When the BEF arrived, they marched into Belgium, to hold off the Germans. They marched to the town of Mons, where they fought the Germans. They held them back for about a day, but were overwhelmed, and forced into retreating. The battle of Mons certainly slowed the Germans down, but wasn’t a huge conflict, and didn’t last long.
With the BEF and the French withdrawing, it looked like the Germans might make it to Paris. However, when driven back close to the river Marne, the Germans swerved to the southeast, away from Paris. The French commander Joseph Joffre noticed that the German right flank was vulnerable, and organised an attack. It was a success, and the German commander, Moltke, organised a retreat. The Germans withdrew 40 miles, with the British and the French pursuing. The Battle of the Marne is known for the first effective use of airplane reconnaissance, which helped identify weak points in the German line. It was after the German retreat, that they started digging trenches, and the stalemate began.
The allied forces pushed on, and met the German trenches, which were easy to defend. The allies began to try and flank the Germans, via the open right wing, however were repeatedly repelled. The Germans tried to do the same, and the two sides began exchanging attacks, while lengthening the trenches to keep up with the movement north. It has become known as the ‘Race to the Sea’. Once the two armies reached the channel, the attention turned to the other flank, until the front line stretched from the channel to the border of Switzerland, some 400 miles.
The British, Belgians and French gathered around the town of Ypres, expecting a heavy German attack on the town. The Germans attacked but were repelled. The British and French lost just over 100,000, while the Germans lost 160,000. The BEF were badly weakened, but the battle gave the allies time to strengthen their trenches.
The Germans were the first to start digging trenches, to provide a place that could be easily defended. The allies followed suit to protect themselves from the machine gun fire and artillery from the fortified Germans. The trenches, over time, became stronger, more fortified, and harder to break through.
The vast amount of time between the last large war certainly contributed to the style of war WW1 became. It was a war of discovery and of trying out new weapons and tactics. However, commanders and generals refused to accept the new ways of fighting, and took their time to adjust to the new situation. The unfortunate consequence of this is the death and injured toll, and the severe aftershocks that gripped the involved countries. For example, in the past, cavalry had been a main part of an army; however, with the trenches in place, and new weapons like machine guns, they were not very useful.
All of the events formed a chain, each triggered by the previous ones end. Therefore it is difficult to see which reason was the main cause of the stalemate. If you look at the start of the chain, the Belgian resistance provided the BEF with time to arrive, and without it, the war could have ended a lot sooner. However, if you look at the individual causes, the Battle of the Marne illuminates as the cause of the stalemate. If the BEF and the French had been unsuccessful in their endeavours, the Germans may have made it to Paris, knocking France out of the war. In my opinion, the battle of the Marne is the main cause, because that is the point at which Germans retreated from their original plans and dug trenches. The digging of trenches marked the end of a war of movement, and the start of a slow war of attrition.
