Jun 17, 2026 · 24 min · 10 segments
Send us Fan Mail The First World War was the culmination of the age of empires meeting the industrial revolution of the late 19th century. The…
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The arrival of yet another year of the Great War was greeted very differently on the opposing sides that were left engaged in the fight for the European continent and beyond.
The revolutions in Russia the year before had seen the communists rise to power under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, who was now the effective head of the country, despite still facing opposition in what was quickly becoming a civil war.
The Russian communists sought peace with Berlin and the Central Powers, with this agreement being finalized on March 3, 1918 with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which heavily favored Russia but allowed Berlin to at least withdraw from the war in order to focus on finishing off the remaining resistance in their own country and to consolidate their power.
This of course was devastating news to the Entente powers of the British and French empires and their various allies such as Italy and Japan.
For it meant that the Germans could refocus their efforts and resources against the Western Front where the war would be won or lost.
On the Western Front, Allied morale was particularly low.
Three years of bloody slaughter and repeated promises that the next offensive would see the war over by the following Christmas that ended up unfulfilled had left troops disillusioned and bitter, even leading to a mutiny in the French army while the British were increasingly having to contend with many of its Imperial troops wondering why they were dying thousands of miles from home in a war that didn't seem to concern them anymore.
The saving grace was that the United States had now stepped into the war, but they were still largely mobilizing to full strength by the time of the Russian Peace Treaty.
Thus as the treaty was being hammered out by diplomats, German military commanders sensed an opportunity to break through the Western Front with one massive push, defeating the Entente powers before the Americans could arrive in significant enough strength to impact the war.
Dubbed the Kaiserschlacht, or Kaiser's Battle, it was to be a spring offensive in order to make the most of the good weather and would take place less than a month after peace had been secured with the Russians.
The offensive was hardly a secret, such was its scale that it became impossible to conceal it.
British soldier Richard Tobin later recalled the mood in the trenches as the Germans went about their meticulous preparations.
Quote, End quote.
In the early hours of March 21, 1918, the Germans began an immense bombardment of the British and French lines.
The German gunners were now far more experienced than they were three years prior, and their guns smashed the opposing trenches, severing communications in key areas and leaving pockets of troops cut off from support.
Blessed with an early morning fog to aid in their concealment, the German infantry then came out of their trenches after the British and French had been bombarded for almost five straight hours.
The offensive was largely focused on the British army positioned between the Somme River and the English Channel, hoping to decisively defeat the British and force them to retreat home, and in doing so, forcing the French to then negotiate for a peace favourable to Germany.
With the Germans able to redeploy 50 divisions from the now defunct Eastern Front, the Western Front heaved and then broke under the German onslaught.
The Germans made great use of their stormtroopers, specially trained and hard-fighting men who could punch holes in some of the weaker sections of the Allied lines in order to allow follow-up troops to pour in and outflank their enemy.
Almost straight away, the Allies were in trouble.
The British Third and Fifth Armies, who were positioned just north of where the British and French lines met, found themselves in a fighting retreat, trying desperately not to get outflanked by the rapid advance of the German troops.
Despite this, on the first day alone, the British suffered 21,000 taken prisoner, over 10,000 wounded, and over 7,000 killed.
Within days, the Germans were seemingly on the verge of achieving a stunning victory, the Allied lines having been redrawn as much as 12 miles in some areas, an astonishing feat for the day.
Realising he could not meet the threat alone, British Field Marshal Douglas Haig, the Supreme Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was forced to accept French General Ferdinand Foch as the Supreme Western Front Commander on March 26th, in order to harmonise the overall Allied response to the increasingly perilous situation.
However, the German success was not fully exploited, preventing it from becoming the disaster it could have been for the Allies.
The arrival of yet another year of the Great War was greeted very differently on the opposing sides that were left engaged in the fight for the European continent and beyond.
The revolutions in Russia the year before had seen the communists rise to power under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin, who was now the effective head of the country, despite still facing opposition in what was quickly becoming a civil war.
The Russian communists sought peace with Berlin and the Central Powers, with this agreement being finalized on March 3, 1918 with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, which heavily favored Russia but allowed Berlin to at least withdraw from the war in order to focus on finishing off the remaining resistance in their own country and to consolidate their power.
This of course was devastating news to the Entente powers of the British and French empires and their various allies such as Italy and Japan.
For it meant that the Germans could refocus their efforts and resources against the Western Front where the war would be won or lost.
On the Western Front, Allied morale was particularly low.
Three years of bloody slaughter and repeated promises that the next offensive would see the war over by the following Christmas that ended up unfulfilled had left troops disillusioned and bitter, even leading to a mutiny in the French army while the British were increasingly having to contend with many of its Imperial troops wondering why they were dying thousands of miles from home in a war that didn't seem to concern them anymore.
The saving grace was that the United States had now stepped into the war, but they were still largely mobilizing to full strength by the time of the Russian Peace Treaty.
Thus as the treaty was being hammered out by diplomats, German military commanders sensed an opportunity to break through the Western Front with one massive push, defeating the Entente powers before the Americans could arrive in significant enough strength to impact the war.
Dubbed the Kaiserschlacht, or Kaiser's Battle, it was to be a spring offensive in order to make the most of the good weather and would take place less than a month after peace had been secured with the Russians.
The offensive was hardly a secret, such was its scale that it became impossible to conceal it.
British soldier Richard Tobin later recalled the mood in the trenches as the Germans went about their meticulous preparations.
Quote, End quote.
In the early hours of March 21, 1918, the Germans began an immense bombardment of the British and French lines.
The German gunners were now far more experienced than they were three years prior, and their guns smashed the opposing trenches, severing communications in key areas and leaving pockets of troops cut off from support.
Blessed with an early morning fog to aid in their concealment, the German infantry then came out of their trenches after the British and French had been bombarded for almost five straight hours.
The offensive was largely focused on the British army positioned between the Somme River and the English Channel, hoping to decisively defeat the British and force them to retreat home, and in doing so, forcing the French to then negotiate for a peace favourable to Germany.
With the Germans able to redeploy 50 divisions from the now defunct Eastern Front, the Western Front heaved and then broke under the German onslaught.
The Germans made great use of their stormtroopers, specially trained and hard-fighting men who could punch holes in some of the weaker sections of the Allied lines in order to allow follow-up troops to pour in and outflank their enemy.
Almost straight away, the Allies were in trouble.
The British Third and Fifth Armies, who were positioned just north of where the British and French lines met, found themselves in a fighting retreat, trying desperately not to get outflanked by the rapid advance of the German troops.
Despite this, on the first day alone, the British suffered 21,000 taken prisoner, over 10,000 wounded, and over 7,000 killed.
Within days, the Germans were seemingly on the verge of achieving a stunning victory, the Allied lines having been redrawn as much as 12 miles in some areas, an astonishing feat for the day.
Realising he could not meet the threat alone, British Field Marshal Douglas Haig, the Supreme Commander of the British Expeditionary Force, was forced to accept French General Ferdinand Foch as the Supreme Western Front Commander on March 26th, in order to harmonise the overall Allied response to the increasingly perilous situation.
However, the German success was not fully exploited, preventing it from becoming the disaster it could have been for the Allies.
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