good quote from Gary Sheffield supporting your point of view. Keith.

i've heard this sort of thing said about Grant, in the American civil war. this casual acceptance of murder.

doesn't there come a point though where the sheer quantitative nature of the casualties of the first world war, make a qualitative judgement necessary. and that moral lapse is really clincher - to call them donkeys is an insult to donkeys.

you say it the modern view of the situation - but really current thinking is more accurately reflected by Obama and Cameron who are loath to put troops on the ground and prey to the vicissitudes of landscape and terrain.

also - unlike Grant. first world war Generals were not faced with a challenge to the integrity of their nation - the reasons for fighting were pretty bloody recondite - bordering on bloody nonsense.