Where was the Western Front and what happened there in WW1?
The Western front played host to some of the deadliest battles of the first world war.
Here, we look at where it was, as well as the incidents that took place there.
Where was the Western Front in WW1?
The Western Front refers to the western side of territory under the control of Germany.
the front ran some 440 miles from the Belgian coast at Nieuwpoort, through France, and all the way to the border of Switzerland.
The contours of the line reflected the extent of German success during the war.
The incidents in the area during the war inspired the 1929 novel All Quiet on the Western Front, written by German WW1 veteran Erich Maria Remarque.
This led to a 1979 film of the same name, and a 2022 remake.
What happened there during the First World War?
In 1914, the Germans used the territory as a way of waging a two front war.
It was the scene of some of the most famous battles from the war, including the Battle of the Somme from July to November 1916.
The Western Front began to take shape in the autumn of 1914 after the German advance into northern France was halted at the Battle of the Marne.
After Ypres, it became clear that the Western Front was not going to be breached or pushed back without considerable effort.
Commanders on both sides began to develop grand plans to break the line or to outmanoeuvre and outflank the enemy.
Breaking through the Western Front was a critical objective of military planners on both sides.
The struggle between the Allied and Central armies at the Western Front largely determined the course of the war.
The Allied forces were Great Britain (and the British Empire), France, and the Russian Empire.
The Central forces consisted primarily of the German Empire and Austria-Hungary.
Though the death toll from Western Front battles will never be accurately known, it is estimated that at least four million men were killed there.
The war ended in November 1918, with the Western Front being the scene of most of the deaths of the conflict.