A SchoolsHistory.org.uk project. Online for testing and editing by participating students. Please excuse any typographical errors, inaccuracies or broken links: or better still, e-mail me and let me know where they are!

Stalemate - The First World War - October 1914

With a stalemate in the regions close to Paris the only hope now of a quick end to the war was outflanking the enemy (going around them). The French sought to do this by advancing in a line towards the English Channel. The Germans reacted and met the French army near the town of Arras. Led by Crown prince Pupprecht, the German forces succeeded in stopping the French from reaching their major objectives of the city of Lens and the coast. There was no outflanking, another stalemate had been reached.

As much of the German army had converged in areas around Paris, the Allies sought to advance through other areas along the Western Front. The German forces were considered to be weaker to the east, in Belgium. Here they had advanced only as far as the town of Ypres, which the Germans had taken. In early October 1914 the British Expeditionary force recaptured Ypres from the Germans The German counter attack was launched on 15th October. Fighting was fierce and the Germans lost 135,000 men attempting to wrestle the Belgian town from the Allies. Saving Ypres came at a cost to the British though. The expeditionary force lost over 90,000 men in this first battle of Ypres. The Professional British army, reputed to be the finest in the world, was decimated.

Many of the men lost in and around Ypres are commemorated on the Menin gate memorial. Click here to read about this memorial to the thousands of soldiers for whom there is no known grave.