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Y315: The Changing Nature of Warfare 1792–1945

Depth study: The Western Front and the First World War 1914–1918 — total war, alliances and interpretations

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on artillery casualties, total war states, the growth of the BEF, unity of command, the alliance balance, logistics, the advocate of massed tanks, lions led by donkeys, Terraine, the learning curve and its critics.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

How did the balance between the alliances change in 1917 and 1918?

Key term

Why have interpretations of the Western Front changed so much since 1918?

Key term

Name the arm that caused the majority of casualties on the Western Front.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name the arm that caused the majority of casualties on the Western Front.

    Model answer

    Artillery, which accounted for roughly three-fifths of all wounds and dominated the battlefield in both attack and defence.

  2. 2

    How far did the First World War turn the combatant states into total war states?

    Model answer

    Britain conscripted men, directed munitions production, controlled railways, mines and shipping, rationed food and censored the press, Germany went further by making men of working age liable for compulsory war work, and air raids that killed around fourteen hundred people in Britain showed that civilians were now in the front line.

  3. 3

    How did the BEF change in size and character between 1914 and 1918?

    Model answer

    A professional expeditionary force of six divisions grew into a citizen army of around two million men in France, requiring an entirely new structure of staffs, training and supply.

  4. 4

    Why was unity of command achieved only in 1918?

    Model answer

    National governments and commanders resisted subordinating their armies to a foreigner, and only the emergency of the German spring offensive forced them to accept Foch as coordinator at Doullens.

  5. 5

    How did the balance between the alliances change in 1917 and 1918?

    Model answer

    American entry in April 1917 promised effectively unlimited manpower and credit, while Russia's collapse released German divisions for the west, which gave Ludendorff a brief numerical advantage that he had to exploit before the Americans arrived in strength.

  6. 6

    How were communications and transport organised behind the Western Front?

    Model answer

    Main-line railways brought men and munitions to the railheads, light railways, motor lorries and pack animals carried them forward through the shelled zone, and buried cable linked headquarters by telephone, though beyond the front line messages still depended on runners, pigeons and flares.

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