First Battle of Ypres - Aftermath

Aftermath

The German attempt to seek a decisive victory had failed, despite their superior numbers in men and artillery. Their command cohesion, while better than that of the Allies, failed to gain them an advantage. The Germans had failed to co-ordinate their assaults, pushing formations forward without retaining reserves for breakthroughs. Their method of seeking a weak spot by trying many merely exhausted their infantry. German intelligence was also very poor. They consistently believed the small numbers of enemy infantry were outposts only, and had radically overestimated the strength of Allied forces.

After the battle Erich von Falkenhayn reasoned that there is no more possibility for Germany to win the war. On 18 November 1914 he claimed a diplomatic solution, but Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff disagreed.

The battle also marked out the superiority of the defensive over the offensive. Lightly armed Cavalry had proven quite able to hold off mass attacks by enemy formations backed by artillery. The Allied success had been defensive, not offensive. This problem would not be solved completely until the Hundred Days Offensive, in the late summer and autumn of 1918. British casualties 14 October—30 November were 58,155, French losses 86,237 and German losses 15 October—24 November 134,315.

The battle also had a profound effect on Douglas Haig. Haig became the C-in-C of the British Army in December 1915 and firmly believed the Germans had called off their offensive too early, given the condition of the Allied forces. It was a mistake he was determined not to repeat. He believed that victory would belong to the side that 'stuck it out'. During the Third Battle of Ypres, Haig made references to the events of 31 October 1914, when the Germans had failed to seize their best opportunity, claiming, "we must not make the same error".

The British and French held differing opinions over the value of Flanders. The British saw the German use of Ostend and Zeebrugge as threats to their naval supremacy in European waters. Should this materialise, reinforcement shipping from Britain to France could be threatened by German submarines and ships. In January 1915, 1916 and 1917, plans arose for an amphibious assault the German-held Belgian coast but were shelved. During the Second Battle of Ypres, April to May 1915, the indifference which the French displayed to the danger was evident again. They desired to cover Paris, while the British safeguarded the ports. However, the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917 represented the British desire to eliminate the problem, which failed to achieve its strategic objective. During the German Spring Offensive in 1918, Operation Georgette also attempted to break through to the channel ports, although by this stage tentatice Anglo-French co-ordination was beginning after the recent appointment of Foch as Allied Generalissimo. On 28 September 1918, it was an army group under the command of Albert of Belgium, comprising the Belgian Army, British Second Army and French Sixth Army that broke the Flanders front. Ostend and Lille fell on 17 October and Zeebrugge to the Belgians on 19 October, ending the Flanders Campaign.