[LeanderK]

>> Battles have rarely been massive charges from two sides of a flat battlefield, as we see in war movies.

Except e.g. WW1, which was just waves of senseless charging into machine-guns. It's hard to convince soldiers to charge into almost certain death but in war on an industrial scale (to which I would also count the napoleonic wars) it's possible. War can be unbelievable cruel, just compare the practice of decimating your army in roman times. You just kill every tenth soldier of your own army, because an army nine tenth its size that follows your orders is more useful than an army in full strength that does not.

[nicbou]

WW1 was a lot more dynamic than popular history credits it to be. Over a few years, every practice of warfare evolved to make the charge across no man's land as successful as possible, while the enemy tried its best to thwart it.

Remember that this war started with cavalry charges and ended with tanks and airplanes.