HistoryExtra
type: channel
link: https://www.historyextra.com
description: The official website for BBC History Magazine
date: 2025-02-14T15:19:21.000Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
items: The British generals whose infighting lost the battle of the Somme
items: The Somme: was it really a monstrous failure?
items: 17 unmissable battles podcasts
items: Books interview with Andrew Roberts: "I'd like to put an end to the 'Blackadder' view of the First World War"
items: The Somme and the Jacobites
items: Did the Somme offensive achieve anything?

The British generals whose infighting lost the battle of the Somme
type: item
date: 2018-06-19T09:00:59.000Z
subject: First World War
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Strained relations between General Sir Douglas Haig, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), and Sir Henry Rawlinson, the commander of the British 4th Army, are largely to blame for the failure of the battle of the Somme, says historian Hugh Sebag-Montefiore
encoded: Writing for History Extra, Hugh Sebag-Montefiore explains how infighting lost the battle of the Somme... One of the questions that is often asked of me since I wrote my book on the battle of the Somme is: was there one event that led to the failure of the ‘big push’? It is hard to pinpoint one single cause, but if pressed I would specify the unhealthy relationship between two of Britain’s top generals. As mentioned in my book, they had very different views about how the offensive should be started. On the one hand there were the flamboyant views of General Sir Douglas Haig, the 55-year-old commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), the eternal optimist. He was adamant that any attack plan should be ambitious, and should be calibrated so that there was at least the chance of a decisive breakthrough. If the plan worked, he wanted the coup de grâce to be administered by his beloved cavalry, the branch of the army where he had earned his spurs. On the other hand there were the more pessimistic opinions voiced by General Sir Henry Rawlinson, the 52-year-old commander of the British 4th Army, the organisation selected by Haig to carry out the Somme attack. If asked, he might have agreed that Haig was the British Army’s equivalent of Don Quixote, because like Cervantes’ fictional anti-hero, he did not face up to the real nature of what he had to assault. Lessons learned from previous attacks on the western front had convinced Rawlinson that Haig’s plan to break through the German multi-layered trench systems in one great rush, while desirable in theory, was unachievable in practice. The 4th Army’s commander believed that the most that could be accomplished on the first day of the Somme attack was the penetration of the front network of German barbed wire and trenches. The reason for his relatively unambitious approach was his realisation that to be sure of taking a trench system his artillery had to first cut the protective wire and pulverise the trenches…

General-7d6e74d.jpg
width: 1200
height: 630

The Somme: was it really a monstrous failure?
type: item
date: 2016-07-23T10:59:16.000Z
subject: 20th Century
subject: First World War
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: As we reach the centenary of Britain's most notorious battle of the First World War, Gary Sheffield questions whether it truly was uniquely terrible...
encoded: In the early evening of 14 July 1916, two squadrons of British and Indian cavalry launched a surprise attack on German infantry and machine-gunners near High Wood in the north-east corner of France. Carefully using the folds in the ground to conceal their advance, the horsemen of the 7th Dragoon Guards charged the defenders, got in among them, and killed and wounded a number with their lances. Stunned by the sudden assault, 32 Germans surrendered. Their shock action over, the 7th and Deccan Horse dismounted and entrenched, but when the anticipated support from reserve infantry failed to materialise, they fell back. The two squadrons had lost about 100 men. It was a remarkable end to a remarkable day – one that had begun at 3.25am with an artillery bombardment and a successful infantry attack on the German trenches on Bazentin Ridge. However the success was to be short-lived. To take advantage of the initial advances, reserves needed to be rushed up – a feat of organisation that was to prove beyond the capabilities of the inexperienced British Expeditionary Force (BEF). That’s why, when the cavalry did get into action, it wasn’t until the evening. So the ‘dawn attack’ of 14 July, which promised so much, ended up gaining little. In the final analysis it was marred by administrative bungling, early gains too easily surrendered and, of course, bloodshed – an all-too familiar story in the long, brutal battle of the Somme. The Somme has, over the past century, become a byword for futility. It is widely regarded, in Britain at least, as a uniquely terrible slaughterhouse. The casualty figures speak for themselves. Almost 20,000 British troops lost their lives on 1 July 1916 – the opening day of General Sir Douglas Haig’s ‘big push’ against German forces – in what remains the bloodiest day in the history of the British Army. By the time the battle ground to a halt in November, Britain had suffered an estimated 420,000 casualties (killed, wounded and missing), while the Fren…

