We introduced the technology of the tank at the First Battle of Somme.

It is largely as a result of this single, catastrophic day that “the Somme” remains a by-word for senseless slaughter on an industrial scale, 100 years later. With more than 19,000 dead and nearly 40,000 more wounded, 1 July 1916 remains the single bloodiest day in Great Britain’s long martial history. History records the result: few reached the other side. So the mostly untested volunteers walked forward in even lines, wave after wave, towards the Maxim machine guns and the tangled barbed wire.

The generals had calculated that, with each man carrying more than 30 kilograms of pack and ammunition, they would be too tired to fight if they tried to run the several hundred yards across no-man’s land. They didn’t run forwards up the slopes towards the German trenches when the whistles broke the morning silence. With almost no European intellectual or political movement untouched by the trauma of the war, it is useful to revisit the history of the catastrophic battle fought by the British and French armies against the Germans.Īt exactly 7:30 in the morning on 1 July, 100 years ago, thousands of British soldiers went “over the top” towards enemy lines in the lowlands surrounding the French river Somme. This week marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme during World War I.

We introduced the technology of the tank at the First Battle of Somme.