The controversy has lasted a century. It will probably never be resolved. The Third Battle of Ypres – or ‘Passchendaele’ as it is popularly known – was bitterly contested at the highest levels of the British state before, during, and after it was fought. It has been the subject of interminable debate ever since, among veterans, military historians, general historians, artists and writers, and the wider public.
Three sets of interlocking issues are in dispute. These boil down to an argument about the nature of the war; an argument about global grand strategy; and an argument about the strategy and tactics of this particular operation.
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