SOURCE B Vickers machinegunners wearing their gas masks, 1916
war of attrition First World War modern warfare heavy artillery gunner's war machine gun
The nature of the fighting in the First World War seems to have taken all the main combatant forces by surprise. In place of a rapid movement ending in decisive victory for one side within the first few months, the war developed into a long-drawn-out conflict in which both sides found themselves in a stalemate. The war became a war of ‘attrition’ — victory would go to the side that endured the longest. Why did the war turn out like this? The answer is in the nature of the weapon systems the armies were using at the time.
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