failed, another reason was that the French were unable to defeat the Germans completely at the Battle of the Marne, another reason was the "race to the Channel" and the last reason was that defending positions was far easier than attacking. The Schlieffen Plan failed for a number of reasons, one being that Moltke, the German commander, had altered the balance of the forces so that the right wing had only three times as many troops as the left wing and since the right wing was smaller it advanced more slowly than had been planned. Another reason was that there was more resistance from the Belgian army and then from British and French forces than had been expected and this slowed down the right wing and allowed the British and French forces to retreat and then counter-attack.
Also, the Russians surprised the Germans by attacking in the east; Moltke then weakened the right wing more by sending troops to fight the Russians. Another reason was that troops marched more than 30km every day, and, by early September were exhausted. German communication lines became extended and ground to a halt, roads were clogged with refugees and telephone lines (due to sabotage) were out and so Moltke and his staff were stuck in Luxembourg, not knowing what was going on with his army.
The Schlieffen plan was failing miserably and the German troop’s morale was just as miserable but still, the German army advanced until they were just 40km from Paris. Blocking their way, however, assembled by the River Marne were the British and French troops. The reasons why the French were unable to defeat the Germans completely at the Battle of the Marne were numerous; one of the reasons was that no matter how ill spirited the German armies were they were still large and well prepared. The French and British troops however had almost been "thrown" together and in comparison to the vast amounts of German soldiers, the British and French had an exceedingly small army. After the Schlieffen Plan's failure tactics changed, both sides (France and Britain vs. Germany) had a "race" to try and get round the back of each other to attack from more stable and secure positions. Neither managed to do this and so armies ended up marching all the way to the Belgian coast, where the war stayed for the next four years, their positions hardly changing and building more and more trenches.
Due to both French and British troops, and German troops "burying" themselves into their defensive positions in their trenches, defending positions was far easier than attacking and this was another addition to the reason of the stalemate. When attacking you had to leave the safety, protection and concealment of the trenches, you were out in the open and comparatively defenseless as all that faced you was "no-man's-land" and you knew that beyond there was hundreds of opposing troops ready to blow you down with their machine guns, and so attacking became suicidal.
c)
All of the reasons do play a part in why the stalemate on the Western Front was finally broken. Although, each reason stated is not equally important and there are other reasons as to why the stalemate did break and these must be considered also.
The first suggested reason to be considered was the use of new technology, yet, however advance the technology was, precautions and counter-actions were then made almost immediately so that, in effect, the technology itself became stalemated.
Machine guns mowed down on comers, but as "no-man's-land" crossing was considered suicidal and so was very unadvisable, most soldiers did not attempt to cross, so the stalemate continued. Tanks were introduced to cross "no-man's-land" but commanders could not use them effectively until 1917 and even then, they sunk in the mud. The few that did cross, unfortunately when they arrived at the enemy trenches they were almost immediately destroyed and so the stalemate continued.
Gas was a vicious discovery to the new technology; poison gas, chlorine gas and mustard gas were used to disable opposition, although, gas was only used effectively if weather conditions were right (winds affected the way the gas blew) and gas was then countered by the invention of the gas mask. Attack by air became popular, yet as new as the technology was; it was not advanced enough to be successful and was countered by air-raid precautions.
Attack by sea was also encouraged; U-boats were made to destroy import boats, unfortunately most of these boats turned out to be highly armed attack ships in disguise read to destroy the U-boats. Ships that did manage to siege successfully were in effect unsuccessful because of the rationing and recycling efforts made by the British and their allies. So overall, the new technology helped but none of the new weaponry was war winning and most definitely not as important as the other factors to the ending of the stalemate.
The United States entry to the war in April 1917 was due to the Zimmerman telegram intercepted by the British intelligence and this telegram was from Germany to Mexico encouraging Mexico to reclaim states taken from them by America.
The United States entry into the war brought millions of fresh, new, eager men and plentiful supplies. These supplies were all helpful and most of the supplies (as America was and still is a highly technologically advanced country) were of the new technology mentioned earlier. This abundance of new weaponry gave Britain and the allies an edge over the Germans and their allies. The allied troops also found a new inspiration to fight because of the United States entry and so an intense morale boost swept through the troops. America also had immense amounts of money (being the richest country in the world), which they lent to the allies so that the allies could buy lots of new technological weapons and medicines to help their casualties.
The blockading of the German ports resulted in mass starvation and poverty due to the prevention of imports of essential foodstuffs and medicines. These shortages and terrible living conditions resulted in strikes and these strikes interrupted the war production, which in turn, halted the production of new technology. These strikes continued until the revolution in 1918 and this revolution was the final straw to the Germans impending submission and so the blockades helped immensely. However, this factor was maybe not as important as the United State's entry due to the fact that if we had not blockaded the ports and America had entered we still would have won due to the United State's immense manpower, yet, if America had not entered but we had blockaded the ports we most likely would not have won.
The German offensive in March 1917 was the German army’s final attempt to overthrow the allies and at first the German troops seemed to have the advantage. They drove the allied troops back and Paris began to be put under threat. This maneuver however, resulted in tragedy for the German armies, there was a massive loss of manpower, and over one million troops were put out of action by either being killed or wounded. The surviving troops suffered from incredibly low morale, severe exhaustion and depression and weapons and munitions availability declined enormously. The German army was crumbling.
These four factors were not the only reasons why the stalemate was broken, as these factors alone did not break the stalemate. The German allies were surrendering all around them until they virtually stood alone, isolated, weak and helpless. The Germans were frail and so Foch lead a combined-strategy with the allies under his command. In August 1918 Foch and his allied troops stormed through the Hindenberg line in a fierce, destructive counter-attack that started in July against the Germans.
Due to America's entry the allied troops were fresh, determined, had high morale and had a complete advantage over the weak, exhausted German troops who were struggling to strategize and were severely disheartened over the apparent failure of their offensive. The strategy devised by Foch blew away the German's; due to the allies' united, combined attack and so the stalemate was eventually broken. The obvious defeat of the German's and the revolution in Germany eventually led to a ceasefire on the 11th of November 1918. The German's had surrendered, the stalemate was broken, and the allies had won.
So, as it has been explained, the four factors said originally were not equally important, there were other major factors to consider and so those reasons were not sufficient by themselves to break the stalemate on the Western Front. The United State's entry into the war and Foch's clever strategically planned counter-attack were the reasons why the stalemate on the Western Front eventually broke and so the statement suggested previously cannot possibly be agreed with.
