Post on 03-Jul-2015
The Battle of the Sommeby Eleanor Wright and Jordan Garrison
Allies involved - Great Britain, France
Central Powers involved - Germany
Countries
The Somme is a river, north of Verdun, France
Somme
July 1 1916 - November 18 1916. Fought on either side of the river Somme
Britain lured Germans from Verdun, where they had been attacking, to Somme.
Most of the soldiers were from the Kitchener Volunteer Army and was their first time in battle.
Most of the soldiers were inexperienced.
Summary
Britain lost 420,000 soldiers
France lost 200,000 soldiers
Germany lost 500,000 soldiers
All countries had hundreds of thousands of soldiers that were injured, captured, and missing.
Everyone in the Kitchener Volunteer Army was killed.
Deaths
This battle is one of the most bloody battles in all of WWI
Around 1,666,289 people died in total
This battle showed the people how terrible trench warfare was
Results
Symbolised the horrors of warfare in WWI
Had a marked effect on overall casualties on the war
Showed fatality of trench warfare
Why was it important?
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/somme.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_somme
http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/somme.htm
Sources