How many british soldiers killed on the first day of battle of somme?

Answer 1

I would say almost certainly none. Britain declared war on Germany because Germany invaded Belgium. The Treaty of London, in the 1830s, had been signed by Britain, France, Russia and Prussia, and Germany was the successor state to Prussia, and Germany was ruled in 1914 by the Prussian Dynasty which had signed the Treaty. This Treaty, made when Belgium was a new nation, guaranteed the perpetual neutrality of Belgium, situated as Belgium is on the traditional invasion route in Europe since Roman times. By 1914 an entire generation of Germany Army staff officers had been planning an invasion through Belgium to get at France, in the event of war with France, because since France was now allied with Russia, war with France would also mean war with Russia for Germany, the dreaded two front war, in both east and west. So it would be necessary to defeat France quickly, and the Treaty was thus very inconvenient in these changed circumstances. When reminded by the British of their obligations under this Treaty in 1914, when Britain demanded that Germany cease its invasion of Belgium and withdraw, the German Foreign Minister denounced the Treaty as a "scrap of paper". The Declaration of War followed shortly. But Britain was not a formal ally of any nation. The farthest they had gone in that direction was some commercial agreements, and to hold informal talks between the staff of the British Army and the staff of the French Army to do some planning in the event war broke out with the ever more menacing Germany. This was an odd development, because Britain and France were ancient enemies, for centuries, while Britain and Germany had close ties. The current British Dynasty (then and now) was originally from Hanover, Germany, and when they came to Britain around 1720, they still reigned over portions of Germany. The Kaiser of Germany and the British King were first cousins, both grandsons of Queen Victoria. The result of the informal staff talks between the British and French staffs was that Britain agreed to send an "expeditionary force" to France in the event of war with Germany. This expeditionary force was to be of six divisions, a tiny number of men in the terms of the war just beginning, but most of what the Kaiser called England's "contemptible little army". England did have only a small army, alone among the nations of Europe not having compulsory, mandatory military service for its young men, with the Royal Navy for centuries being the crucial force for the national survival of Britain. The British would continue to rely on volunteers for a year and a half of WWI. So it took a few weeks for the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) to get ready to go, get on ships and cross the English Channel to France, and march toward the front, where the 70 divisions of the German invaders were bearing down on Paris. And it was the middle of the month of August before their first combat, and the first loss of life.

Answer 2

58, 000 british troops were killed that first day.