Caused Many Deaths In World War I example essay topic

Many people originally thought that World War One would be over by Christmas 1914, so it came as a shock when a year passed. Two. Three. Four. Four terrible years of stalemate, endless tragedy, devastating effects on families, many deaths and life altering experiences. Also, most people believed by 1918 that a war like the previous one would never take place again, and that it would be the 'War to end all Wars'.

False advertisements lead people to believe the war was exciting. Recruitment posters resulted in men feeling it was their duty to join the army, and men who didn't join were often looked down on. The war was extremely different for generals and soldiers, and there were huge changes in Warfare, leading to stalemate. Noone was used to trench warfare, and life was nearly as dangerous in the trenches as it was in No Mans Land. World War One seen the introduction of many new things. Weaponry had advanced, and was distributed to the Armies.

These new weapons were suited far more for defence than attack, and included grenades, more powerful artillery and the machine gun. As I have previously said, gas attacks were very effective and would have devastating effects particurlarly mustard gas, which would kill thousands of men at a time. They became a lot more common as the war progressed, and from the years of 1915-1918, there were 185,706 casualties relating to gas attacks and 5,899 deaths. Also, a few months into the war, when trenches had started being dug, barbed wire was set up which was a defence measure and machine guns came into effect.

Towards the end of the war, cavalry charges were no longer common and horses were mainly used to transport supplies. Tanks were first used in the Battle of The Somme (From 1916 onwards) yet were very primitive and not very reliable, firstly due to them breaking down a lot and secondly because of lack of speed and manoeuvrability. John Dale describes the battlefield as terribly muddy. Conditions were appalling, and were not suited for quick attacks.

Advancing troops couldn't hold on to the ground they won, and were pushed back. These appalling conditions had an enormous effect on the speed of soldiers, slowing them down as they would try to run and in consequence end up slipping and stumbling because of lack of grip. This lead to troops moving slowly, and in effect becoming easy targets to machine gun fire. This caused many deaths in World War One.

Soldiers would be 'Sucked into the Quagmire', as source J describes once soldiers had been sucked in, they were trapped making it impossible for them to get out. Thousands of men would be sent accross No Mans Land, resulting in a massive slaughter of infantry. Another major reason to the war lasting so long was because of too much emphasis on attack. As the French General Foc he had said, focusing on defence would have been a better plan- defence was stronger than attack. Falken hayn, the German General expressed his views stating no matter how many soldiers were used or materials, attack plans miserably failed because tactics weren't right. Tactics were extremely poor, leading to many British casualties and deaths.

Even towards the end of the war, there was still too much emphasis on attack and not as much on defence. As a result, noone was winning the war, soldiers just continued to die- hence the 4 year stalemate. Noone was capable of breaking this stalemate. Many people may have percieved Haig's confidence in his army to be pure arrogance as he believed the Battle of The Somme would be easy, and perhaps a simple case of capturing the enemy trenches and rebuilding them. His main strategy was to wear the Germans down. A large number of men were killed under Haig command, and he stressed 'The attacks are to be pressed, regardless of loss'.

He could have changed tactics after witnessing the devastating first day of the Battle of the Somme yet he persisted with original tactics. Perhaps if he would have changed tactics, learning from his mistakes the war would not have lasted until 1918. Haig believed in 1917 that "Germany was within 6 months of the total exhaustion of her availble manpower". Yet, as Lloyd George had previously predicted, the war came to an end in 1918. Men in the British army began to lose confidence in their officers, and the majority of soldiers became disillusioned- they were appalled and struck with disbelief at the amount of deaths, particurlarly as an incredible 57,000 Britons were killed or wounded on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

Had communication technology been more advance, a lot of deaths may have been avoided. When soldiers had left their trenches, verbal communication was impossible because of the heavy noise of machine guns firing. Source B shows troops on their own, perhaps unsure what to do. If Walkie-Talkies had been invented (as said In Source I), Generals would be able to direct troops what to do, and perhaps battles would have been more successful. Source B shows an advertisement, promoting the war, and trying to recruit more soldiers, as volunteers seemed to be the only way of going about involving more British men- Britain was in desperation for more soldiers. Many soldiers minds had been corrupted, and seeing the deaths of other soldiers (such as Wilfred Owen had in Source H) had a huge emotional and psychological impact on the troops.

Many felt they couldn't cope, and their fate was similar: they were exhausted, traumatized and no longer had the motivation or willingness to fight- they simply wanted peace. Finally, on 11th November 1918, the war on the Western Front was declared over: Britain and France gaining victory. In conclusion, the main factors that made the War on the Western Front continue for so long was all because of not enough emphasis on defence, poor conditions on the battle fields, in No mans land and the trenches, awful tactics and unadvanced technology. World War one caused more deaths than any other war, thus being called 'The Great War'.