The battle was also a defeat because the German forces caught wind of the Allie plans, and slyly built dugouts to hide in while the first phase of the Allied attack was in progress. This first phase was to bombard the German trenches with as many bombs as they could muster, as they believed no-one could have survived such a hostile bombardment. This represents another prominent failure because, had the battle been a victory, the Germans would not have caught news of the phases of attack, and would not have been ready in position when the Allied Civilian Recruits were proceeding across No Mans Land, and the Allied Forces would not have been mowed down by excessive machine gun fire.
The Somme could also be perceived as a victory to military tactics, weapons and enforcements. It was the battle of the Somme which allowed the motion of letting the Commanding Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers on the Front Line to have control over the orders and to bend the official orders without consulting anyone of higher power who was away from the fighting. This allowed the soldiers and cadets to change their directions if there was an opening or opportunity to achieve their goal and resolve the problem at hand without so many casualties and hardships.
It was also this battle where tanks were first introduced. The idea of a machine so strong that it could penetrate German defences and be bullet proof was just a dream, a fantasy, before the Somme, but the Allied Troops used two tanks to break German defence lines, and the tanks worked to the advantage of the Allies. After this battle, tank mechanisms were improved and cloned, and now we use tanks an awful lot in battles and wars!
In answer to the question originally posed at the beginning of this essay, I strongly believe, without a doubt, that, although the advances in intelligence were phenomenal, the Battle of the Somme was a bloody and devastating defeat and a public humiliation. I think this because the Generals (known as callous donkeys) were stubborn and unreasonable, and led these innocent men to their deaths. These men died stripped of dignity and mowed down like cattle, with no recognition or sympathy for their wives, children and parents. In essence, the men died for no significant reason, other than to test a failing battle tactic which showed no signs of triumph at any time during the fight.