The Battle of Arras opened on 9 April, 1917, and initial efforts led to the capture of the strategically important Vimy Ridge by Canadian forces and to major gains by British forces in the center. As a result, a plan was formed to assault the German trenches at the town of Arras, which, combined with a French assault to the South, was hoped would finally break the deadlock on the Western Front and bring about an Allied victory. The German army was by now numerically inferior, and a solid victory breaking the German lines could easily end the war. The Allied high command needed to break the German lines and advance. Many bloody battles, including the slaughterhouses at Verdun and the Somme, had resulted on millions of casualties on both sides, and Europe was growing weary of the war. Battle of Arras (278,000 total casualties)īy 1917, the Western Front had been at a stalemate for two years. The Russians suffered 170,000 casualties to the Germans 12,000, highlighted the ineptitude of the Russian commanders and the ineffectiveness of the Russian army. Despite being outnumbered, the Germans, outnumbered by two Russian field armies, managed to inflict a huge defeat on the Russians at Tannenberg, considered by some to be the most lopsided defeat in the war. The Germans quickly moved to consolidate the German Eight Army to halt the Russian advance. Following the failed Russian invasion of East Prussia, the Russians managed to inflict a defeat on the Germans at Gumbinnen and make a push toward the West.
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