Editing Western Front (World War I) (section)

===Trench warfare===
{{Main|Trench warfare}}
[[File:Eerste Wereldoorlog, landoorlog, Duitse loopgraaf aan het westelijk front, 1915, SFA001005349.jpg|thumb|A German trench on the Western Front in 1915]]
Trench warfare in 1914, while not new, quickly improved and provided a very high degree of defense. According to two prominent historians:
:Trenches were longer, deeper, and better defended by steel, concrete, and barbed wire than ever before. They were far stronger and more effective than chains of forts, for they formed a continuous network, sometimes with four or five parallel lines linked by interfacings. They were dug far below the surface of the earth out of reach of the heaviest artillery.... Grand battles with the old maneuvers were out of the question. Only by bombardment, sapping, and assault could the enemy be shaken, and such operations had to be conducted on an immense scale to produce appreciable results. Indeed, it is questionable whether the German lines in France could ever have been broken if the Germans had not wasted their resources in unsuccessful assaults, and the blockade by sea had not gradually cut off their supplies. In such warfare no single general could strike a blow that would make him immortal; the "glory of fighting" sank down into the dirt and mire of trenches and dugouts.{{sfn|Robinson|Beard|1930|pp=324–325}}