Transcript Document

The First World War
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme
The Somme: The cost
1 The Somme: The cost
© Hodder Education, 2010
The First World War
The Battle of the Somme
The Somme: The cost
Sheffield Pals at the Battle of the Somme
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This shows part of the list of
dead and wounded from the
Sheffield Pals Battalion on the
first day of the Battle of the
Somme.
Many soldiers were in ‘pals’
battalions. If you joined a pals
battalion, you would be
fighting with men from your
local area.
The Sheffield Pals suffered
548 casualties on the first day
of the battle.
© Hodder Education, 2010
The First World War
The Battle of the Somme
The Somme: The cost
36th Ulster Division at the Somme
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This is a mural,
painted in 1936, at
Donegall Pass in
Belfast.
The 36th Ulster
Division was one of
the few units to
achieve its objective
on the first day of the
Battle of the Somme.
It suffered over 5000
casualties in the
battle.
© Hodder Education, 2010
The Battle of the Somme
The Somme: The cost
The First World War
The Accrington Pals
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The Accrington Pals were possibly the best known of the
pals units which went into battle in July 1916 at the Battle of
the Somme.
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On the first day of the battle 720 Accrington Pals went over the
top.
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They suffered nearly 600 casualties.
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You can listen to it at this website:
www.aftermathww1.com/harding.asp.
Whole streets lost all of their men.
The fate of the Accrington Pals was made into a song by Mike
Harding in 1986, 70 years after the battle.
© Hodder Education, 2010
The First World War
The Battle of the Somme
The Somme: The cost
How we view the Battle of the Somme
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The Somme has become the focus of debate about leadership. The
abiding impression of the war is that the volunteers who made up most of
the army followed their orders with enormous courage, but were betrayed
by their leaders.
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It is a popular view. It is also an easy view to support. But in this section
we want to look at the Battle of the Somme more objectively.
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What actually went wrong?
Was it all the fault of the British commander, General Haig?
If it was Haig’s fault, why are there military historians who argue that Haig
was not a blundering incompetent and why are there also many military
historians who believe that the Somme was not a military disaster?
© Hodder Education, 2010
The Battle of the Somme
The Somme: The cost
The First World War
From what I have read so far about the Somme
I think my final decision will be …
25% 25% 25% 25%
1. It was a disaster and
Haig was to blame
2. It was a success and
Haig deserves the credit
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4. I don’t have enough
evidence to say yet
. ..
3. Somewhere in between
1 and 2
© Hodder Education, 2010