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.