# Canonical recap data for Battle of the Somme Begins (1916)
# Source: https://recap.at/1916/battle-somme
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: battle-somme
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1916/battle-somme"
title: Battle of the Somme Begins
aliases:
- Somme Offensive
- First Somme
- Battle of the Upper Somme
subtitle: Battle of the Somme Begins
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1916-07-01
endDate: 1916-11-17
datePrecision: day
year: 1916
decade: 1910
country:
name: France
slug: france
summaryShort: The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. The battle was
summaryLong: The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 17 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom more than one million were either wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in human history.
lede: On July 1, 1916, the British and French armies launched an offensive against German forces along the Somme River in northern France, beginning one of World War I's deadliest battles. Over four and a half months, roughly 1 million soldiers were killed or wounded across all sides. The battle became a symbol of the war's grinding, catastrophic futility.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg/1280px-Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg.png"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Battle of the Somme"
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: First day casualties (British)
  value: ~60,000 killed or wounded
- label: Total campaign duration
  value: 140 days (July 1 – November 17, 1916)
- label: Combined casualties (all sides)
  value: ~1,000,000 killed and wounded
- label: British artillery bombardment duration
  value: 7 days (June 24 – July 1)
- label: Artillery shells fired in bombardment
  value: ~1.7 million
- label: Maximum advance (British)
  value: ~6 miles
- label: German defenders
  value: ~250,000
- label: British and French attackers
  value: ~1.5 million
timeline:
- date: 1916-06-24
  title: British Artillery Bombardment Begins
  description: British forces under General Douglas Haig begin a seven-day artillery barrage intended to destroy German defenses and barbed wire along a 18-mile front.
- date: 1916-07-01
  title: Battle Opens
  description: British and French infantry attack German positions. British forces suffer approximately 60,000 casualties on the first day, the bloodiest day in British military history.
- date: 1916-07-14
  title: British Break German First Line
  description: After two weeks of fighting, British forces finally penetrate German first-line defenses south of the Ancre River, though at enormous cost.
- date: 1916-08-23
  title: Edmund Allenby Takes Command of Third Army
  description: General Edmund Allenby assumes command of British Third Army during the campaign. Haig continues overall direction but faces increasing pressure to justify the casualties.
- date: 1916-09-15
  title: Tanks Deployed
  description: British forces deploy 49 Mark I tanks near Courcelette in the ongoing Somme offensive, though mechanical failures and inexperience limit their impact.
- date: 1916-11-18
  title: 1916-11-17
  description: British commander General Douglas Haig halts the offensive. Despite months of fighting and over 1 million total casualties, territorial gains amount to roughly 6 miles. Objectives are not achieved.
sources:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260523162554/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme"
  title: Battle of the Somme
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Somme demonstrated the lethal mismatch between 19th-century tactics and 20th-century weaponry. The battle's staggering casualty toll-60,000 British soldiers on the first day alone-reshaped how militaries understood industrial warfare, though lessons were learned slowly and at enormous cost.
categories:
- war
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- war
- invasion
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- collapse
impactRadius: global
velocity: cascading
predictability: scheduled
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: conflict
metaDescription: 1.1 million casualties. July-November 1916. How the Somme became WWI's defining horror.
