Turning Points Of Wwi
Due to the trench warfare strategy adopted by the Central Powers and the Allied forces, a lot of time the battles were at stalemate with neither side gaining or winning. Also, most of the battles were war of attrition where the focus was to deplete the reserves to make it impossible for the enemy soldiers to continue waging a war. Territorial gains in these wars of attrition were always secondary. However, there were some turning points in WWI which changed the course of the war. |
One of turning points of WWI is highlighted below:
The First Battle of the Marne, fought from 5th September 1914 to 12th September 1914, was considered to be a major turning point in the war. The Germans had managed to invade France and were heading towards Paris. They were just 30 miles from Paris when they decided to take a detour and capture the French soldiers, who had retreated to the banks of River Marne. The Germans were following the Schlieffen Plan, which involved defeating the French quickly at the Western Front, and heading to the Eastern Front to fight the Russians.
However, the French forces and the British Expeditionary Force at the Marne River managed to repel the German troops. The German First Army and Second Army took part in this battle, but there was a break in the line, with the 2 armies being 30 miles apart. The Allied forces were quick to capitalize on this attacked the 2 armies. However, the Germans did not retreat and were nearly close to breaking the French troops when additional six thousand French reserves joined the fray and managed to widen the gap between the First Army and the Second Army. The Germans were forced to retreat.
With the French and the British troops being successful in defeating the German troops, it made the Germans realize that their Schlieffen Plan would not work, and they would have to come up with a better plan to defeat the French. It was the failure of the Schlieffen Plan that led to the Battle of Verdun; and it was the Battle of Verdun that led to the First Battle of the Somme.
More Articles :
|
Before the First World War, the uniforms were extremely colorful. However, this trend continued in the First World War, and the most grandly attired army of that of French. This was evident when the First World War started. However, during this period, body armor was no longer used as part of the uniform as firearms had made this completely obsolete. 