how successful was the battle of the somme?

Question

everything, please thanks. i'll best answer the person with the most info.

Answer 1

That would depend on which side you're asking.

Answer 2

It's hard to put into perspective.

The goal of the British and French was to force the Germans back far enough that they would be forced to move troops from Verdun to hold the line in the area of the Somme. They planned on capturing some 5 miles of German-held territory.

That didn't happen. They captured about 2 miles, and the battle settled into one of attrition, with neither side making any gains.

Both sides suffered huge losses. The German losses may have contributed to the weakening of the German army so significantly that they eventually lost the war, but not all historians agree on that.

Some 3 or 4 months after the fighting really ended in the area, the Germans made a strategic withdrawal in order to shorten the front. The losses during the battle contributed to that decision, but it was not forced by battle losses per se.

Answer 3

It wasn't. The idea was that the bulk of the British army would smash the German lines, essentially by bombarding them with artillery fire before our troops emerged from the trenches, walked over No Man's Land and took the stunned German survivors prisoner, thus opening the way to Berlin and victory.

It didn't happen like that. When the artillery barrage opened up, the Germans hid in thick concrete bunkers. When the barrage stopped they knew that the British would start advacing over No Man's Land so they went back to their machine gun positions. They then slaughtered the advancing troops.

This went on from June (I think) until November, resulting in countless thousands of casualties. As the battle went on it got harder to fight as the ground became a quagmire of mud as a result of incessant pounding from heavy artillery.

The end result of the battle was thus: hundreds of thousands of British and German troops either killed, wounded or captured, and at best only a few square miles of ground captured. Not worth the effort really, and by no means the success the generals were hoping for.

Answer 4

-fought in the summer and autumn of 1916, was one of the largest battles of the First World War.
-With more than one million casualties, it was also one of the bloodiest battles in human history.
-The Allied forces attempted to break through the German lines along a 25-mile (40 km) front north and south of the River Somme in northern France. One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces away from the Battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun.
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme_(1916)
lol i decided i didnt want to copy and paste any more.

Answer 5

This battle was probably the most futile of all time,as hardly any ground was gained by the allied forces,and a high cost of life on both sides.

Answer 6

It was up and down. As the battle raged on, somme time it was up and somme time it was down.

Answer 7

no battle is worth the lifes.

Answer 8

um it was on one side very on the other not so much