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The Battle of the Somme was fought between the Triple Alliance and the Triple Entente countries. But the British had suffered the most. Franco-Britain was led by General Sir Douglas Haig and Henry Rawlinson.

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The Battle of the Somme started on July 1st, 1916 and lasted until November 1916 near the Somme River in France.

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The Battle of the Somme occurred because the British hoped that their offensive attack would withdraw German troops from Verdun to fight the British in Northern France.

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The French proposed a joint Franco-British offensive astride the river Somme. Because of Verdun, the British army assumed the major role of the Somme offensive. That way the British could attack north of the Somme and the French attacked astride and south of the Somme.

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The Battle of the Somme or the Somme Offensive was a battle fought offensively that the Triple Entente planned to attack the Germans. It was one of the most bloody military battles in history.

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The battle started at the Somme with a week long artillery bombardment of the German lines. They believed artillery guns would destroy German trenches and barbed wire placed in front of the trenches.

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Germans had deep dugouts for their men so all they had to do when the attack started was move to these dugouts.

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When the attack stopped, Germans would've known that this was a signal for an infantry advance by moving to their safety dugouts and guns.

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However when they climbed out of the trenches towards the German lines, they didn't through and were followed by cavalry. Combat was messy, bloody, and horrific.

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At the end of the battle in Nov. 1916, Britain lost 420,000, France lost 200,000, and the Germany lost 500,000 men. But the allied forces did advance along a thirty mile strip that was seven miles deep.

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Source A:
- Shows a photo of Field Marshall Haig
- Seems like a successful military general
Source B:
- Description of General Rees' men at the Battle of the Somme
- General Rees was a commander of the 94th Infantry Brigade at the Somme
- "I have never seen, I would never have imagined, such a magnificent display of gallantry, discipline, and determination."
Source C:
- Description of George Coppard's, machine-gunner at the Battle of the Somme, observations
- From his book, With A Machine Gun to Cambrai
- "Immediately in front, and spreading left and right until hidden from view, was clear evidence that the attack had been brutally repulsed."
Source D:
- General Haig's last despatch
- "In every stage of the wearing-out struggle losses will necessarily be heavy on both sides...there is no way of avoiding payment of the price or of eliminating this phase of the struggle."