For most of the war, the German Army was on the defensive on the Western Front while they dealt with the Russians in the East. This stemmed from the pre-War belief that the Russian army would be the greater threat to Germany, hence the early war objective of knocking out France before the Russians could mobilise. Due to geography as well, the Western Front, which by 1915 had stagnated, could be held by fewer men, allowing Germany to transfer reinforcements to the East. Because the Germans realised that their men on the Western Front were going to remain largely stationary until offensive operations resumed, more effort was made to construct better quality trenches. The British and the French however, was almost constantly on the offensive until late 1917 to mid 1918. As such, less effort was made to construct quality trenches as it was the belief that they would be abandoned once the British and French began pushing the Germans back.