IGCSE History: World War I – End of 1914
Situation by the End of 1914:
● By Christmas the Schlieffen Plan and the Race to the Sea
had both failed:
● The war of movement had ended.
● The Allied forces matched those of Germans quite evenly in
terms of number and so both sides were unable to achieve
any decisive victory.
● A deadlock was reached.
● Both sides had lost over 500 000 soldiers each.
● The politicians talked of peace but since neither side would
accept anything short of complete surrender these talks
came to nothing.
● The Germans and the Allies entrenched themselves in
preparation to fight during the approaching winter.
● These trenches stretched from the channel ports all the way
to Switzerland.
● On Christmas day there was an unofficial truce where men
even climbed onto no man’s land to exchange cigarettes and
play football:
● The truce began when British soldiers fired 3 shots into the
air and shouted Merry Christmas to the Germans and the
Germans returned with 2 shots and a Thank You.
● This truce lasted for 2 days until the soldiers officially
signaled the war had restarted.
● The trench system was originally only supposed to last the
winter; it lasted by more than 3 years and it grew slowly
more and more complex.