III.

The World War I Stalemate

Soon after the outbreak of World War I, a series of outflanking movements, known as the “Race to the Sea”, led to trench lines being dug from the Belgian coast to the Swiss frontier as both sides tried to protect themselves from artillery and machine-guns. These weapons also caused the campaign against the Turkish forces at Gallipoli (now Gelibolu) April 1915 to January 1916, to degenerate into trench warfare.

On the Western Front, the German troops invariably dominated the high ground. They constructed well-fortified trenches, some with dugouts 12 m (40 ft) underground. The British lines were less well constructed because they were not intended to be permanent, with the emphasis being placed on trying to break the German lines.

At first improvised weapons such as catapults were used to throw bombs into enemy trenches. These were replaced by trench mortars, and other new weapons such as mustard gas and tanks were developed to try to break through the enemy lines, but without success.