Challenge #02171-E342: The Depths to Crawl

It will be called the Battle of the Somme. It will begin on a date that will be called July 1, 1916. In this charge, on the first day twenty-thousand men will die. Twenty-five thousand more will be wounded. But most will survive, and charge again another day.

Belisarius shook his head. "How-?"

We do not know. We do not fully understand humans, even the Great Ones. But you will do it. You will do it again and again and again. And you will survive, again and again and again. We do not know how. But you will.

— Belisarius Series -- c/- Anon Guest

When learning of Human history, one of the most common questions is, Why did they DO that? and one of the most bemusing passages of Human history is the first modern war. The first multi-national use of rapid fire in Terran combat held large cultural artefacts dating from combat techniques set in a more romantic period of history[1].

Cavalry charges had been proven to be no good against machine guns, but the Humans persisted in trying them anyway. They were, of course, failures. Humanity persisted, with people running into gunfire instead of knights mounted on horses charging at the enemy.

The thought at the time was that enough people on the field would outweigh the enemy forces and win. The thought was wrong, just like the thought that a multinational war fought with devastating weaponry would be over before an incredibly popular midwinter festival. Those in charge of the combat, who rarely saw the impact of it in the front like, continued in their mistaken belief that more bodies on the field of conflict was the key towards winning the war.

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