Even before the start of the war, it was safe to assume that the Western Front would take many lives. Two great civilizations - French and German - touched here. In 1871, Bismarck took Alsace and Lorraine from Napoleon III. A new generation of neighbors yearned for revenge.
German invasion
According to the Schlieffen plan, the German troops were to deliver a quick blow to their main rival in the region - France. In order to pave a convenient path to Paris, it was planned to capture Luxembourg and Belgium. The tiny principality was occupied on August 2, 1914. It was on him that the first blow was made. The Western Front was open. Two days later, Belgium was under attack, which refused to let the aggressor's troops through its territory.
The key battle of the first days of the war is the siege of the Liege fortress. It was a key crossing point for the river Meuse. The military operation took place from 5 to 16 August. The defenders (36 thousand reservists) had 12 forts and about 400 guns at their disposal. The Maa army of the attackers was almost 2 times larger (almost 60thousand soldiers and officers).
The city was considered an impregnable fortress, but it fell as soon as the Germans brought up siege artillery (August 12). Following Liege on August 20, the capital of the country, Brussels, fell, and on August 23, Namur. At the same time, the French army unsuccessfully tried to invade and gain a foothold in Alsace and Lorraine. The results of the siege was the implementation of a rapid offensive by the German troops. At the same time, after the August battles, it became clear that the old type of fortifications were not capable of holding back troops equipped with weapons of the new - XX century.
Little Belgium was quickly left behind, and the fighting moved to the line with France, where the Western Front stopped. 1914 is also a series of battles at the end of August (Ardennes operation, battles of Charleroi and Mons). The total number of troops on both sides exceeded 2 million. Despite the fact that the French 5th Army was assisted by several British divisions, the Kaiser's troops reached the Marne River by September 5.
Battle of the Marne
The plans of the Berlin command was the encirclement of Paris. This goal seemed achievable, because in the first days of September, individual detachments were already at a distance of 40 kilometers from the French capital. In that 1914, the Western Front seemed to be the forge of unconditional success for the Kaiser and his General Staff.
It was at this moment that the Entente troops launched a counteroffensive. The fighting stretched over a huge area. At a critical moment, the Moroccan division arrived to help the French. Soldiers arrived not onlyrailways, but even with the help of a taxi. This was the first time in history that cars were massively used as vehicles in a war. Communications of the German army were stretched throughout Belgium, and replenishment in manpower ceased. In addition, the same French 5th Army broke through the enemy defenses and went to the rear, when many German soldiers were transferred to East Prussia, where Russia opened the North-Western Front. Seeing this situation, General Alexander von Kluck gave the order to retreat.
The soldiers of the Triple Alliance received a strong psychological blow. The irremovability of personnel led to the fact that sleeping privates were taken prisoner. However, France and England failed to take advantage of their victory. The pursuit was sluggish and slow. The allies failed to cut off the fleeing enemy and fill the gaps in their defenses.
By October, active fighting moved north, closer to the coast. Infantry on both sides tried to outflank the enemy. Success was variable, until the end of the year no one was able to strike a decisive blow. On Christmas Eve, some divisions informally agreed to a ceasefire. Each such event was called the "Christmas truce."
Positional warfare
After the events on the Marne, the Western Front of the First World War changed the nature of the confrontation. Now the opponents fortified their positions, and the war became positional throughout 1915. The blitzkrieg plan that had previously been hatched in Berlin failed.
Single attempts by the partiesmove forward turned into disasters. So, after the attack in Champagne, the allies lost at least 50 thousand people, advancing only half a kilometer. According to a similar scenario, the battle of the village of Neuve Chapelle developed, where the British lost more than 10 thousand soldiers, advancing only 2 kilometers. The Western Front of the First World War turned into the largest meat grinder in history.
The Germans were just as successful. In April-May, there was the Battle of Ypres, which became tragically famous thanks to the use of poison gases. The infantry, unprepared for such a turn of events, perished, the losses numbered in the thousands. After the first attack, gas masks were urgently delivered to the battlefield, which helped to survive the reuse of gas weapons by the German army. In total, near Ypres, the losses of the Entente amounted to 70 thousand people (in the German Empire - two times less). The success of the offensive was limited and, despite massive casu alties, the line of defense was never broken through.
