The Battle of the Somme was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the River Somme in France. The battle was one of the largest of World War I. More than a million men were wounded or killed.

The First World War was fought from trenches that stretched for hundreds of kilometres across northern France and Belgium. Time and time again the opposing armies tried to break the stalemate of the trenches by launching great waves of soldiers.

Whenever this was done there was bound to be huge loss of life because the only way that soldiers could advance was to climb out of their trenches and run towards the enemy trenches. Because both sides had machine guns, most attackers were mown down, and the result was disaster.

The Somme was a spectacular example of how this war could not easily be won. But it was the first time that planes and tanks were used in any battle. At the end of the battle, British and French forces had moved 10km/6mi into German-held land. It was twice as far as in any previous battle, but still not enough to change the war.

All the same, and despite huge casualties on both sides, the German army was the most weakened. When the Americans joined the war in 1917 on the Allied side, this made it all the easier to defeat the Germans. In that way, some historians see this as a useful battle, not just one of huge losses.