Learning Intention: We will be learning about the Western and Eastern Fronts in World War 1
Success Criteria:
I will be successful when I am able to describe the Western Front and Eastern Front
I will be successful when I am able to compare and contrast the Western Front and Eastern Front
I will be successful when I am able to examine maps of Europe during World War 1 to analyse the Western Front and Eastern Front
The Western Front was a 400-plus mile stretch of land weaving through France and Belgium from the Swiss border to the North Sea, was the decisive front during the First World War.
War began on the Western front on 4 August 1914 with germany aggressively marching into Belgium and Luxembourg. Britain declared war on Germany the next day, which set the stage for the war on the Western Front
The failure of the Schlieffen Plan also triggered the beginning of the Western Front
German forces were forced to move east of Paris. The Battle of the Marne (September) and the race to the sea (October-November) resulted in both sides "digging in"
The German advance into France was finally halted at the Battle of the Marne (September) when german armies withdrew to the Aisne River and began constructing the first trenches of war
Both sides still hoped for a quick victory and attempted to outflank each other in what became known as a 'race to the sea'. This ended at the Battle of Ypres (November). A line of trenches now stretched from the English Channel to Switzerland - the Western Front'
On the Eastern Front, as on the Western, the conflict dragged on for years, with neither side truly able to deliver a knock-out blow. As Winston Churchill (1874-1965) famously noted, “In the west, the armies were too big for the land; in the east, the land was too big for the armies.”
Fought over much a much larger geographical area than it was in the west
It was a major defeat for Russia in the Battle of Tannenberg and soon after at Massurian Lakes
You will be given 7 minutes with each source in the doc below. You need to annotate your source using the following prompts:
OPVL
Does it fit into the 'typical' understanding of the Western and Eastern Fronts?
Further Questions you would like to investigate
Interesting Observations
TASK: Extended Response
Using what we have learnt, Compare and Contrast the Western and Eastern Front of WW1. 400 word response.
Refer to 2 sources. These can be from this page or this website: