Battle Of Passchendaele By: Anton, Alex, and Paul 1917 By: Alex, Paul, and Anton

What The Battle Was About The battle was fought between the German Empire, and the United Kingdom + Canada + France + others. The was fought because the Germans invaded Belgium, and tried to capture it. Fortunately, the British and Canadian troops came to stop them. The Germans installed bases on the coast of Belgium, and attacked the British troops from there. The British and Canadian troops then wanted to capture Passchendaele, and then the German U-boat bases. The British and Canadian troops tried to push through the German lines, and continue to the coast, to capture the bases on the coastline. As most battles in WWI, this one was fought in trenches, and as always, the Germans had far better trenches.

The Sinking of Lusitania When 128 American Civilians were killed by the German unrestricted submarine warfare, the Germans were forced to step down their policy. Since the Germans backed down, the British began effective blockades of Germans ports, resulting in starvation of civilians across Germany, thus forcing the Germans to resume their policy of unrestricted submarine warfare, and try to starve the British by attacking merchant ships bringing supplies to Britain, in hopes that they will be able the starve Britain before Britain could starve them.

The Battle Haig believed German morale was low (which was wrong), and decided to attack. Hubert Gough was appointed to command the battle. Many things that happened were not expected, including the heaviest rain seen in 30 years, which made tanks stuck in mud and shell craters to fill with water, thus not able to provide effective cover. The German Empire also moved their army from the eastern from to the western front. Haig blamed the unsuccessful on Gough, and replaced Gough with Herbert Plumer. Unlike Gough, Plumer wanted to win small battles with permanent gains, instead of winning a major battle that would bring success. On November 6th, 1917, Passchendaele village was taken by British power for this very reason, and in the end, the British lost 310,000 men and the Germans 260,000.

Pushing through After the defeat of the French offensive and the Germans taking control of international waters via U-Boats, British General Douglas Haig decided that the best action to take for the British was to break through German lines at Ypres. This would also allow them to capture the ports taken over by the Germans which at the moment served as U-Boat bases. Even though the British Prime Minister David Lloyd George disagreed with the plan believing that the chances of success were low and that it would be a waste of men, the plan was approved. It was to begin in July.

A Question We Would like to know Did the German Empire make a mistake by sinking Lusitania?

The Canadian perspective Canada played an important part in the battle, because they supplied most of the troops that fought in the battle. A victory in the war was great for the Canadians, because it brought them a sense of pride, that the war often glorified. The Canadian Corps were the ones who actually captured Passchendaele, which is why Canada’s role was important. If it weren’t for them, the Germans might have won the battle of Passchendaele.

Useful Facts More than 15,600 Canadians were killed and wounded there — almost exactly the losses predicted by Arthur Currie (Canadian senior officer). The battle was very muddy; soldiers and horses would often drown in the mud, and tanks would get stuck. After more than three months of bloody combat (July 31,1917), the battle ends on November 6, 1917, with a hard- won victory by British and Canadian troops at the Belgian village of Passchendaele. Britain’s trenches were poorly built, because of the huge amounts of mud, but the German trenches were well built, and had the zigzag pattern that they usually did. The attack at Passchendaele was Sir Douglas Haig’s attempt to break through Flanders. Countries Involved: United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium, America, France, Germany (all against Germany)

http://www. historylearningsite. co http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-one/battles-of-world-war-one/the-battle-of-passchendaele/ http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/battles-and-fighting/land-battles/passchendaele/ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/battle-of-passchendaele/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Passchendaele Sources