The Second Battle of the Marne was an important victory. Following the battle and the failures by both sides to turn the opponent's northern flank during the Race to the Sea, the war of movement ended with the Germans and the Entente Powers facing each other across a stationary front line. After this, the fighting moved north to Lassigny and the French dug in around Nampcel. Both sides dug in and a line of trenches soon ran from the Channel to the Swiss frontier. At the start of the war the British bombarded the enemy before sending infantry over the top, but this tactic became less effective as the war progressed. During the critical period of 6 to 7 September von Moltke issued no orders to either von Kluck or Blow, and received no reports from them between 7 and 9 September. This proved necessary because the main railways were too slow and the roads were either destroyed or in rough condition. Tunnelling and mining operations were common on the Western Front. [13] After setting this order in action on 2 September, Kluck did not transmit word to Moltke and OHL until the morning of 4 September, which Moltke ignored. Moltke suffered a nervous breakdown upon hearing of the danger. This system was strengthenedwith fortifications, underground shelters andthick belts of barbed wire. On September 10 the Germans began a general retreat that ended north of the Aisne River, where they dug in, and the trench warfare that was to typify the Western Front for the next three years began. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. With France defeated, Germany would be free to focus their attention to the east. He earned a B.A. When there was no water to hand, soldiers would urinate in the water jacket to keep the gun cool! [22] At exactly the same time, von Kluck and his influential staff officer Hermann von Kuhl had decided to break the French Sixth Army on the 1st Army's right flank while Blow shifted an attack to the 2nd Army's left wing, the opposite side from where the gap had opened. By clicking Accept All Cookies, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. One successful use of mines was on 7 June 1917, when the Britishunleashed a seriesof huge mine explosionsat Messines Ridge. After the Battle of the Marne, the Germans retreated for up to 90 kilometres (56mi) and lost 11,717 prisoners, 30 field guns and 100 machine-guns to the French and 3,500 prisoners to the British before reaching the Aisne. With the war stalled along the Aisne in Champagne, both armies began efforts to turn the other's flank in the west. The French and British had just over 1,000,000 soldiers including six French armies and one British army. The German retreat from 913 September marked the end of the Schlieffen Plan. On 1 July 1916, a few minutes before they attacked on the Somme, the British exploded several huge mines packed with explosives under the German position. German airships achieved moderate success in long-range bombing operations, as Zeppelins could attain higher altitudes than the airplanes of the era. [25] The Fifth Army by 8 September crossed the Petit Morin, which forced Blow to withdraw the right flank of the 2nd Army. Chemical weapons, such as diphosgene and mustard gas, were employed extensively on the Western Front. While modern weaponshad helped create this problem, generals hoped thatthey would also assistthe army in fighting their way out of it. They alsomade the most of new technologieslike aircraft, sound ranging and flash spotting to locate and neutralise enemy artillery. Ludendorff Offensive March 21 to July 18, 1918 Also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, the 1918 Spring Offensive begins with the Germans launching a string of attacks along the Western Front in. On September 5, Kluck learned of the approaching enemy and began to wheel his First Army west to meet the threat posed by Sixth Army. Moltke chose to reinforce the opposite wing that was attacking fortifications in the region near Verdun and Nancy. But that men who have retreated for ten days, sleeping on the ground and half dead with fatigue, should be able to take up their rifles and attack when the bugle sounds, is a thing upon which we never counted. During the First World War Private Stephen Palmer was sent an Oxo tin that ended up saving his life. The next battle in the First World War is the Battle of the Aisne. The 2nd and 9th Cavalry divisions were dispatched as reinforcements the next day but before the retirement began, the French attack reached Carlepont and Noyon, before being contained on 18 September. By the end of the war, both sides had used it. The Belgian army was invested at Antwerp in the National Redoubt and Belgian fortress troops continued the defence of the Lige forts. Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. To the First World War index. The attack by Crown Prince Ruperts Sixth Army on the Grand-Couronn, covering Nancy, was a particularly expensive failure. [56] British casualties were 13,000 men, with 1,700 killed. Brooks claimed that, "By frustrating the Schlieffen Plan, Joffre had won the decisive battle of the war, and perhaps of the century". Both resulted in hundreds of thousands of casualties for both the Allies and Germans on the Western Front. The Battle of Mulhouse (Battle of Alsace 710 August) was the first French offensive of World War I. (2021, July 31). The Allies won a victory against the German armies in the West and ended their plans of crushing the French armies with an attack from the north through Belgium. A rifle fitted with a bayonet could prove unwieldy in a confined trench so many soldiers preferred to use improvised trench clubs instead. Both battles were key moments in the First World War, which resulted in German defeats. Commanded by Generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Blow respectively, these armies formed the extreme right wing of the German advance and were tasked with sweeping to the west of Paris to encircle Allied forces. [45] He resisted counter-attacking until the time was right then put his full force behind it. The goal of the plan was to quickly defeat France before the Russians could fully mobilize their forces. Place of the Battle of the Marne: France, to the east of Paris. Still, some new weapons and technology used such as chemical warfare, flamethrowers and submarines caused great fear and chaos during World War I. Told of the threat, Moltke suffered a nervous breakdown. [53], Richard Brooks in 2000, wrote that the significance of the battle centres on its undermining of the Schlieffen Plan, which forced Germany to fight a two-front war against France and Russiathe scenario that its strategists had long feared. On 2 September Moltke issued a Grand Directive changing the order of battle for the German attack. The combination of 19th-century war tactics, such as an adherence to the Napoleonic principles, which focused on destroying the enemy despite huge losses, and new 20th-century technology, was a major reason for so many casualties in the First World War. The Schlieffen Plan called for a massive flank attack on the French defenses, but Plan XVII would have carried the bulk of the French army beyond those defenses and left it open to envelopment. Instead, seeking to immediately envelop the retreating French forces, Kluck and Blow wheeled their armies to the southeast to pass to the east of Paris. Pursued by the British and French, they defeated Allied attacks against this new position. During the Battle of Ypres, also in 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time. Joffres optimism might have been again misplaced but for German decisions. [43] French casualties totalled 250000 men, of whom 31,376 were killed. The German armies crossed the border and advanced on Nancy, but were stopped to the east of the city. From September 6-12, 1914, just one month into World War I, the First Battle of the Marne took place just 30 miles northeast of Paris in the Marne River Valley of France. Driving south, the Germans inflicted defeats on the Allies along the Sambre at the Battles of Charleroi and Mons. Both allied countries used the gaps and attacked through them which eventually led to the retreat of the German armies. By 9 September, the success of the FrancoBritish counteroffensive left the German 1st and 2nd Armies at risk of encirclement, and they were ordered to retreat to the Aisne River. [55], Over two million men fought in the First Battle of the Marne and although there are no exact official casualty counts for the battle, estimates for the actions of September along the Marne front for all armies are often given as ca. The Second Army had advanced from Marle on the Serre, across the Aisne and the Vesle, between Reims and Fismes to Montmort, north of the junction of the French 9th and 5th Armies at Szanne. This led Joffre to transfer the Second Army west to the left flank of the Sixth Army, the first phase of Entente attempts to outflank the German armies in "The Race to the Sea". Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. The reinforced Sixth Army held its ground. British gunners take a break during the bombardment of Zonnebeke, 1917. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/first-battle-of-the-marne-2361397. The first units of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) landed in France and French troops crossed the German frontier. The first took place in September 1914, and the second in the summer of 1918. Even though the British Army had an arsenal of weapons at their fingertips, it tookthem most of the war to use these fighting tools to their advantage. Between 1914 and 1918, planes advanced from barely airworthy craft to effective weapons platforms. