The Battle of Somme

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The British launched The Battle of the Somme to achieve two objectives. The first and most important goal was to relieve pressure on the French Army at Verdun, and the second was to inflict as heavy a loss as possible on the German Armies. The Battle of the Somme had to be fought to save the French Army from the crucifixion of Verdun. The head of the French Army, General Fock, and some leading British commanders did not believe this battle would help, but political masters in London and Paris supported the campaign. For many years The Battle of the Somme received much criticism for the way the battle was fought based on the number of casualties.

Joseph Joffre, The French Commander in Chief, wrote a letter to Douglas Haig on December 15, 1915, stating a great battle would need to take place in order to save the French Army from the massive killing taking place in the Battle of Verdun. Initially, Haig opposed a battle on the Somme front, but in the end agreed that the Somme would lead to a final victory because of the great trenches.

On December 19, 1915, Douglas Haig became the new commander of the BEF’s “British Expedition Force” First Army. He was a hard person to get to know and seemed to have no concern for the human suffering caused by the war. His colleagues found him strange because of his spiritual practices and religious beliefs. In spite of his strangeness, Haig was a very efficient soldier and excellent military technician. It was under his direction, that the back area of the Somme, from Albert to Amiens was transformed into an enormous military camp, which included new roads leading to the front, gun positions, and camps for the army that would launch the attack. The army, being put together on the Somme,...

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...ution to make it quite clear beforehand that the nature of success with the Somme campaign might be put to a halt. The need to relieve pressure off of the French Army at Verdun stayed the same and is more crucial than ever before. Therefore, the first objective, to construe the British and French offensive to relieve British pressure and the second objective, to inflict as many heavy losses as possible upon the German armies were a success.

Works Cited

Atwood, Marshall. World War I. New York: Marshall S.L.A 2001

"Battle of the Somme." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.

"The Battle of the Somme." The Battle of the Somme. n.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.

BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

"Firstworldwar.com." First World War.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.

Keegan, John. The First World War. Great Britain: Keegan John, 1998

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