First Ypres, 1914: the trenches reach the sea

By the numbers
Side	Strength	Casualties	Killed
Entente	~420,000	~160,000	~55,000
German Empire	~600,000	~135,000	~46,000

By the numbers

Side

Strength

Casualties

Killed

Entente

~420,000

~160,000

~55,000

German Empire

~600,000

~135,000

~46,000

Quick answer

The Allies held Ypres in the First Battle of Ypres, fought in October and November 1914, ending the opening war of movement¹ on the Western Front. It was the last time the armies could try to outflank one another; when it was over, the front had frozen into a continuous line of trenches from the sea to Switzerland².

In October and November 1914, around the Flemish town of Ypres, the opening war of movement in the west came to its end. The First Battle of Ypres was the last time the armies could still try to outflank one another, and when it was over the front had frozen into a continuous line of trenches from the sea to Switzerland.

The race to the sea

After their retreat from the Marne, the Germans and the Allies each tried to work around the other's open northern flank, reaching ever closer to the Channel¹. The two sides finally collided in Flanders, and the last gap in the line was at Ypres.

Map of northern France and Belgium in 1914 with the front line from the Swiss border to the sea — The Western Front in the autumn of 1914: the German withdrawal to the Aisne, the race to the sea and the stabilised line running north to the First Battle of Ypres. US Military Academy atlas. Public domain

The stand in Flanders

The Germans threw repeated attacks at Ypres, trying to break through to the Channel ports¹. British, French and Belgian troops held them off³ in weeks of desperate fighting. The cost fell heavily on Britain's small professional army, much of which was destroyed defending the town².

The last open flank closed at Ypres, and the war of movement was over.

The line sets hard

By late November both sides were exhausted and dug in for the winter¹. The salient bulging around Ypres, hard to defend and overlooked from the ridges, would be fought over again and again for the rest of the war. That first Christmas, along parts of the line, British and German soldiers met in no man's land during the Christmas truce of 1914.

British sergeant in a sandbagged trench looking through a periscope — A sergeant of the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots, watches the German lines through a trench periscope near Kemmel in the Ypres salient, January 1915. Public domain

What the battle decided

First Ypres confirmed the deadlock that would define the Western Front for four years. The name itself became a byword for that front, and Ypres would return to history in 1915, when the first great gas attack was launched against its lines⁴.

The Ypres salient

The Belgian town of Ypres sat at the center of a bulge in the Allied line, the Ypres salient, and became one of the most fought-over places of the First World War. The First Battle of Ypres in the autumn of 1914 ended the war of movement in the north and locked the front into trenches; the Second Battle in 1915 saw one of the first large-scale uses of poison gas.

Shattered stone tower and walls of the Cloth Hall in Ypres — The ruins of the medieval Cloth Hall, its belfry and the south portal of the cathedral in Ypres, on a Belgian postcard published after the war. Public domain

Holding the salient meant being overlooked and shelled from three sides, and the fighting there was some of the war's most costly.

A byword for the Western Front

The salient was fought over again in 1917 in the Third Battle of Ypres⁴, remembered as Passchendaele, whose sea of mud became a symbol of the war's futility and slaughter. After the war the Menin Gate at Ypres was raised to the many thousands of missing dead⁵.

Postcard view of the Menin Gate memorial arch in Ypres — The Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing on a Belgian postcard of about 1927, the year it was unveiled. It bears the names of more than 54,000 Commonwealth soldiers with no known grave. Public domain

See it among the defining battles of the war in the greatest battles of the First World War.

Frequently asked questions

Why did the First Battle of Ypres mark the end of the war of movement?

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 was the last time the armies could still try to outflank one another in the west, and when it was over the front had frozen into a continuous line of trenches from the sea to Switzerland.

What was the race to the sea that led to First Ypres?

After the retreat from the Marne, in 1914 the Germans and the Allies each tried to work around the other's open northern flank toward the Channel, until they collided in Flanders where the last gap in the line was at Ypres.

Who paid the heaviest price at the First Battle of Ypres?

At the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 the cost fell heavily on Britain's small professional army, much of which was destroyed in weeks of desperate fighting to hold the town against repeated German attacks.

Why was the Ypres salient significant for the rest of the war?

After First Ypres in 1914 both sides dug in for the winter around a salient that bulged around the town, hard to defend and overlooked from the ridges, and it would be fought over again and again for the rest of the war.

What was the lasting significance of the First Battle of Ypres?

The First Battle of Ypres in 1914 confirmed the deadlock that defined the Western Front for four years, and Ypres returned to history in 1915 when the first great gas attack was launched against its lines.

Who won the First Battle of Ypres?

At the First Battle of Ypres in 1914 the British, French and Belgian defenders held the town and stopped the German attempt to break through to the Channel ports, so it counts as a defensive Allied success. The victory came at a heavy cost, with much of Britain's small professional army destroyed in the fighting.

Sources and notes

Numbered notes in the text point to the works below.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, “First Battle of Ypres” ↩ a b c d

Ian F. W. Beckett, Ypres: The First Battle, 1914 (Pearson Longman, 2004). ↩ a b

Jack Sheldon, The German Army at Ypres 1914 (Pen & Sword Military, 2010). ↩

Imperial War Museums, “Second Battle of Ypres 22 April - 25 May 1915” ↩ a b

Commonwealth War Graves Commission, “Ypres (Menin Gate): A Living Memorial to the Missing” ↩

Wikipedia, “First Battle of Ypres”