During World War I, commanding officer General Broulard (Adolphe Menjou) orders his subordinate, General Mireau (George Macready), to attack a German trench position, offering a promotion as an incentive. Though the mission is foolhardy to the point of suicide, Mireau commands his own subordinate, Colonel Dax (Kirk Douglas), to plan the attack. Dax then finds himself taking on the ruthless top brass when his men are accused of cowardice after failing to complete the impossible and foolhardy mission. Brilliantly shot in black and white, Paths of Glory is unsparing in its depiction of the absurdity, brutality, and bureaucracy of war.