Why did Haig decide to fight the Battleof the Somme?

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Stephanie Ghartey        10/0        Ms Hancock

GCSE History Coursework

Why did Haig decide to fight the Battle of the Somme?

Haig decided to fight the battle of Somme for four main reasons. These reasons were to relieve the French at Verdun, to weaken the Germans, to break the stalemate in the war and Britain was ready. The Battle of the Somme was one of the most important battles in World War 1 and lasted from July – November 1916. During the battle over 1.2 million causalities were caused, this were 620,000 Allies and 460,000 German. On day one alone 60,000 British troops were injured or killed. The outcome of this battle was that only 9km of land were captured by the allies; meaning 3 men died for every foot of land.

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The Germans had been attacking the French at Verdun in 1916 and in June of that year, the French were on the brink of defeat and mutiny. As a result of these, the French put pressure on the British to relieve them. The Somme was far enough from Verdun to cause German forces to split and it was wide and open so there would be fewer infantry losses. As well it was not flat and muddy like Flanders and had good observation.

The British were ready for an attack on a big scale because of conscription. Conscription was ...

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