The Surge

History is usually a good guide and an accurate predictor of the future. Santayana famously warned that, if it was ignored it would have to be repeated.
I recently came across the word surge in a book written about WWI.

"But , as had happened too often in the past , the attack was plagued by delays and difficulties, so that, when Nivelle finally ordered the plan into motion, the Germans were completely prepared. Despite serious reservations from the British, and Nivelle's own commanders, in mid-April, a million Frenchmen had surged into the german defenses between Soissons and Reims. Signs of disater were immediate. On the first day of the assault the French suffered forty thousand casualties. But Nivelle stubbornly persisted, launching a continuing series of fruitless and costly attacks, until, finally, by early may, Nivelle was forced to concede total defeat. the disaster cost Nivelle his job. But to an enormous number of weary French troops, it was the last straw. All along the Aisne front ,thousands of French soldiers just quit. Many laying down their rifles.....an uprising that threatened to dissolve the French army from the inside out."

"To the Last man". by Jeff Shaara.
Ballantine Books. p.178