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. At Cambrai in 1917, the tank made its first significant breakthrough when it was used en masse. They killed around 10,000 Germans and totally disrupted their lines. It was a relatively new weapon at the start of the war, but British and German forces soon realised its potential as a killing machine, especially when fired from a fixed defensive position. [16] The counter-attack would come from the south by d'Esperey's Fifth Army, the west from the BEF and at the Ourq River from Gallieni's new Sixth Army. Lige was occupied by the Germans on 7 August. [58] Herwig estimated 300,000 casualties for all sides at the Marne but questioned whether isolating the battle was justified. 25 Decade-Defining Events in U.S. History, Timeline of the American Civil Rights Movement, https://www.britannica.com/list/weapons-of-world-war-i. Herwig estimated that the five German Armies from Verdun to Paris had 67,700 casualties during the battle and assumed 85,000 casualties for the French. [6], At the Battle of Mons (23 August), the BEF attempted to hold the line of the MonsCond Canal against the advancing German 1st Army. During the Battle of Ypres, also in 1915, the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time. Quickly moving to exploit the opportunity, Joffre ordered General Franchet d'Esprey's French Fifth Army and the BEF into the gap. The Germans ceased their retreat after 65km (40mi), at a point north of the Aisne River, where they dug in, preparing trenches. The British were eventually forced to withdraw due to being outnumbered by the Germans and the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army, which exposed the British right flank. As the speed andflying capabilities of aircraft improved they evenbombed airfields, transportation networks and industrial facilities. [47] The German retreat ended their hope of pushing the French beyond the VerdunMarneParis line and winning a quick victory. The Lewis Gun was the British Armys most widely used machine-gun. The next day Lanrezac had word of the fall of Namur and of the presence of the German Third Army under Gen. Max von Hausen on his exposed right flank near Dinant, on the Meuse. Kennedy Hickman is a historian, museum director, and curator who specializes in military and naval history. Joffre sacked General Charles Lanrezac, the commander of the Fifth Army and replaced him with I Corps commander Louis Franchet d'Esprey. By the next day, French attacks north of the Aisne led Falkenhayn to order the 6th Army to repulse the French and secure the flank. If the direction of Klucks advance was partly due to a misconception of the line of retreat taken by the British, it was also in accordance with his original role of executing a wide circling sweep. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. German barbed wire at Beaucourt, November 1916. The opposing armies met in thick fog; the French mistook the German troops for screening forces. But the bayonet was still a handy tool that soldiers also used for cooking and eating! While the German invasion failed decisively to defeat the Entente in France, the German army occupied a good portion of northern France as well as most of Belgium and it was the failure of the French Plan 17 that caused that situation. Thought the presentation & interpretation made the subject accessible". [50][51] Ian Sumner called it a flawed victory and that it proved impossible to deal the German armies "a decisive blow". Further, the German command lost touch with the advancing armies, and movements at the front became disjointed. The bloody. They were also effective at taking out enemy machine gun and sniper posts. [7], On 26 August, German forces captured Valenciennes and began the Siege of Maubeuge (24 August 7 September). Following this meeting, Sir John French agreed to the operational plan to commence the following day.[20]. Between September 9 and 13, German forces broke off contact with the enemy and retreated north to this new line. [63], The French Second Army completed a move from Lorraine and took over command of the left-hand corps of the Sixth Army, as indications appeared that German troops were also being moved from the eastern flank. The French government estimates that millions of unexploded shells from World War I remain buried or undiscovered in the French countryside. That evening, the 12,000 Belgian troops at Namur withdrew into French-held territory and at Dinant, 674 men, women and children were summarily executed by Saxon troops of the German 3rd Army; the first of several civilian massacres committed by the Germans in 1914. These tanks were made for use on the Western Front because of the terrain's rough conditions. These reconnaissance planes were utilised by the allied forces to discover the military positions of their enemy. On 12 August, the Battle of Haelen was fought by German and Belgian cavalry and infantry, resulting in a Belgian defensive success. The German 6th Army had also found that on arrival in the north, it was forced to oppose the French attack rather than advance around the flank and that the secondary objective, to protect the northern flank of the German Armies in France, had become the main task. Men carried them on counter-battery missions to spot the enemy. Large field guns were also used. The German armies attacked from Verdun westwards to Reims and the Aisne at the Battle of Flirey (19 September11 October), cut the main railway from Verdun to Paris and created the St. Mihiel salient, south of the Verdun fortress zone. Both sides were faced with the prospect of costly siege warfare operations if they chose to continue an offensive strategy in France. 