ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that through its long process of innovation and apprenticeship in the trenches the French army had become Europe's first 'modern' army by the end of the war. It expands upon the scholarship of Goya and others by providing a detailed operational study of a key moment in the French army's development. The book focuses almost solely on the weaknesses of the French army during this period while mentioning few if any of its strengths, a likely side-effect of Lloyd's use of sources such as Clayton and Douglas Porch, neither of whom maintain much esteem for the French army in the First World War. It explores spring 1915 more generally as a period of rapid evolution and intense interest to the study of the First World War.
