On July 1st 1916 the battle for the Somme began. This battle would be one of the bloodiest battles ever fought. Among the men who were there was a war correspondent by the name of Philip Gibbs. This battle had a great loss of life that Gibbs recalls seeing wave after wave of infantry go over the top. Day after day these infantry would be killed. The artillery fire was fearsome making craters where men use to stand only a moment ago. Gibbs notes how the British soldiers are cut down by machine gun fire but continue onwards as commanded by their officers. The battle showed the great training of the British soldiers in how they can keep going onward no matter what. This story is one example of how the start of offensive vs defensive theory comes
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He wrote an article called “The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of the First World War” and in this article he makes many points on why the Cult of the Offensive was the origination of the First World War. The primary argument for this article was that the Cult of the Offensive was the cause of World War I. He argues that this was very prominent in the decades leading up to the First World War. Military leaders as well as civilian elites glorified the offensive and strategies that came from them. These strategies assumed that the offensive could over power any defensive …show more content…
He states that both alliances are offensive in nature. They supported each other whether their actions were defensive or provocative. This meant that a local war would become a European war. Germany did not believe Britain would enter the war so they decided to press their advantage against the Entente. Both of these examples are strong evidence for the presence of the Cult of the Offensive. British are blamed for war because they did not make it clear to Germany that they would enter the war. German secrecy played a role in this indecision and it was the culture that was offensive and secrecy orientated that was to blame for the war according to Stephen Van
He wrote an article called “The Cult of the Offensive and the Origins of the First World War” and in this article he makes many points on why the Cult of the Offensive was the origination of the First World War. The primary argument for this article was that the Cult of the Offensive was the cause of World War I. He argues that this was very prominent in the decades leading up to the First World War. Military leaders as well as civilian elites glorified the offensive and strategies that came from them. These strategies assumed that the offensive could over power any defensive …show more content…
He states that both alliances are offensive in nature. They supported each other whether their actions were defensive or provocative. This meant that a local war would become a European war. Germany did not believe Britain would enter the war so they decided to press their advantage against the Entente. Both of these examples are strong evidence for the presence of the Cult of the Offensive. British are blamed for war because they did not make it clear to Germany that they would enter the war. German secrecy played a role in this indecision and it was the culture that was offensive and secrecy orientated that was to blame for the war according to Stephen Van