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Why Was There Stalemate on the Western Front Between Germany and Franc

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Due to the complexity of this question, it must be broken down before an attempt at answering it can be made. Following this, it will be easier to understand the exact context in which this article will consider this question. By asking ‘Why was there stalemate on the Western front' two questions are actually being asked. Firstly, why did a stalemate start and secondly why did the stalemate continue between 1914 and 1918. The second issue within the question is the section that specifically refers to stalemate between ‘German and France'. It is debatable whether this refers to conflict between German and French armies or German and French territories. Since British and Belgian forces had a significant impact to conflict on the …show more content…

Both sides rushed north in a ‘race to the sea'. If one army got there first it could take control of crucial channel ports and also move to encircle the armies of its rival. Incidentally, neither army moved south as both French and German borders were intact and heavily fortified all the way to the Swiss border. As both sides moved north at an even pace and neither wanted to lose any ground, a line of deeply dug trenches appeared all the way the way through Belgium and Northern France. These trenches were extremely well designed defensive positions and were almost impenetrable by conventional means. The beginning of the war was now over, deadlock had been established and the long bloody middle was about to begin. It would be this trench warfare that would be the key factor behind the failure for either side to advance over the coming years. In explaining how stalemate on the Western front started, the information has been fairly factual, not opinionated and containing no obvious argument. This is because the evidence was fairly factual and linear; there was only one way things could have happened. When the reasons for continuing stalemate are now examined, quite the opposite will occur as many factors contributed to this and it is arguable as to which were more important than others. The most obvious factor in stopping an advance through a line of trenches, are the trenches themselves. These were ditches dug with

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