wikidataQid: Q132568
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260523162554/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme"
  capturedAt: 2026-05-23
  label: Battle of the Somme
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Somme"
gallery:
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg/1280px-Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg.png"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg/800px-Map_of_the_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_1916.svg.png"
  caption: Battle of the Somme
  credit: Wikipedia · "Battle of the Somme"
  width: 330
  height: 252
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/The_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_July-november_1916_Q1042.jpg/1280px-The_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_July-november_1916_Q1042.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/The_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_July-november_1916_Q1042.jpg/800px-The_Battle_of_the_Somme%2C_July-november_1916_Q1042.jpg"
  caption: The Battle of the Somme, July-november 1916 Q1042
  credit: Ernest Brooks
  width: 1300
  height: 954
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Trench_art_of_a_German_soldier_from_World_War_I%3B_Battle_of_the_Somme%3B_Ashtray_for_cigars_made_from_a_German_grenade_shell%3B_Made_in_1916%3B.jpg/1280px-Trench_art_of_a_German_soldier_from_World_War_I%3B_Battle_of_the_Somme%3B_Ashtray_for_cigars_made_from_a_German_grenade_shell%3B_Made_in_1916%3B.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/71/Trench_art_of_a_German_soldier_from_World_War_I%3B_Battle_of_the_Somme%3B_Ashtray_for_cigars_made_from_a_German_grenade_shell%3B_Made_in_1916%3B.jpg/800px-Trench_art_of_a_German_soldier_from_World_War_I%3B_Battle_of_the_Somme%3B_Ashtray_for_cigars_made_from_a_German_grenade_shell%3B_Made_in_1916%3B.jpg"
  caption: Trench art of a German soldier from World War I; Battle of the Somme; Ashtray for cigars made from a German grenade shell; Made in 1916;
  credit: Lupus in Saxonia
  width: 18898
  height: 11339
- url: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/British_Battle_Line-July_1st_1916-The-strand-magazine-1918-06-the-british-campaign-in-france-p473.jpg/1280px-British_Battle_Line-July_1st_1916-The-strand-magazine-1918-06-the-british-campaign-in-france-p473.jpg"
  thumbnailUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/British_Battle_Line-July_1st_1916-The-strand-magazine-1918-06-the-british-campaign-in-france-p473.jpg/800px-British_Battle_Line-July_1st_1916-The-strand-magazine-1918-06-the-british-campaign-in-france-p473.jpg"
  caption: British Battle Line-July 1st 1916-The-strand-magazine-1918-06-the-british-campaign-in-france-p473
  credit: Arthur Conan Doyle
  width: 397
  height: 604
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Daily casualty rate
  thenValue: ~57,000
  thenYear: 1916
  nowValue: "0"
  nowYear: 2024
  note: July 1, 1916 saw approximately 57,000 British casualties in a single day, the bloodiest day in British military history
- metric: Total combatants deployed
  thenValue: ~2 million
  thenYear: 1916
  nowValue: Professional armies of ~200,000 combined
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Mass conscription and trench warfare required unprecedented deployment; modern conflicts rely on smaller professional forces
- metric: Battle duration
  thenValue: 141 days
  thenYear: 1916
  nowValue: Weeks to months typically
  nowYear: 2024
  note: July 1 – November 18, 1916; modern warfare generally concludes faster due to air power and mobility
- metric: Estimated total casualties
  thenValue: ~1 million
  thenYear: 1916
  nowValue: "Largest single conflicts now: 100,000–500,000"
  nowYear: 2024
  note: Somme remains one of history's costliest battles; modern conflict scale reduced by nuclear deterrence and international law
consequences:
- title: Immediate German strategic shift
  year: 1916
  description: German High Command, under Falkenhayn, abandoned the Verdun offensive and shifted resources to the Eastern Front after recognizing the Somme's attrition drain
- title: British command restructure
  year: 1917
  description: Field Marshal Douglas Haig's strategy of continuous attrition became dominant British doctrine through 1918, directly shaped by Somme lessons and casualty acceptance
- title: Public opinion fracture
  year: 1918
  description: The Somme's scale of losses crystallized anti-war sentiment across Britain and France, contributing to armistice acceptance in November 1918 and postwar pacifist movements
- title: Military tactical evolution
  year: 1917
  description: Somme's failure of frontal assault doctrine accelerated development of infiltration tactics and combined arms—adopted by German Stoßtruppen and later Allied forces
- title: Imperial recruitment collapse
  year: 1920
  description: Somme casualties exhausted voluntary recruitment across British Empire; contributed to conscription resistance and colonial independence movements in 1920s
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: If You Were the Only Girl in the World
  artist: Flotsam and Jetsam
  year: 1916
  note: Popular sentimental war-era song; escapist sentiment amid Somme fighting
- title: Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag
  artist: Felix Powell & George Asaf
  year: 1915
  note: Released 1915, heavily performed by troops during 1916; morale song
topFilms:
- title: Battle of the Somme
  year: 1916
  note: Documentary released August 1916 by British War Office; earliest battle footage shown to civilians; 20 million viewers in UK alone
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: 1916 marked the collapse of Victorian optimism about progress and martial glory. The Somme's scale and futility—640,000+ British/French casualties for 6 miles of ground—shattered illusions of quick victory and crystallized a generation's disillusionment. Modernist art and literature (Pound, Eliot, Owen) increasingly rejected Edwardian certainty; the war became synonymous with meaningless mechanized death.
relatedQueries:
- Battle of the Somme July 1 1916 casualties
- Douglas Haig Somme strategy criticism
- Somme offensive German defensive lines
- British Expeditionary Force 1916 trench warfare
- Pals Battalions Somme Manchester Leeds
- Somme artillery barrage preparation
- Why did Battle of Somme have so many casualties
- Somme compared to Verdun 1916
- Haig tactics infantry assault criticism historians
