Movement, then deadlock
Mobilisation and invasion plans move armies rapidly, but the Marne and the Race to the Sea turn the Western Front into a fortified system.
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War
First World War
1914 — 1918
Firepower, depth and attrition seek a way through the continuous front
Military history
The strategic problem
The First World War begins as a war of movement and becomes an industrial conflict in which armies must produce, replace and supply on an unprecedented scale. Offensives are not merely attacks on trenches: they test the ability to coordinate artillery, infantry, aircraft, reserves and transport over several weeks.
Attrition and offensives
Verdun, the Somme, the Eastern Front and Italy show that defensive fire can absorb immense attacks. General staffs search for methods to restore mobility.
Allied depth regains the initiative
American arrival, tanks, coordinated artillery and the Central Powers’ crisis allow the Allies to combine several offensives and turn a local breakthrough into a general retreat.
Explore
10 published battles, in chronological order
VerdunThe German concentration opens the right bank but does not take Verdun; reliefs, artillery and the Sacred Way stabilise both banks, then the October and December offensives recapture Douaumont, Vaux and most of the eastern gains.CaporettoThree coordinated penetrations through Plezzo, the Isonzo valley and the ridges shatter the IV and XXVII Corps, then the pursuit drives the Italian army back to the Piave.AmiensThe Allies combine tanks, artillery, aviation and infantry to break German defences before they can be rebuilt.MegiddoAllenby pins the Ottomans in the east, breaks through near the coast and sends cavalry into the rear of the Eighth Army.TannenbergThe Germans strip the north, strike Samsonov's two wings separately, then close the roads through Neidenburg, Passenheim and Willenberg around his centre.Gallipoli CampaignMines halt the naval gamble; separate landings remain contained below the ridges, then deception enables the evacuation of Anzac, Suvla and Helles.Battle of the SommeThe bombardment produces opposite results in different sectors; gains in the south and at Bazentin run into strongpoints and reserves, then four months of adaptation push the front back without opening it.Brusilov OffensiveFour armies prepare several sectors and open the Austro-Hungarian front together; when reserves belatedly concentrate towards Kovel, the Stokhid, German reinforcements and lengthening supply lines exhaust the exploitation.Battle of JutlandHipper draws Beatty towards Scheer, then Beatty leads the pursuit back onto Jellicoe; two unfavourable deployments force Scheer to disengage through battle turns, smoke and torpedoes, before a night escape saves his fleet without loosening the blockade.CambraiPredicted fire, tanks and infantry break through without announcing the assault; attrition, the bridges and Bourlon close the exploitation window, then a more effective German counter-offensive in the south forces the British to shorten the salient.
Military history
Sources
Contemporary official historyBritish Official History of the Great War
Operations, orders, movements and losses in the British campaigns.
Historical overviewHew Strachan, The First World War
Relationship between fronts, economics, coalitions and political decisions.
Global historyDavid Stevenson, 1914–1918: The History of the First World War
Production, naval power, mobilisation and the transformation of industrial warfare.