A very important concept that fueled the French Plan 17 in World War I. The military intelligentsia of time preached that the elan, or enthusiasm, of the soldiers was the most important aspect of battle. This went so far as to prefer bayonet charges over machine guns. In the first days of The Great War in the Battle of the Frontiers the French were quickly shown the error in this. Men were killed in such great numbers that some dead were left standing with the dead bodies of their fellow soldiers holding them up. Even after such massacres the concepts of elan and the importance of the offensive led to more pointless charges.