What was the significance of the battle of the somme to the ww1?

Question

or how significant was the battle to ww1

Answer 1

The Battle of the Somme has come to epitomise, at least for the British, the futility of the offensive military tactics that prevailed for most of WW1. These tactics were characterized by the mass use of artillery to prepare the battlefield followed by large scale infantry advances directly into the teeth of the defenses. The battle began on July 1st, 1916 and ended on November 18th, 1916.

In terms of significance the scale of the casualties began to alert people to the horrors being inflicted on the front-line troops. The British took 58,000 casualties (approximately one-third of which were dead) on the first day of the battle alone. By the end of the battle casualty estimates were 420,000 British and Empire, 200,000 French and as many as 500,000 Germans. The military result of the battle was that the British and French pushed the Germans back roughly 12 kilometers, hardly a decisive result. Of more importance, perhaps, was that the Somme relieved German pressure on the vital French position at Verdun, another of the war's great killing grounds. Further, the scale of the German casualties drained their army of some of their best troops and contributed to the increasing war weariness of the German people.

Another significant event at the Somme was the British use of tanks to attempt to force a breakthrough. On Spetember 15th the British commited 49 tanks at Flers-Courcelette, only 21 of which actually got into action. The suprise factor allowed the British to make considerable gains, but ultimately poor follow up and German counter-attacks stopped the advance.

Very few of the great battles of WW1 between the establishment of the fixed trench lines in late 1914 and early 1915 and the German collapse in 1918 could be said to have a significant result in military terms. Generally these battles can only be measured in terms of casualties. WW1 was a war of attrition with both sides trying to bleed the other dry.

Answer 2

In all, the Allies had advanced some seven miles on the Somme. Bapaume, a first week objective, remained in German hands. Historians agree that the cost to the Allies was almost 624,000 casualties - nearly 420,000 of them British. The Germans counted their casualties differently, with estimates ranging from 680,000 - exceeding the Allied total - to 500,000.

One German officer called the Somme the 'muddy grave of the German field army'. Recognition that Germany could not win the war on the Western Front in 1917 influenced the initiation of unrestricted submarine warfare, which itself brought America into the war. The Somme - Britain's costliest battle - was a severe blow to the nation's self-confidence. The 'Memorial to the Missing' at Thiepval, and the many cemeteries show something of the battle's human cost. Yet the British army after the Somme was better trained and more experienced than before it. Indeed, it has been argued that the battle was an essential precondition to Allied victory in 1918. It is difficult to visit the battlefield without being struck by the sheer scale of suffering.

Answer 3

This battle is usually portrayed as a British disaster because of the massive casualty rate on the first day, but it has to be remembered that the battle continued for weeks. During the battle the British developed better tactics for attacking prepared positions, and managed to capture parts of the original front. After the battle the Germans immediately began to fortify new defensive positions behind their line - hardly the act of a victorious army! Also the German commander notified the Kaiser that six more battles like that would finish Germany. On balance the Battle of the Somme was British victory, but it came at so high a price that it seems to have been hardly worth it. British Officers were completely unused to war against a major enemy and on this scale. But they learnt by painful experience, and two years later - in the Autumn of 1918 the British army was the most effective on the Western Front - albeit the Americans were quickly learning how to fight such a war.

Answer 4

It was also very much a turnign point in how people viewed the war. If you look at the literature around that time - before you had poets like Robert Brookes who thought it was an honour to die for this country but after The Somme you have the emergence of poets like Wilfred Owen and Sigfried Sassoon who wrote about the futility of it all. There is a marked difference from before teh Somme to after it.

Hope this helps :)

Answer 5

It was essentially a diversionary attack to take the heat off the French, who were getting a hell of a bashing around Verdun.
It was prefaced by the biggest artillery barrage in history. British troops were told that all the Germans would be dead by the time it finished and also that the barbed wire would be destroyed. But they weren't and it wasn't. As soon as the barrage finished the Germans knew the troops were coming so they emerged from their bunkers and mowed them down with machine gun fire as they blundered through the shell holes and got trapped by the barbed wire.
Result: hardly any ground gained and the biggest ever losses sustained by the British army. A disaster.

Answer 6

It was the largest battle of world war 1 with over a million casualties.
On the first day alone there where nearly 20000 British soldiers killed and another 50+ thousand injured. Thats alot of men in one battle.

Answer 7

Casualties were catastrophic, and the name still carries traumatic overtones. However, to put it in context, if you relate teh British dead on the first day of the battle (a long one, by the way) to total deaths in the war, you will find that the death toll was repeated, on average, every three days for five years. Makes you realise teh scars it left on Europe.

Answer 8

It is considered significant as it was the single largest lost of british lives in just 1 battle (16,000 i think)

Answer 9

57470 casualties 19241 dead in one day 1st july 1916 the biggest loss ever recorded

Answer 10

yep most loss of lives