The Great War: Stalemate

The Fighting in Europe

Stalemate? August 1914

Most believed in a war of movement

Schlieffen Plan: Germans attack through Belgium and into France

Germans stopped at the First Battle of the Marne outside Paris

German Defeat at the Marne

Germans pull back “dig in” to hold French Territory

French and British likewise “dig in” to defend France.

The Race to the Sea: Aug-Sept 1914

Result: Stalemate:Trench Warfare 1914-1918

Central Powers and Allies attack each other head on.

Can’t go around the enemy.

Land gains are measured in yards not miles!

Trench Warfare 1914 - 1918

Enough trenches are dug between Switzerland and the English Channel to circle the globe three times!!!

No Man’s Land: the space between the trenches

No Man’s Land

No Man’s Land: Men died and were rarely recovered from it.

Case Study: Battle of Verdun Feb-June 1916

To bleed France into submission.

Germany attacked to break the stalemate on the Western Front

French response “They shall not pass”

Neither side gave in or gained anything

French lost 540,000 men

Germans lost 430,000 men

Verdun: 350,000 unidentified remains still there today.

Scars are stillthere as well.

How did this stalemate persist for four years?

Answer?

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