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Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918

The Western Front

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 1 section B

Overview

The layout of the trenches and the power of the machine gun, the creeping barrage and the first tanks, attrition as a strategy, Verdun and the Somme in 1916, and the cost of the Third Battle of Ypres at Passchendaele.

What you need to know

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Key term

How was a typical trench system laid out?

Evaluation

Why did the machine gun give such an advantage to the defender?

Key term

What was a creeping barrage?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How was a typical trench system laid out?

    Model answer

    Front line, support and reserve trenches joined by communication trenches, dug in zigzags so that a shell blast could not travel along them.

  2. 2

    Why did the machine gun give such an advantage to the defender?

    Model answer

    One team could sweep open ground with hundreds of rounds a minute, so attacking infantry were cut down before they reached the wire.

  3. 3

    What was a creeping barrage?

    Model answer

    Artillery fire that moved forward just ahead of the advancing infantry, keeping defenders in their dugouts until the attackers were on top of them.

  4. 4

    When were tanks first used in battle, and how well did they perform?

    Model answer

    At Flers in September 1916, where they frightened the enemy but broke down or stuck fast in large numbers.

  5. 5

    What is meant by attrition as a strategy?

    Model answer

    Wearing the enemy down by inflicting losses in men and material that he cannot replace, rather than by capturing ground.

  6. 6

    Why did Falkenhayn choose to attack Verdun in 1916?

    Model answer

    It was a fortress city of such pride that the French would never give it up, so he could bleed their army white by making them defend it.

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