The Iran-Iraq War is occasionally compared with the First World War - is this an accurate comparison? If so in what ways were they similar? How did they differ? What was behind the similarities?
^ this answer I gave a while back should be pertinent. The two wars are often compared because of the use of poison/nerve gases, and the presence of static, trench-based fighting. The similarities are more cosmetic than anything else; the weapons and equipment of the Iraqi and Iranian armies were far more advanced than anything used in WWI, the positional nature of the fighting was to be expected given terrain, comparable force densities, and the narrowness of the theatre of operations. Additionally, it goes without saying that nerve gas was not present in WWI, and extensive positional fighting was really only present on the Western Front. Fighting in the Middle East, the Balkans and on the Eastern Front involved maneuver, and fighting on the Italian front was positional largely due to narrow frontage and terrain.