GettyImages-102730615-2cbe070.jpg
width: 3508
height: 2880

17 unmissable battles podcasts
type: item
date: 2015-10-20T08:00:35.000Z
subject: First World War
subject: Georgian
subject: Medieval
subject: Period
subject: Roman
subject: Second World War
subject: Stuart
subject: Tudor
subject: Medieval battles
subject: Top 10 History Podcasts
description: Sunday marks the 600th anniversary of the battle of Agincourt, a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War. To mark the occasion, we’re running a Battles Week exploring clashes from ancient Rome right through to the Second World War. Here, we round up 17 of our best battles podcasts…
encoded: D-Day and the Wars of the Roses In this May 2014 podcast, military historian James Holland challenges some popular assumptions about the 1944 Normandy campaign and recounts his experiences of meeting veterans. Meanwhile, historian and author Sarah Gristwood pays a visit to Tewkesbury Abbey, which was a pivotal location in the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. Click here to listen. The battle of Agincourt Ranulph Fiennes talks about his ancestors’ involvement in the battle of Agincourt, in this October 2014 podcast. Also in this episode, Paul Preston explores the life of Spanish communist politician Santiago Carrillo. Click here to listen. England and Scotland go to war George Goodwin describes the Anglo-Scottish battle of Flodden, in this episode recorded in August 2013. Plus, Gary Sheffield considers how First World War commanders coped with the peculiar challenges of that conflict. Click here to listen. The battle for Madagascar and the Wars of the Roses Tim Benbow describes the Second World War battle for Madagascar, while Sarah Gristwood reflects on the role of women in the Wars of the Roses, in this podcast recorded in September 2012. Click here to listen. The battle of Britain Dr Anthony Cumming challenges traditional assumptions about the battle of Britain, in this October 2007 podcast. Also in this episode, Top Gear presenter James May explains his admiration for the Wright Brothers, while author and journalist Leo McKinstry reveals how the Spitfire nearly missed its finest hour. Click here to listen. An RAF fighter station in England during the btttle of Britain, 16 August 1940. Members of the Squadron rest between battles, and listen to an account given by a New Zealand officer (right) who has just bailed out of his aircraft, having been shot down by an enemy aircraft. (Photo by Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Waterloo 200 special Expert historians Julian Humphrys and Tim Blanning reveal how Napoleon was finally defeated at the battle of Waterloo,…

GettyImages-463970519-11d7366.jpg
width: 800
height: 530

Books interview with Andrew Roberts: "I'd like to put an end to the 'Blackadder' view of the First World War"
type: item
date: 2015-10-09T11:59:20.000Z
subject: First World War
subject: Membership
subject: Period
description: Andrew Roberts talks to Matt Elton about his book on the first day of the battle of the Somme, the infamous 1916 operation that resulted in the deaths of thousands of men
encoded: This article was first published in the October 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine In Context Starting on 1 July 1916, the battle of the Somme was a joint operation by French and British empire forces near the river of the same name in France. Military leaders were confident of the success of their plan – an aerial barrage followed by infantry advance into German trenches – but the battle was to become one of the bloodiest in history: on the first day alone around 20,000 Allied soldiers died, with tens of thousands more injured. By battle’s end in November, the Allies had gained only five miles. Much of the blame for this has since been pinned on British commander Douglas Haig. To what extent was the decision to fight at the Somme a political one? It was highly political. British forces needed to help the French, which sounds like a strategic military decision – but actually the Somme was chosen because it was where the two armies would overlap, or at least be adjacent. It would be a powerful propaganda move if the two armies could co-ordinate the biggest attack of the war thus far. How much was overconfidence an issue in the planning of the operation? It’s clear from General Haig’s diaries that he was wildly over-optimistic. It wasn’t entirely his fault: his chief intelligence officer, John Charteris, led him to feel that the Somme was going to be a big victory instead of the worst day in the history of the British Army. We can see why they thought this. The sheer amount of ordnance they were going to be dropping on the German barbed wire and dugouts should, by any normal calculations, have resulted in a walkover. The British men were expected to just walk across no man’s land and take possession of the first couple of lines of German trenches, only possibly fighting for the third line. Key among the reasons why this wasn’t the case is that barbed wire is an awful lot hardier than it seems. The wire was cut in some places but the men, heavily weighed down by their …

GettyImages-804470004-393a3c7.jpg
width: 5594
height: 3142

The Somme and the Jacobites
type: item
date: 2015-09-18T11:33:20.000Z
subject: First World War
subject: Membership
subject: Period
subject: Stuart
description: Andrew Roberts describes the opening day of one of World War One’s bloodiest battles, while Christopher Whatley explores the 18th-century uprising in favour of the Stuarts
encoded: Historian Andrew Roberts talks to us about his new book on the opening day of one of World War One’s bloodiest battles. Meanwhile, Professor Christopher Whatley discusses the events of the Jacobite revolt, 300 years after the 1715 uprising

logohistorynew 11-561c5e0.jpg
width: 250
height: 175

Did the Somme offensive achieve anything?
type: item
date: 2014-07-20T10:00:59.000Z
subject: First World War
subject: Period
description: As dawn broke on 1 July 1916, the curtain rose on one of the most furious periods of bloodletting of the entire war
encoded: The Somme was a slaughterhouse. This massive offensive in northern France resulted in well over a million British, French and German casualties. Almost 20,000 British troops were killed on the opening day, the bloodiest 24 hours in British military history. 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the battle of the Somme The Somme: was it really a monstrous failure? But did the battle achieve anything? Well, in terms of land, very little. When the offensive was called off on 18 November, the Allies had advanced a paltry five miles, and had been forced to relinquish many of the gains they’d achieved earlier in the battle. However, the Somme wasn’t just about gaining land. Among the aims of the offensive was to force the Germans to divert resources from a massive assault of their own on the French fortress of Verdun, and to use up manpower the Germans simply couldn’t replace. To what extent the Allies met these aims is open to debate: the Germans failed to take Verdun, but were still very much in the war for the next two years. This article was taken from BBC History Revealed magazine

200.GettyImages-187095490-8414645-e1574248040857.jpg
width: 1024
height: 849