500,000 killed or wounded. We know anyhow that with a prescience greater in political than in military affairs, he wrote to his wife on the night of the 9th, "Things have not gone well. Their size and mobility offered advantages over conventional artillery as they could be fired from within the safety of a trench. In this case, the information gleaned about the gap in the German line played a key role in helping the French and British armies position . French garrisons were besieged at Metz, Thionville, Longwy, Montmdy, and Maubeuge. [39] General Castelnau prepared to abandon the French position around Nancy, but his staff contacted Joffre, who ordered Castelnau to hold for another 24 hours. The BEF was under no obligation to follow orders of the French. . Fighting a series of holding actions, French forces, led by commander-in-chief General Joseph Joffre, fell back to a new position behind the Marne with the goal of holding Paris. PPD-40. Their size and mobility offered advantages over conventional artillery as they could be fired from within the safety of a trench. He decided to swing back his centre and left, with Verdun as the pivot, while drawing troops from the right and forming a fresh Sixth Army on his left to enable the retiring armies to return to the offensive. Updates? Such weapons were also ideal for silent killing during raids. Thesewere latermodified to carry smoke, incendiary devices, flares and anti-tank warheads, as well as high explosive. Lanrezacs attack, on August 29, was stopped before Blow needed this aid, but he asked Kluck to wheel in nevertheless, in order to cut off Lanrezacs retreat. The machine guns available at the start of World War I needed four to six men to operate them. Ferdinand Foch received the baton of a Marshal of France. World War I was a crucible for military aircraft development. [5], The Great Retreat took place from 24 August to 5 September; the French Fifth Army fell back about 15 kilometres (10mi) from the Sambre during the Battle of Charleroi (22 August) and began a greater withdrawal from the area south of the Sambre on 23 August. However, flamethrowers were effective, causing lots of havoc on the battlefield. The Fifth Army and the BEF had withdrawn south of the Oise, Serre, Aisne, and Ourq, pursued by the German 2nd Army on a line from Guise to Laon, Vailly, and Dormans and by the 1st Army from Montdidier, towards Compigne and then south-east towards Montmirail. However, planes were first used to spy and deliver bombs. Von Kluck reluctantly ordered his troops to pull back.[35]. Initially aircraft carried outartillery spotting and photographic reconnaissance. The Franco-British attacks towards Lille in October at the battles of La Basse, Messines and Armentires (OctoberNovember) were followed up by attempts to advance between the BEF and the Belgian army by a new French Eighth Army. There were many weapons used in WWI, they each had a purpose during the war. However, Hentsch reminded them he had the full power of the OHL behind him, and that 2nd Army was already in retreat. Chteau-Salins near Morhange was captured on 17 August and Sarrebourg the next day. The Belgian government withdrew from Brussels on 18 August. On an unsuspecting enemy, Britain unleashed its new secret weapon - the tank. Exploiting this, the Allies attacked into the gap and threatened to encircle the German First and Second Armies. Here we explore some of the weapons used and developed by the British Army during the conflict. The next day, the Fifth Army recrossed the Marne, and the German 1st and 2nd Armies began to retire. The heavy weight of the flamethrower made the weapon's operators easy targets. The chief developments of the intervening period had been the machine gun and the rapid-fire field artillery gun. Pilots would even wave at enemy planes when they passed each other on aerial reconnaissance duties! Despite the advances in technology, cavalry retained a significant role in World War I, and horses died by the millions in the conflict. It was cheap, easy to erect and ensnared enemies. In consequence, he gave orders for a general retreat that night. Rifles wereby farthe most commonly used weapon of the