War Along the Western Front

9. War along the Western Front 

http://www.richthofen.com/ww1sum/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/interactive/animations/western_front/index_embed.shtml
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/schlieffen_plan.htm

The Western Front was a line that ran roughly between the French and German borders, stretching from Southern France and through the country to the English Channel. The Western Front hosted most of the fighting between the Allies and Axis powers.


Germany feared that the war would take place on two fronts, in both eastern and western Europe. It was decided that France should be taken out first, in order to turn attention to larger and more formidable Russia before it mobilized its forces towards the German border. This was called the Schlieffen plan, engineered by German count Alfred von Schlieffen, and the execution of this plan led England to declare war on Germany.

The British army then encountered the Germans at Mons, a city in Belgium, where they halted the Germans but were forced to retreat 200 miles back to the French river Marne. This is where the Front began, stretching up from Southern France to the Belgian border. Trenches were dug on either sides, starting the use of trench warfare and beginning the establishment of the Western Front. From there, both sides started digging trenches farther north, in what was known as "The Race to the Sea" to the English Channel.

The Battle of Ypres in Belgium marked Germany's last step in the race to the sea. Assisted by the Indian army, the British, determined to hold the city as a last resort to drive Germany away, used last reserves until Germany eventually retreated.


However, the Germans were still determined to capture Ypres in order to line trenches all the way to the Channel. In a 1915 attack on the city, the Germans used chlorine gas, the first time chemicals were used in warfare. While the fighting lasted a month, Germany only gained about 3 miles worth of ground to the heart of the city and still failed to capture it.