In 1914 the First World War broke out, it quickly became Stalemate on two fronts, when the German Schlieffen plan failed.

TECHNOLOGY:

Locked in stalemate both the allies and Germans were continually finding new ways to break the stalemate.

GAS:

Poison gas was one of the many attempts to get an edge over the opponent. The gas attacks varied from gas being drifted across no man's land into enemy trenches to shrapnel shells covered in chemicals being fired from artillery. During the early stages of the war, Gas was used in small amounts. In April 1915 the Germans Launched a major Gas attack at Ypres on French army trenches, as a result gas masks were invented to stop soldiers being affected by future attacks. Gas attacks only killed 3000 allied soldiers during the war, showing that it was an unsuccessful attempt to break the stalemate, Gas was unreliable because it had little affect and needed the wind to carry it to the enemy trenches, which could change direction and drift into friendly trenches.

TANKS:

At the beginning of the war the British started to invent the tank, the idea being that it would roll across enemy lines and defences, creating a breakthrough. It took two years for the tank to be developed and made ready for battle. At the battle of the Somme the British first used the tank against enemy trenches, however these early tanks suffered from breakdowns and were very slow, the Germans soon caught up and had their own tanks from using captured British designs. At the battle of Cambrai the British tanks achieved success but they advanced so quickly that the infantry couldn’t keep up. In 1918 Germany invented armour piercing bullets for their machine guns, which took a toll on the tank. The tank was a good attempt but was still too primitive to be used effectively to break stalemate.

ARTILLERY:

At the start of the war British artillery was not very accurate; they were also in short supply. As the stalemate was created, both sides used artillery to smash opponents into submission. Artillery was also used before a major infantry attack. By the end of the war artillery was used successfully to penetrate enemy lines and end the stalemate. Artillery was a key weapon during the war, without it many attacks could not have happened.

THE WAR AT SEA:

Due to the stalemate on land, both sides turned to their navy's to try and end the war. By 1914 both forces had created grand navy's and were keen to use them, although they only came bear once during the war, at Jutland in 1916. It was thought whoever won this battle would win the war. During the battle the British lost more ships than the Germans, but the battle also confined the German Navy to port, so both sides had some sort of victory. With the threat of the German navy gone, British ships blockaded Germany's ports, starving her of much needed supplies, both at home in Germany and on the Western front, this was a deciding factor leading to the signing of the armistice in November 1918 to end stalemate and the war, as the German public were tired of starvation and suffering, and also their Kaiser, in particular his poor decisions.

The German's tried to break the stalemate to sink any British, French or allied merchant ships, in order to make the Allies surrender and end stalemate this was called the 'sink on sight policy'. Although their sink on sight theory caused panic among British and French the Germans got themselves into trouble when they  sunk the Lusitania in 1915 a American passenger ship, this made American public and Government strongly against the German's, bringing highly trained American troops to fight on the Western front.

     

CONCLUSION:

There where many factors affecting the breaking of the stalemate and the ending of the war however some of the factors are more important than others. Without the American's it could be argued that the war would have gone on for years. As the American influence brought fresh trained troops, new and successful tactics, and multiplied the amount of soldiers on the Western front. Another factor in the stalemate was Germany losing her allies, this meant that a lot of resources and soldiers were lost at once also port blockades meant that they were losing much needed resources.  The Ludendorf offensive however was a main factor in ending the stalemate as this was before the American's arrived when the German's mad a last, desperate attempt to burst through the trench lines inevitably ending the stalemate. This offensive failed but still caused the stalemate to end, and with a German force gone, the allies were able to counter and push the Germans back.