Modern European History Review Sheet: Battle of the Somme Essay Example
July 1, 1916 – Battle of the Somme oBritish launched offensive against Somme River oAlso known as the Somme Offensive, took place during the First World War between 1 July and 14 November 1916 in the Somme department of France, on both banks of the river of the same name. The battle consisted of an offensive by the British and French armies against the German Army, which, since invading France in August 1914, had occupied large areas of that country.
The Battle of the Somme was one of the largest battles of the First World War; by the time fighting had petered out in late autumn 1916 the forces involved had suffered more than 1 million casualties, making it one of the bloodiest military operations ever recorded. oThe plan for the Somme offensive evolved out of Allied strategic discussions at Chantilly, Oise i
...n December 1915. Chaired by General Joseph Joffre, the commander-in-chief of the French Army, Allied representatives agreed on a concerted offensive against the Central Powers in 1916 by the French, British, Italian and Russian armies.
The Somme offensive was to be the Anglo-French contribution to this general offensive, and was intended to create a rupture in the German line, which could then be exploited with a decisive blow. With the German attack on Verdun on the River Meuse in February 1916, the Allies were forced to adapt their plans. The British Army took the lead on the Somme, though the French contribution remained significant. oThe opening day of the battle on 1 July 1916 saw the British Army suffer the worst one-day combat losses in its history, with nearly 60,000 casualties.
Feb 1916 – Battle o
Verdun oOne of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. The German High Command had failed to achieve its two objectives: 1) to capture the city of Verdun and 2) to inflict a much higher casualty count on its French adversary. By the end of the battle (December 1916) the French Second Army had rolled back the German forces around Verdun, but not quite to their initial positions of February 1916. oIt was the longest and one of the most devastating battles in the First World War and the history of warfare.
Verdun was primarily an artillery battle. In both France and Germany, Verdun has come to represent the horrors of war, like the Battle of the Somme in the British consciousness. The renowned British military historian Major General Julian Thompson has referred to Verdun as "France's Stalingrad". July 28, 1914 – heir to Hapsburg throne – Franz Ferdinand assassinated oOn 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were shot dead in Sarajevo, by Gavrilo Princip.
The political objective of the assassination was to break off Austria-Hungary's south-Slav provinces so they could be combined into a Greater Serbia or a Yugoslavia. The assassins' motives were consistent with the movement that later became known as Young Bosnia. Serbian military officers stood behind the attack. oAssignment of responsibility for the bombing and murders of 28 June is highly controversial because the attack led to the outbreak of World War I one month later.
The July Crisis was a diplomatic crisis among the major powers of Europe in the summer of 1914 that
led to the First World War. Immediately after Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb nationalist, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, in Sarajevo, a series of diplomatic maneuverings led to an ultimatum from Austria-Hungary to Serbia, and ultimately to war. oThis ultimatum was part of a coercive program meant to weaken the Kingdom of Serbia as a threat to Austria-Hungary's occupation of the northern Balkans which had a significant southern Slavic population, including a majority Serbian community in Bosnia. This was supposed to be achieved either through diplomacy or by a localized war if the ultimatum were rejected.
Austria-Hungary preferred war, and to ensure war the terms of the ultimatum were so harsh that they were certain to be rejected. oOne month after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, thus initiating the First World War. oBritish want peace – try to keep peace between Austria and Serbia oGermans convinced selves that war was inevitable – might a well get it over with early while Germany still had some power oFelt weaker vis-a-vis France and Russians bc railway system was under Fr contract. 1906 – 1907: first genocide of 20th C – Northern German South Africa oTurks deny genocide.
1917 Battle of Caporetto Took place from 24 October to 19 November 1917, near the town of Kobarid (now in Slovenia), on the Austro-Italian front of World War I. oAustro-Hungarian forces, reinforced by German units, were able to break into the Italian front line and rout the Italian army, which had practically no mobile reserves. The battle was a demonstration of the effectiveness of the use of stormtroopers and the infiltration tactics developed
in part by Oskar von Hutier. The use of poison gas by the Germans played a key role in the collapse of the Italian Second Army.
Operation Michael – March 21, 1918 oGreat and last German offensive in the West A First World War German military operation that began the Spring Offensive on 21 March 1918. It was launched from the Hindenburg Line, in the vicinity of Saint-Quentin, France. Its goal was to break through the Allied lines and advance in a north-west direction and seize the Channel ports which supplied the British and drive them into the sea. Just two days into the operation, Ludendorff changed his plan, and pushed for an offensive due west along the whole of the British front north of the Somme. This was designed to separate the French and British Armies and crush the British forces by pushing them into the sea.
The offensive ended at Villers-Bretonneux, a little to the east of the key Allied communications centre of Amiens, where the Entente managed to halt the German advance. The German advance stalled largely through very heavy casualties, an inability to maintain supplies to the advancing troops and the arrival of Entente reserves. Since much of the territory involved consisted of the shell-torn wilderness left by the 1916 Battle of the Somme it was known to some as the 1918 Battle of the Somme, and to the French as the Second Battle of Picardy oThe failure of the offensive marked the beginning of the end of the First World War.
The arrival in France of large reinforcements from the U. S. replaced material and men lost by the Entente, but the German
Army was unable to recover from its losses before these reinforcements deployed. Operation Michael had failed to achieve its objectives, namely in separating the Allied Armies. oAll territory gained during this offensive was lost during the British-led Allied counteroffensive, known as the second battle of the Somme, which started on 21 August, during the Allied Hundred Days Offensive.
