Battle of the Somme as a Great Military Tragedy
The Chamber's Dictionary defines a 'tragedy' as any sad story or turn
of events, any event involving death or killing that can be avoided.
The battle of the Somme is regarded as a great military tragedy,
because of the enormous amount of deaths and tragedies. In just the
first day of fighting, almost 60,000 British soldiers were killed. By
the end of the battle, 400,000 British lives were lost. But what were
all these lives lost for? The British and French gained just 12 km.
The Battle was a joint plan between Great Britain and France. The idea
originally came from French commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre and was
accepted by Sir Douglas Haig, the British Expeditionary Force
commander. Joffre intended to use mainly French soldiers for the
attack, however French losses at Verdun in February 1916 turned the
Somme offensive into a British attack. Sir Douglas Haig, with the aid
of Sir General Rawlinson, took over responsibility of the attack and
came up with his own linear attack. Haig's main strategy was an eight
day preliminary bombardment which he believed would destroy the German
forward defenses.
The Somme area wasn't a good area to launch an attack on the Germans,
because the Somme area had been occupied by the German's for two years
before the battle. In this period, German forces had created excellent
trench systems and were familiar with the area. This was no advantage
to the British, as German soldiers had tunnels to hide in and reserve
trenches.
Most of the soldiers in the attack were new recruits, who were
inexperienced and lacked knowledge. The shells were not fired
accurately enough to destroy the German machine gun posts. The
shrapnel did not destroy the barbed wire which meant that when allied
soldiers reached the German trench, they would be shot down by the
machine gun posts, or German soldiers.
The Germans were well prepared for the allies as they intercepted a
good luck message sent out. Large mines exploded at Hawthorne Ridge
were poor and men loathed them. The soldiers slept on a bed of mud and
Source A tells us that Haig did not care about his men and is willing
battle of the Somme began on the 1st of July 1916; the aim of the
The First Battle of Ypres, 1914. Strategically located along the roads leading to the Channel ports in. Belgian Flanders, the Belgian city of Ypres is the scene of. numerous battles since the sixteenth century.
In this essay I will explain the battle between Germany and Britain, discuss how important winning this battle was, what Britain had that the Germans did not have, and what could have happened if Britain would have lost. It is known cleverly as “the Battle of Britain”.
film and so captions had to be use to explain what the next section of
be long or there will not be a single man left in the regiment’ This
These two sources are different because they are opposite opinions which are referring to the Battle of the Somme but they are written by the same person which was Lloyd George. The two sources however were very different from each other. Source I was written by Lloyd George on the 21st of September 1916 when he visited the battlefield with Sir Douglas Haig. It says that Lloyd George was the secretary for the War at this time of the Somme he was the war leader from 1906-1916. Source J is very negative about the Battle of the Somme when compared to Source I. This was written in the 1930’s; he could then have written what he actually wanted to write as he wasn’t the wars secretary, it was also an ok time for him to write it as he had lost the elections the previous year so he wasn’t in the public eye as much as before so he had much more freedom to have his own opinions without having the responsibility of a job. David Lloyd George was also at a very good time to be more confident in criticising the battle of the Somme because the War was over and most importantly, Sir General Do...
the minds of the public, is that there was more to the Battle of the
The Battle of Normandy was a turning point in World War II. Canada, America, and Great Britain arrived at the beaches of Normandy and their main objective was to push the Nazi’s out of France. The Invasion at Normandy by the Allied Powers winning this battle lead to the liberation of France and Western Europe. Most importantly Hitler’s was being attacked from both the eastern and western front, and caused him to lose power. If the Allied Powers did not succeed in D-Day Hitler would’ve taken over all of Europe.In a document written by General Dwight Eisenhower he persuades the allied powers to invade Normandy. Dwight Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890. Eisenhower became the 34th president of the United States. He served as the president from January 20, 1953 through January 20, 1961. Before his presidency Dwight participated in World War I and was moved up to captain. Dwight would then take part in World War II and work his way up to becoming a General.
The Battle of the Bulge was one of the most important battles in the European Theater during the Second World War. It was also “The largest and bloodiest battle in American History”(4). The Battle of the Bulge was fought from December 16th 1944 to January 25th 1945 (4). The battle occurred in the Ardennes forest which is located in 4 countries, Luxembourg, Germany, France and Belgium. The Ardennes forest is heavily populated by trees and supposedly incapable of allowing tanks to travel through it. The notable cities in which the Battle of the Bulge was fought are Bastogne and St. Vith (4). The Americans lost over 100,000 troops to casualties making it one of the costliest battles in the European Theater of World War II and in the entire history of the United States Army (2). The Germans lost around 85,000 soldiers to casualties in this engagement in addition to a rather large loss of vehicles and equipment.
seen as a wake-up call. It is made out as if support for the war, both
As Bertrand Russell once said “War does not determine who is right - only who is left.” No one ever truly wins a wart. The horrors of war are devastating; both mentally and physically. The horror is not only ever present during life on the Frontline, it lives on in the survivors guilt. I believe that althought the horror of war is represented in the soldiers, we are all too quick to forget about the feelings of those at home, the friends and families, and the effects the war had on them. The effects of war are prominent throughtout the Novels “Regeneration” and “All quiet on the Western Front” and is also explored deeply in Wilfred Owen’s “Selected War Poetry”. Throughout these works we discover that war was inescapable for these men, they had no choice, and it+++++s events were also inescapable. We discover that the men would rather die defending their country as a hero than live with the flashbacks, the guilt, the both mental and physical scarring. They would rather lose their lives than their limbs. I find these works encompass this question fully, as it covers all angles. Pat Barker never really shows her opinion in the novel, it is more factual, and as it is based upon real events and real people it’s a reliable source of information on the horror of war and it’s effects, without bias. Erich Maria Remarque had first hand experience in the First World War, and he gives us an insight into what life on the frontline was really like. Althought fictional, I believe his suffering would have still haunted him years later, compelli...
World War 2 was a large scale war around the war that lasted 6 years. The war was devastating on all the countries involved on both sides. There was a considerable amount of death in WW2 estimated at 15,000,000 battle related deaths. There were many different battles in WW2 but today I will be report on one of the greater battles close to the end of the war. This battle is known as the Battle of the Bulge.The Battle of the Bulge began on December 16th, 1944. It started with Hitler ordering a large surprise attack on the Western Allies using his 3 armies. The Germans came out of the dense woods of the Ardennes forest in Belgium. Towards the beginning of the battle the Germans were winning due to the nature of the surprise attack and their experience level. The damage they caused was so great they created a “bulge” of sorts in the Allied front, hence the name of the battle. But we later will see the Germans progress in the beginning of the battle will be short lived.
The Battle of the Somme epitomizes the harsh realities of trench warfare for the Allies and represents the negligent battle planning and technological advancements that are associated with the stalemate of World War One. Trench warfare was common across the Western Front, with similar strategies being employed by both opposing sides. Sir Douglas Haig, one of the British coordinators for the Somme offensive is blamed with an offensive strategy destined for failure. The British offensive, an utter failure, resulted in a stalemate, which was common throughout World War One. The British development of the tank, while it eventually ended the horrendous stalemate, was ineffectively used during the Somme.