Definitions for "Western Front"
Keywords:  belgium, luxembourg, trench, war, swiss
the area of military operations during the First World War which ran from Belgium, through northern France, and to the Swiss border.
Front established in World War I; generally along line from Belgium to Switzerland; featured trench warfare and horrendous casualties for all sides in the conflict. (p. 841)
Following the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Both sides then dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France.