Part 2: Why Was There A Stalemate Flashcards
How did the Schlieffen Plan drag Western Europe into the conflict
. Before the events of the Schlieffen plan, only Eastern Europe such as, Austria, Serbia, Germany and Russia were involved
. Germany had to act quickly to defeat France before Russia mobilized troops in 6 weeks
. Germany marched through Belgium. The, “Treaty of London,” meant Britain promised the neutrality of Belgium but the German chancellor Theobald ignored it, calling it a, “Scrap of Paper,” which Britain wouldn’t stick to
How did the Schlieffen Plan fail
. Belgium despite being outnumbered 10 - 1, still resisted German invasions
. Belgium had many forts, blew up their own roads and bridges to slow Germany
. Germany had used, “Big Bertha,” a massive cannon but it still failed to destroy forts as quickly
. Britain stuck to the Treaty of London and sent the BEF to France which further slowed down Germany
. As well as being slowed down a lot, Russia had mobilized quicker than planned and Germany had to send 100,000 troops and 2 generals east to Germany
. A combined British and French force had pushed Germany back at the, “Battle of the Marne,”
. By early September, both sides were digging trenches for defense
. Both sides tried to outflank each other in the, “Race to the Sea,” but neither side succeeded
. Germany now had to fight a war of attrition on 2 fronts, the very thing Germany had tried to avoid
. This led to a stalemate in the war
What did the first battle of Marne result in
. The German advance got them as near as 30 miles to Paris
. This meant the French had to counter attack the Germans to save Paris
. A combined force of the French and BEF managed to push back the Germans to the river Aisne
. This allowed the French to continue the war
What were trench conditions like
. Rats and lice plagued the trenches giving diseases like typus and eating soldiers’ food
. Trenches were extremely muddy and cold
Why did soldiers put up with trench warfare
. Some soldiers were patriotic so they wanted to fight a war for their country
. Soldiers joined the war as it was seen as an adventure
. Soldiers signed up in “Pals’ battalions” with people they knew
. The British Army had luxuries like chocolate or cigarettes
. There were serious punishments for breaking the rules like being shot at dawn
How was technology developed during trench warfare
. Artillery was developed majorly allowing shells to fly multiple kilometres
. Poison gas was used however gas masks were quickly made after
. Poison gas backfired if the wind changed harming yourself
. Poison gas was mainly used as a psychological tactic making soldiers always paranoid
. Machine guns were made giving a massive defensive advantage as it made it hard for soldiers to go over the
top
. Planes were first used for reconnaissance not for fighting as the pilot had to use a pistol to fight
. Machine guns were added to planes so they were viable to be used in fighting
. Bomber planes were developed for ariel combat and to bomb supplies
. Tanks were developed however they were unreliable
What was the consequences of the battle Verdun
. A German commander developed a strategy of attrition to bleed out the French so they would be knocked
out of the war
. The Germans planned to launch multiple large scaled offensives until the French lost
. Verdun was an important location to the French
. The French government had to send soldiers in taxis to the front
. The casualties were even however the German Army had more recourses and could hold out for longer
. By 1916 over 700,000 men were killed and the French were about to collapse
What was the importance of the battle of the Somme
. The French were on the verge of defeat before the battle of the Somme
. The British attacked the Germans to relieve pressure on the French
. The battle was preceded by huge artillery bombings but this failed to destroy the Germans
. The British went over the top overconfident that the Germans were destroyed and 57,000 soldiers died
. Casualties were around 1.25 million however it meant that France was still in the war
What happened in the battle of Passchendaele
. The British detonated lots of mines and used huge amounts of artillery bombings
. This destroyed the sewage system which meant the land was flooded and extremely muddy
. Soldiers were experimenting with tanks in battle
. This led to stalemate as soldiers and tanks would get stuck in the mud
Write an account of the tactics used at Gallipoli
. Britain wanted a route to Russia through Turkey
. Britain wanted to take the Turks out of the war
. They planned a naval attack at Gallipoli through the Dardanelles Strait
. However, the Turks fought back with mines in the water and heavy artillery fire causing the British to fail
. The British then tried to make a land attack
. Ships with ANZAC troops were sent to Gallipoli however, some landed in the wrong spot meaning that
soldiers had to swim to shore and were vulnerable to enemy fire
. Both sides started digging trenches but extreme weather conditions like heat and coldness
. Rats and lice also ate food and caused disease
. By winter, it was clear that the British had failed to knock the Turks out of the war
What happened at the battle of Jutland
. There was a huge Anglo-German naval race for dreadnaughts preceding WW1
. The British engaged the battle of Jutland between Britain and German waters
. The British suffered more losses than the German
. However, the German had to retreat back to the ports where they never dared to use their navy again and
the British blockaded Germany which meant that they would run out of supplies quickly
. This caused a mutiny (rebellion against the leadership) in the German Navy
How did the USA support the allies in the war
. At the start of the war, USA is neutral
. However USA helped the allies by sending loans, equipment and supplies
. Germany had unrestricted submarine warfare policy which started out as sinking ships if they were carrying
weapons or allied ships
. This changed to them sinking any ships in British waters
. This led to a passenger ship called the Lusitania to be sunk by a U-boat which had 128 Americans on board
. This scared the Germans into stopping their policy of unrestricted submarine so America does not join the
war
Why did USA join the war
. By 1917, Germany was becoming more and more desperate and resumed unrestricted submarine warfare
. This worked extremely well as Britain had only 6 weeks worth of supplies left and were on the verge of
defeat
. In 1917, the Zimmerman telegram was discovered which showed German plans to ally with Mexica to take
down the USA
. This led to USA joining the war with the 3rd largest navy in the world and, was sending 50,000 fresh troops
monthly
What were the effects of Russia leaving the war
. There was a revolution in March 1918
. This led to the abdication of the Tsar as they were overthrown and replaced by government
. Lenin the leader of the Bolsheviks (a communist party) immediately ended the war
. There was an extremely harsh treaty of Brest-Litovsk where they had to give up 1/4 of their population and
3/4 of their coal and iron reserves
. These punishments were devastating however, Lenin believed all countries will soon become communist
. This majorly affected Germany as they were now able to send hundreds of thousands of troops to fight the
allies in the west
