Describe The Major Changes In The Western Trenches

Nearly a century before the first shots of World War I were fired, the European states gathered at the Congress of Vienna and set forth an international order and established an official balance of power. Unfortunately the neutrality and peace across the European continent dissipate faster than anyone of that time could have predicted. World War I changed how nations fought in wars, what they used, how they attacked, but also is known to have catapulted many nations into progressive movements for economic, social, and political revolutions. Eastern Front

One of the most active theaters of the Great War was the Eastern Front. When the professor mentioned the Eastern front he is referring to the line of fighting that occurred in the Eastern side of Europe mostly between Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. Fighting and bloodshed began in the Eastern Front after Russia invaded Eastern Prussia in mid-august of 1914. Germany wasted no

According the the lectures, the outbreak of war began in August of 1914. The German army entered the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium. Quickly, the German army gained momentum and was able to gain military control of industrial regions in France. The war advanced quickly and during the Battle of the Marne a new war tactic emerged: trenches. By September 15th of 1914 both the Allies and the German forces had began to dig the first trenches on the Western Front.

The trenches were a significant change to this battle, not only in early 1914, in the first World War, but for the later wars and battles that would follow. The trench system stretched from the North coast of Belgium to the South of France. It stretched through French towns and even into Switzerland. If the trenches were laid end to end, they would stretch more than twenty five thousand miles. The Allies only occupied 12,000 of those miles and the rest were occupied by the Central