The Long, Long Trail

It is generally accepted that Germany and her ally the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary (together called the Central Powers) played the main role in creating the conditions that led to the Great War. Great Britain officially maintained friendly relations with Germany, but was all too conscious of the growth of the German economy and the threat to British trading interests.

Germany began to take the initiative after her traditional enemies France and Russia joined in an alliance, geographically encircling Germany. She expanded her army and more conspicuously began a programme of construction of battleships that also brought her into conflict with Great Britain.

As early as 1905, Germany considered how to win a war on two fronts in Europe, given sufficient forces to be able to tackle only one front at a time. The plan took a more detailed form under Chief of Staff Graf von Schlieffen. The conclusion was that Russia would take time to mobilise her army, in which time France must be defeated. The power of the army would be concentrated against France, and it would attack through neutral Belgium to do so. It was not anticipated that Great Britain would play any significant part in the land war, and naval clash would be unlikely.

By the end of 1914, the war on the Western Front had become a stalemate along a continuous front of 400 miles between the North Sea coast and Switzerland. The British Government was alarmed at reports that the German Army was transferring large numbers of troops from the Western Front to the Eastern (against Russia). A German success against the already-defeated and tottering Russians would soon release enough forces to win a decisive victory in the West.

The British Army was being hugely expanded, but most would not be ready until 1916. The French favoured an offensive, while the Germans planned to stand on the defensive in the West in 1915. The year saw a series of costly efforts by the Allies, which gained very little.

Britain began to consider alternative theatres of war by which Germany could be defeated, with possibilities in the Balkans, and against Turkey which declared itself an ally of Germany. In April 1915, an amphibious landing on the Gallipoli peninsula was launched. It was defeated, and the campaign concluded by January 1916.

Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies, Bulgaria on the side of the Central Powers.

The situation for the Allies in early 1916 was not encouraging: stalemate and heavy losses on the seemingly impenetrable Western Front; defeat at Gallipoli; the British troops in Mesopotamia besieged; a British force in East Africa defeated; the Russians falling back; Italian offensives against Austria-Hungary achieving little.

The Central Powers were able to move resources from one front to the other and enjoyed a far greater unity of command than the Allies. However, the Allies had command of the seas, and a manpower and material advantage which was to improve during 1916 as the British New Armies came to the fighting fronts.

Allied strategy was agreed in late 1915 - it was to be a simultaneous effort on both Western and Eastern Fronts, to grind down German resistance. A minimum of forces would be deployed in the secondary theatres, and economic war particularly by blockade, stepped up. The main Franco-British effort in the West was to be astride the River Somme, a battle that was eventually launched with reduced French effort in July 1916.

French effort was reduced with good reason. Germany determined that Great Britain was the main enemy, and that her best land weapon was the by now strained French Army. The latter would be finally destroyed by a campaign launched against Verdun in February 1916. By early Summer this battle was grinding on, and Joffre exhorted the British to launch on the Somme earlier than was comfortable for the New Armies.

By summer 1916, the position of the Central Powers had become precarious: the Verdun offensive proved to be as wasteful for Germany as France; Britain struck a forceful blow on the Somme; the Austro-Hungarian offensive against Italy in the Trentino had failed; the Brusilov offensive by Russia had been a success. Manpower reinforcements were becoming harder to find.

The British Army reported that by May 1917 it would be able to make a maximum effort. The French knew that from now on their manpower could not be replaced as fast as battle losses were incurred.

Germany once again took the initiative, by making a bold strategic withdrawal to a prepared position - the Siegfried Stellung - that was shorter and released more men for reserves. France appointed a new commander, Robert Nivelle, who gained acceptance for a large offensive in the Champagne and Artois.

The offensive failed, leaving many units of the French Army broken and in mutiny. British efforts at Vimy and Messines succeeded brilliantly, but a large summer offensive at Ypres, aimed at recapturing the coast of Belgium and keeping German eyes away from the French, floundered in awful weather against impregnable German positions.

The United States joined the war on the side of the Allies in 1917 but could not supply an Army until well into 1918.

Russia withdrew from the war.

British Divisions were sent from the Western Front to Italy in late 1917, initially as a response to an apparent collapse of the Italian army in front of a German attack at Caporetto. The British Government agreed to take over more of the Western Front in early 1918, without reference to the Army Command, which was pointing out a severe and growing shortage of men. The French Army was in a condition only to stand on the defensive.

Germany now enjoyed overwhelming manpower superiority, having moved all units from the Eastern Front. She launched a final offensive designed to defeat the Allies before the USA could bring her enormous resources to bear.

The British Army, which had been starved of manpower, was forced to reorganise and disbanded many units in France. Yet it fought magnificently against the German attack and recovered sufficiently while Germany reeled from its losses and launched what turned out to be a rapid, if rather surprising, counter-offensive that achieved victory by November. The army pressed on while David Lloyd George's government fought out some 'dirty tricks' in denying that it had deliberately withheld men and the truth about what ithad been doing.

The British Army advanced into Germany in December 1918.

Read Sir Douglas Haig's final despatch, summing up the war in France and Flanders.