The Battle of the Somme Historical Essay Example

The Battle of the Somme was a major turning point in World War 1. The Battle of the Somme (1 July 1916 - 18 November 1916) was a joint operation between British and French forces intended to achieve a decisive victory over the Germans on the Western Front after 18 months of trench deadlock. The Battle of the Somme was a loss to Britain because they only gained 10km of land from the Germans but they had almost 500,000 casualties. So was the gain really a gain if we compare the gain (10 km of land) with losses (human causalities)? The Battle of the Somme was the first campaign launched by Sir Douglas Haig after he took over command of the British Army on the Western Front. His reputation suffered very badly as a result of the Battle of the Somme. He was blamed for the heavy losses and accused of not caring about them. In this essay, 4 different interpretations of the Battle of the Somme will be evaluated. After completing this, I will then conclude my opinion as to which interpretation is the most accurate of them all.

Interpretation 1 is a painting done by artist named Richard Caton Woodville in 1917. Woodville was a talented reporter and illustrator that worked for The Illustrated London News. He mainly covered military campaigns such as the Battle of the Somme in 1916, and that is the interpretation we are going to be looking at. It tells us many things about the battle such as the German army were all dead or were surrendering. In the painting we can see far less casualties on the British side compared to the German side. We can also see lots of gunfire, bombs and fighting going on. This suggests that the battle was a success for Britain because: 

• They had a bigger army and killed the German army. 

• They were all happy and cheering while the German side were all dead or injured.

The artist would want people to view the battle in this way because he was a British person himself so he does not want the people to think that the British army was bad and they should not join the British army. He shows the British people happy, so that more people join the British Army. But in true reality joining the army is not fun at all xits sad and devastating. 

• Some people might agree with artist’s painting and its depiction because art always holds a special place and it’s hard to imagine that the depiction could be lie. 

• Some people might disagree with the artist’s painting and its depiction because of the amount of human casualties that the British had vs tiny part of land they got control for from the Germans

        The second interpretation is part of a report written by General Haig ( who was the leader of the battle ) in December 1916. This short part of a report was sent by Haig to the British Cabinet about the aftermath of the Battle of the Somme. It tells us many things about the Battle of the Somme such as the German army lost badly. It shows us this by saying “ A considerable portion of the German soldiers are now practically beaten men “. It also says “ The German Casualties were far greater than ours.” This quote is true that the British army had way more casualties than the German side, but the sentence does not look at the amount of Casualties the French army had. The French and British army combined had more casualties than the German side. This text does not say that the British Army won but its style of writing implies the reader that the German army lost, hence the British won. This interpretation suggests that the battle was a success to Britain because:

• “The German soldiers are ready to surrender if they could” this quote for the text tells us that the German army had lost and the British army won.

• Another reason it implies that Britain won is by saying “We have proved our ability to force the enemy out of strong defensive positions and to defeat them”

The writer General Haig would want people to view the battle in this way because he was the leader of the war, and he did not want people to think that it was his fault that Britain lost the war. Haig wanted people to think that he is a good leader.

• Some people might agree to what General Haig wrote because he was the General and he was there himself in the war, hence many people would believe him

• Some people might disagree to what General Haig wrote because 

        Thirdly, the 3rd interpretation is a clip from the film The Trench (1999) showing the British soldiers going ‘over the top’ on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. This 3rd interpretation tells us many different things about the war compared to the other 2. This clip shows us the way the British army fought in the war. The British army were just walking towards the German armies trench, and one by one they were shot. This clip also shows us that the British army were just sending all their troops lead by General Haig only on their first day and all of them were dying very quickly. This clip is very different to the other 2 interpretations because this interpretation is interpreted as a failure for Britain unlike the other 2. This clip shows us that the British army had lost so many soldiers in just 1 day. The soldiers fighting were fearless because even as their mates dye, they kept on walking and walking towards the German side. 2 main reasons why it was interpreted as a failure for Britain:

1. The British army were dying even before they reach the German side so they could fight with them. The Germans were shooting and killing the British from very far away.

2. Another way it shows failure for Britain, is because General Haig was one of the worst General in World War 1 because he was sending all his troops even though he could see that his plan was not working and his troops were dying.

The creator of this clip from the film ( The Trench ) showed it in this way because it was the true reality of what actually happened in the war unlike fake interpretations above. The creator knew what actually happened in the war and he did not want something like this to ever happen to the British army again. If more people are aware of what General Haig did in this war then more people are likely to protest for him not to be General anymore. 

• Some people might agree with clip and its depiction because a movie  shows pictures of what actually could have happened in the war and people are more likely to believe a clip rather than a piece of text.

• Some people might disagree with the clip because it was made in 1999, a long time after the war had ended so the person could easily lie.

         The 4th and last interpretation is a fictions front page from the Sun newspapers website ‘Ye Olde Front Page’ This newspaper shows us a picture of how bad the trenches were in the war. This last interpretation also shows the British army losing the war. The title of the newspaper is ‘Slaughter’, which depicts that lots of people had died in the Battle of the Somme. To prove this point the subtitle is ’60,000 of our boys cut down on the first day of the Somme’. This shows that many people have died in just the 1st day of the battle so many more people would have died during the next months. This suggests that it was a failure for Britain for many different reasons as explained below:

• “As our boys advanced towards the German trenches they got bogged down in the mud or tangled up in barbed wire, making them sitting ducks for enemy machine guns” This shows that the British army had all died or injured.

• “Bravest of the brave… British Tommie’s crawl along a trench towards No Man’s Land yesterday, but all die once reaching there.”

This newspaper was written in this way to show the reality of what happened in the war, and to be critical towards General Haig, because the amount of casualties that the British army had suffered.

• Some people might agree with this newspaper because now the British soldiers have been described as ‘lions led by donkeys’.

• Some people might disagree with the newspaper because 

In conclusion, I think that interpretation 4 is the most accurate because it shows the true reality of what happened in the war that the British army lost compared to the other ones that show that the British army won. And this 4th one is the only one that is unbiased and is done by a newspaper.