Germany launched the Schlieffen Plan (defeat France within 6 weeks) on 4 August. The Belgian resistance bought time for British and French troops to mobilize. A British Expeditionary Force landed in France - and met German troops at MONS (23 August). The British troops did not stop them or defeat them but they did slow the German advance.

The French troops faced bigger problems. According to Plan 17 (French troops should charge across the frontier and attack deep into Germany, forcing surrender) France launched a direct attack on Germany. From the 20th of August to the beginning of September (during 12 days) France lost over 200.000 men! France abandoned Plan 17 and regrouped their forces to defend Paris.

Russian troops invaded eastern Germany already in August. This forced Germany to pull 100.000 troops out of France. This unexpected fast Russian mobilization helped ruin the Schlieffen Plan!

Another problem for Germany was the fast advances on some fronts. Supplies of food and ammunition could not keep up. Germans soldiers were soon underfed and exhausted.

At the River MARNE the combined forces of France and Great Britain were able to stop the German advance. A counter-attack pushed the Germans back to the River AISNE.

By the 8th of September troops on both sides were digging trenches, setting up machine guns and barbed wire. The war of movement became the WAR OF TRENCHES. A sign of stalemate!

At the Battle of YPRES (16-22 November) the deadlock was well established. The western front had reached a stale mate which was to last until 1918.

1915 - The stalemate at the western front continued. Small offensives led to great loss of lives.

1916 - This year saw some of the most heavy battles of the western front. In February the Germans tried to capture the strategic forts surrounding VERDUN. Attacks were followed by counter-attacks. By July over 700.000 men had fallen. By the end of summer the French were close to defeat…
To relieve this pressure the British launched an offensive at the SOMME An eight days bombardment pounded 52.000 tons of ammunition on the German positions. Contrary to General Haigs calculations the German positions were not weakened sufficiently. On the first day of the Allied attack (July 1st), the British suffered 57.470 casualties, with over 19.000 dead! On that day the Germans lost 185 men. The fighting continued until November with the loss of over 1 million men (600.000 Allied - 400.000 British).

At the time the Battles of Verdun and especially Somme was seen as expensive failures. The military leadership of General Haig was publicly criticized. Though later some Revisionist historians have claimed that these battles were the turning point of the war!

• Tanks
• Creeping barrage
• Artillery ambush
  

1917 - A new French General - Nivelle started another offensive. The Germans knew of his plans and retreated to new stronger positions (the Hindenburg Line). General Nivelle refused to change his plans so the casualties were huge! Several units from the French army mutinied… General Pétain was called in. He solved the crisis by ruthlessly punish the leaders of the mutiny and at the same time improving the conditions for the ordinary soldiers.
The British and Canadians had some successes - like the Canadian capture of VIMY Ridge in April 1917. This was the same month USA joined the war!

When the Americans joined the war in April 1917 the Allies thought that ”the tide was turning”, but late 1917 the situation was not any different than before…

In March 1918 the German Commander Ludendorff launched a desperate attack in an attempt to win the war. The Germans advanced and broke the through the Allied Lines in many places. The Allies retreated in order and forced the German troops to stretch themselves. More American troops arrived every week and now the French called in reserve troops. In making this breakthrough Germany lost 400.000 men and they had no reserves to call in! The German soldiers lacked food and supplies which made them stop the advance at times to loot food and supplies from captured trenches or villages. Between May and August the Germans made no further progress. Now it was only a matter of time before the Allies would defeat Germany!

On August 8 1918 the Allies started a counter-attack along much of the western front. By late September they had reached the Hindenburg Line. By October the Germans were in full retreat and at 11.00 am the 11/11 1918 the armistice (cease-fire) came into effect - The First World War was over!