Well, of course it's a sweeping generalization (I'm not sure about "over-"). It has to be when I'm discussing a four-year-long war in a few paragraphs.
To be precise, the British tactics were better than the French but worse than the Germans in the first years of the war. However, the French -- because they had gone for all-out offensive in the first year of the war -- sometimes showed better common sense than did the British around the middle of the war. In the last year, the British actually developed a proto-blitzkrieg and used it to good effect. Part of the reason why the British got better was that they pioneered the tank and were one of the pioneers of tactical aviation.
The most serious German strategic error was the Verdun Offensive, which bled them far worse than it did the French. OTOH, Verdun came close to breaking the French Army; had it succeeded we would be discussing the German strategic brilliance of Verdun (same point about Churchill and the Dardanelles Offensive). Generally, though, the German offensives of World War One were well-planned, well-executed, and (at least partially) successful.
Ironically, then, Verdun might be said to have been "successful," because the Somme was probably the battle that, more than any other, broke British morale permanently. British fear of intervention against Hitler, and her current mess, can all be said to trace back to those dreadful losses.
The damage just took decades to seep in, that's all.
To be precise, the British tactics were better than the French but worse than the Germans in the first years of the war. However, the French -- because they had gone for all-out offensive in the first year of the war -- sometimes showed better common sense than did the British around the middle of the war. In the last year, the British actually developed a proto-blitzkrieg and used it to good effect. Part of the reason why the British got better was that they pioneered the tank and were one of the pioneers of tactical aviation.
The most serious German strategic error was the Verdun Offensive, which bled them far worse than it did the French. OTOH, Verdun came close to breaking the French Army; had it succeeded we would be discussing the German strategic brilliance of Verdun (same point about Churchill and the Dardanelles Offensive). Generally, though, the German offensives of World War One were well-planned, well-executed, and (at least partially) successful.
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The damage just took decades to seep in, that's all.
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