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Western Front
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The Western Front was a term used during the First and Second World Wars to describe the "contested armed frontier" between lands controlled by Germany to the East and the Allies to the West. After the first few months of World War I (WWI) which started in August 1914, until the last few months during the summer of 1918, the Western Front consisted of a relatively static line of trench systems which stretched from the coast of the North Sea southwards to the Swiss border. To try to break through the opposing lines of trenches and barbed wire entanglements, both sides employed huge artillery bombardments followed by attacks by tens of thousands of soldiers. Battles could last for months and lead to casualties measured in hundreds of thousands for attacker and defender alike. After most of these attacks, only a short section of the front would have moved and only by a kilometer or two. The principal adversaries on the Western Front, who fielded armies of millions of men, were Germany to the East against a western alliance to the West consisting of: France and the United Kingdom with sizable contingents from the British Empire and British Dominions.
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The Western Front in Europe was the largest and costliest front in the Great War. It opened in 1914 when Germany invaded France and Belgium, following a plan conceived by Alfred von Schlieffen based on Robert E. Lee's 1862 invasion of Pennsylvania. For the next three years, German troops battled British, French, and Belgian forces on a mostly stationary front, though the Germans did take Verdun in 1916. Poison gas, barrels, and many generations of aeroplanes all saw their first action in Europe, and often in the world, on the Western Front.
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Commencing in Paris and ending in London, the Western Front tour takes you along the old front line once well known to the diggers throughout 1916-18. There are the places of great triumph and tragedy, such as Pozieres, Bullecourt, Fromelles, Ypres, Villers-Bretonneux, and Peronne. Looking with your guide at the battlefields, memorials and war cemeteries, the Australians’ stories unfold. There are ... the former ‘back areas’ appearing much as they did when the Australians were billeted and rested there. You will meet local French people to whom the memory of the diggers remains strong.
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The boom of the Western Front came about 1910 and its downfall came immediately following WWII. There were several factors which led to this downfall. The main reason was the building of the bypass through St. Paul, which made the Front land-locked and closed from the main flow of civilization. Also, several of the buildings on the Western Front had to be torn down in order to accommodate the floodplains during the redevelopment project of the late 1970s.
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The Western Front was founded in 1973 by eight artists who wanted to create a space for the exploration and creation of new art and new art forms. It quickly became a focal point for poets, dancers, musicians and visual artists. As a focal point of experimental art practice through the 1970’s and 80’s, the Western Front, and other centres like it, played a major role in the development of the electronic art form. This includes video-art, sound-art, the use of telecommunications to explore a global arts network, and the use of computer-interactive technologies to explore the connection between the art-viewer and the art-space. From the outset, the Western Front has been linked to similar ventures in other countries. Over the years the organization has become the training ground and springboard for many young artists, especially those working outside the commercial art market.
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Fighting on the Western Front was preceded by the Phony War. Fighting began with Operation Weserübung, the German invasion of Denmark and Norway, in April, 1940. The next month, the Germans launched the Battle of France. The Western Allies — primarily the French and British — soon collapsed under the onslaught of the German blitzkrieg. The British escaped at Dunkirk, while the French Army surrendered with 90,000 dead and 200,000 wounded. Fighting along the Front ended, and the German army began preparations to invade England.
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Western Front