Editing Western Front (World War I) (section)

== 1914 ==
=== War plans – Battle of the Frontiers ===
{{See also|Schlieffen Plan|Plan XVII|Battle of the Frontiers}}
[[File:Stabilization of Western Front WWI.PNG|thumb|A 1914 map of the Western Front and the [[Race to the Sea]]]]
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=French bayonet charge.jpg|image2=German infantry 1914 HD-SN-99-02296.JPEG|width=305|caption1=A 1913 [[French Army in World War I|French]] [[bayonet charge]]|caption2=The [[Imperial German Army|German infantry]] on the battlefield on 7 August 1914}}
The Western Front was the place where the most powerful military forces in Europe, the German and French armies, met and where the First World War was decided.{{sfn|Stevenson|2005|pp=44–45}} At the outbreak of the war, the German Army, with seven field armies in the west and one in the east, executed a modified version of the [[Schlieffen Plan]], bypassing French defenses along the common border by moving quickly through neutral Belgium, and then turning southwards to attack France and attempt to encircle the [[French Army]] and trap it on the German border.{{sfn|Hamilton|Herwig|2003|p=159}} Belgian neutrality had been guaranteed by Britain under the [[Treaty of London (1839)|Treaty of London, 1839]]; this caused Britain to join the war at the expiration of its ultimatum at midnight on 4 August. Armies under German generals [[Alexander von Kluck]] and [[Karl von Bülow]] attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914. [[Luxembourg]] had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the [[Battle of Liège]], a siege that lasted from 5–16 August. Liège was well fortified and surprised the German Army under Bülow with its level of resistance. German heavy artillery was able to demolish the main forts within a few days.{{sfn|Griffith|2004|p=9}} Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian field army [[withdrawal (military)|retreated]] to [[Siege of Antwerp (1914)|Antwerp]], leaving the garrison of [[Namur]] isolated, with the Belgian capital, [[Brussels]], falling to the Germans on 20 August. Although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another [[Siege of Namur (1914)|siege]] followed at Namur, lasting from about 20–23 August.{{sfn|Griffiths|1986|pp=22–24, 25–26}}

The French deployed five armies on the frontier. The French [[Plan XVII]] was intended to bring about the capture of [[Alsace–Lorraine]].{{sfn|Hamilton|Herwig|2003|p=254}} On 7 August, the VII Corps attacked Alsace to capture Mulhouse and Colmar. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with the First and Second Armies attacking toward Sarrebourg-Morhange in Lorraine.{{sfn|Griffiths|2003|p=30}} In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting severe losses upon the French. The French Third and Fourth Armies advanced toward the [[Saar (river)|Saar]] and attempted to capture Saarburg, attacking Briey and Neufchateau but were repulsed.{{sfn|Griffiths|1986|pp=29–30}} The French VII Corps captured Mulhouse after a brief engagement first on 7 August, and then again on 23 August, but German reserve forces engaged them in the [[Battle of Mulhouse]] and forced the French to retreat twice.{{sfn|Smith|Audoin-Rouzeau|Becker|2003|p=33}}

The German Army swept through Belgium, executing civilians and razing villages. The application of "collective responsibility" against a civilian population further galvanised the entente. Newspapers condemned the German invasion, violence against civilians and destruction of property, which became known as the "[[Rape of Belgium]]."{{sfn|Horne|Kramer|2001|pp=1–608}}{{efn|A modern author uses the term only in the narrower sense of describing the [[war crime]]s committed by the Germans during this period.{{sfn|Zuckerman|2004|p=23}}}} After marching through Belgium, Luxembourg and the [[Ardennes]], the Germans advanced into northern France in late August, where they met the French Army, under [[Joseph Joffre]], and the [[Division (military)|divisions]] of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]]<!--wasn't called "British" until Indian troops arrived--> under [[Field Marshal]] [[John French, 1st Earl of Ypres|Sir John French]]. A series of engagements known as the [[Battle of the Frontiers]] ensued, which included the [[Battle of Charleroi]] and the [[Battle of Mons]]. In the former battle the French Fifth Army was almost destroyed by the German 2nd and 3rd Armies and the latter delayed the German advance by a day. A [[Great Retreat|general entente retreat]] followed, resulting in more clashes at the [[Battle of Le Cateau]], the [[Siege of Maubeuge]] and the [[Battle of St. Quentin (1914)|Battle of St. Quentin]] (also called the First Battle of Guise).{{sfn|Terraine|2002|pp=78–175}}

