Battle of the Somme as a Military Tragedy
photoText Box: Joseph Joffre[Photo: Joseph Joffre]Verdun was a
fortified French garrison town on the River Meuse 200km east of Paris.
In December 1915, General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of Staff of the
German Army, decided to attack Verdun. Although he admitted he would
be unable to break through at these points on the Western Front, he
argued that in defending Verdun, the Germans would "bleed the French
army white". The German attack on Verdun started on 21st February
1916. A million troops, led by Prince Wilhelm, faced about 200,000
French defenders. The following day the French was forced to retreat
to their second line of trenches. By 24th February the French had
moved back to the third line and were only 8km from Verdun. On 24th
February, General Henri Philippe Petain was appointed commander
Verdun. He gave orders that no more withdrawals would take place. He
arranged for every spare French soldier to Verdun. Of the 330 infantry
regiments of the French Army, 259 fought at Verdun. The German advance
was stopped at the end of February. On the 6th March, the German Fifth
Army launched a new attack at Verdun. The Germans advanced 2m before
they were stopped at Mort Homme Hill. The French held this point until
the Germans finally invaded it on 29th May. Further attacks continued
throughout the summer and early autumn. However, the scale of the
German attacks was reduced by the need to transfer troops to defend
their front-line at the Somme. Verdun ended on the 18th December. The
French Army lost 550,000 men at Verdun. It is estimated that the
German Army suffered 434,000 casualties.
After the disastrous battle of Verdun led by the French commander in
chief Joseph Joffre a new battle was to be devised to divert the
German attack to the river Somme. The battle of the Somme was one of
the most famous battles in World War 1 because of the human tragedies
and shear disaster of the battle. Joseph Joffre who led many other
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”.
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 Somme was one of the most famous battles that took place during World War One. Germany had believed that a war with Russia was likely to occur and if that happened then they would also come into attack from France. In order to avoid attack from both sides Germany planned to attack France first and then Russia, believing that Russia would need 6 weeks to attack them and they could defeat France in that time. This was the basis of the Schlieffen Plan. 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 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.