Thomas Reasoner Per 6

2/20/2015

World History Project

Have you ever heard about WW1? Do you know who

the allies were? Do you know what the battle of Ypres is? The
battle of Ypres was a battle that was fought for the
strategically important town of Ypres in western Belgium in
October and November 1914.
Ypres was the last major obstacle to the German
advance on Boulogne-sur-Mer and Calais. The French
strategy was to prevent German forces from outflanking the
Allied front from the north. The battle highlighted problems
in command and control for north sides, each side missed
their chances to obtain a decisive victory. The Germans were
overestimated the Ally defenses in this battle and called off
their last offensive too early.
The battle was also significant because it witnessed the
destruction of the highly trained British regular army, which
suffered enormous losses for its size. The Allies won the
battle, but both sides had enormous losses. After four

months of heavy fighting the casualties were very heavy.

750,000 Germans and 995,000 French casualties. The
German and Allied armies attempted one more breakthrough
operation to win a decisive victory in 1914. In August, the
German army implemented the Schlieffen Plan. It invaded
Belgium in an attempt to outflank the French army on the
German-French border, capture Paris and encircle the French
to advance to the Swiss border. It backfired when the British
joined the side of the Franco-Russian Entente. If The
Germans invaded Belgium (neutral) they would have
Belgium channel ports, which would threaten British naval
supremacy. Also, British had a tradition of fighting wars to
bring a balance of power. A German victory would not be
right. As a result, Britain declared war.
That was the Battle of Ypres and how it all started. Also
that was a little bit of the Schlieffen plan. In all the war was a
very important part of WW1.