Eli5 why are combat units “ineffective” after taking 15% losses?

Question

Eli5 why are combat units “ineffective” after taking 15% losses?

In: 1029

Answer 1

Theodore Ayrault Dodge did an analysis on battle casualty percentages from antiquity through the Civil War and he found that for most battles (that didn’t end in one-sided routs, or outliers. He also died before WW1.) the forces suffered between 10-15% losses on average, regardless of era or types of weapon used. I’m not really sure the takeaway from that, but it was really interesting.