war. His subordinates took over and ordered a general retreat to the Aisne, to regroup for another offensive. Arras was occupied on 27 August and a French counter-offensive began at the Battle of St. Quentin (Battle of Guise 2930 August). Mustard gas proved more effective. [26] The Germans had still hoped to smash the Sixth Army between 6 and 8 September, but the Sixth Army was reinforced on the night of 7/8 September by 10,000 French reserve infantry ferried from Paris. Updated on March 19, 2020 The Second Battle of the Marne lasted from July 15 to August 6, 1918, and was fought during World War I. Artillery literally shaped the battlefield in World War I. [59] In 2010, Ian Sumner wrote that there were 12,733 British casualties, including 1,700 dead. Thereby a 30-mile (48-km) gap was created between the German First Army (in the vicinity of Meaux) and the Second (east of Montmirail)a gap covered only by a screen of cavalry. World War I Timeline: 1914, The War Begins, M.S., Information and Library Science, Drexel University, B.A., History and Political Science, Pennsylvania State University. Before the Battle of the Somme (1916) the Germans retreated into their concrete dugouts during the artillery barrage, emerging when they heard the guns stop. Joffre formed a new plan out of the wreckage. Kluck was emboldened to take the risk because of the rapid retreat of the British oppositeor rather with their backs tothis gaping sector. Guns could rain down high explosive shells, shrapnel and poison gas on the enemy and heavy fire could destroy troop concentrations, wire, and fortified positions. The trench system on the Western Front in World War Ifixed from the winter of 1914 to the spring of 1918eventually stretched from the North Sea coast of Belgium southward through France, with a. The British Expeditionary Force, after concentrating near Maubeuge, France, had moved up to Mons, Belgium, on August 22, ready to advance farther into Belgium as part of the offensive of the Allied left wing. Be the first to hear about our latest events, exhibitions and offers. The British, after resisting the attacks of six German divisions in the Battle of Mons, began on August 24 to fall back in conformity with their allies, from the Belgian frontier toward the Marne. Hickman, Kennedy. On the eve of this most important battle, Moltke had requested situation reports from the 1st Army on 1 September but received none. A more modern tank was developed by the end of the war that could seat up to ten men and reach four mph. [34] von Kluck and von Kuhl vigorously objected to this order as they believed their army was on the verge of breaking the Sixth Army. Here are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about. The German attack would have then fallen on the French left flank and rear, virtually assuring the destruction of the French army and the fall of Paris. Although thus placed in an exposed forward position, French agreed to stand at Mons to cover Lanrezacs left. The request came at a moment when Moltke was becoming perturbed over the way the French were slipping away from his grasp. D'Esperey should also receive credit as the author of the main stroke. In fact, during World War I, an estimated 1.3 million had died from the use of chemical weapons. 31, 2021, thoughtco.com/first-battle-of-the-marne-2361397. By the next day, both the German First and Second Armies were being threatened with encirclement and destruction. Much of this work was done by special Royal Engineers units formed of Welsh and Durham miners. Machine guns were an exceptionally lethal addition to the battlefield in World War I. The military governor of Paris, Joseph Simon Gallieni, wanted the FrancoBritish units to counter-attack the Germans along the Marne River and halt the German advance. The Race to the Sea had begun. The army developed tactics like the creeping barrage, which saw troops advance across no-man's-landbehind the safety ofa line of shell fire. This message streamer was dropped on 9 September 1914 during the Battle of the Marne. It was also somewhat resistant to artillery fire, tangling together further to become more impassable, or being simply replaced if it was damaged. Only the back lights of the taxis were lit; the drivers were instructed to follow the lights of the taxi ahead. The battle was the culmination of the Retreat from Mons and pursuit of the Franco-British armies which followed the Battle of the Frontiers in August and reached the eastern outskirts of Paris. By prematurely wheeling his forces before Paris had been reached, Kluck exposed the German right to a counterenvelopment. There were over 1,400,000 German soldiers under the leadership of General Helmuth von Moltke. An offensive by the French Third and Fourth Armies through the Ardennes began on 20 August in support of the French invasion of Lorraine. 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