Germany began her involvement in The War by marching through the lowlands and making for Paris.  Again.  This time, French armies held the lines, with help from their allies in Britain, and the Western Front turned into a slugging match where there could be no true victor.  New weapons of war battered the land into lifeless dirt, from tanks and artillery to deadly gases that floated unseen into the trenches.  To those involved, it truly was The War To End All Wars.