The Battle of the Somme (WW1 Documentary)

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The Battle of the Somme was one of the bloodiest of the First World War. From July to November 1916, millions of men struggled to fight in mud, under crushing shellfire, or in a hail of machine gun bullets. The Somme has been a synonym for the futility of trench warfare, but also the subject of fierce debate - who really won the battle of the Somme?
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Erik Ritter, Cardboard, Ken Brownfield, David Garfinkle, Raymond Martin, Konstantin Bredyuk, Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje
» SOURCES
Afflerbach, Holger. Auf Messers Schneide. Wie das Deutsche Reich den Ersten Weltkrieg Verlor. CH Beck, 2022.
Ferguson, Niall. The Pity of War. Basic Books, 2009.
Haig, Douglas. “Despatch to the Secretary of State for War.” Supplement to London Gazette, December 29, 1916.
Hart, Peter. The Great War 1914-1918. Profile Book, 2013.
Keegan, John. The First World War. Vintage Canada, 1998.
Palmer, Svetlana and Sarah Willis. A War in Words. Pocket Books, 2003.
Stevenson, David. 1914 1918. The History of the First World War. Penguin, 2013.
Le Naour, Jean-Yves. 1916: l’enfer. Perrin, 2014.
Maufrais, Louis, et Martine Veillet. J’étais médecin dans les tranchées. Robert Laffond, 2008.
Watson, Alexander. Ring of Steel. Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918. Penguin, 2014.

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»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Toni Steller, Philipp Appelt
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Florian Wittig
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig
Channel Design: Yves Thimian
Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2024

[@TheGreatWar]

Support us and get 40% off Nebula: go.nebula.tv/the-great-war What Rhineland 45 on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/real-time-history-1-come-hell-or-high-water-i-rhineland-45?ref=the-great-war

[@toadtheparakeet8541]

The Great War always undermines German wartime performance and idolize the Allies

[@pepperspray7386]

imagine being the guy telling a conscript "well it's a battle of attrition, i hope you said your goodbyes..."

[@Matt_from_Florida]

A war of attrition in Europe is happening right now.

[@scottjuhnke6825]

As with the Great War, as a whole, no one won, Europe lost.

[@RetreatHell]

Britain certainly NEVER recovered, and it was the beginning of the end for that once-great nation and empire

[@jrdsm]

US won

[@hisvin]

@@RetreatHell France neither.

[@anthonyeaton5153]

@@jrdsmWhen the US came into the war in 1917 didn’t see action proper until 1918. What you say is utter nonsense. Which university did you attend.

[@jrturner7707]

​@@anthonyeaton5153 Don't know if this is what they meant, but many would argue US 'won' because of everything they sold to the allies. Not war victory winning, but war profiteering winning.

[@vjbd2757]

More than 600,000 Allied casualties for 6 miles of land. I see this as an absolute win!

[@andrewstevenson118]

"Look, this is the amount of land we've recaptured since yesterday. What is the actual scale of this map?" "The map is actually life-size, Sir. It's superbly detailed. Look, look, there's a little worm." "Oh, yes. So the actual amount of land retaken is?" "Seventeen square feet, Sir."

[@michaelsinger4638]

That’s an oversimplification.

[@TheTutch]

​@@michaelsinger4638dude it's a comment on a youtube video...

[@JFDA5458]

Death won.

[@samueldawkins]

@@TheTutch so what?

[@Dave1-08]

"There were no waverers, no stragglers, not a man looked back. It was a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour, and its assault only failed of success because dead men can advance no further." British General Aylmer Hunter-Weston speaking of the action of the Newfoundland Regiment at Beaumont Hamel.

[@andrewstevenson118]

My brother was on a tour and went to the Messines Memorial. He mentioned to an American that he was a Kiwi and our "memorial day" was April 25 and explained about the Dardanelles Campaign. The American replied that in his country, they only celebrated winners. My 6'5" brother said he was never closer to punching a stranger in his face.

[@Shadooe]

"Better Than the Best"

[@Healermain15]

In other words, their officers sent everyone to their deaths in an impossible suicide attack. I can see why they want to talk about bravery and valour instead.

[@GraceCole-qy6ul]

“A northern soldier is worth 10 southerners!” Lmfao

[@sof5858]

5:50 The sad thing is, Charles died that day. His friend ended up marrying Bessie and looked after his daughter. RIP Charles May

[@JFDA5458]

I was looking for a post on this before asking about it. Very sad.

