Redfield 1

Jeb Redfield Global Studies 2 3/25/14 French Military: WWI By the time WWI started the French army had lots of troops, some were trained and others were not. The army was full of young men. The army had over 1 million troops that were trained and ready for battle. At the end of the war the French army had over 8 million troops but there were 4.2 million casualties. The army also fought along with their allies that had the same amount or even more troops which helped them in the war. When the threat of war released throughout the world, France wasnt so sure that they wanted to join it. They had lots of good reasons and lots of bad reasons for joining. They had a good size army but he soldiers were untrained, they had lots of planes but not a lot of pilots, but they had many good reasons. They wanted to reclaim all of the land that they lost in the FrancoPrussian war. The French were part of the Triple Entente so when Germany declared war on Russia, France had no choice but to help their allies and join the war. This is why France had to join WWI. The French military used lots of strategies and tactics throughout the war. The French had lots of planes and were right along the western front. They used lots of bombers to help them push back the Germans and to help them invade them. They produced the first strategic bombing unit in history. They used a plan called Plan 17, it was a plan to invade Germany and take back Alsace-Lorraine, then turn back and invade Austria- Hungary. The plan had some initial success but then it was dropped due to the Germans Schlieffen Plan. The French had lots of good and successful tactics and strategies throughout WWI. The war for France started when Russia mobilized and Germany marched through Belgium to France but they were stopped. The location they were stopped at was known as the western front. When they marched through Belgium, it caused Great Britain to declare war on Germany. While that was occurring the Austro-Hungarians were defeated by the Russians. Russia tried to invade East Prussia but they were stopped by the Germans. The end of the war was known as the hundred day offense by the Allied powers, when they pushed back the Germans with tanks, planes, and lots of ground troops. The end of the days resulted in the Central Powers defeated and the Ally Victory. The war showed lots of thing about the military of each country and what new weapons were created and how they had a huge impact on the war. Lots of people were killed in the war; the French had a military of 8million plus men but, 4.2 million casualties and 1.3 million deaths. The war showed lots of the strengths and weaknesses of each country except America, it showed

Redfield 2

that the French were strong and that they could defend themselves and not be a weak country for Germany to invade.