The fighting on the Western Front continued at Artois. Here the allies tried to develop the offensive twice - in spring and autumn. Both operations failed, not least due to the use of machine guns by the Reich.
Battle of Verdun
The coming spring of 1916 was met by the Western Front of the First World War with large-scale military operations in the area of the city of Verdun. Unlike previous operations, a feature of the next plan of the German generals was the calculation of the attack on a narrow plot of land. ToAt this time - after a series of bloody battles - the German army simply did not have sufficient resources to attack on a large area, as was the case, for example, on the Marne in 1914.
An important part of the attack was artillery shelling, destroying the fortified positions of the subjects of the Third Republic. After the bombardment, the destroyed fortifications were occupied by infantry. In addition, such innovative weapons as flamethrowers were used. With the start of the roll, the Triple Alliance troops gained strategic initiative.
At this time, Russia continued to disturb its North-Western Front. In the midst of the Verdun events, the Naroch operation began. The Russian army made a distracting maneuver in the area of the modern Minsk region, after which the Reich command decided to transfer part of its forces to the east, since Berlin considered that a general offensive had begun there. This was a mistake, because Russia delivered its main blow towards Austria-Hungary (Brusilov breakthrough).
One way or another, but the precedent was set. The Western and Eastern fronts simultaneously exhausted the Kaiser's armies. In October, after a series of local failures, the French units reached the positions they had occupied in February before the start of the enemy offensive. Germany did not achieve any strategically important results. In total, the losses on both sides reached more than 600 thousand people (about 300 thousand were killed).
Battle of the Somme
In July 1916, as the battles at Verdun dragged on, the Allied formations began their ownattack on another sector of the front. The operation on the Somme began with artillery preparation, which lasted a whole week. After the systematic destruction of the enemy's infrastructure, the infantry began its movement.
As it was before, in 1916 the Western Front was shaken by long and protracted battles. However, the events at the Somme are remembered in history by several features. Firstly, tanks were used here for the first time. They were invented by the British and were distinguished by technical imperfection: they quickly fell into disrepair and broke. Nevertheless, this did not prevent the novelty from inflicting a serious psychological blow on the infantry of the enemy. Privates fled in horror at the mere sight of outlandish equipment. Such success gave a serious impetus to the development of tank building. Secondly, aerial photography, which was carried out for the purpose of reconnaissance of enemy positions, confirmed its usefulness.
Fights were attrition and took a long-term character. By September, it became clear that Germany had no fresh forces left. As a result, in the first days of autumn, the allies advanced several tens of kilometers deep into the enemy positions. On September 25, heights of strategic importance in the region were occupied.
The Western Front of the First World War bled the German units, which had already fought several opponents alone. They lost important and fortified positions. The Somme and Verdun led to the fact that the Entente seized the strategic advantage and now could impose the course of the war on the Kaiser and his staff.
Hindenburg Line
Event vectorchanged - the Western Front rolled back. The First World War has entered a new phase. The imperial army was recalled behind the Hindenburg line. It was a system of fortifications of great length. It began to be erected during the events on the Somme according to the instructions of Paul von Hindenburg, after whom it was named. Field Marshal General was transferred to France from the Eastern Theater of Operations, where he successfully waged war against the Russian Empire. His decisions were supported by another military leader - Erich Ludendorff, who in the future supported the Nazi party that was raising its head.
The line was built throughout the winter of 1916-1917. It was divided into 5 frontiers, which received the names of the characters of the German epic. The Western Front of World War I was generally remembered for its kilometers of trenches and barbed wire. The army finally redeployed in February 1917. The retreat was accompanied by the destruction of cities, roads and other infrastructure (scorched earth tactics).
Nievel Offensive
What was the First World War remembered for in the first place? The Western Front is a symbol of the senselessness of human sacrifice. The Nivelle meat grinder was one of the biggest tragedies in the history of this conflict.
More than 4 million people participated in the operation on the side of the Entente, while Germany had only 2.7 million. However, this advantage was not taken advantage of. Shortly before the start of the throw, the Germans captured a French soldier who had a written plan for the operation. So, it became known about the impending distraction strike, which was being preparedGreat Britain. As a result, his usefulness was reduced to zero.