[@theheadshot45]

They actually say this in the video at 8:30.

[@JFDA5458]

@@theheadshot45 They do indeed, however I read this in the comments before I got to 8:30 on the video.

[@reallyhappenings5597]

That's why it's sometimes better to avoid war

[@vinny8413]

i’d be sick if my friend took my family after i died

[@Z1_The_Great]

Well SommeONE won it

[@lorenzogiuliani9144]

😢

[@tiredredneck8159]

😂😂😂😂😂😂 I gotta know where ya heard that

[@eddierobles2687]

Slow clap😂

[@natheriver8910]

😂😂😂😂

[@flogger8413]

😂

[@Uncommoner]

The assault of the Royal Newfoundland was doomed from the start. In no man's land there was a skeletal tree that command designated as a rally point; but being one of the only landmarks remaining in the desolation, the Germans used it as a sighting point for their guns. The Newfoundlanders that made it there were cut down mercilessly, and a replica of the "danger tree" remains in the spot where so many men fell

[@murmurrrr]

Crazy coincidence, I was at Verdun last week and have been rewatching some Great War vids since then. Just two days ago I was disappointed not to find a Somme video, and here it is!

[@KPW2137]

I was at Verdun last year. A powerful experience.

[@christophgotz1411]

To read the last letter from the soldier to his wife just to hear that he died that day is just heartbreaking. I mean Hundreds of thousands died but the fate of that one human can have an deep impact in comparison to the pure number of casualties... Thank you for this Video !

[@iwishiwaschrismacavoy8116]

I went to Beaumont Hammel in 2016, the monument to the missing British empire soldiers was truly staggering

[@paulmadryga]

The memorial to the missing of the Somme is at Thiepval. However, there's a smaller one at Beaumont Hamel in memory of the war dead of the Dominion of Newfoundland.

[@iwishiwaschrismacavoy8116]

@@paulmadryga we drove to the larger monument, I didn't realize it was a town over. It was all of 5 minutes away

[@paulmadryga]

@@iwishiwaschrismacavoy8116 - Yeah, everything's pretty close there. Hard to comprehend that so much went down in such a geographically-small area.

[@RobertsArchives]

​​@@paulmadryga My 2nd Great Granduncle served with the Newfoundland Regiment in WW1, wounded at Gueudecourt on the Somme in 1916, he survived the war and lived till his 90's. We're currently having a Tomb of the Unknown Soldier being built here, it's being revealed July 1st, in Honor of Beaumont-Hamel.

[@ThealmightyMatt]

Douglas Haig claiming after the battle that it was really about attrition reminds me of Erich von Falkenhayn's claims about Verdun. "Nooo, you don't understand! I meant for it to be a meat grinder! It was all about attrition from the start!" Ps. I'm loving these overview videos; they pair well with the weekly episodes, like chocolate and red wine 👌

[@michaelsinger4638]

Haig didn’t pick the battlefield nor did he plan the battle. That was not his job. Henry Rawlinson did most of the planning.

[@willkettle3959]

I mean, the Chantilly conference in 1915 already decided attrition was the way they would fight the war going forward...

[@davidbowen5621]

Except that attrition was actually the goal of the battle of Verdun

[@RegularOlSammy]

@@davidbowen5621 Eh, it's murky on whether or not that is the case, and depends on what you read really IMO.

[@Lockerus]

WW1 commanders when their overly ambitious attack with no clear objective fails: “why we were trying to defeat the enemy through attrition of course”

[@davewolfy2906]

Supposedly, that was Monty's plan for us British and Canadians in Normandy - after they failed to take Caen.

[@tremendousbaguette9680]

I can't believe they tried to pull off a Falkenhayn on this one.

[@MisterOcclusion]

When your plan is attrition, you’ve already lost. Like throwing money into a slot machine, with the hope of breaking even.

[@TheTutch]

​@@MisterOcclusionas long as you can take the rate of attrition for a day longer than your opponent you have a winning plan...its cynical but its winning

[@freddieclark]

@@davewolfy2906 No it wasn't, it was actually Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke (CIGS) who believed that the way to victory was to conduct a war of attrition.

[@Shadooe]

"The only visible sign that the men knew they were under this terrific fire was that they all instinctively tucked their chins into an advanced shoulder as they had so often done when fighting their way home against a blizzard in some little outport in far off Newfoundland." ~ Major A. Raley 1st NFLD Regiment

[@RetreatHell]

2 MILLION artillery rounds in ONE week…. Can’t imagine being on the receiving end of such a sustained barrage of artillery.

