The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War

The battle of the Somme was one of the most tragic battles fought during World War I. The amount of life lost on both sides was tremendous and historians everywhere agree that this battle was one of the bloodiest battles fought. With casualties upwards of a million, it is not surprising that the Somme is often referred to as the ‘bloodbath’. Historian Martin Gilbert explores the severity of the battle in his book; The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War. In his book he attempts to pay tribute to the soldiers who fought and fell in the battle. To do this he uses excerpts from diary entries, letters and poetry written by the soldiers on the front lines to give the reader a first-hand account of what the soldiers were thinking and feeling while fighting. Gilbert is able to effectively portray the horror of the Somme and reduce the anonymity of the fallen by sharing stories from the soldier’s personal writings, however his book would have been more effective if he had a clear well-structured argument.

At the start of his book, Gilbert explains how: “every book on the Somme contributes in its own way to perpetuating the memory of those who fought and those who fell. This book seeks to make its contribution to that act of remembrance” (Gilbert, xxi). To be able to do this he begins to explain what is going on during the time before the battle took place. He gives some background on the size of the British army at the start of the war in 1914 and discusses who was eligible to fight and the formation of the battalions. An example of how battalions were started was when General Sir Henry Rawlinson “suggested that men would be more willing to enlist if they knew they would serve with those whom they knew: friends, neighbours...

... middle of paper ...

...d to the amount of men who fought and lost their lives, there are very few stories told. In conclusion Gilbert was able to effectively share some of the stories of the soldiers, but because he lacked an argument the strength of his writing was greatly weakened.

Bibliography

“Beaumont-Hamel Remembered.” Toronto Star, July 2 2013, A6.

Gilbert, Martin. The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War. (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006)

Larocci, Andrew. Review of The Battle of the Somme: The heroism and Horror of the War by Martin Gilbert. The Canadian Historical Review vol.88 (December 2007): 657-658.

Terraine, John. “The Texture of the Somme, 1916.” History Today, September 1, 1976: 559-568

Willmott, H.P. World War I. New York: DK Publishing, 2009.

Wilson, Trevor and Robin Prior. “Summing Up the Somme,” History Today, November 1, 1991: 37-43.