=== First Battle of the Marne ===

{{Main|First Battle of the Marne}}

The German Army came within {{convert|70|km|mi|abbr=on}} of Paris but at the [[First Battle of the Marne]] (6–12 September), French and British troops were able to force a German retreat by exploiting a gap which appeared between the 1st and 2nd Armies, ending the German advance into France.{{sfn|Strachan|2001|pp=242–262}} The German Army retreated north of the [[Aisne (river)|Aisne]] and dug in there, establishing the beginnings of a static western front that was to last for the next three years. Following this German retirement, the opposing forces made reciprocal outflanking manoeuvres, known as the [[Race to the Sea]] and quickly extended their trench systems from the [[Switzerland|Swiss frontier]] to the [[North Sea]].{{sfn|Griffiths|1986|pp=31–37}} The territory occupied by Germany held 64 percent of French [[Pig iron|pig-iron production]], 24 percent of its [[Steelmaking|steel manufacturing]] and 40 percent of the [[Coal mining|coal industry]] – dealing a serious blow to French industry.{{sfn|Kennedy|1989|pp=265–266}}

On the [[Allies of World War I|entente side]] (those countries opposing the German alliance), the final lines were occupied with the armies of each nation defending a part of the front. From the coast in the north, the primary forces were from Belgium, the British Empire and then France. Following the [[Battle of the Yser]] in October, the Belgian army controlled a {{convert|35|km|mi|abbr=on}} length of [[West Flanders]] along the coast, known as the [[Yser Front]], along the [[Yser]] and the [[Ieperlee]] from [[Nieuwpoort, Belgium|Nieuwpoort]] to [[Boezinge]].{{sfn|Barton|Doyle|Vandewalle|2005|p=17}} Meanwhile, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) occupied a position on the flank, having occupied a more central position.{{sfn|Baldwin|1962|p=27}}

=== First Battle of Ypres ===

{{Main|First Battle of Ypres}}

From 19 October until 22 November, the German forces made their final breakthrough attempt of 1914 during the [[First Battle of Ypres]], which ended in a mutually-costly stalemate.{{sfn|Strachan|2001|pp=273–278}} After the battle, [[Erich von Falkenhayn]] judged that it was no longer possible for Germany to win the war by purely military means and on 18 November 1914 he called for a diplomatic solution. The Chancellor, [[Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg]]; ''Generalfeldmarschall'' [[Paul von Hindenburg]], commanding ''[[Ober Ost]]'' (Eastern Front high command); and his deputy, [[Erich Ludendorff]], continued to believe that victory was achievable through decisive battles. During the Lodz offensive in Poland {{nowrap|(11–25 November),}} Falkenhayn hoped that the Russians would be made amenable to peace overtures. In his discussions with Bethmann Hollweg, Falkenhayn viewed Germany and Russia as having no insoluble conflict and that the real enemies of Germany were France and Britain. A peace with only a few annexations of territory also seemed possible with France and that with Russia and France out of the war by negotiated settlements, Germany could concentrate on Britain and fight a long war with the resources of Europe at its disposal. Hindenburg and Ludendorff continued to believe that Russia could be defeated by a series of battles which cumulatively would have a decisive effect, after which Germany could finish off France and Britain.{{sfn|Foley|2007|pp=105–110}}

===Trench warfare===
{{Main|Trench warfare}}
[[File:Eerste Wereldoorlog, landoorlog, Duitse loopgraaf aan het westelijk front, 1915, SFA001005349.jpg|thumb|A German trench on the Western Front in 1915]]
Trench warfare in 1914, while not new, quickly improved and provided a very high degree of defense. According to two prominent historians:
:Trenches were longer, deeper, and better defended by steel, concrete, and barbed wire than ever before. They were far stronger and more effective than chains of forts, for they formed a continuous network, sometimes with four or five parallel lines linked by interfacings. They were dug far below the surface of the earth out of reach of the heaviest artillery.... Grand battles with the old maneuvers were out of the question. Only by bombardment, sapping, and assault could the enemy be shaken, and such operations had to be conducted on an immense scale to produce appreciable results. Indeed, it is questionable whether the German lines in France could ever have been broken if the Germans had not wasted their resources in unsuccessful assaults, and the blockade by sea had not gradually cut off their supplies. In such warfare no single general could strike a blow that would make him immortal; the "glory of fighting" sank down into the dirt and mire of trenches and dugouts.{{sfn|Robinson|Beard|1930|pp=324–325}}