The stalemate was a consequence of the failure of the Schlieffen plan. The , aimed at dealing with war on two fronts, failed to achieve the quick and decisive victory over France that Germany had hoped for. Their initial advance was met with strong resistance from Belgium giving Russia and Britain time to mobilise their troops. Then the French and British halted the German attack on Paris at the . The German Army was forced to retreat behind the where they dug in to protect themselves against the advancing Allies. Faced with an impenetrable German line the Allies themselves dug in.
The Commanders of the opposing sides, and , realised that the advantage now lay to the North between their position on the Aisne and the Sea. A race began to take control of this position. Without weakening their grip on the defensive line of trenches, each army tried to outflank the other to gain the advantage. This so called 'Race for the Sea' ended at the
By the end of 1914 the approach had been abandoned in favour of a defensive line of trenches that stretched along the Western Front from the North Sea to the Swiss border. The conflict, which had started out as a war of mobility, quickly developed into a war of , ruining any hope of a quick war that would be over by Christmas.
As well as the lengthy trench warfare process, there was also an equally long war at sea. Both Germany and Britain believed that naval warfare was going to be of utmost importance as to the outcome of the war. Even before the war there was a frantic naval race in which both sides attempted to out number the other. Both sides realised, however, that the dominance of the seas was going to remain with Britain and that it would be unlikely that the Germans would be successful in battle. For this reason the two sides both attempted to avoid such meetings and instead turned to other measures, in particular ruining each others trade with other countries. Germany’s tactic was a U-boat campaign and the British relied purely on their powerful fleet.
Germans attacked not only Allied ships, but any ship suspected of trading with the Allies. There were also attacks on passenger ships, including the liner, Lusitania, which was sunk off the coast of Ireland. As a result, 1,198 people died, including 124 Americans. The USA joined the war later on a result of this.
Stalemate became virtually impossible due to other factors, not just trench warfare:
- Commanders on all sides failed to appreciate the significance of the new weapons that had been developed in the second half of the nineteenth century. New weapons the armies had were better for defence rather than attack
- Once the trenches were dug, cavalry (horses and mules) became too vulnerable to artillery and machine guns, and over 8 million died. They were also prone to falling into the trenches. The animals would also be slowed down by mud. Horses and mules were still important for transporting equipment and supplies in the swamp like conditions of the western front.
- Machine guns, and the newly-made Lee Enfield rifle, could mow down charging infantry. As the Germans were the first to decide where to stand fast and dig, they had been able to choose the best places to build their trenches. The possession of the higher ground not only gave the Germans a tactical advantage, but it also forced the British to live in the worst conditions. It was muddy and wet in the trenches, and not suited for quick attacks. This also called illness and disease amongst the soldiers- “trench foot” from standing in water for hours on end, frostbite from the bitter cold, and lice that caused pyrexia (or trench fever).
- Artillery bombardments were used to weaken enemy lines. It became more powerful over the years. Artillery bombardments caused more casualties than any other weapon.
- Poison gas attacks were invented. The Germans would release chlorine which wafted in the wind across no man’s land into the British trenches. Chlorine gas destroyed the respiratory organs of its victims and this led to a slow death by asphyxiation. The most lethal of all the poisonous chemicals used during the war was mustard gas; it was almost odourless and took twelve hours to take effect. The skin of victims of mustard gas blistered, the eyes became very sore and they began to vomit. Mustard gas caused internal and external bleeding and attacked the bronchial tubes, stripping off the mucous membrane. This was extremely painful and most soldiers had to be strapped to their beds. It usually took a person four or five weeks to die of mustard gas poisoning. The main significance of gas was the psychological impact; soldiers lived in fear of another gas attack.
British soldiers blinded by mustard gas
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Barbed-wire was usually placed far enough from the trenches to prevent the enemy from the trenches to prevent the enemy from approaching close enough to lob in. Sometimes barbed-wire entanglements were set up in order to channel attacking infantry into fire.
- Living in the trenches would have greatly hurt the morale of the soldiers because it was such horrible place to be. The conditions were terrible; there was endless artillery bombardment and the added grief of fellow soldiers dying. The soldiers’ hope of happiness would ebb away, especially when staying a squalid trench. This would disrupt the ability to put up a good fight against the Germans.