In the years leading up to 1914, each major European country had struggled to ensure that in the event of war it had strong allies. Each country did this by creating treaties. By 1914 these divided Europe into two armed camps – the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Italy, and the Triple Entente made up of Great Britain, France and Russia. These treaties meant that if any two countries went to war all the others would be pulled in.

When all these countries went to war (apart from Italy which remained neutral until joining the Allies), Germany realised it had a problem. It would be sandwiched between Russia to its east, and Britain and France to the west, and would be fighting a war on two fronts. To solve this, a plan was needed.

Years before, the German general Von Schlieffen had anticipated this situation. The Schlieffen Plan would knock out France and Britain before Russia would be organised to fight a war. In the event, for a number of reasons France and Britain were not knocked out quickly enough, and Russia was soon ready to fight. Soon after the Battle of the Marne and the First Battle of Ypres, winter began to close in. Soldiers up and down the line dug ditches for shelter against the enemy. It was hoped that in the spring the "war of movement" would return, and the war could be finished.

However, the war of movement did not return that spring or the next. Instead, the fighting dragged on for four years and cost ten million lives. In this investigation I hope to discover the answer to why so many died by examining the following topics:

Tactics and strategies – Were these guilty of wasting millions of lives?

The impact of new weapons – Did new weapons such as the machine gun cost many lives?

Trench design and conditions – How important a part did these play in the carnage?

Generals - Were these men who ordered suicidal attacks or were they doing their best in a bloody war?