Acoup: The Trench Stalemate
While that article rightfully points to the operational advantages of the defender (coordinated counter attacks with unhindered artillery support) it leaves out some of the options that could have changed the situation: Air force, tanks, and motorization.<p>Each of these techniques had the potential to dramatically shift the balance of the war:<p>Air attacks could have taken out the counter artillery batteries. (Look at what planes Germany threw over the channel.)<p>Tanks could have carried the advance much faster (and did in the later stages of the war) and, more importantly, made counter attacks so much more difficult.<p>Motorization, in particular the use of light mobile infantry (e.g., German Kradschützen) could have enabled quick lateral movement of troops. Instead of trying to breakthrough over maybe 5km of the front, mobile units could have fanned out to attack the first line from the flanks over a range of tens of km.<p>All these &quot;wonder weapons&quot; did exist in WW1 but were not deployed in large formations (except for tanks). I think the main reason was that there simply was no large industry supporting the armies with these systems when the war started.