74.13 Eastern and Western Fronts 1915

A History of Europe, Key Battles

Carl Rylett

History

4.4 • 756 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

For the Germans, 1915 was a year that should not have been. Their whole strategy had been based on a quick war, but they now found themselves embroiled in a two-front war – on the eastern front against Russia, and on the western front against France fully mobilised and also Britain.

Throughout 1915, in a succession of attacks of increasing intensity, the various armies learned the techniques of the new kind of war at very heavy cost.

In February 1915, Germany launched the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes with an attack on the Russians in East Prussia. Meanwhile, the Austrians attempted to push deep back into Galicia, with huge numbers of casualties on all sides.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to a History of Europe, Ge Battles podcast. My name is Cardoilat, and today I'll be
0:28.0	continuing the story of the First World War. In previous episodes, we've talked about the origins of World War I
0:43.6	and the first year of the conflict, 1914, across both eastern and western fronts.
0:51.2	Last week we talked about the unprecedented scale of the conflict, how it affected entire nations in what became known as Total War.
1:00.6	We also covered the entry of war by Italy and the Ottoman Empire and the campaign at Gallipoli.
1:08.0	Today I continue by relating the main events of 1915.
1:16.6	For the Germans, 1915 was a year that should not have been.
1:21.6	Their whole strategy had been based on a quick war, but they now found themselves embroiled in a two-front war,
1:28.8	on the Eastern Front against Russia and on the Western Front against France, fully mobilised,
1:35.1	and Britain slowly amassing her strength and relatively invulnerable behind her navy.
1:42.3	A vast area of interlocking defensive networks stretched almost 500 miles from the English Channel
1:49.0	down to the Swiss border. The main defence, the trenches, were cut about 12 feet deep in a zigzag fashion,
1:57.0	so that troops could find protection from fire from their flanks,
2:06.2	and in order to stop the spread of a blast along the length of a trench if a shell landed on it.
2:11.3	Barbed wire was stretched in front of the line,
2:15.8	and parties were sent out each night to maintain it and to improve his effectiveness.
2:20.7	Frontline troops lived in dugouts, rooms used for domitries and stores dug into the trench wall facing the enemy, and further trenches
2:26.7	ran back to safer areas in which hospitals and stores of supplies were located. The network
2:33.1	grew over time with increased numbers of lines running parallel
2:37.0	to each other, to be used in the event of retreat. The space between opposing trenches, known
2:44.0	as no-man's land, varied in width, but was typically anything between 100 and 300 metres.
2:51.6	Tempuri unmanned dead-end trenches were also dug out into no-man's land to listen to the enemy's activities or from mounting surprise attacks.
	...

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