The Western Front was one of the main theaters of war during the First World War. Following the outbreak of war in August 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The German advance was halted with the Battle of the Marne. Following the Race to the Sea, both sides dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France, which changed little except during early 1917 and in 1918. Between 1915 and 1917 there were several offensives along this front. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. Entrenchments, machine gun emplacements, barbed wire and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties during attacks and counter-attacks and no significant advances were made. Among the most costly of these offensives were the Battle of Verdun, in 1916, with a combined 700,000 casualties, the Battle of the Somme, also in 1916, with more than a million casualties
El Frente Occidental fue uno de los principales escenarios de la guerra durante la Primera Guerra Mundial. Después del estallido de la guerra en agosto de 1914, el Ejército Alemán abrió el Frente Occidental invadiendo Luxemburgo y Bélgica, luego ganando el control militar de importantes regiones industriales en Francia. El avance alemán se detuvo con la Batalla del Marne. Después de la Carrera al Mar, ambos lados cavaron a lo largo de una línea de trincheras fortificadas, que se extendía desde el Mar del Norte a la frontera suiza con Francia, lo que cambió poco excepto durante los primeros años de 1917 y en 1918. Entre 1915 y 1917 hubo varias ofensivas a lo largo de este frente. Entre los ataques se incluyeron bombardeos masivos de artillería y avances masivos de infantería. Entrenamientos, puestos de pistolas, alambre y artillería repetidamente infligieron graves víctimas durante los ataques y contraataques y no se hicieron avances significativos.