[@andrewstevenson118]

Different war, but the US captured a VC at Dien Bien Phu. They couldn't believe his belligerence and confidence. And then a B-52 strike came in. He evacuated himself. High explosive does some horrible things.

[@cde9952]

The reverberations would be insane

[@Brslld]

How did those artillerymen not go deaf lmao

[@alexsky88749]

I wonder if that would bé possible today with modern artillery

[@silasmerzenich]

Germans fired 5 million shells just at march 21th 1918

[@paulmadryga]

Nice to see a WWI presenter who knows how to pronounce "Newfoundland" correctly.

[@jessealexander2695]

Helps that I am Canadian.

[@alexkilgour1328]

​@@jessealexander2695lots of Canadians seem to struggle with it, too.

[@connoisseur9069]

Nearly every town and village in Britain have memorials to the men of 1914-1918 Now, our tiny village in Gloucestershire has a memorial dedicated to the 20 or so lads who joined, probably in those Pals battalions. I noticed that mostly all those men died during the Battle of the Somme. A entire generation of men from our village wiped out, poor lads.

[@bigsarge2085]

Fascinating and informative as always, thank you!

[@chriswatonek5549]

Rats and flies won. They had a great feast.

[@StevenSmith-dc1fq]

Excellent, and highly informative. Superb mix of even-handed narrative, pix, period film, and modern maps and data.

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@lilatico7124]

I Still cant believe these guys get 1 minute of salute rather than the other clowns get a full month

[@chriskimber7179]

I was the first guide at Beaumont Hamel This is very wel explained, and thank you for the mention of the brave Newfoundlanders

[@jessealexander2695]

I was a guide at Vimy - coudn`t leave them out. :)

[@joeadams3228]

Another well produced, balanced account of a pivotal time in the Great War. Keep up the great work!

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@AtlasAugustus]

Thank you for the hard work here and on your other channel. Sharp quality in these documentaries. Always look forward to more!

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@alexamerling79]

You guys do great work!

[@duncandoyle7844]

brilliant as always. Captivating. Thank you

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@tinkmarshino]

The soldier didn't win.. they never win they just suffer and die.. My grandfather was there and a few other places during that war.. He never spoke about to me when I was young.. but after I got out of the Marines back in 72 we spent hours talking about it.. I hate war...

[@DiegoDuran-or9cg]

Otro gran episodio

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@alansmithee8831]

The best way of imagining the effect on the British perception of WW1, in my opinion, is Mike Harding's song and live intoduction to it, called "The Acrington Pals". As mentioned in the video, the Pals from the same towns or cities, mostly in northern England, all dying together on the same day, at the start of this battle, was a disaster for a whole generation in those areas.

[@TheAnonymous4545]

The arms dealer won in somme

[@amogusenjoyer]

Not sure if they made that much money actually. At least in France a lot of armament production was nationalized at that point. Was it different in Britain?

[@siyar-mc1xz]

​@@amogusenjoyer Brother ignore those people. According to them all wars are waged by bankers and arms dealers😂

[@TheAnonymous4545]

@@amogusenjoyer some middleman must exist in the supply chain that probably got filthy rich from all the government contracts for weaponry

[@sandran17]

​@siyar-mc1xz 'oh no it wasn't our fault, us leaders of these countries, we totally weren't eager to start a war and take each other's lands, um, um, blame those people we bought the guns off to do it with, they're really mean and convinced us to do it, it's not like Germany was eager to expand its empire, France wanted to get revenge and Britain wanted to act like the global big dog!'

[@WhyGodby]

​@@siyar-mc1xz It's projecting the modern world into that of 100 years ago

[@dansmith4077]

Great video

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@whitearmourfilm]

Great episode

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@billandmonicaschleicher9018]

Another great documentary, as always. Thanks for uploading, Great War team!

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@simonbutterfield4860]

Some facts and figures I didn't know and well presented, great work guys.

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@brunovenancio8783]

Fascinating! I hope to see an analysis of the Battle of Passchendaele in the future.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

RTH channel is always sharing and introducing incredible, informative, and wonderful historical coverage epics ..like this work ...thank you 🙏 ( RTH) channel for sharing.

[@natheriver8910]

Very interesting

[@michaelsinger4638]

It’s quite fascinating reading about major WW1 battles. How the casualties between attackers and defenders were often very close. It shows how a lot of what is believed about how these battles were fought is, well myths. The French and Germans suffered roughly equal casualties at Verdun. The Germans lost almost as many men defending on the Somme as the British lost attacking.

