Why the Battle of the Somme was Regarded as a Great Military Tragedy
What was the battle of the Somme?
The battle of the Somme has been described as a big military disaster,
this started of in the year of 1916, this war included France, Britain
they were facing German opposition, this battle took place in northern
France and the English were being led by general sir Douglas Haig and
the French were being led by Joseph Joffre. The area around the Somme
had been divided into two; this included the Germans on one side and
the British and the French on another side. The British and French
wanted to push the Germans out of the Somme and wanted to take over
the land. In the end they only managed 12ks. This battle was part of
WW1. The Battle of the Somme was the most infamous battle of its time
because of all the deaths and injuries caused to people.
The battle of the Sommewas a great tragedy because of all the
casualties. In the first day alone 58.000 men were either killed or
injured because of the plan that Haig chose. Sir Douglas Haig and the
French military used a plan that would make them defenceless because
of all the casualties caused. The British government was apauled when
they found out what had happened and what the outcome was. A large
amount of deaths were on the British side even though Joffre intended
to use the French soldiers at first, but the German attack on Verdunin
1916 turned the Sommeinto a large scale British diversionary attack.
After all the deaths Haig took the responsibility of the operation and
designed a new plan. They then intended to have an 8-day bombardment
he believed that would completely destroy the Germans, but he was
wrong. General Haig used 750.00 men against a German side who only had
16 divisions in progress. Haig failed big time and didn't even break
the German barbed wire and concrete bunkers, which were protecting the
Germans. Eventually on the 1st July at 7:30the British and French
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
World War I, also known as the Great War, lasted from the summer of 1914 until the late fall of 1918. The war was fought between the Allies, which consisted mainly of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers, which consisted mainly of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Alliances - Entente and Central Powers). In total, it is estimated that twelve million civilians and nine million combatants died during this horrific and devastating war (DeGroot 1). When the war first began in 1914, many people thought that it would be a war of movement that would quickly be over. However, that changed when the Germans, who were trying to reach and capture the city of Paris in France, were forced to retreat during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914 (Ellis 10). German General von Falkenhayn, who felt that his troops must at all cost hold onto the parts of France and Belgium that they had overtaken, ordered his men to dig in and form defensive trench lines (Ellis 10). The Allies could not break through the enemies lines and were forced to create trenches of their own (Ellis 10). This was only the beginning of trench warfare. A war of movement had quickly come to a standstill on the Western Front. A massive trench line, 475 miles long, quickly spread and extended from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier (Ellis 10). With neither side budging, soldiers were forced to live in the most miserable of conditions. Simply put, life in the trenches was a living hell. A lieutenant of the 2nd Scottish rifles wrote, “No one who was not there can fully appreciate the excruciating agonies and misery through which the men had to go [through] in those da...
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 the bulge was the final battle to defeat Nazi Germany in Europe. Russia did not have actual soldiers in the battle however, it was their strong efforts that drove Germany west enough for Great Britain and the United States to attack Germany on two sides.
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
the Somme that had raged from the 1st of July 1916, when over 19 000
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.
The First World War was expected to be short, with a quick triumph on either side. On the contrary, the war caused a giant massacre to all the countries involved, and lasted for four years. Also against the expectations of political leaders and military commanders new techniques of fighting were used, as well as new weapons (for example the chloric gas, tanks and aircrafts). Due to all this, 13 million people were killed, of which 2 million were Germans, 1.75 million Russians, 1.5 million Frenchmen, 1 million British and 0.5 million Italians. But death was just one of the worst consequences of the First World War. Just military failures on the fronts, along with other problems directly affected internal politics in a great way. This horrible catastrophe also left most of the countries in huge debts, especially Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, and many others. This led to poverty and chaos, and the people were suffering. That is why they started to revolt, but the political system was so exhausted after the war that it didn't do anything to solve this.