Mr.+Rhodes+-+Essay+1

Prior to WWI, predictions of a short, decisive war relied on the assumption that that the first to mobilize would win. When Germany failed to effectively execute the Schliefen Plan, action shifted from the rapid movement of troops to the trenches, where new technologies, like the machine gun, disproportionately aided the defender. WWI's decent into a protracted war of attrition was therefore the result of early strategic errors and the rise of new, defensive technologies.

Body 1 - Belief in short war Body 2 - Failure of the Schlieffen Plan Body 3 - Defensive technologies