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First Battle of the Marne
What was the cause of the first Battle of Marne?
A French offensive in Lorraine prompted German counter-attacks that threw the French back onto a fortified barrier. Their defence strengthened, they could send troops to reinforce their left flank - a redistribution of strength that would prove vital in the Battle of the Marne. -
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Battle of Tannenberg
Two Russian armies invaded German East Prussia in August 1914. Rennenkam First Army was to converge with the Samsonov Second Army to give a two-to-one numerical superiority over the German 8th Army, which they would attack from the east and south respectively, some 80km (50 miles) apart. -
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Second Battle of Ypres
Second Battle of Ypres, (April 22–May 25, 1915), second of three costly battles in World War I at Ypres (now Ieper), in western Flanders. The battle marked the Germans' first use of poison gas as a weapon. Although the gas attack opened a wide hole in the Allied line, the Germans failed to exploit that advantage. -
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Battle of Gallipoli
The Battle of Gallipoli began with an attempt by the Allied Powers (mainly Britain and France) to force their way through the Dardanelles Strait, a narrow waterway leading to Constantinople (now Istanbul), using naval power alone; however, after significant losses to Turkish coastal defenses, including the sinking of several battleships on March 18, 1915, the Allies decided to launch a land invasion on the Gallipoli Peninsula. -
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Battle of Verdun
At 7:12 a.m. on the morning of February 21, 1916, a shot from a German Krupp 38-centimeter long-barreled gun—one of over 1,200 such weapons set to bombard French forces along a 20-kilometer front stretching across the Meuse River—strikes a cathedral in Verdun, France, beginning the Battle of Verdun, which would stretch. -
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Battle of Jutland
The German High Seas Fleet hoped to weaken the Royal Navy by launching an ambush on the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea. German Admiral Reinhard Scheer planned to lure out both Admiral Sir David Beatty's Battlecruiser Force and Admiral Sir John Jellicoe's Grand Fleet. -
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Brusilov Offensive
Brusilov's plan aimed to take some of the pressure off French and British armies in France and the Royal Italian Army along the Isonzo Front and, if possible, to knock Austria-Hungary out of the war. -
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Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme offensive, was a major battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. -
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Spring Offensive
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Battle of Passchendaele
The Battle of Passchendaele occurred during World War I because British commander Sir Douglas Haig aimed to wear down the German army by capturing the Belgian coast, specifically the strategic German submarine bases there, and to gain control of key railways in occupied Belgium, ultimately hoping to force a German retreat from the Western Front by seizing the high ground around the village of Passchendaele in Flanders, Belgium. -
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Battle of Caporetto
Caporetto had been selected by the Central Powers as the target for a major offensive because of the weakness of the Italian defence there. Map showing the northern extent of the Italian frontline before and after the Battle of Caporetto. -
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Battle of Cambrai
The plan for the Battle was conceived in an effort to capture the St Quentin Canal which was part of the German-held Hindenburg Line that spanned 40 kilometres from Cambrai to Le Fere. The idea was to capture Cambrai in a surprise attack using tanks. -
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Battle of Belleau Wood
In late May 1918, the third German offensive of the year penetrated the Western Front to within 45 miles of Paris. U.S. forces under General John J. Pershing helped halt the German advance, and on June 6, Pershing ordered a counteroffensive to drive the Germans out of Belleau Wood