GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES
From the Somme to the Persian Gulf, Lessons on Shows of Force
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May 22, 2019 | 11:00 GMT
![British soldiers from the Public Schools Battalions during the 1916 Battle of the Somme in France.](https://worldview.stratfor.com/sites/default/files/styles/2x1_full/public/Battle%20Somme%20Soldiers.jpg?itok=DE_TayPt)
Public School boys Battalion during the Battle of the Somme 1916.
(Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)
Highlights
- European leaders saw their shows of force turn into war in 1914, and then their promises of easy victory turn into a four-year slaughter.
- World War I presents those willing to learn with many lessons, starting with the fact that wars rarely go as planned.
- A small British force invaded Iran in 1918 — a "mad enterprise," one British commander called it. It was a risky action, and any similar action today would be just as risky.
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