Why was 1916 called the year of slaughter

When the contagion of war catches and spreads, issues of trade are disregarded. Yet when the British generals looked at the Western battlefront after nearly two years of warfare in the summer of , all they could see was barbed wire and trenches stretching almost unbroken for more than miles from the English Channel to the Swiss border.

How to break through and move the struggle away from the devastated territory of France and Belgium into that of the Second Reich itself? This issue had been made all the more pressing since February of that year when the Germans attacked the French city of Verdun, which was defended until the French army bled white, and which by July desperately needed help from the British in drawing off German strength.

Altogether the battle of Verdun was to cost a staggering , French and , German lives. The story of what went so horrifically wrong on the Somme on the morning of July 1 was been told well and often. The over-optimistic plan of General Sir Douglas Haig; the huge artillery bombardment of 1. In all, the day battle cost the British , casualties, the French , and the Germans more than ,, but the Germans found it harder to replace their manpower. The most important fact about the battle, however, was what came afterwards.

The ultimate result was an army that by fully deserved to win the war. As before, the attackers achieved initial success, but were unable to follow through to victory.

Later in the battle, the British used tanks for the first time, but the new machines had little impact. The Allied attacks were finally halted in November by bad weather. In four and a half months they had advanced six miles, at a cost of over , casualties. German losses are uncertain, but they too were staggering: between , men.

The winter brought an end to a year of slaughter and futility. Yet without a clear winner, none of the combatants was ready to end to the war. Their horrific losses only stiffened their resolve to keep fighting. First World War. The Somme offensive was one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the First World War The opening day of the attack, 1 July , saw the British Army sustain 57, casualties, the bloodiest day in its history. The campaign finally ended in mid-November after an agonising five-month struggle that failed to secure a breakthrough.

After failing in to break the muddy stalemate of trench warfare, the Allies developed a new plan. The British wanted to attack in Belgium. But the French demanded an operation at the point in the Allied line where the two armies met.

This was along a mile 40km front on the River Somme in northern France. On 21 February , aiming to wear down the French in a battle of attrition, the Germans attacked at Verdun.

In order to assist their ally, the British launched their attack on the Somme earlier than planned. Under pressure to attack at a time and place not of his choosing, Haig also disagreed with his senior commander, Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Rawlinson. Haig was more optimistic. The French were the senior partner in the alliance, so Haig had to accommodate their views.

General Ferdinand Foch led the French on the Somme. Originally their role was much greater, but the desperate situation at Verdun reduced their role in the operation. If successful, the Reserve Army, including cavalry, would then exploit this gap and roll up the German line. The Germans were stationed behind a formidable set of defences, the strength of which had been underestimated by Allied intelligence. On 24 June , the British began a seven-day preliminary bombardment.

When the attack began, it would provide a creeping barrage behind which the infantry could advance. The British believed that the Germans would be so shattered by this bombardment that the infantry would rush over and occupy their trenches. But they overestimated their firepower. The guns were too thinly spread for the task in hand.

The British fired 1. Many were shrapnel, which threw out steel balls when they exploded. These were devastating against troops in the open, but largely ineffective against concrete dugouts. A lot of shells were also defective. The German defences were not destroyed and in many places the wire remained uncut. The Allies also used mines to destroy the German lines before the battle.

One was detonated at Hawthorne Ridge 10 minutes before Zero-Hour, unwittingly signalling to the Germans that an attack was coming. In most cases they were unable to keep up with the barrage that was supposed to take them through to the German trenches. This gave the Germans time to scramble out of their dugouts, man their trenches and open fire.

They suffered over 57, casualties during the day. Although the French made good progress in the south and there were some local successes, in most places the attack was a bloody failure. But with the French still under pressure at Verdun, there was no question of calling off the offensive. He was killed in action on 1 July More attacks between 3 and 13 July resulted in a further 25, casualties.

But, gradually, the British tactics improved. On 14 July, four British divisions made a dawn attack on Longueval Ridge.