The Stalemate in World War I

563 Words2 Pages

By December 1914 the First World War had reached a dilemma on the western front that neither the triple entente nor the triple alliance had expected. The war had reached a stalemate, a state where both sides are so evenly balanced that neither can breakthrough against the enemy. The advances in Technology played a big role in creating the stalemate through strong defensive weaponry such as Machine Guns and Artillery, this caused ‘trench warfare’ (BOOK 48). Trench war is when troops from both sides are protected from the enemy’s firepower through trenches. Many advances in technology also attempted to break the stalemate throughout the war with tanks, gas and aircraft, these however failed. Eventually the stalemate was broken through a combination of improved technology, new strategies and the blockading of the German ports. Creation of Stalemate The stalemate on the Western front had developed by December 1914 because of the new advances in defensive weaponry where both sides had developed lethal weaponry like the machine guns and artillery, which subsequently led to trench warfare. The Machine Gun was a very dominant weapon in the First World War. It could kill hundreds of men a minute due to its rapid firing rate of 600 bullets a minute. However the machine guns that were used in the First World War weighed between 30kg – 60kg, would require a four to six operators and could heat up extremely quickly; clearly not very effective as a offensive weapon (Duffy, Michael. "Machine Guns.") Machine Guns were only effective for defense as they were extremely heavy, required a lot of ammunition a needed to be fixed into the ground. This made it severely difficult to attack and move with machine guns. Artillery was even deadlier as a defensive weapon and was one of the most important weapons of the First World War as it was the cause of the majority of human losses. The artillery ranged from field artillery to heavy and long range artillery that could fire long distances and would trap the enemies in their trenches. The Trench Mortar was also a very effective weapon in the war, which was a “tube” that would fire at a vertical angle (higher than 45 degrees) and could therefore be fired within the safety of the trench, unlike artillery. All these new advances in technology made trenches almost impossible to attack yet also kept each side trapped in their trenches.

Show More
Related

  • Explain Three Reasons Why Was There More Deaths In Wwl Than In The Napoleonic Wars

    201 Words  | 1 Pages

    There were many technological developments in WWl. Machine guns were invented to help soldiers kill many people at the same time. Machine guns could fire

    Read More

  • All Quiet On The Western Front by Eric Maria Remarque

    1586 Words  | 4 Pages

    When we think of weapons that the soldiers used in War World I we think of them as defense. But what is sort of ironic is that the same weapons the soldiers used to protect them selves were the same weapons that killed them. "The development of poison gases took on a new urgency during 1914-18." (http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/index.htm) Poison gas was a lethal or incapacitating gas used as a weapon in warfare. It was used extremely between the years of 1914-1918 in order to torture enemies during war. Another major weapon used during the war was the machine gun. "The machine gun was a fairly primitive device when general war began in August 1914." (http://www.firstworldwar.com/weaponry/index.htm) The machine gun is an automatic weapon that fires rapidly and repeatedly without requiring separate squeezes on the trigger each time. This weapon was one of the most affective weapons and murdered the most enemies. These weapons were similar to the weapons that Remarque described in the novel All Quiet on the Western Front.

    Read More

  • How Did Imperialism Lead To The Outbreak Of Ww1

    655 Words  | 2 Pages

    Imagine four years of justing trying to capture the other teams trench, how dreadfully boring. World war one a great war of powers, invoked first by serbia’s overwhelming feeling to be their own people separate from Austria-hungary which thus lead to the assassination of the archduke Ferdinand of the Austrian-hungarian empire, which then lead to all the countries allied with Austria-hungary to support Austria in it’s attack on serbia, then all the countries allied with serbia to bring up arms on Austria, and Austria’s allies. This in terms of alliances had come upon through imperialism that lead to germany already against Austria in terms of expansion.

    Read More

  • Admiral Reginald “Blinker” Hall and Room 40

    2402 Words  | 5 Pages

    The outbreak of World War One was accompanied by new strategies, innovations, and inventions that developed modern warfare. World War One saw the widespread use of everything from artillery to machine guns and airplanes to submarines. World War One also saw the world’s most powerful navy, Great Britain’s Royal Navy, pitted against the up and coming German Imperial Navy. From Britain’s effective use of the naval blockade to Germany’s terrifying unrestricted submarine warfare, both sides were constantly looking for new strategies to implement.

    Read More

  • Firsthand Accounts of World War I

    2167 Words  | 5 Pages

    World War I is marked by its extraordinary brutality and violence due to the technological advancement in the late 18th century and early 19th century that made killing easier, more methodical and inhumane. It was a war that saw a transition from traditional warfare to a “modern” warfare. Calvary charges were replaced with tanks; swords were replaced with machine guns; strategic and decisive battles were r...

