The Great War - History Book Chapter Page 9
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26World War I in Europe, 1914–1918
SWEDEN
Allied countries
B a l t i c
Central Powers
S e a
Neutral countries
DENMARK
R U S S I A
N o r t h
Central Powers advance
Masurian Lakes,
GREAT BRITAIN
S e a
Allied advance
Sep. 1914
EAST PRUSSIA
Farthest Central Powers
advance
Tannenberg,
London
Aug. 1914
Farthest Allied advance
NETH.
Berlin
Lodz,
Central Powers victory
Ypres, Nov. 1914
Nov. 1914
BELGIUM
G E R M A N Y
Somme, July 1916
Allied victory
Kovel,
Amiens, Aug. 1918
June 1916
Armistice Line, Nov. 1918
Limanowa,
LUX.
Paris
Kerensky Offensive,
Dec. 1914
July 1917
1st Marne, Sept. 1914
Galicia,
2nd Marne, July 1918
Verdun,
May 1915
ATLANTIC
Feb. 1916
OCEAN
Vienna
Czernowitz,
SWITZ.
A U S T R I A -
June 1916
F R A N C E
H U N G A R Y
Caporetto,
Milan
Oct. 1917
ROMANIA
B l a c k S e a
Madrid
SERBIA
ITALY
BULGARIA
MONTENEGRO
Rome
S P A I N
ALBANIA
O T T O M A N E M P I R E
Gallipoli,
0
400 Miles
Feb. 1915–
Jan. 1916
GREECE
0
800 Kilometers
GEOGRAPHY SKILLBUILDER:
Interpreting Maps
1.
Location In which country was almost all of the war in the West fought?
2.
Location What geographic disadvantage did Germany and Austria-Hungary face in fighting
the war? How might this have affected their war strategy?
A Bloody Stalemate
It did not take long for Sir Edward Grey’s prediction to ring true. As the summer
of 1914 turned to fall, the war turned into a long and bloody stalemate, or dead-
lock, along the battlefields of France. This deadlocked region in northern France
Western Front
became known as the
.
The Conflict Grinds Along
Facing a war on two fronts, Germany had developed
Schlieffen Plan
a battle strategy known as the
, named after its designer, General
Alfred Graf von Schlieffen (SHLEE•fuhn). The plan called for attacking and
defeating France in the west and then rushing east to fight Russia. The Germans
felt they could carry out such a plan because Russia lagged behind the rest of
Europe in its railroad system and thus would take longer to supply its front lines.
Nonetheless, speed was vital to the Schlieffen Plan. German leaders knew they
needed to win a quick victory over France.
Early on, it appeared that Germany would do just that. By early September,
German forces had swept into France and reached the outskirts of Paris. A major
German victory appeared just days away. On September 5, however, the Allies
regrouped and attacked the Germans northeast of Paris, in the valley of the Marne
River. Every available soldier was hurled into the struggle. When reinforcements
were needed, more than 600 taxicabs rushed soldiers from Paris to the front. After
four days of fighting, the German generals gave the order to retreat.
Although it was only the first major clash on the Western Front, the First Battle
of the Marne was perhaps the single most important event of the war. The defeat
846
Chapter 29
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