Why Was There A Stalemate? Due to a change in the nature of warfare, it had become easier to defend than attack for a number of reasons:

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Why Was There A Stalemate? Due to a change in the nature of warfare, it had become easier to defend than attack for a number of reasons: New high powered weapons had been introduced, and they had a big impact. Now, it was possible for a sustained bombardment on one particular target from a long distance away. These machine guns could gun down masses of people rapidly and accurately, since there was no recoil. Anyone attempting to cross No Man Land would be likely to be the victim of these guns, making progress extremely difficult. This war was nothing like the Wars of Mobility of old, and they had been replaced by a War of Attrition. The war could not be won in a single battle, and as both side’s populations were evenly matched, the result was a stalemate. Also,
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war had become industrialised and the Western Front was dominated by rapid, accurate and powerful artillery. This helped to create No Mans Land.Although there was a naval blockade on Germany, it took years to make any difference and so this made very little difference.The failure of the Schlieffen plan, and the subsequent lack of any sort of contingency plan, resulted in the Germans having to dig in, in retreat. Initially this was just a temporary measure, but as stalemate developed they dug deeper into trenches on the Western Front. They become permanent places of shelter and refuge, with the British ...

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