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Military History of the First World War


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The Western Front, 1916


By this time British mobilisation was beginning to have results and time was running out for Germany. Falkenhayn decided to launch an attack, and choose Verdun as his target. The Allies (Entente) also decided to attack on all fronts simultaneously. All sides believed that they would have enough high explosives manufactured to neutralise the dominance of defensive warfare. Between early 1915 and the autumn of 1916 Germany increased production of heavy guns from 38 to 330 per month. The French had made the mistake of enlisting key industrial workers, and the French army did not wish to demobilize them; however, the French passed a law requiring the army to do this. Thus, the increase in manufacture of French guns was slow at first, but thereafter accelerated rapidly. The Russians also began producing heavy guns in large numbers, but their problem was that their poor communications network made it difficult for them to deliver them to the front. In England a Ministry of Munitions was established under Lloyd George, and by mid 1916 Britain was producing 3,200 guns per month, mostly of the heavy variety. Britain was also able to use its credit with the United States to obtain ample supplies of raw materials for armaments production.
Contents of
Military History of the First World War

1 The Central Powers and the Entente
2 The run-up to the war: The July Crisis, 1914
3 Military Planning in Advance of the War
4 Serbia and the Eastern Front, 1914
5 The Battle for the Marne
6 The Race to the Sea and the First Battle of Ypres
7 First Battle of Ypres
8 The Pacific
9 Africa
10 The Eastern Front during 1915
11 Italy enters the war
12 The Balkans
13 The Western Front
14 Gallipoli
15 The Western Front, 1916
16 Verdun
17 The Battle of the Somme
18 The Trentino Offensive
19 The Brusilov Offensive
20 Romania
21 The Russian Front in 1917
22 Mesopotamia
23 The Nivelle Offensive
24 The Third Battle of Ypres (The Battle of Passendaele)
25 Cambrai
26 Caporetto
27 German offensive in Russia, 1918
28 Ludendorff's offensive in the West
29 Allied counter-offensive

Related articles: (1) The Third Battle of Ypres - the Battle of Paschendaele, (2) The First World War: Triggers