Why is the Battle of the Somme regarded as such great military tragedy? For this question, I will be exploring why the Battle of the Somme is regarded as such great

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History GCSE Coursework

Question 1

Why is the Battle of the Somme regarded as such great military tragedy?

For this question, I will be exploring why the Battle of the Somme is regarded as such great military tragedy. I will be discussing issues such as leadership, casualties, tactics, and war of attrition as well as weapons and life in the trenches.

Firstly, there is evidence to suggest that Haig felt the battle could only be won by sacrificing soldiers’ lives. Although many believe General Haig was a great strategist, his cold hearted attitude to casualties lead to him being often referred to as the “Butcher of the Somme”. Hence it can be said that many hold General Haig responsible for the Battle of the Somme becoming a military tragedy.  

The Battle of the Somme is also regarded as a great military tragedy because of Haig’s lack of tactics. It is known Haig had little understanding for modern warfare, yet he managed to make the same misjudgement by overestimating the ability of artillery to destroy German defences. Haig’s misunderstanding of modern warfare lead to chaos on the battle field and what’s more, no orders were prepared for the situations that soldiers found themselves in.

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Therefore poor leadership had a key role in making the battle of the Somme a great military tragedy.

Furthermore, General Haig and Deputy General Rawlinson worked out the tactics. However German defences had been underestimated.

This meant that when Haig and Rawlinson were relying on a huge artillery bombardment and mines to cut barbed wire and practically demolish German trenches and dug outs, neither of those were achieved, thus the battle is regarded as a tragedy due to tactics.

Their tactics continued to fail when soldiers were ordered to walk in straight lines across No Man’s Land, ...

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