The First World War saw a frightening number of casualties. Partly because of this fact, some historians developed the perception that commanders on both sides depended on a single disastrous approach to break the stalemate. These historians attributed the loss of life to the reliance on soldiers charging across no man's land only to be mowed down by enemy machine guns. The accuracy of this, however, is fallacious because both the Germans and the Allies developed and used a variety of tactics throughout the war. The primary reason for the Allies' battlefield success and eventual victory came from the transformation of battlefield tactics; however, morality played an important role by greatly influencing the development of new tactics and the final outcome of the war. Tactics during the early stages of the war led to the massacre of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and enormous morale loss on the part of the Allies. . The Allies originally employed Napoleonic-era tactics that relied heavily on infantry lining up shoulder to shoulder and advancing across open fields. The French also claimed that if they attacked with superior morale they could defeat any enemy. Due to the widespread use of machine guns and long-range rifles, these tactics resulted in enormous casualties. The French and English also continued to funnel soldiers into failed offensives, even though the battle resulted in little to no gain, which further led to a decline in morale. With thousands of soldiers dead, the armies could not continue to fight with these tactics otherwise the armies would cease to exist or the soldiers would refuse to continue fighting. When Allied soldiers began to refuse to return to the front lines, their officers, in response, made compromises to hold back what I... middle of paper... had to retreat or be cut off from their supplies. The German High Command, at this point, knew they could no longer continue fighting and would have to surrender or face annihilation. Tactical changes within both major armies fighting on the Western Front would ultimately lead to battlefield success for both sides, while at the same time leading to a conflict situation. imminent Allied victory. The Germans on the one hand developed the use of combined arms, the Stormtroopers. These soldiers, while very successful, also led to the destruction of German morale and reserves due to high casualty rates. On the other hand, the Allies countered their original tactical failures by maintaining morale and developing their own tactics. These new tactics included the creeping barrage, the difeme en profoundeur, and the bite and hold. By combining these problems with real strategy, the Allies prevailed over the weakened German army.