Why The First World War Shaped Modern Warfare

The first world war shaped our modern warfare, from fights of man only combat to using chemicals and machinery for combat. It was a fight between the Allies, Russia, Britain, Us, ect. against Germany and Austria-Hungary. A common question asked about The First World War is ‘which battle was the worst for the soldier?’ This question is difficult to answer because of all the factors that are implemented, the terrain, the timing, and many more, but most importantly for which country. As Canadians entered the war quite early, they fought many battles, but 3 battles surpassed the rest as the most gruesome and worst of them all. These battles were; the battle of the Sommes; the Second Battle of Ypres; and the Battle of Passchendaele. When the first

On July 1st a force of hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers attacked over a 1000 km long front. The battle involved a lot of artillery, but no biomedical weapons were used. The number of casualties were even more catastrophic than Ypres; since after the first day there were approximately 57 000 casualties for Britain alone. This included those of the Newfoundland regiment, which hadn’t joined Canada’s confederation yet, had 801 members before the battle, but only 68 members for stood for role call the second morning of battle! The mass attack would continue till August before the Canadian forces joined the battle efforts. The war would continue with constant attacks and increasing number of casualties. The non-stop combat would continue till winter, when the fighting eased down to its original stalemate, after about 5 months since its initial attack. The battle eventually became known for its long fight time and the length of the battlefield. These factors accounted for the battle to have 1.2 million casualties with little gains obtained. From these 1.2 million, the Allied lost an estimated 623,907, of whom more than 24,700 were Canadians or Newfoundlanders. This battle stands as the battle with the most casualties in The First World War and the 3rd bloodiest battle of the 20th

The reasoning for this attack was to take over Passchendaele the Germans’ coastal hub for water transports, such as submarines and boats. At the time this was a big problem for the Allies as the German navy was cutting British war supplies from entering the country. The battle was risky because the French forces had just returned from a large battle and were temporarily unwilling to fight, leaving Britain with a small advantage compared to German forces in the area. General Haig continued with the attack even with the risk, but decided to leave Canada out of the battle since they had just come from an unbelievable battle win at Vimy Ridge. Canada was forced to enter the battle in mid-July, even though the Canadian General, Arthur Currie, believed the battle would cost 16,000 Canadian lives with little gains. After 4 years of warfare the terrain turned into into a muddy plain, devoid of trees or vegetation, pockmarked by shell craters. Conditions were so bad that some troops couldn’t tell which side was the Allied front or the German front and the constant shellfire didn’t help. In fact, The Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, lost almost all its junior officers only an hour of combat on October 30th. The terrain slowed stretcher-bearers, trying to carry the wounded away from battle, to a crawl. Finally, the Canadians broke