With the Battle of the Aisne grinding to a halt as trench warfare gradually set in, both the German and Allied commanders realised the dominance of the defensive, established by quick firing artillery and the machinegun, meaning that casualties in frontal attacks on a dug-in enemy were enormously heavy. Consequently, the armies sought to outflank the opposition by heading north in a set of manoeuvres known as the Race to the Sea. During this phase Field Marshal French insisted on redeploying the British Expeditionary Force to the Allied left, nearer the Chanel ports.

In October 1914 as the Battle of the Aisne drew to a close both the Allies and the Germans started to dig in. In an attempt to go back to mobile warfare both sides tried to outflank the other by manoeuvring around their western flank. The Race to the sea had begun. As a result of this movement the BEF moved from just North east of Paris to the Allies western flank in Flanders. This is the story of the BEF's desperate attempts to outflank the Germans and prevent themselves from being outflanked.