The Great War gave Europe its first real taste of conditions close to total war, and it also illustrated the ease at which modern weapons could devour an opponent’s army without much actual territorial gain.‘ Politicians and statesmen felt the impacts of the Great War, as they had to hold their nerves and pursue policies that required military victories} They also had to provide the unprecedented requirements of the military for its costly campaigns, both in terms of men and materiel} The attrition and mutilation experienced at the fronts was something that the high command of all powers had to endure, and in tum, the men fighting in the front lines had their masculinity and sanity tested in previously unheard of conditions. The home front was …show more content…
Robin Higham asserts that it was the failure of the political and military leaders in 1914 to understand the full ramifications and costs of a continental war on their societies, ideologies and economies that ultimately led to the carnage known as the Great