Warfare

Offensive à outrance

The French pre-war doctrine that unrelenting attack, driven by élan, would overcome any defense. It led to huge losses in the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914 and was gradually abandoned.

Mentioned in

• Chapter I The Long Fuse §9 Armies and War Plans
• Chapter III The War of Movement §1 Mobilization: Trains, Horses and Millions
• Chapter X The Machinery of War §6 The Learning Curve: From Lines to Combined Arms