Why did WW1 last so long? The conflict which is known as „The Great War “started in August 1914, at that time, both of the opposing sides believed that the entire conflict would be over by Christmas of the same year. After four years and extreme horror and bloodshed the war finally ended. The question that is analyzed here is why exactly did World War 1 last so much longer then it was predicted? There is no one single answer for this, the length of the war was a combination of multiple factors. Some historians blame the Schlieffen Plan of Germany, whilst others put the blame on the uneven development of technology that was present at that time, new types of warfare and generals that didn't have time to adapt, thus being incompetent at winning stalemates. The …show more content…
France and Britain could draw men from the colonies while Russia had the largest army at the beginning of the war. Germany itself didn't have superior numbers but its army was far more equipped, well trained and organized more than its contemporaries. More men equaled more prolonged battles. Only the separate peace from Russia and inclusion of America in the war tipped the balance in the favor of the Entante. While the land battles took their toll on the manpower of countries, severely depleting it, the navy was more of a hindrance to enemies. There were no naval battles of extreme proportions, and the navy could not influence the land battles which were the main way of fighting. Instead, the navy served as means of depleting the enemy of food such as the British blockade of Germany with only minor skirmishes and medium sized battles such as the battle of Jutland. Both Germany and Britain had large navies, Britain even had an advantage in size, but the fear from losing their navies didn’t result in their full