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Trench warfare was one of the main things about World War 1, and from 18th to the 28th of August 1914 the German army had fought through Belgium to get to France (Schaepdrijver). This move had been anticipated by both the French and the German commanders since later in the summer of 1914. They both were also aware that this war would involve a massive amount of troop movement; so once the Germans had broken through Belgium the French were waiting for them. Hence during the First Battle of the Marne the Germans began to lose ground, as they were likely tired from fighting through Belgium and then the Allied soldiers (France, Briton and Russia)) were fresh, so the Germans were pushed back towards Belgium. The German soldiers then, to not lose any more ground, dug themselves in. Once the Allied soldiers realised how good their defence was, they to dug themselves in. This caused a stalemate on the warfront as the conventional means of attack, a frontal assault, would not work. They also did not work as new military weapons had been created such as machine guns and heavy artillery. Trenches were also a great way to protect from the opposing forces small arms fire and made substantial protection form heavy artillery provided it did not land directly inside the trenches; however later in the First World War trenches were designed in a criss-cross shape to contain explosions/shrapnel. So by October 1914, the generals realised that what was to be a temporary defence strategy, became a major part of not only the Western Front but on all of the fronts in World War 1 (Daniels, 2014).
Trench warfare was spread all over Europe during World War One, however it was mainly on the Western Front with trenches stretching 765km, starting from the North Sea, going through Belgium and Northern France, ending at the Swiss border (Daniels, 2014). The French and British considered the Western Front to be the most important border. This was because they thought whoever won on the Western Front would win the war, hence the Western Front was where the majority of soldiers were sent (Willmott, 2003). |