From what I read about WWI (not what I learned at school in France), high ranking officers were terrified of insubordination and thought that the lack of result

From what I read about WWI (not what I learned at school in France), high ranking officers were terrified of insubordination and thought that the lack of result was due to a lack of motivation from the soldiers (and not the fact that germans were the first to massively use machine guns which completely changed engagements). Some soldiers were court martialed pretty much randomly just as a mean to terrorize the soldiers into obeying orders.