[@jessealexander2695]

What`s hidden in the final numbers for battles is that even the overall defendiong side (Germans on the Somme and French at Verdun) launched many counterattacks. These were quite costly, given that in general attacking was more costly than defending.

[@shadwknight2172]

Nah they lost way less. That was a disaster!

[@indianajones4321]

Another great episode of the great war

[@Bostnfn]

My great grandfather was in a Newfoundland regiment and was shot in the leg on the first day.

[@Alec.40]

Thanks

[@carausiuscaesar5672]

My great uncle was killed in the Battle of the Somme.

[@welcometonebalia]

Thank you.

[@thorstenlohmeyer988]

This is probably the best History Channel in KZbin. Thank you.

[@jessealexander2695]

Thanks!

[@superchug2469]

If possible do belluwood. Great video

[@marksummers463]

Great!

[@jamesb6102]

It was ME, i won the battle.

[@josephbray9979]

Congratulations

[@Zorglub1966]

Ha! Ha! Ha! Amateur! It was me!

[@jrdsm]

You won the battle, but you lost the war.

[@TheRealForgetfulElephant]

after the legendary General James won the battle of the Somme he and his soldiers used the momentum gained from the victory to march on Ohio a few weeks later.

[@jamesb6102]

@@TheRealForgetfulElephant That's me!!

[@user-zn7rg4uu3c]

the owners of the coffin, cross, and shovel factory

[@grafneun]

the amount of casualties is crazy

[@mammuchan8923]

The Charles May quote always brings tears to my eyes, it is so poignant

[@catholicmilitantUSA]

Another excellent video Jesse! I always regarded the Somme as a British victory because the Germans had to abandon that battlefield early in '17 to go behind the Hindenburg Line but after watching your video I now think it was a German victory containing the seed of their ultimate defeat.

[@StephenLuke]

RIP To the 95,675 British troops, 50,729 French troops, and 164,055 Imperial German troops who were killed in the Battle of the Somme

[@jota6262]

The world remembers the Somme with the old saw about lions being led by donkeys. An old saying it turns out; this from the History Skills website: "The ancient Roman biographer, Plutarch, attributed to Chabrias the saying that "an army of deer commanded by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions commanded by a deer"."

[@aaronlaughter6471]

I love how the US was not even in the war yet, and Germany was still mad at us.

[@johnwhitney2431]

Yeah, I was wait, what 😂

[@robdgaming]

The US was supplying artillery, ammunition, and some small arms to the Allies at the time, long before its entry into the war. Due to the British blockade, corresponding supplies could not be delivered to Germany. A small amount of supplies (I think mostly rare metals) were delivered to Germany on one voyage of the German merchant submarine Deutschland (later converted to an offensive submarine).

[@samdumaquis2033]

Interesting

[@Esau2507]

12:01 oh I Got the reference!

[@ceberskie119]

Ok history nerd calling out to thr math nerds here...at 6:40 theres a picture of an underground mike being detonated that was apparently ineffective...using the silhouettes of trees just to the left and the trees just in front seemingly about halfway between the cameraman and the blast. Id like to measure how tall the blast is and with that guessstimate how big the chunks of rock being thrown around are...the honored sons of the fatherland gotta have 5-6 foot wide chunks of clay reigning down for like 300 feet.

[@shawngilliland243]

Chunks of clay raining down

[@Captainkebbles1392]

The munitions industry tbh, the increase in requirements and investment was jaw dropping

[@NO-poleon]

Can you make a WWI country video on the country of Liberia and the Central American countries?

[@thehowlingmisogynist9871]

Like Jutland, the Somme was a tactical loss, but a strategic win. The objective to loosen the pressure on Verdun was successful, but at significant cost. The British took huge losses in raw recruits, but learned from it. This was the first step to the superb fighting forces of the 'Hundred Days' in 1918. Ludendorff said that the German Army would collapse if there was another battle on the scale of the Somme.

[@brianschmidt704]

Like most of the large battles of the first world war, Germany won the battle but lost the strategic advantage.

[@rogerdudra178]

Greetings from the BIG SKY. My grandfather had 2 brothers there.

