100 years on, leaders and citizens alike must heed the lessons of Europe’s ‘Great War’
The first world war was a collective failure from the top down and we must all remember its lessons
On this day, June 24, a century ago, the Allies began their bloodiest battle of the first world war. The purpose was to relieve the French army of crushing pressure on them at Verdun in northeastern France.
In the same year, the Battle of the Somme started with a week-long shelling of the German front line. The British high command believed that through saturated artillery bombardment of the fortified German front, its infantry would be able to make a real breakthrough. In all, some 1.7 million shells were showered on the German positions spread over a 24km front, averaging some 70 shells per metre.
However, the military high command’s expectations of the strategy were proven totally wrong from day one. Despite the unprecedented artillery bombardment, the bulk of the German defences remained intact. The British infantry alone suffered more than 60,000 casualties on the first day of their attack, with close to 20,000 killed. It was the worst casualty record in British military history.
As had been proven in the first two years of the war, strategically positioned machine guns were the main killing machines. Foot soldiers were literally mowed down by the hundreds as they advanced in lines, shoulder to shoulder, as if in the Napoleonic wars. Cavalry units were still being put forward as attack units even though they had proven to be little more than a short-term morale booster for troops as they charged to their bloody end.
By the time of the Battle of the Somme, the war had already evolved into the “total war” of the industrial era. Artillery firepower became fiercer by the month. Tanks were first brought into use during the Somme offensive, and air forces were formed on both sides, equipping each with more deadly fighting machines.
Yet the conservative high command on both sides remained resistant to change. They learned far too slowly from the first two years of the war. They had failed to take note of the many casualties incurred in the American civil war, which had taken place half a century earlier and was a prelude to modern warfare. Eventually, extensive replacements of personnel at the commander level had to be made during and soon after the Battle of the Somme.