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them east
ey were a little late for e B le of Tanne rg (August 2 30), a
German victory. General no s ond Army to exis and the Rian gener , in d ration, shot him lf on the field The Germ army w clearly su rior to the Ru ian, but the a nce of two Ger corps from the weste front w to have crucial results, as we shall e.
B in moved quickly to dominate the as and by the end of August controlled the Atlantic. Germany had built a huge fleet, but Kai r Wil­ helm w ldn't risk it on the high as to keep commerce o n He didn't want anything to hap n to it, ing convinced that the very existence of the fleet would rve his pur . Thouhg Admi von T pitz tried to bring a ut a more active licy, Wilhelm p ively allowed the British to t up their bl kade of Ge y. This British su riority led to the de­ velopment of the U- or submarines by the Ge an a means of preventing shi from reaching Britain and of establishing a counter-bl k­
ade. On the weste front, German tr entered French territory on Au t , fo owing the hlieffen Plan strategy of an enveloping action to encircle the French army and annihilate it But the hlief n Plan w n't working out well: l an r istance had slowed the German the British ditionary For had landed and was providing strong resis­ tance, and the Germans d rately needed the two cor that had en nt to the e te front when the Rians mobil d m quickly than ex cted The French Fi and nd Armi had e aped from the German "envelo " and the Germans had an ex d fl The French Gener Joffre anno ced a unterattack on the M e River to stop the German advance. T late Von Moltke reali d the danger and ordered a re oupin But his men were exhausted from 24-mile r day march they we di gani d and confu Joffre's reinforcement men, detr ned in Paris but had no trans rtation to the front Joffre drafted s into rvi . The men were rushed to the front and held the ound After fierce fi ting, the Germans retreated and established new lin e British and French were unable to break th e line but the hlieffen Plan had en d isively defeated
By the end of 4, th sides had dug into trenches, in lines that would not va mo than ten in either direction in the next ur year The Germans held all but a strip of l um and a ut a tenth of F . To hold the lines thou nds of lives would l t, as the machine guns in the trenches mowed down the attacking ldier The horrors of