Key Battles of WW1

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Battle of Gallipoli MAR-DEC 1915

  • Britain planned an attack on one of Germany's allies, Turkey
  • They planned to go through the Dardanelles Strait with their warships, to attack Constantinople from the water and remove Turkey from the war.
  • The idea of this was to open up a sea route to Russia so they could send supplies 
  • Britain and France entered this they were attacked by shells and mines so the allied command decided to not go through with the naval attack
  • April 1915 British, French and ANZAC troops attacked at Helles beach, but underestimated the defending army
  • Many allied soldiers died as they tried to charge up steep hillsides not cleared the Turkish soldiers off the peninsula
  • Conditions were very awful due to heat, the amount of rotting courpses spreading disease meant that there was a one day truce to bury the dead and by november thousands died by frostbite
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Battle of Verdun FEB-JULY 1916

  • German General Falkenhayn planned to attack the French army to wipe them out, the aim of this was to wipe out the French so Britain had to fight alone on the Western front and fall through due to their planned blockade
  •  Verndun and its surrounding forts were targeted as they threatened German lines of communication
  • Falkenhayn knew that the French would use as many men as was necessary, so he planned to kill as many as possible
  • 25 February the Germans occupied Fort Douaumont
  • Germany continued to gain ground slowly in June and were close to Verdun
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The Somme JULY-NOV 1916

  • The British planned on attacking the north of the somme and the French planned on attacking the south of the Somme, this was to ensure a rapid advance
  • The Germans were aware of the attack so they took shelter underground and waited 
  • Attacks began and Germans began killing British and French soldiers who were told to walk towords enemy lines 
  • Germans used machine gun fire and British artillery hadn't reached that level yet
  • The British suffered 60,000 casualties
  • All of the units of 'Pals Battalions' died together
  • Tanks were introduced in september but they few and far between and often failed mechanically
  • British took positions on the southern sector on the 14th july. 
  • Torrential rains in October turned the battlegrounds into thick mud and in mid-November the battle ended
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The Somme card 2

  • All of the units of 'Pals Battalions' died together
  • Tanks were introduced in september but they few and far between and often failed mechanically
  • British took positions on the southern sector on the 14th july. 
  • Torrential rains in October turned the battlegrounds into thick mud and in mid-November the battle ended
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Passchendaele (The third Battle of Ypres) July -

  • Ypres was the main town with a salient in the British lines 
  • After warning German blockades would weaken the British war effort Haig wanted to reach the coast to destroy German submarines
  • Land was flat so it made not being seen impossible 
  • Bombardment warned of  a German attack 
  • It lasted two weeks, with 4.5 million shells fired
  • infantry attack began on 31 July. Constant shelling had churned the soil and smashed drainage system
  • It eventually became so deep that men and horses drowned in it
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The Spring Offensive MAR-JUL 1918

  • German General Ludendorff ordered a huge attack on the Western Front in attempt to end WW1 500,000 German soldiers were added to the German strength 
  • Operation Michael began in march 1918, the aim was to divide British and French forces  In five hours one million artilery shells were fired at the british 
  • The British struggled to make trenches leaving their defence weak 
  • German storm troopers followed the attack and took 21,000 British prisoner
  • This was the biggest break thorugh in German fighting in the three years
  • Ludendorff ordered a German unit to advance on Amiens to capture the city due to the rate of speed of the advance they unit quickly ran out of German supplies so the soldiers resulted in eating their horses and looting shops along the way 
  • Although the German army gained a lot of land lots of causualties were caused and they had to fortify the land they gained so they lost many soldiers 
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The Hundred Days Offensive 8 AUG - NOV 1918

  • The Battle of Amiens was the first battle to bringing together artillery, tanks, infantry and aircraft all at once

  • It was very important to the Allies as it was a major rail point used to receive and move out supplies.

  • July 1918, the Allied men protecting Amiens greatly outnumbered the Germans

  • Cavalry and tanks were both used successfully to gain a five mile advance

  • September the German Supreme Command ordered the German Army to begin falling back to the Hindenburg Line, this was heavily fortified 
  • Allies captured the St. Quentin Canal, which was part of the weak area in the south and were able to breach the Hindenburg Line in late September 1918

  • Germany had to seek peace.

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