July 1916 saw the start of the bloodiest battle of the First World War.
Pre-industrial tacticians squared up against industrialized weapons in what could be described as Britain's biggest failure of the war, despite the Allies' overall victory.
Although, at the time, the Battle of the Somme was a highly publicized triumph, for many, it became symbolic of the horror and futility of war and representative of the enormous division between the army's commanding officers and the soldiers on the front line.
Join us to explore all these themes and more as we look at eight key events that shaped the infamous Battle of the Somme.
1.
The Battle of Verdun.
The battles of the Somme and Verdun impacted each other.
As France and Britain joined forces to plan a combined effort against the advancing Germans in the First World War, it was decided that the battlefield would be on the River Somme in Northern France.
The British commanders pushed for an alternative, preferring to attack in Belgium.
The French disagreed, and as the Somme was where the two Allied armies met on the Western Front, they insisted this would be the best place for a joint operation.
