Western Front (World War I)

Western Front
Part of World War I
For most of World War I, Allied and German Forces were stalled in trench warfare along the Western Front. This picture shows a sentry of A Company, 11th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment in a trench during the Battle of the Somme.
Date 1914 – 1918 Location Belgium and northeastern France Result Alled victory
Belligerents
Belgium British Empire Australia Canada India Newfoundland New Zealand South Africa France and French Overseas Empire Portugal United States	German Empire Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
No unified command until 1918, then Ferdinand Foch	Moltke → Falkenhayn → Hindenburg and Ludendorff → Hindenburg and Groener
Casualties and losses
~4,800,000	Unknown

After the beginning of World War I in 1914, the German army started the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium. They then gained military control of many important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Both sides then engaged in trench warfare from the North Sea to the Swiss border with France. During the years between 1915 and 1917, many offensives started along these lines. They used lots of artillery and a large amount of infantry advances. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun nests, barbed wire, and artillery stopped these advances before any major damage could be done to the opposing forces. No major breakthroughs happened. To try to stop the deadlock, this front used new military technology, like poison gas, aircraft, and tanks.