Reasons Why the Battle of the Somme is Regarded as Such a military Tradgedy

‘The invasion of Belgium was considered an essential element of the German war ... ... middle of paper ... ...to expand into the Balkans itself and was supported by Germany. It was the creation of conflicts and miscalculations by the movements in the Balkans that led to World War1. ‘Veni, vidi, vici’ (I come, I saw, I conquered) – Julius Caesar, Roman Emperor (100BC-44BC) No power had been able to perceive the extent of damages brought by a general war, which lasted fifty-one months. They had believed the Third Balkan War would be a short war like the First and Second Balkan Wars. This serious misconception brought harm to all European powers.

However, it can be argued that the Somme was an integral and crucial part leading up to the armistice in 1918. It can be argued that the Somme was an indirect cause of the allied victory. The combined pressures of the Somme, Verdun and the War at Sea (the blockade and naval war) lead to desperation manoeuvres by the Germans, such as the Spring Offensive and more importantly 'Unrestricted U-boat warfare. After the Somme, they had concluded that they could not win the war on the Western Front. This decision had severe implications on Germany.

When Great Britain heard of the invasion of Belgium, they decided to take action against Germany. (The Twentieth Century, p. 102) Germany’s actions to this point pulled in countries that were more, or less uninvolved. Thus the alliance system started to play its role. Germany’s continual encouragement of hostility fueled the war. In addition, I believe that the fragile economic state of the world after the war can be directly blamed on Germany and its allies.

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.

Germany attacked France through neutral Belgium as they thought that Belgium would not fight them. Germany launched a massive attack in the French city of Verdun in early 1916.This gave a real shock to France as they did not see it coming but, to lessen the pressure on France, the British planned an attack at Somme. The British wanted to break the German lines so that all the allies could continue the war into Germany. The Anglo-French alliance intended to wear down the German army at Verdun before engaging in the Battle of Somme however, due to the large French losses at Verdun, the date for the Battle of Somme was brought forward to the 1st of July. The battle of the Somme lasted for just 4 months from July 1916 to November 1916 but was easily known as one of the worst battles ever fought.

By invading France through Belgium, Germany brought Britain into the war. For those who criticized on Fischer's work, it was commented that he distorted the picture of diplomatic situation in July 1914, policy making in other countries were equally impor...

This plan’s principle was getting German troops through Belgium and then the troops into France.... ... middle of paper ... ...was an immediate cause of the assassination of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary let to how it was dealt with, July Crisis, in WW1. While, WW2 was caused by Germany’s government wanting to expand with their expansionist aims, and living territory for German people. Alliances in WW1 were the cause of the war because of Otto von Bismarck was getting everybody together and France isolated preventing a two-front war for Germany. On the other hand, WW2 was caused by the failure of the League of Nations and Collective Security. Back to WW1, it was also caused by imperialism and nationalism, while WW2 had appeasement of letting Germany what it wanted just to prevent another war from breaking out.

British troops making their way to the front… [IMAGE] Causes of the Battle The battle of the Somme was planned in late 1915. There were many causes to the battle, one being the land of Verdun. The main aims of Haig, the British in charge were, · To ease pressure on Verdun and Russia to keep the Germans busy with the Somme offensive. · Make some land gains · Collapse the confidence of the Germans by killing a lot of their troop and destroying their trenches

The Causes of World War I World War I was the result of certain countries aggression towards others and by the rising nationalism of the European nations. Economic and imperial competition and fear of war triggered military alliances and an arms race, which further escalated the tension contributing to the outbreak of war. At the settlement of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the idea of nationalism was ignored to preserve the peace. Germany and Italy were divided into states but nationalist changes and revolutions led to the unification of Italy in 1861 and that of Germany in 1871. Another result of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 was that France was left furious over the loss of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany, and revenge was a goal of the French.

Yet not all the powers entered the First World War because of the Alliance System. Britain declared war on Germany because William II insisted on invading France via繞經 Belgium. Not only the Belgian neutrality but the British national security was threatened. Italy did not help Germany in 1914 because she had already reached secret agreements with France in 1900-02. To sum up, the Alliance System complicated the international relations of Europe and added fire to the outbreak of the First World War.