The main fronts
Name three major fronts of WWI.
Western, Eastern, Italian, Balkan
What was the biggest difference between the Eastern and Western Fronts?
Fighting on the Western front developed into full-fledged trench warfare, whereas on the Eastern front it did not.
The Western front is well known for its trench warfare. Give a short explanation of trench warfare.
Warfare conducted in dugouts, contained the front mostly along a long strip of land where most battles would be fought, not much land would be gained nor lost, but the casualty rates would be exorbitant. The hygienic conditions were catastrophic, and life in a trench is considered living hell. Trench lines tend to have multiple sections with differing functionalities
What was the Schlieffen Plan and how did it fail? What role did Russia play in it failing?
Schlieffen Plan was a plan to quickly defeat France going through previously neutral Belgium in order to avoid having to fight through Northeastern France (that would later become the Maginot line) as the Belgian border was way less defended and Germany needed a quick victory in order to avoid a prolongued two-front war before Russia could mobilize. It failed mainly due to the catastrophic Battle of Marne, after which the whole Western Front started turning into trench warfare therefore preventing any quick victories. Another big problem was the fact that Russia managed to mobilize surprisingly quickly and Germany was split between two massive fronts way sooner then they had anticipated.
Name the three most important battles on the Western front we learned about and give a 1-2 sentence explanation of each of them.
Battle of Marne - Stopped the German advance towards Paris, over half a million casualties
Battle of Verdun - One of the longest battles in history (lasted over 300 days), over million casualties
Battle of Somme - 60 000 casualties in one day, whole battle was a disaster for the allies (even more for the British)