Essay about Battle of the Somme

Douglas Haig was a British general during the First World War. He first commissioned into the 7th Queen’s Own Hussars in 1885, and was made a Field Marshall in 1917. He held numerous positions of command, and was the commander of the British Empire’s forces at the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was fought from the 1st of July 1916 to the 18th of November the same year, and the tactics used by Haig (such as walking towards the enemy, the war of attrition etc remain very controversial to this day. The Battle of the Somme was fought the relieve the French forces at Verdun by attacking the Germans north of Verdun, therefore forcing Germany to move some of their men away from Verdun and relieving the French. Allied forces won 7 miles of ground, and the British lost 481,842 fighting men.

The Meuse-Argonne Offensive, also know as the 100 Days Offensive, was the part of the grand Allied offensive in 1918 at the end of WW1. This battle involved 1.2 million American soldiers. The American’s objective was to break through the Hindenburg Line, which covered the length of the entire western front. The offensive consisted of a three-sided attack on the German’s Western Front. The BEF and the French Army were to engage the German lines at Flanders, while the British forces would take on the German troops at Cambrai. The American Expeditionary Forces numdering 400,000 men under the command of Gen. John J. Pershing, and the French Fourth Army under General Henri Gouraud’s role was the eastern most pincer of the multinational endeavor, the Argonne forest. The forest presented Gen. Pershing and his men some difficult challenges they were forced to overcome.

Well, to start off with the Battle of Somme was ultimately won by the Germans. This is so because they had the more powerful military. According to documents B and C the Germans won the first day of the Battle. In document C he says “the youth of England bled to death.” Describes machine gunfire. and how “Belt after belt was fired…”. I also think that the German won because the British had started the Battle and whoever starts it usually loses. From the beginning the British did not achieve a breakthrough that penetrated the German lines and, end the war. From my knowledge, the Germans were able to contain the British offensive with locally available reserves, but didn't transfer any troops. Also the British suffered extremely heavy casualties,

In World War 1, there were many new tactics that war has never seen before. Trench warfare was one of the new tactics that they used in World War 1. They used the trenches for many things. In World War 1 and All Quiet on the Western Front. They are an accurate portrayal of each other because of the way they fought while in cover, built them, and the way they put all their resources in them.

The battle of the Somme, intended to end the war that year, had ambitious objectives, it was significant for failing to achieve almost all of these. One of these was Beaumont Hamel, a fortified village behind the German lines. The Battle plan called for the village to be taken on the first day. The fact that the village was not taken until the very end of the battle on the 13th of November, illustrates how much the plan failed. Demonstrating the level to which the plan failed Private Anthony Stacey reports that this was a death trap for our boys as the enemy just set the sights of their machine guns on the gaps in the barbed wire and fired . Another objective, Serre, was not taken at all. In fact, the British staff were so unaware of modern weapons, that they had cavalry ready to attack after the infantry broke through. This is significant as it shows how inexperienced the British army was when it came to trench warfare. Had the staff understood the trench tactics better, they would not have

In “The Face of Battle,” John Keegan analyzed the experiences of the individuals involved in the battles of the Somme and Waterloo; he thoroughly examined the advancements of industrialization in warfare and battle strategy between 1815 and 1916. The industrialization of modern warfare during the battle of the Somme, while progressive, was very much still in its experimental stages. While the inventions during this time period were later evolved into much more useful products, it seems as though the organized warfare in Waterloo was much more effective; the soldier’s mediocre training for the Somme was obvious in the chaotic events that occurred. While each battle was disastrous in their own ways, industrialization certainly improved means of warfare and the experience that the soldiers had.

at. It all points towards the fact that some of the film was likely to

The beginning, the first few chapters of Hart’s book, is about the war before the battle of the Somme. The British has for the most abandoned their naval battle and moved into a battle over land that developed into a trench warfare system that stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea. The Allies knew this could not remain as it was, and developed a plan for stopping this war. That plan, according to Haig, was to wear down the enemy and then send a massive amount of troops in to break through the enemy line and win the victory.

In specific, I will be talking about the Battle of Somme the 1st July, 1916 as it is not as discussed as happier moments during the war such as the takeover at Vimy Ridge and that memorial. A quick overview for the battle of Somme would be that it was fought with the British forces under the command of their General Haig and dragged on for 141 days. By the end, casualties totaled 1.2 million on both sides after the British advanced 11km. It is still known to be the greatest single disaster in 500+ years of history for Newfoundland and Labrador, and it is now a memorial day for them. Soon later, the French attacked Somme and achieved advances greater than what he British did, with fewer divisions and close to 2000 casualties.

Furthermore, Not everything in The Somme was good. The soldiers at The Somme experienced more traumatic events than the soldiers in the battle waterloo. The technology at The Somme was more advanced therefore, there was bullets flying everywhere. The soldiers could not see anything they were just running to make it somewhere. When they would turn around they would see their friends and family dead or wounded. In the months that the war lasted the British lost 50,000 lives. Many of the soldiers who went the battle in The Somme only went to make there families proud and get new girlfriends, of course to show their love for their country. Also, the soldiers and the family and friends would go war together. Most of the soldiers in The Somme

One hundred years ago the world shared one thing in common, experiencing the world’s first war. Many factors that go into the war or had an influence on it had their own specific role. Trench warfare was a common type of fighting where both troops would build their own trenches in order to protect themselves from their enemy on other side separated by no man’s land. Trenches were a key part of the battleground during World War I and became the home and final location for millions of soldiers. Trenches were necessary for American troops survival in World War I because they were an effective form of protection and defense, and were built to prevent injuries and/or deaths.

Source F is a primary source and a pictured film (edited) published in 1916 in the preliminary stages of the battle of the Somme. The pictured film gained and attracted over 26 million viewers in the first week of production. The source contains a still image from the government film. ‘The battle of the Somme’ released in August 1916 showing a wounded soldier being alluringly carried through a trench. The Purpose of this source is to try and persuade young people to volunteer and join the fighting in the war. During these years many young British soldiers had been manipulated to join the army it shows that the war was not going so well and that the new technology wasn’t doing so well either. However, in the film it seems that the British government

The Battle of the Somme took place over five months (between July and November of 1916) and the aim of it was to divert the attention of the Germans from Verdun. The first day was disastrous for the British consuming the biggest amount of British soldiers ever recorded in just 24 hours and the statement is probably based upon this. However the British did have a huge turn around.

used in the war effort in the 'war to end all wars'. Haig is most

Firstly in order to gain an understanding of the mind set of Douglas Haig when he took over command of the British Expeditionary force in 1915 we must look to his history of command prior to the war. Haig graduated from Sandhurst and was commissioned into the 7th Hussars as the Lieutenant. This direction into a cavalry based military career would fix Haig’s viewpoint on the role of cavalry during World War I. Haig believed that “the role of the cavalry on the battlefield will always go on increasing.” Historians such as Alan Clark heavily criticise Haig on this stagnated view surrounding the use of mounted troops. The development of static trench warfare combined with newly developed defensive weaponry had created a deadlock in which traditional