The first day of the ‘Battle of the Somme’ is remembered as the ‘bloodiest day of the British army’. Led by General Sir Douglas Haig, the British Army fought a long battle of trench warfare, hoping to relieve German pressure from the French at Verdun and to destroy German manpower. Starting on 1st July 1916, the battle continued until November 1916. The soldiers believed this battle would decide which side would be the victor. They also believed that the battle symbolised all the horrors of warfare in World War One.
Was General Haig a Bucher or Hero? The battle of the Somme took place from 1st July to 13 November in France near the River Somme; the battle was a big part of the First World War which was between the Triple Entente (Britain, Russia and France) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary) which was one of the most devastating battle the world had ever seen as It took so many lives within hours of the start of the battle. The Somme was the battle in which Britain and Germany fought a horrendous battle in where innocent lives were lost in the first hour or though. General Haig who was a new commander and in charge of the British army was the man who initially came up with the plan which consisted of innocent lives being lost, however he did not regret it, he thought it was a worthy sacrifice which led to the Victory of Britain. Haig only intention was to breakthrough to get the German trenches and defeat the army once and for all.
It was a narrow stretch of land that had twenty major forts and twenty smaller ones that protected the eastern border of France. Falkenhayn believed that the French would fight to the death to protect Verdun and would sustain thousands of casualties which would eventually change the course of the war. Erich von Falkenhayn was correct that the French would fight to protect the land. The forts were very important to the French. However, he incorrectly assumed that the French would be an easy target.
As the German offensives began to run out of power, Foch began to plan the Allied counterattack. This was to begin with a series of attacks designed to eliminate the salients in preparation for a final campaign in 1919. If the initial attacks went well, then Foch hoped to launch a major offensive that he hoped would push the Germans back off French soil. Even if that succeeded, there was every chance that the Germans might choose to defend their own borders, leaving the final campaign still to be fought. Phase One – Clearing the Salients The Hundred Days began with a French counter-attack.
These series of attacks that singlehandedly changed the course of the war by planting seeds of unrest into the minds the American public are known today as the Tet Offensive. Since the 1940’s, General Vo Nguyen Giap was the Commanding General of the North Vietnam Army. Giap served under Ho Chi Minh and was one of the main forces in the victory at Dien Bien Phu, which drove the French forces out of Vietnam in 1954. During the battle of Dien Bien Phu, General Giap is quoted stating that he was, “…willing to lose ten men for every one enemy soldier killed” (Bui Tin 2002, 67). This statement by itself is a clear indicator that General Giap was willing to do anything to defeat the French and win the war.
The Battle of Cantigny The battle of Cantigny was a battle between the U.S. 1st division and the German 82nd Reserve Division. It only lasted for two days (May 28-30, 1918), but it was still a very important battle for the U.S. troops. It was the first U.S. offensive and victory made by the AEF, or the American Expeditionary Forces. The battle started when the division was ordered to take over Cantigny, a village in France, North of Paris, near Man Didier in the Somme Region, to test its offensive capabilities. The Americans suffered weeks of heavy artillery and gas from the Germans.
It claimed 100,000 German casualties, killed wounded or captured, 81,000 American casualties, including 23,554 captured and 19,000 killed, 1,400 British casualties and 200 killed. This was a massive amount of people to be killed in one horrible battle in the world's history. The Germans led by Hitler went westward, they captured 120 American GI's near Malmedy, they herded the prisoners into a field and shot them with machine guns and pistols. (Danzer et. al.
The Germans transferred all of the soldiers in the Eastern Front over to the Western front to fight the British and the French. The 1918 Spring Offensive or Kaiserschlacht (Kaiser's Battle), was a series of German attacks along the Western Front during World War I, which marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914. The Germans had realized that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the overwhelming human and matériel resources of the United States could be deployed. They also had the temporary advantage in numbers afforded by nearly 50 divisions freed by the Russian surrender (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk). However, the strategic goals of the operation were lacking.
Compare and contrast the effects of World War 1 on Africa and Middle East. Although the causes for the Great War were laid down years before, but the immediate spark was the Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, an Austrian hungry prince. Due to the alliances amongst the countries, the Great war which had initially started between Serbia and Austria had engulfed the whole world into the War. The main causes of the Great War were imperialism, race for arms, nationalism and the alliance system. Typically, when one thinks of Great War, they think of extensive fighting in Europe but in reality the Great War had numerous battles in the colonized states where there were clashes between Triple Alliance and the Allies.
The Americans had estimated that there were about 65,000 Japanese troops on the island; the Americans plan was to destroy what was left of the Japanese merchant fleet and use airstrips in the region to launch bombing raids on Japan’s industrial heartland. Being named the bloodiest battle in the Pacific War meant more than just a few casualties. The invasion began on April 1, when 60,000 American troops landed on the front lines. The battle proceeded in four phases: First, the advance of the eastern coast; Second, the clearing of the northern part of the island; Third, the occupation of the outlying islands and Fourth, the main battle which started on April 6, and did not end until June 21. The final phase was extremely difficult because the Japanese were well entrenched and the naval