By the end of 1914 the war had reached stalemate. This was due to the failure of both the Germans Schlieffen Plan and the French Plan Seventeen. Both these plans were said by each side to end the war 'by Christmas' and neither side had perceived the idea of stalemate. So as the next few years came both sides had to produce new ways to end stalemate and win the war. Both sides found ways, which they thought would win the war. I will explain how far they actually went to break the stalemate. FRONTAL ASSAULTDuring the year of 1916 there were two important battles, Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme. Both of these battles inflicted major causalities on both the Allied and German troops. They to some were just a pointless exercise which gave both sides nothing but very large causality lists. The Battle of the Somme was a battle caused the most number of deaths in a single day of fighting, and Verdun where the Germans planned to cause major causalities on the French may have done this but ended up with just as many as the French. Also during 1917 there were also two battles which did not help either side in breaking stalemate, Battle of Passchendaele and the Battle of Cambrai. It was at Cambrai where the tank was first used but this did not help the effort. So with these battles and many other ones did not help to break stalemate. They only helped to cause more deaths and in some cases the attacking side gained only a few miles and lost thousands of men. They, however, could have helped it as they may have helped wear down the Germans and this may have helped break stalemate. NEW WEAPONRYDuring the course of the war both the Allies and the Germans created new weapons; like the artillery, aircraft's, the use of gas and tanks. They had to create new and better weapons to suit the new type of warfare that was taking place. The machine gun, which was not new but the quantities used was, was said to be the most effective weapon on th...
