Reasons For Ww1

Overall, there is a number of reasons why the WW1 lasted for so long and was not ‘over by Christmas’ as it was suggested by German military leaders. The most important factor is the advances in the military technology and introduction of new and improved armaments such as poison gas and machine guns. This lead to an increased popularity of the trench warfare, which decelerated the course of the war. Although, that is the most significant factor, there are other reasons, which explain the duration of the war, such as a diplomatic stalemate. The inability of military leaders of both Central and Allied powers to reach a consensus on territorial and political issues have led to a prolongation of the war. Lastly, domestic politics allowed the leaders

Technological advances in the military field such as machine guns and chemical warfare shaped the face of the combat in the First World War. Most significantly, these advances forced the troops in the trench warfare, resulting in high efficiency in defensive rather than in offensive tactics. That has a direct link with the scale of casualties and intensities of the combats. The trench warfare that dominated the Western front developed as a response to a new and improved artillery, mainly machine guns. Old tactics such as head or infantry attacks were useless, thousands of soldiers died in vain trying to reach the enemy. Therefore, the only solution was to dig the trenches in order to hide from the artillery and occupy a beneficial spot to defend the positions. The trenches were usually protected by wires, sandbags and parapets, making attack even more challenging. As the course of the war developed, the number of artilleries on both sides increased and became more efficient and elaborate, thus the defense was advancing while the assault technology was stagnating. That lead to a stalemate on the battlefield. Hence, the trench line that reached almost 440 miles, stretching from the North sea to Swiss boarder, witnessed a small amount of changes during the war, since none of the sides was able to break through. Another technological innovation that influenced the rise of a stalemate is chemical warfare. Both Central and Allied powers used chemical weapons from tear gases to more dangerous lethal gases such as chlorine (first used by Germans in the Second Battle of Ypres in January 1915). It was mainly used to demoralize the enemies and reach them in the trenches. Germans expected this to be a useful weapon to attack the enemy, some even called it a wonder weapon. However, in a short period of time, as a counter-measure, gas masks and protective gear were designed, which lead