This statement is partially valid. To assess the validity of the statement two aspects of the war should be taken in consideration. During the First World War modern, heavier and weapons more lethal than ever before were used for the first time. Traditional weapons were redesigned, making each soldier deadlier than before. However old tactics going back to the 19th century were used to combat the enemies. The First World War is often referred to …showed first 75 words of 1297 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1297 total…war of 1870 and are similar to weapons still used nowadays. However, the top level commanders of the fighting armies used old-fashioned, out of date strategies and were not aware or did not realise the possibilities offered by new technologies. This created a war of attrition were defences were becoming impenetrable with the tactics used. This leads me to state that stating that "The First World War was the first modern war" is only partially true.