> So they would just lead mass charges into fortified positions with artillery and machine guns
That wasn't just in the early days, lots of countries, armies and generals failed to adapt. Cadorna from Italy, von Hotzendorf from Austria-Hungary, most Ottoman and Russian generals sent their men to die the same way at the end as at the beginning. Germany, France, UK learned (sometimes) from their mistakes, but not everyone did. For instance when the US joined, the US commander, Pershing, disregarded all allied military experience and advice and the US army had to learn everything the hard way because they were led by someone stuck in another type of conflict (punitive expedition against an inferior enemy).
But the begining of WWI was especially terrible due to the the emphasis on attack, colourful uniforms, and the disregard for defense. Machine guns mowing troops marching with music... There were mass charges in the first weeks and in the last weeks, but they were vastly different (creeping barrage to protect infantry and soften up the enemy, helmets to protect heads, coordination, etc.)
> So they would just lead mass charges into fortified positions with artillery and machine guns
That wasn't just in the early days, lots of countries, armies and generals failed to adapt. Cadorna from Italy, von Hotzendorf from Austria-Hungary, most Ottoman and Russian generals sent their men to die the same way at the end as at the beginning. Germany, France, UK learned (sometimes) from their mistakes, but not everyone did. For instance when the US joined, the US commander, Pershing, disregarded all allied military experience and advice and the US army had to learn everything the hard way because they were led by someone stuck in another type of conflict (punitive expedition against an inferior enemy).
But the begining of WWI was especially terrible due to the the emphasis on attack, colourful uniforms, and the disregard for defense. Machine guns mowing troops marching with music... There were mass charges in the first weeks and in the last weeks, but they were vastly different (creeping barrage to protect infantry and soften up the enemy, helmets to protect heads, coordination, etc.)