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the Germans actually reigned victoriously. By end of the month, the Germans had taken 92,000 prisoners and destroyed half of the Russian 2nd army. The Germans then turned on General Rennenkampf army in September and drove it out from East Prussia.
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The Russians had mobilised more quickly than the Germans had anticipated and launched their first offensive within two weeks of the war’s outbreak. The Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914 ended in German victory, but the combination of German victory in the east and defeat in the west meant the war would not be quick, but protracted and extended across several fronts.
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At the start of the First World War, Germany hoped to avoid fighting on two fronts by knocking out France before turning to Russia, France’s ally. The initial German offensive had some early success, but there were not enough reinforcements immediately available to sustain momentum. The French and British cause a counter-offensive at the Marne. Germany failed at winning in this battle. -
The August of 1914 Battle of Tannenberg was fought between Russian and German soldiers. It is notable for being the first battle fought in the war to be fought on the Eastern Front. -
Lasting eight months, the 1915-1916 Battle of Gallipoli was launched by the combined British, French, Indian, New Zealand, Australia, and Canadian forces to knock out those of the Turkish Ottoman Empire that sided with Germany. The British and her allies planned to sail a huge fleet at the 65-mile Dardanelles water strait that linked the Mediterranean and Istanbul, the Ottoman capital they planned to capture. The plan aimed to force the Ottoman Empire to surrender.
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Believed to be the biggest naval battle of the First World War, on the 31st of May and the 1st of June in 1916 the Battle of Jutland pitted the British against the German fleet with their so-called "dreadnought" battleships. It was a bloody battle that involved 250 ships and about 100,000 troops. The battle occurred in the North Sea, and German Admiral Reinhard Scheer planned to draw in both Admiral Sir David Beatty Battlecruiser Force, and Admiral Sir John Jellicoe’s Grand Fleet.
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From the 1st of July until the 18th of November in 1916, a massive joint operation between British and French forces against the Germans occurred in the Somme area in northern France. Dubbed the Battle of the Somme, it had been planned in December 1915 by allied commanders the French Joseph Joffre, and the British General Douglas Haig, to counter German offensive at Verdun.
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The British were further spurred on by the success of an attack on the Messines Ridge on June 1917, and its capture. The British infantry began to attack on the 31st of July at Ypres. The constant shelling turned the clay into soil and destroyed drainage systems. The left wing of the attack was successful unlike the right wing. In the few following days the heaviest rains in 30 years turned the turned the loose soil into mud which clogged rifles.
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The Italian defeat, resulted in dismissal of Luigi Cadorna as Chief of Staff, and a change of government. When depleted Austria and Hungarian allies faced collapse at Gorizia after the 11th battle of Isonzo, led by Cadorna, their commander Arz Von Straussenberg sought help from the German Third Supreme Command led by Paul Von Hindenbrug, and Erich Ludendorff to have a combined operation. -
Fought from the 20th of November until the 4th of December in 1917, the Battle of Cambrai in northern France between the British and Germans marked the first time battle tanks were used on a mass scale in battle. Use of tanks was combined with air power and heavy artillery. The nineteen British divisions assembled had about 476 tanks of which 324 were fighting tanks -
It began when the German army under General Erich Von Falkenhayn command, began attacking French forts and trenches with artillery fires from 1200 guns, according to Verdun Memorial Museum reports. The General intended to end the trench warfare that begun in 1914 to enable his troops to move. In the initial days, the Germans breached the French front lines and took over Fort Douaumont without a fight.