Why Was There Stalemate On The Western Front Between Germany And Franc

Due to the complexity of this question, it must be broken down before an attempt at answering it can be made. Following this, it will be easier to understand the exact context in which this article will consider this question. By asking ‘Why was there stalemate on the Western front’ two questions are actually being asked. Firstly, why did a stalemate start and secondly why did the stalemate continue between 1914 and 1918. The second issue within the question is the section that specifically refers to stalemate between ‘German and France’. It is debatable whether this refers to conflict between German and French armies or German and French territories. Since British and Belgian forces had a significant impact to conflict on the Western front and the inclusion of facts concerning these forces is necessary to answer in full the question ‘Why was there Stalemate on the Western front’. This article will take the opinion that the question asks for the inclusion of all relevant events leading to and sustaining deadlock on the Western front. The structure of this article will look chronologically at the start of the deadlock followed by an analysis of the continuation and eventual end of the stalemate.

When war began in the summer of 1914 both Germany and France had distinct ideas about how war should proceed. Germany, being the initiator of conflict, had the advantage of putting its ‘Schlieffen Plan’ into action first. The plan called for a large-scale invasion of France with a large proportion of the German army moving into France through Belgium. Paramount to the German plan was speed. In order for Germany to be able to invade Russia without worrying about France, Germany needed to defeat the French in a matter of weeks. Due to a number of unforeseen factors, the German plan failed and led directly to the deadlocked situation that would continue for over four years.

As a result of alteration to the Schlieffen Plan, the complete failure of the French plan XVII and the intervention of British, Belgian and French forces, a situation that could only be described as stalemate was firmly established by November 1914. The events leading to this began on 4th August 1914 when around a million German troops poured into Belgium according to the Schlieffen plan. This when Germany met its first major setbacks as Britain, quite unexpectedly from Germany’s perspective, immed...

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...anes of both sides went badly wrong, a large and unexpected confrontation resulted in all armies digging in to hold their ground. Despite numerous attempts to break through these positions, good defensive weapons and positions combined with equally adversaries resulted in a deadlock that could not be broken until the sides were no longer equal and better offensive methods had been developed. Deadlocked trench warfare seems the only logical method for which a prolonged war between powerful European countries could take place at the time. The weapons, technologies and tactics of the time were ideally suited to a defensive war and both sides exploited these when their ambitious plans for a quick war failed. In hindsight, these plans may seem silly, as it is obvious that the French and German plans could not both succeed and it is now known that the war lasted more than four years when the people who conceived these plans envisaged a war of only two or three months. But it must not be forgotten how close Germany came to victory in the early stages. If just a few small things had happened differently then Germany may well have won and the world may well be a very different place today.