The offensive itself bogged down, and the allies were unable to break through the enemy's defenses. Losses on both sides exceeded half a million people. After the failure, strikes and discontent among the population began in France.
It is also noteworthy that the Russian army participated in the infamous offensive. The Russian Expeditionary Corps was formed specifically to be sent to Western Europe. After numerous losses in April-May 1917, it was disbanded, and the remaining soldiers were sent to a camp near Limoges. In the fall, the soldiers who were in a foreign land rebelled, and after the October Revolution broke out, someone returned to the battlefields, others ended up in enterprises in the rear, and still others went to Algeria and the Balkans. In the future, many officers returned to their homeland and died in the Civil War.
Paschendale and Cambrai
The summer of 1917 was marked by the Third Battle of Ypres, also known by the name of the small village of Passchendale. This time the British command decided to break through the Western Front. The First World War forced to recall the resources of the numerous colonies of the Empire. It was here that units from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa fought. The expeditionary forces were the first to suffer massive losses due to the use of new gas weapons by the enemy. It was mustard gas, or mustard gas, which affected the respiratory organs, destroyed cells, and disrupted the metabolism of carbohydrates in the body. Wards of the Field MarshalDouglas Haig died by the thousands.
Natural conditions also affected. Local swamps were buried under heavy rains, and they had to move through impassable mud. The British lost a total of 500,000 men killed and wounded. They only managed to advance a few kilometers. No one knew when World War I would end. The Western Front continued to blaze.
Another important British initiative is the offensive at Cambrai (November-December 1917), where tanks were used with unprecedented success. They managed to pass the Hindenburg line. However, the reverse side of luck was the lag of the infantry and, as a result, the stretching of communications. The enemy took advantage of this by conducting a competent counterattack and pushing the British back to their original positions.
End campaign
As in 1914, the Western Front practically did not change its location until the last months of the war. The situation remained stable exactly until the moment when the power of the Bolsheviks was established in Russia, and Lenin decided to stop the "imperialist war". The peace was postponed several times due to the throwing of the delegation led by Trotsky, but after the next German offensive, the agreement was nevertheless signed on March 3, 1918 in Brest. After that, 44 divisions were hastily transferred from the east.
And already on March 21, the so-called Spring Offensive began, which was the last serious attempt by the army of Wilhelm II to impose its course of war. The result of several operations was the crossing of the Marne River. Howeverafter the crossing, they managed to advance only 6 kilometers, after which in July the allies launched a decisive counteroffensive, called Stodnevny. Between August 8 and November 11, the Amiens and Saint-Miyel ledges were successively eliminated. In September, the general push from the North Sea to Verdun began.
An economic and humanitarian catastrophe has begun in Germany. Demoralized soldiers surrendered en masse. The defeat was aggravated by the fact that the United States joined the Entente. The American divisions were well trained and full of strength, unlike those on the other side of the trenches, who rolled back 80 kilometers. By November, the fighting was already in Belgium. On the 11th, a revolution took place in Berlin that destroyed the power of Wilhelm. The new government signed a truce. The fighting has stopped.
Results
Officially, the war ended only on June 28, 1919, when an appropriate agreement was concluded at the Palace of Versailles. The authorities in Berlin pledged to pay huge indemnities, give up a tenth of the country's territory, and carry out demilitarization. For several years, the country's economy plunged into chaos. The stamp depreciated.
How many lives did World War I take? The Western Front became the main battlefield throughout the years of the conflict. On both sides, several million people died, many were injured, shell-shocked or went crazy. The use of new types of weapons has devalued human life as never before. Intelligence received new technologies. The Western Front, the first blow on which was as terrible as the attacks 4 years later, remainedan unhealed scar in the history of Europe. Despite the fact that bloody battles took place in other regions, they were not of such strategic importance. It was on Belgian and French soil that the German army suffered the most serious losses.
These events were also reflected in culture: the books of Remarque, Jünger, Aldington and others. A young corporal Adolf Hitler served here. His generation was embittered by the unfair outcome of the war. This led to the growth of chauvinist sentiment in the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Nazis and the outbreak of World War II.
