Key battles in WW1/WW2

1st/2nd Battle of Marne

The Battles to take the town or Marne were some of the most toughest battles in the early war in 1914. And the second battle for Marne in 1918 with assistance from the Americans to stop the German advance and push them back further beyond the Hindenburg.

During 1914 Germany had gained large holdings of North eastern France and 90% of Belgium aswell. Britain had sent its BEF (British expeditionary force) to mainland Europe. And with the small town of Marne wedged right in between the early stalemate of the Western front they would dig in around the town of Marne which if the Germans took would have a key foothold over the region of France and would be the first major military defeat for France aswell. The Germans building their ever growing Hindenburg line launched wave after wave of attacks on the Southern defending French forces. However the French had dug in so heavily that they were practically almost impossible to dislodge from the trenches. Waves of German troops were cut down with ease and after suffering nearly 60,000 casualties, they decided to call off the attacks and dig in until there was another perfect opportunity to strike.
Also the poor infrastructure didn't help the Germans advance because the French fortified in many of the buildings and they had the high ground on the oncoming German attacks. The French army was massively growing as many people signed up to join the army and eventually many reserves had arrived to the front for active operations but with the dwindling German number near Marne they could no longer launch their planned attacks later in the war.

However after 4 years of not even moving, the American forces were arriving for the late war attack. And during the German spring offensive they launched attacks at many points across France and Belgium, but each attack they done the Allies got better at holding off and detaining the German troops. One particular area was the town of Marne where the Germans after receiving many divisions from the Eastern front which ended in an armastice and Communist attacks. They built up their forces and attacked the town for the 2nd time and they achieved much more success then they expected. However the French had bought up reinforcements and detained any further attacks with many Americans arriving to the front and they helped stop the Germans because of their fresh men had no fighting done yet at any point of the war. They were able to counter attack and push the Germans back and force them retreat from Marne which would result both of the battles for Marne as allied victory.

This can be seen as a significant impact on the first world war because of Marne's position of where it was at. And with the first battle ending in French victory, it led the Germans to bring their battle hardened troops back from the Eastern front. And they despite form achieving some success they were eventually driven out because of the increasing number of American troops. And because it was exhausted troops against fresh men it was almost no match for the Germans to take on and lead to their inevitable defeat in November 1918.