New war, Old Tactics

During World War One, each country faced massive amounts of casualties due to the new aged weapons that WWI was fought with. But can these weapons take all the blame of the thousands of casualties each day during the trench fighting? I believe that they aren't the main cause of the death toll that each country suffered because each country was using out dated war fighting tactics where these new weapons could deal the most damage.
Before WWI the most effective battle field tactic that was used was the charge. The charge was used to break through the enemies defensive front. Because the charge was so successful through out history as a way to win a battle, the generals of WWI still thought that they could gain ground on the battle field by doing this. The only thing that the generals were not ready for were the new advancements in weaponry that were first used in WWI.
New weapons like the machine gun, the tank, and poison gas were first deployed in WWI with no real defense mechanisms in place, besides the trenches, that could prevent them from inflicting massive casualties on the enemy. These new weapons would mow down charging enemies because each country didn't know any better tactic then the charge.
After WWI each country realized that the glorious days of the final charge had ended and new military tactics needed to be created to deal with the new technologies of warfare. WWI was so devastating because of the lack of defensive knowledge against these new weapons. If the generals during the time of WWI had realized how devastating the charge was for their troops, the war would have been fought very differently and each country would not see tens of thousands of causalities every day.