Why was the Western Front so static for so long? Is it true to say that there was no change in warfare in this period? What had changed in 1918?

This new German position gave the opportunity to the French to counter-attack. Joffre attacked at the River Marne and drove Germans back to the River Aisne where they dug trenches. The Shlieffen Plan had failed and Falkenhayn had replaced Von Moltke.

There were many reasons as to why the Western Front was so static for so long. There were tactical reasons and problems with artillery. First of all, enormous bombardments preceded infantry charges in which literally thousand of men ran, or sometimes even walked, across open ground towards enemy defences, often carrying a heavy pack only with a single shot rifle and grenades. As they reached the enemy, they were held up by the barbed wire, as they tried to find their way through it, they were shot down in their thousands by machine guns. Cannons were invented that could fire ten rounds a minute at a range of about ten miles. However, these were very heavy and were very difficult to use for offensive purposes, since they could not be easily moved to support an attack. These cannons were not very accurate either and meant that they were therefore primarily of defensive value. There were also problems with the way the manuals were trained. They had learnt from, and their own limited experience, taught them that battles could only be won by attacking. They believed that they had to overrun the enemy, not sit waiting for him.

It is not true to say that the nature of warfare did not change in this period. The idea of trench warfare had now been put to use. Trenches, almost three to four miles, were dug out. There would be around three lines of trenches, one behind the other. This was so that if the enemy broke through the first line or even the second line then there would always be the third line of defence - to turn round and 'encircle' the front lines in such circumstances would have been sheer madness. The trenches also contained machine gun posts in strategic places, large dug-outs, artillery and, often, buildings as well. Even thought the entire front line was narrow, it was relatively easy to move reserves from one sector to another and so plug and gaps were created. Trench warfare was further developed because it did not limit the bombardment to just a single area but to four different points. This both disguised where the main point of attack would be and disrupted the enemy's efforts to bring reserves up. An example of this is when the Austrians did not realise that the main point of attack would come at Lutsk, and sent their reserves tot he wrong place. When the attack came, it too came in four different places, thereby making 'plugging the gaps' far harder. It was generally difficult to make successful attacks due to the trenches. As there were at least three to four lines of defence, the attackers had to make their way through all of them until they could have a successful attack. Many times these attack were not successful as the attackers were stopped either by the first or second line of defence. Weapons such as the bolt-action, magazine-fed rifle, the machine gun, breach-loaded artillery employing axial recoil, and elongated shell delivering shrapnel bullets and high explosive in a selected and not random fashion, were, in the their range and volume of fire, potent devices against forces advancing over open ground. Attacking forces also had similar weapons but were used in a slightly different way. Snipers, expert with a rifle in the hunting of prey were useful as they could pick off trench dwellers that exposed themselves even momentarily. Machine gunners, firing obliquely, could penetrate the security of a trench, as could shrapnel bullets and trench mortars. Attacking troops, if they could get close enough, would deal out death using hand grenades and bayonets. Defensive weapons could be larger and heavier than offensive weapons as they were usually in one place or did not move too far.

Attacks were made by throwing grenades at the front line and advancing whilst both sides were shooting. The commanders sometimes went on horse back for speed, but as they found out, it did not make much difference. The ground was muddy and was undulating so horses could not run at fast speeds.

There were attempts made to break the stalemate between 1915 and 1918. In 1915, the introduction of entirely new weapons of offence such as poison gas. Another weapon was the armoured fighting vehicle, or tank. There were problems with using poison gas because if the wind was blowing in the wrong direction, it would not have much effect on the enemy. The tank was very slow moving and this made it prone to attack from bombs and grenades. The tank would not have a leading role in the war; it would just be supportive just like poison gas.

In 1916, the Germans chose to attack Verdun, a strong point, a salient, which could be attacked from several points at once. The Germans advanced in February to France. The Germans would carry on sending troops in until they won, but the French defended Verdun heroically. At the Battle of the Somme, The Germans were supposed to make up ground by having strong forces held at high ground. Both Britain and Germany sent in several hundred thousand troops, who were supposed to deliver a devastating bombardment over a wide front. It meant that in the centre of the attack, his cavalry along with assaulting infantry - could drive through the gap free from interference by the enemy fire from the flanks. Falkenhayn chose to leave out the cavalry and decided to attack on a much narrower front. This did not work as the Germans had the highest number of casualties and due to this not as much ground was made as was planned.

There was still stalemate even in 1917 at the Third Battle of Ypres where the British tried to break through and seize the U-boat bases on the Belgian coast. This was attempted at the cost of 324,000 British men for a four mile advance. The offensive at Cambrai saw the large scale use of tanks. Here, the main problem was that the tanks kept on breaking down and could advance as effectively.

In 1918 there were many troops freed from Russia, which could give Germany the initiative in the West. They had calculated that it would be some time before the Americans would arrive in France and so they had to attack before they got there. Their target was the weakest point of the Allied line at the junction of the French and British armies. The Germans began transferring huge numbers of troops from Russia to France. The Germans were able to advance further than they did in 1914 for two reasons. They had more men to send in and they also used gas shell to knock many of the British artillery batteries and high explosive shells were used to obliterate sections of the front line trenches. The Germans advanced 14 miles. The Germans were, however, stopped just before they reached Amines, as the British threw in more reinforcements. On August 8 the Allied attack was switched to the Amiens-Somme salient when a combined British and French force launched a determined assault. After a heavy artillery bombardment and a dawn attack by bombers of the R.A.F, an armada of 456 tanks led a great force of British, American, Canadian, Australian and French infantry against the German lines. The Germans were taken by surprise as they were unprepared and taken their front line was rolled back. They suffered over 42,000 casualties on the first day, and some 400 guns were lost. The Allies from now on developed a very skilful and intelligent strategy which saw them delivering a series of blows on part of the German lines and then on the other. This kept the Germans on the defensive, and they were unable to switch their reserves around fast enough to meet the swiftly changing alternating blows. The Germans were pushed all the way back to the Hindenburg line and the Allies were victorious.