The Western Front in the First World War

When the First World War broke out, the alliance between France and Russia left Germany outnumbered. Germany's chances in a long war were slim. French and British forces counterattacked at the Battle of the Marne and forced the Germans back. Find out why the German plan failed. 

The Ypres salient was the focus of Germany's only Western Front offensive in 1915. Their attack on the salient included the first large scale use of chlorine gas - an act that changed the face of the First World War battlefield.

The Battle of Verdun (21 February to 15 December 1916) became the longest battle in modern history. It was originally planned by the German Chief of General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn to secure victory for Germany on the Western Front. 

The Battle of the Somme (1 July to 18 November 1916) was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the First World War. The campaign was a joint operation between British and French forces intended to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans on the Western Front. For many in Britain, the resulting battle remains the most painful and infamous episode of the First World War. 

Part of the wider Nivelle Offensive, the Battle of Arras began with the largest artillery bombardment of the war and a notable victory for the Canadians at Vimy Ridge. 

At dawn on 20 November 1917, the British Third Army launched an attack towards Cambrai using innovative methods that were to become a common feature of the fighting on the Western Front in 1918. The assault utilised the largest number of tanks yet assembled.

The Third Battle of Ypres - often called Passchendaele - has come to symbolise the loss and futility of the First World War. Fought in 1917, the battle was another attempt to win a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front. 

When it comes to the First World War there's one thing that instantly comes to mind - trenches. Muddy, rat-infested hell holes with death around every corner. Places so bad that only going over the top could be worse. Trenches dominate our perspective. But are our perceptions really accurate?

The photographs, letters and interviews in IWM’s collection tell the real story of the Christmas Truce. In this video, Head of Documents and Sound Anthony Richards explains how the truce came about, its impact on the course of the First World War and why it never happened again after 1914.

Conditions on every fighting front posed serious issues for the health of soldiers during the First World War. Over 6 million British and British Empire soldiers were treated for sickness, and, without improvements in sanitation and medical care, the figure could have been far higher.

Trenches provided relative protection against increasingly lethal weaponry. Soldiers dug in to defend themselves against shrapnel and bullets. On the Western Front, trenches began as simple ditches and evolved into complex networks stretching over 250 miles (402 kilometres) through France and Belgium. 

During the First World War, British soldiers used language in inventive and often humorous ways. The words and phrases they used reflected everything from the dull routines of service to the traumas of front line action, often tinged with characteristic black humour and irony.

Numerous unusual battle trophies were taken from the Front during the First World War, including dugout wallpaper, cavalry bugles and trench knives. Discover 8 peculiar battle trophies taken from the Front. 

The trench warfare of the Western Front encouraged the development of new weaponry to break the stalemate. Poison gas was one such development. The first significant gas attack occurred at Ypres in April 1915, when the Germans released clouds of poisonous chlorine.

The concept of a vehicle to provide troops with both mobile protection and firepower was not a new one. But in the First World War, the increasing availability of the internal combustion engine, armour plate and the continuous track, as well as the problem of trench warfare, combined to facilitate the production of the tank.

You are on a First World War battlefield. An enemy artillery gun is firing at your lines. Lives are being lost. You need to stop that gun – but how can you stop it if you don’t know where it is?

Concealment and deception have always had some part in warfare, but during the First World War the practice became systematic. In 1915, the French Army became the first to create a dedicated camouflage unit. The word 'camouflage' came from the French verb meaning 'to make up for the stage'. 

The First World War was one of the deadliest conflicts of all time: the weapons of shells, machine guns and poisonous gas used en mass for the first time resulted in a scale and severity of injuries that had never been encountered before. 

At the end of the First World War and during the interwar years, many authors, artists and playwrights responded to the conflict through their work. One such example is the play Journey’s End by R C Sherriff.

Born in 1886, Siegfried Sassoon became one of the best-known - and most controversial - poets and novelists to emerge from the First World War as a result of his increasingly anti-war stance.

Brothers Paul and John Nash were both commissioned as official war artists during the First World War - Paul from 1917 and John from 1918. Prior to becoming official war artists, both of the brothers had seen active service on the Western Front.

Discover the life and works of 9 poets of the First World War.

Discover 12 paintings depicting life along the Western Front by a selection of artists. Including insightful works by John Singer Sargent, John Nash, Paul Nash, Henry Tonks and William Orpen.