Battle of the Somme essays

Battle of the Somme essays The aim of this report is to give an overview of the battle of the Somme, and judge the extent to which it can be seen as a success or failure for the allies. The main part will describe the aims and the hidden intensions of the allies. It will also evaluate how far their plans were realized and where they failed. The victories and the defeats of both antagonists will be extensively discussed. Figures and objective circumstances will be analyzed to prove to what extent the battle was decisive for the final outcome of the First World War. Most sources were taken from texts, history books and internet sites which were used as a main source. The battle of the Somme was a joint offensive planned and executed by both the French and British. The idea came from Joseph Joffre, the French Commander and was accepted by Sir Douglas Haig who later took over the operation. It was an attack with the hope to make some kind of territorial gain, and took place in hope to destroy German lines. The French army had been forced to ask help from the British because of their losses in Verdun. This almost lost battle in Verdun caused the French to lose many of their resources. The main aim of the Germans in Verdun was To Bleed France Dry. They chose Verdun because of its symbolic value. A symbol of being a strategic area, which has been fought on for many years between France and Prussia, later to become Germany. The battle of the Somme started on Saturday July the 1st 1916. Haigs strategy was to do eight days of bombing in order to destroy the German front line. He used twenty-seven divisions against the Germans but there were many losses because the bombardment had failed to penetrate the German underground bunkers. Since the Germans were underground, not much had happened to them, while the Allies thought they were going to be able to just Cross the trench area. Haig did not realize that the Germans had spent two years ...