Trench Warefare on the Western Front

Huge merchant navy
Strong economy
Empire support
Only voulenteers until 1916
Unprepared for a large scale war

Russia was quicker to mobilise than Germany expected - they attacked on the Eastern front within 3 weeks
Russia were defeated by Germany and halted plans for the movement
france had several armies which planned to attack Germany through Alsace Lorraine. It was outdated - they wanted colourful uniform and cavalry
The BEF provided a defensie role to assist France

A large part of the BEF were here
The french were not there as they saw it as a dummy attack
BEF had planned to be offesive nut changed to defence as the German army was 300,000 men and they had 75,000
Germany broke the british lin ebut with heavy casualties
Britain dug a defensive position before they retreated
WWI became a war of attrition instead of movement

September 1914
Germnay left Paris, allowing the Allies to counter attack
Was a success and Germany was forced to retreat to the River Aisne
Germany dug a trench here and started to realise how successful it was
This became the first section of the Western Front

First used 22nd April 1915 - 2nd Battle of Ypres
Caused Britain to lose 60,000 men
Britian retaliated by also using gas. lead to the use of phosgene gas

Developed in 1884 by Sir Hiram Maxim
Machine gun ran by 6-8 men
Was used until 1916
Was eventually replaced by the Lewis gun
Defensive weapon, eventually each division had its own machine gun battalion
Its effectiveness meant that men could no longer fight in open ground

Could fire up to 15 rounds a minute and hit a target 700m away
Soldiers fired them from trenches

British
Greater power - could shoot 60 rounds a minute
Soldiers fired them from trenches

Bayonets and grenades were used for hand to hand combat
In 1916, Germany tried using flamethrowers but they were too bulky
Mortars were small bombs that were thrown. Germany used Minenwerfer but GB used Stokes
Fired 25 rounds a minute and could travel 800 yards

Small concrete and earth fortification
Cancelled out machine gun fire

First concept was a "landship" in 1915
First used in September 1916, became regularly used in 1917
They were aggressive but inexperienced
Britain used over 300 tanks in 1917
Name was chosen as a code (Germany thought they were developing a water tank)
Perfomed passchendaele
By 1918, they were capable of transporting supplies

New invention, not initially seen as weapons
Later were fitted with machine guns

Used on 1st July 1916 in the Battle of the Somme
Britain exploded them

Used for defence around trenches but could cause harm to the soldiers

August 1914 - War Office Press Bureau set up. Goal was to censor the news from the army to the press
Journalisnts weren't allowed to mention place names or soldiers' battalions, brigades and divisions. Told to write "What he thouhgt was tre, not what he knew was true"
DORA introduction in 1914 controlled public information, anti-war groups stopped and preotests rrepressed
Newspapers weren't allowed to speculate on battle plans
In 1917, the Department of Informtion made over 700 posters. They were initially patriotic but became anti-German
D-notice system ensured information wasn't publushes but was rarely used
Letters home were censores - they were only allowed to send a standard postcard, but occasionally could write unchecked letters

News was used to invoke emotion, such as anger to German actions or encouraging patriotism and guilt towards people who didn't sign up
Cartoons representing WW1 were published in newspapers. Captain Bruce Bainsfather drew about his experiences in 1914 to the 2nd Battle of Ypres
Photos were taken and often stages to make the army look better than it was
Lord Beaverbrook was in charge of making the censorship films. He was from a rich family
In 1916, a film about the battle of the Somme was made. It was about 1 hour and 10 minutes long, but 2 minutes were staged footage. It was the most watched film at the time
It reassured people at home that the soldiers were ok and claimed German guns were captured on the first day and showed celebrations

From 1915-17, newspapers published casualty numbers but stopped as they feared demoralising public opinion
Showing opposition to the war was rare but vocal (it waslimited due to DORA)
There were around 1300 absolutists in the country who refused anything to do with the war. There were also quakers who refused to fight

4 weeks of fighting in Oct - Nov 1914
France, Gb and Belgium held the town but lost over 100,000 men. They kept control of the Channel parts
The battle ended in stalemate - both sides dug defences from the coast to the French border
The winner of the war would be the one who could hang on the longest and had the most men

1st July - 18th November
Intended to be decisive a decisve breakthrough to end the stalemate
British troops walked across no man's land after a week long artillery bombardment
It failed at destroying the German barbed wire and German trenches
They eventually captured small areas of land but it was slow
15th September - first use of tanks. They were slow and limited but they had potential
No decisive breakthrough was achieved
Over 1,000,000 overall casualties
The worst day in British military history

Fought betwen 31st July and 10th November 1917
Started with a 2 week long artillery bombardment. thus wasn't successful and destroyed the drains. Over 4 million shells were fired
Heavy rain covered the battlefield with mud - it was so deep that soldiers and horses drowned
Allied victory, but limited and expensive
Around 250,000 casualties on both sides
they didn't gain more than a few miles of land

8th August - 11th November 1918
The final series of offensives in WW1
Series of rapid offensives to destroy German defensive lines
A key battle was the Battle of Amiens (8 -12th August) - known as the Black Day of the German Army. Over 400 tanks were used
Forced Germany to retreat and resulted in the signing of the Armstice