Reasons For Stalemate In WW1

Evening everyone just got a quick question. are there any other reasons that stalemate occurred apart from: equal strength of entente and alliance, british blockade on germany, technological advances and failure of war plans? any help would be much appreciated, as i am just curious whether or not i have all the reasons, or whether there are any more smaller oens i could fit in? thanks once more :smile:

Reply 1

Sam o0o

13

Bad tactics/decisions/communication. Underestimating the defenses the Germans had prepared.

Is this coursework or an exam module? This is the one I'm gonna have to retake :frown:

Reply 2

T kay

3

mfc20

Evening everyone just got a quick question. are there any other reasons that stalemate occurred apart from: equal strength of entente and alliance, british blockade on germany, technological advances and failure of war plans? any help would be much appreciated, as i am just curious whether or not i have all the reasons, or whether there are any more smaller oens i could fit in? thanks once more :smile:

Two very important factors you have failed to mention are the tactics of the generals and political interference.

Tactics of the generals

The generals failed to realise how warfare had changed, trenchification and barbed wire along with ineffective attacking weaponry (i.e tanks until late 1917) made defence stronger than attack.

Tactics such as sending the infantry onto 'No man's land' after a few days of artillery bombardment was ridiculous as the artillery couldn't penetrate the trenches. E.g., the Somme 1916 and Passchendaele 1917 led to the famous phrases 'Lions led by donkeys' and General Haig being dubbed 'The Butcher'

You also have to realise that though warfare had entered a revolution the powerful machine guns had been used previously, e.g. Manchuria. Therefore, the generals should have been aware of their devastating power.

During the war, the generals adopted a war of attrition method, the grinding down of the enemy until their resources depleted, this worked eventually - in the favour of the Allies - but obviously led to prolonged stalemate.

There are also other factors here you can talk about, i.e. Nivelle believing in the mystical élan and Joffre before him sending his soldiers over the trenches with only their swords.

Overall, the generals did underestimate the change in warfare and technology and used 19th century tactics in a 20th century war. However, historians recently have played down the role the generals played in the stalemate on the Western Front (recent examples include Robert Neillands and Gordon Corrigan). After all, at Haig's funeral, 100,000 old soldiers filed past his coffin. The generals sould not be bear most of the blame.

Politics

The trend now is that political inteference was a major factor. Churchill and George were too involved, research Gallipoli and the Italian campaign, these were alternative fronts which the major generals such as Haig never agreed with, the war could only be on the Western Front and because Churchill etc wasted valuable resources on the 'sideshows' stalemate would just continue.

You can also mention the lack of preparation which the politicians can be blamed for, examples include Britain including conscription much later than they should have.

You can also talk about Lord Kitchener not raising new armies under the framework of the Territorial Force, advice that was from the generals in fact, this meant there was no real professional structure.

There's lots to talk about, do some research and exapnd on the points I made, there's plenty of books available and plenty of websites.

As I said expand on what I have said, look more into Haig, Joffre, Somme, Passchendaele, Verdun, Gallipoli, the politics, the technology etc etc.

There's half an essay here! :smile:

Now run along and do some more research. :smile:

Reply 3

01kij114

All of the types of weapons developed were for defensive purposes. Barbed wire and machine guns able to stop large groups of infantry. The lack of accuracy of weapons like planes and shells. Also Britain didn't deploy the tank effectively in 1916.

lol k

Original post by mfc20

Evening everyone just got a quick question. are there any other reasons that stalemate occurred apart from: equal strength of entente and alliance, british blockade on germany, technological advances and failure of war plans? any help would be much appreciated, as i am just curious whether or not i have all the reasons, or whether there are any more smaller oens i could fit in? thanks once more :smile:

As above, but consider the impact of geography. Is your question only about the Western front or is it more general?

Reasons For Stalemate In WW1

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