First Battle of the Marne
In the first months of the war, the German army advanced quickly into France and the French army was retreating. It appeared they might capture Paris, the French capital.
British and French allies debated on what to do. The British wanted to retreat further to port cities along the English Channel for a possible evacuation. The Military Governor of Paris pushed for a counterattack against the German flank to halt their advance on Paris.
When French reconnaissance planes spotted the German army split, the Allies decided to quickly attack on September 5, 1914. Hundreds of Paris taxi cabs were even used to rush soldiers to the front lines in the Marne River Valley northeast of Paris. This became the site of the first major battle along the Western Front in World War 1.
The two sides fought over the next week with machine guns, cannons, and calvary charges. The British and French allies were able to push the Germans back. After retreating 40 miles, the German armies dug in north of the Aisne River. Both sides then began the “Race to the Sea” as they attempted to outflank each other to the north while building trenches and reinforcing the front lines.
By the time the Battle of the Marne was over, each side suffered over 200,000 casualties. Both sides then became bogged down in slow, brutal trench warfare in which countless men died over the smallest of gains in territory.
The battle is known as the First Battle of the Marne because a second would occur in 1918, when another German offensive would be pushed back.
