Why did so many British die in the battle of the somme?

Answer 1

The fact that Germany, France and Britain had declared war on each other (WWI). The battle of the Somme was the battle in which France and Britain finally brought Germany's advance to a standstill. After that, it would still take 2 years, plus the intervention of the US, to defeat Germany in 1918.

Answer 2

For many years those who led the British campaign have received a lot of criticism for the way the Battle of the Somme was fought - especially Douglas Haig. This criticism was based on the appalling casualty figures suffered by the British and the French. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000casualties including nearly 60,000 on the first day alone. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000.

Ironically, going over the top at the Somme was the first taste of battle many of these men had, as many were part of "Kitchener's Volunteer Army" persuaded to volunteer by posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning these men to arms to show their patriotism.

BY:Yasin Mohammed

Kuwait

Answer 3

Britain and Germany had a war because they both wanted to rule more countries than others

The French needed the British to attack to alleviate the pressure of the German offensive at Verdun. The French defenders were being bled dry. The British attack was preceded by a massive artillery barrage, which was not successful in dislodging the German defences. All in all the British gained about 9 square miles of mud. At a cost of thousands and thousands. It was largely irrelevant to what happened at Verdun.

actually, they did not have that war because they both wanted more countries to rule, actually Britain owned a third of the world in the 19th century but anyway, it was because some guy was murdered by a gang which was on the side of the allies (i think) and Germany attacked them to help out the country that had their important guy murdered so loads of countries ended up helping each other out, Britain was helping Belgium and Germany was helping the country (who's name i don't know, sorry). but other than the sarkiness in the paragraph above i have nothing else to improve. :)

The "guy who was murdered" was the Archduke of Austria. He was assassinated along with his wife by a Serbian nationalist. Serbia was an ally of Russia and Austria was an ally of Germany. So those four countries declared war on each other. France being an ally of Russia was attacked by Germany. When Germany overran Belgium, an ally of Britain, Britain entered the war on France's side (the Allies side). ( Please correct this if necessary.)

ty to the person who knows a lot which i couldn't remember (2nd paragraph :P) and clarified things about the first world war. you're awesome.

Answer 4

so many birtish died in the battle of the somme because of general haig. he was the "leading man" in the battle of the somme, and made all of the decisions about it. a reason why so many british died in the battle of the somme is because he thought it would be a good idea if insted of running through nomans land to anouther base he told them to walk across it, and most of them died because of the oposition having machine gun turrets that would kill them quite easily. but general haig was doing what he thought was best because he had to do something because he was ordered by the poloticians that he would win the battle of the somme and eventually the war.

the battle of the somme was fought from July to November of 1916 and was one of the biggest battles of WW1, with over 1.5 million casulties.

hope this helped:D

Answer 5

They fought over chickens across the valleys

Answer 6

help