4.

C DEJ
The battle of Verdun
After the battle of Marne rive character of the war changed from the mobile warfare to trench
warfare. However, another bloody battle was approaching. Initially, both sides expected the
conflict to be over before Christmas 1914. The year 1915 showed, that victory was nowhere
near for either of the two sides. Despite the use of extensive artillery fire and poison gas, there
was no breaking through the enemy’s lines. The German High command wanted to resume
offensives in 1916. General Erich von Falkenhayn decided to target the French city of Verdun.
The main goal of the new German offensive was to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible.
Verdun did not have an important strategic importance. It was more of a moral symbol. The
battle of Verdun took place between February and December 1916. Taking over 300 days, it
became one of the longest battles in history. Moreover, casualties were terrible on both sides,
in total around 1 000 000 men killed, wounded or missing. The battle of Verdun became
a symbol of the destructiveness of modern warfare. Paul von Hindenburg and Erich
Luddendorff became the new commanders in chief after this unsuccessful offensive which
didn’t bring any change to deadlock.
The battle of the Somme
While the French defence at Verdun had been close to breaking several times, the Allies had
planned another major offensive, so that they could draw some German forces away from
Verdun. The attack was prepared and mostly led by the British troops. An artillery
bombardment was expected to destroy most of the Germans‘ fighting abilities. Around
2 000 000 shells were fired and the artillery fire could be heard even in the suburbs of London
almost 500 km away. However, it caused limited damage to the German defences, as many
shells were of low quality and failed to explode. The first day of the battle, July 1, became
a national tragedy for Great Britain. During a single day, it suffered over 60 000 casualties.
Even after several months in November 1916, when the battle was over, the Allies gained
only about seven miles for the terrible cost of their casualties. The Allies‘ casualties were
600 000 men, while Germans lost 500 000 men.
The Eastern Front
At the beginning of the war, Russia mobilized in a shorter time than Germany expected and it
launched an attack on both Austria-Hungary and Germany, getting deep into East Prussia
(Germany) and Galicia (Austria) At the end of the August 1914, Germany led a successful
counterattack. The Germans defeated the Russian forces at the Battle of Tannenberg and at the
battle of Masurian Lakes. The German forces commanded by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich
Ludendorff resumed control over East Prussia, as well as captured numerous guns, horses and
other Russian military material.
The Austro-Hungarian forces were occupied with fighting Serbs and were unable to stop
Russian advance. Austria finally stopped the Russian advance with German help. In May
1915 the armies of Germany and Austria broke through Russian line and forced them to
retreat 40 kilometres. From then on, the Russians mainly fought a defensive war, with the
exception of the Brussilov offensive in June 1916. The purpose of the attack was to relieve the
pressure on the Allies on the Western front, but the Russians gained only about 50 miles of
Austrian territory.
Fighting on the Eastern front was different from the Western front because it did not develop
into trench warfare. The reason was the length of the Eastern front that made impossible to
concentrate a large amount of troops in one place. By the year 1916, Russia was exhausted.
For a fully industrialized country, Russia was lacking food, guns, ammunition and other
supplies. Moreover, Allies were unable to ship sufficient supplies to Russian port. The
German naval blockade closed the route through the North Sea while the Ottoman Empire
controlled the straits between the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. The only advantage
Russia had was its enormous population. Despite its great casualties, it was able to rebuild its
ranks. Still the Russian army did not prove to be a powerful and reliable ally. Over 2 000 000
men in arms died while around 5000 000 men were taken prisoner. Furthermore, it is difficult
to count the civilian casualties, which were possibly as high as one million.