[@MaiussX]

I did, got a receipt and all

[@andrewsoboeiro6979]

Jesse's mention of Clausewitz here confirms that he & Bret Devereaux need to do a collab; it would be glorious! Just picture it: Jesse: I'm Jesse Alexander... Bret: ...and I'm Bret Devereaux! Jesse: This has been a production of Real Time History... Bret: ...the only KZbin history channel that drinks every time we say "Clausewitz"!

[@duncandoyle7844]

Hi there just a suggestion by this time in America the dachshund was considered to be German and thus declined to the point where they were believed to be only 12 in the Americas maybe you can use it for your run next year

[@remko1238]

No one… its war so no winners

[@ReconPro]

Hello folks, have a great weekend 😊❤

[@statisticalanomaly8416]

Whoa

[@DakkTribal]

The fact this battle lasted as long as it did should be criminal. It should have ended when nothing was gained immediately.

[@unclejj13er75]

What a disaster. No wonder our world is so screwed up. My mom had an old uncle that fought in WW1, American side. He came back from the war very mean. He was a tough old son of a gun. Wish I had more of his old stories. Rest in peace.

[@matthewmcneany]

Like the war in general: Nobody won, some people just lost more badly than others.

[@SonOfAGunYYH]

in a shocking turn-around, the Ottomans won it

[@alexsky88749]

All those dead soldiers just to advance 10 kms in enemy territory. What a waste of human life..

[@PSMCR69]

If the battle Somme happens again it will be on Colour film recording

[@justbot5806]

Does anyone know the background or context of the picture at 16:08 ? Is it surrendering troops together or all British troops wearing other helmets as a joke?

[@waveygravey9347]

Souvenirs

[@adamazzalino5247]

Nobody wins in war

[@mr.awesome5933]

The flies were the only winners at the somme

[@willhovell9019]

Shows the Anglophobic Petain and his later treachery up for what it was

[@jankusthegreat9233]

Hi

[@talesoftheeldar8688]

Can the next documentary be about the Brusilov offensive?🙏🙏🙏

[@jessealexander2695]

We did an episode on it, just look at our videos from last year.

[@neonpowar3766]

@@jessealexander2695 Jesse the 🐐 2 steps ahead as always

[@porcine83]

A little math tells me the Brits lost 13 men killed PER minute over the 24hrs of July 1st, 1916.

[@bloodrave9578]

Many men from Lancashire would fall that day, lest we forget

[@fredmidtgaard5487]

Too bad

[@simonolsen9995]

Oooh! I know the answer to the question. Krupp, Vickers, Mauser, Enfield, Fray Bentos just off the top of my head. But the military/industrial complex of the day. That's who won.

[@cicero2410]

As with all things WWI, it's only the crows that won

[@slightlyconfused876]

Didn't one of the top German commanders say "we can't afford another Somme"? That suggests that the Germans lost.

[@awolpeace1781]

Over 500,000 casualties for 10km, what success is there in that?

[@mgway4661]

The Grim Reaper is the only winner here

[@MATT-2033]

The MCAM always wins in every war. Military Contractors Arms Manufacturers.

[@brianfox771]

Only Death and his minions really won that battle.

[@robdgaming]

Could lack of adequate training of the "Kitchener mob" have been a factor in the lack of British success? Thinking of a Gallipoli incident where two mostly-untrained British regiments were assigned to hold a strategic hill, and were driven off it by Turks under the future Ataturk.

[@docholiday7975]

Haig wanted to postpone it for at least another 2 months for that very reason. The BEF was still too green and untrained for the task to his mind, but when you're part of a coalition, and a junior member at that, you've always got outside parties putting pressure on you to do things you don't want to.

[@robertjarman3703]

Where did your compilation of outro jokes for the Franco Prussian War go?

[@owen4420]

The 36th Ulster Division.

[@whynotyou6290]

The survivors.

[@jamesoldham9995]

Field Marshal Hague, Field Marshal Hague's wife, and their tortoise "Alan" won the battle.

[@ClarenceCochran-ne7du]

The Great War, to me, can be summarized as the True Cost and Consequences of Mutual Defense Pacts. Did we learn the lesson? Nope!

[@jessealexander2695]

Ironically, one could argue if the Entente had been a more explicit military alliance, Germany would have known Britain would enter the war and not have invaded France ad Belgium. It's an interesting debate.

[@stephenmeier4658]

Actual winner: The Angel of Death

[@kidmohair8151]

I don't know who "won" the Battle of the Somme, but I do know who didn't. the over 1 million men who died or were wounded.

[@nagudiarloop3451]

The mud, the mud won most western front battles.

[@TheJoeSwanon]

Nobody