    Read More

  • Life and Suffering in The Trenches

    1694 Words  | 4 Pages

    World War I, also known as the Great War, lasted from the summer of 1914 until the late fall of 1918. The war was fought between the Allies, which consisted mainly of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers, which consisted mainly of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Alliances - Entente and Central Powers). In total, it is estimated that twelve million civilians and nine million combatants died during this horrific and devastating war (DeGroot 1). When the war first began in 1914, many people thought that it would be a war of movement that would quickly be over. However, that changed when the Germans, who were trying to reach and capture the city of Paris in France, were forced to retreat during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914 (Ellis 10). German General von Falkenhayn, who felt that his troops must at all cost hold onto the parts of France and Belgium that they had overtaken, ordered his men to dig in and form defensive trench lines (Ellis 10). The Allies could not break through the enemies lines and were forced to create trenches of their own (Ellis 10). This was only the beginning of trench warfare. A war of movement had quickly come to a standstill on the Western Front. A massive trench line, 475 miles long, quickly spread and extended from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier (Ellis 10). With neither side budging, soldiers were forced to live in the most miserable of conditions. Simply put, life in the trenches was a living hell. A lieutenant of the 2nd Scottish rifles wrote, “No one who was not there can fully appreciate the excruciating agonies and misery through which the men had to go [through] in those da...

    Read More

  • World War One Battlefield Tactics

    1099 Words  | 3 Pages

    The First World War witnessed an appalling number of casualties. Due partly to this fact, some historians, developed the perception that commanders on both sides depended on only one disastrous approach to breaking the stalemate. These historians attributed the loss of life to the reliance on soldiers charging across no-man’s land only to be mowed down by enemy machineguns. The accuracy of this, however, is fallacious because both the German’s and Allies developed and used a variety of tactics during the war. The main reason for battlefield success and eventual victory by the Allies came from the transformation of battlefield tactics; nevertheless, moral played a major role by greatly affecting the development of new tactics and the final outcome of the war.

    Read More

  • Life on the Western Front During World War One

    2401 Words  | 5 Pages

    Life on the Western Front During World War One A dispassionate look at the numbers of the horrendous casualties sustained by the armies of the Allies and the Central Powers on the Western Front in WW1, clearly indicate that these casualties figures are far inferior to what might be anticipated if, indeed, total war had reigned in every location, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and along all the 475 miles of trenches that extended from the North Sea to Switzerland. A couple of simple examples will readily make the case. Imagine two front-line trenches separated by only 20 to 30 yards of ‘No Man’s Land’ (in some extraordinary situations, distances were even less). A determined and prolonged effort by a few hand-grenade bombers on either side could make any hope of a sustained tenancy quite impossible. Again, given the accuracy and rapidity which trench mortars could be deployed against routinely manned trenches (one battalion per 1,000 yards) and their associated dug-outs, a quite short, but determined, and mutually hostile, barrage could readily reduce both trench systems to total ruin.

    Read More

  • Technological Advancements of World War !

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    One weapon or machine was created, and an even better one was made. New developments such as machine guns, poison gas, tanks, and new strategies to thwart trench warfare affected how WWI was fought and it came with catastrophic results. Poison gas is perhaps the most feared weapon out of all. Created to overcome the long stalemate style of trench warfare, its purpose was to draw out soldiers hiding in the trenches. One side would throw the poison gas into the enemy trenches and they would either wait for their enemy to come out into open fire or perish in the trenches.

    Read More

  • The Underlying Cause Of World War I

    1238 Words  | 3 Pages

    The underlying cause of World War I was the build up of Nationalism, Imperialism, and Militarism in the 1800s. The “three isms” caused this great war due to the outcry in which they caused within the countries and their citizens including military build up, severe nationalism, patriotism, and extending a country 's power and influence through diplomacy or military force.

    Read More

  • Archduke Franz Ferdinand Fight In World War 1

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nick: One of the main components to WW1 was artillery. In the war, artillery was used to destroy trenches, wipe out troops and to break communications from the front lines to the main headquarters. This was very effective because this could stun opposing troops, creating a window of attack where troops amy be able to attack. It can also be used to win battles by wiping out entire armies. Artillery was a deadly weapon, contributing heavily towards the outcome of WW1.

    Read More

  • World War I: Turning Points In History

    624 Words  | 2 Pages

        World War I, being a turning point, was to change history forever with in such a quick four years. One way in which the war marked itself as being such a major component in history was its introduction of machine guns

    Read More

  • The First World War: A Brief History with Documents

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    The First World War, also known as the Great War, began in about 1914 and went on until 1918. This brutal war was an extremely bloody time for Europe and the soldiers that fought in it. These men spent their days in trenches holding down bases and taking in attacks from all sides. The soldier's only free time was consumed with writing letters to those on the home front. The letters they wrote contain heart breaking stories of how their days were spent and the terrible signs of war. The War consumed them and many of them let out all their true feelings of war in their letters to loved ones. In The First World War: A brief History With Documents we can find some of these letters that help us understand what the First World War might have been like for these young and desperate soldiers.

    Read More

  • Use Of Weapons In Ww1

    330 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout World War One (ww1) a variety of vital weapons and vehicles were used and developed. The rifle, tank, gas, machine gun, zeppelin, submarines, u boats and planes were all involved and played a vital part in ww1 and warfare as we know it. Not all of these were used for the first time in 1914 however most of them were deeply developed. All weapons used, killed or left soldiers extremely crippled after the war.

    Read More

  • Essay On Survival Of World War 1

    589 Words  | 2 Pages

    World War I was not only larger than any other war the world had experienced, but also revolutionary in the nature of the war. Countries involved in the war were in demand of bigger and better weapons, luckily the economies in the period of time allowed them to do that. Some of the new...

    Read More

More about The Stalemate in World War I

Open Document