Tuesday, October 26, 2010

World War I war tactics lead to the development of stalemates on both eastern and western fronts.  Although countries such as Germany were able to push forward and gain land through the use of infantry tanking, this allowed them to push through enemy lines and drove the allies back. The use of infantry tanking lead to the loss of many lives and Germans soon became tired and their exhaustion gave the allies time to regroup and Britain was able to push Germany back to their original fronts using their tanks.  This lead to a stalemate because although Germans were able to break through lines they could not hold their position leading to a counter that pushed them back to their original lines.  Stalemates on the Russian front developed because the Russians spread their armies thin on the frontier but were heavily fortified at bases along the way, while Germany could take the frontier they could not take the fortified points leaving them at a draw.  I think that with different war tactics were used there would have been a decisive winner of the war and the war could have ended much sooner than it did. 

2 comments:

  1. Sarah! You have no comments, so I will be your first and best :) I definitely agree with you about the development of the stalemates during the war, and I think it was also due to the trench warfare. Neither side could advance without getting most of the attackers killed, which sucked because they'd have to retreat and wait for reinforcements. So they basically got to just chill there, which obviously is not productive at all. And I agree with you again at the end, when you say that the war could have ended sooner if they used different war tactics. It seems like the war was partly trial and error, and testing new weapons and such. They had never had tanks or super awesome guns before, so they were trying to see how to use them, and obviously they didn't really find the best way due to their stalemate situation. But they did learn. :)

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  2. I agree, I don't think new weaponry was the answer to solving the stalemates. Even looking into gas as a from of attack didn't gain Germany any ground against Britain. I think the best offensive would have been tactical adjustments. And I agree, the most innovative adaptation would have earned its nation a win.

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