Lest we forget - canadian grave

[Seaspriter]

there were hundreds of thousands of men tied up on a bloody beach. It just blows your mind. Why did the Generals not see they had to breakout at all costs to get out of that awful killing ground

Gil, your point is right on. That "War to End All Wars" was probably the most horrible of wars. The Battles like the Somme or Passchendaele were nothing but UGLY. The Battle of the Somme saw 10,000 casualties/HOUR. Lloyd George wrote, "Passchendaele was indeed one of the greatest disasters of the war ... No soldier of any intelligence now defends this senseless campaign ...". Between the British and German forces at Passchendaele there were over 1/2 million casualties. The gunfire was so intense it was just a din.

But the larger issues still prevail -- the strategy and tactics of the generals in particular: why didn't they use tanks and aircraft better. At the Battle of Cambrai it was clearly demonstrated that entrenched defenses could be overrun by a surprise and a rapid attack by combined use of infantry, artillery, tanks and aircraft in attacks. The French Renault FT tank was a real beauty, but not used well by the British.

And of course, there is the largest issue of all: Why was the war fought in the first place? It wasn't good versus evil, like the second world war, or over economics or philosophy; maybe it was territory, but why didn't peace negotiations start earlier? The common answer as to "why" is "entangling alliances." I say it was people got caught in the frenzy of war -- sensibility got lost, lives meant little to the generals, and the old methods were slow to be replaced (unlike the second world war).