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