Why You Can't Stop an Attack in the First World War

The first day of the Battle of the Somme is the bloodiest in British history. Many wonder why it had to happen at all, and couldn’t it have been prevented? Many have gone so far to even accuse the British generals as being butchers, murderers, or if nothing else horrendously incompetent. This “Lions led by donkeys” narrative couldn’t be further from the truth. In reality, once an offensive the scale of the Somme was established…it was almost impossible to call it off. ~~Sources & Further Reading On This Topic~~ My other videos on WW1 that I referenced: Messenger dogs in WW1: https://youtu.be/CAJMjv6MgBE?si=2viQ_IgLipuG8IBx Traffic in trench networks: https://youtu.be/-sMQsiGCUew?si=8piEWlxyfvYOH0vO The Western Front as a siege: https://youtu.be/iSpUYzmppPc?si=qj0TulIZJ88KtiWU Find the book “Transportation on the Western Front, 1914-1918 by Colonel A.M. Henniker” as a free PDF at www.nativeoak.org/library Read about the Battle of the Somme here: https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-somme https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-happened-during-the-battle-of-the-somme Read about the Battle of Verdun here: https://www.cheminsdememoire.gouv.fr/en/la-bataille-de-verdun Read about the scale of units in WW1: https://ccnmtl.columbia.edu/services/dropoff/schilling/mil_org/milorgan_99.html#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20men%20in,each%20company%20had%204%20platoons. http://www.151ril.com/content/history/french-army/6 Statistics for the aircraft used at the Somme, including what roles they played and their fates: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1022182/british-aircraft-statistics-battle-somme-1916/#:~:text=As%20the%20battle%20progressed%20and,sustained%20a%20total%20of%20767 ~~Other Links & Contact Info~~ `Find a free digital library, shop for books and merchandise, and learn more about this channel's charity work at: ` https://www.nativeoak.org/ You can directly support my work by becoming a Patron of this channel: ` https://www.patreon.com/BrandonF You may also give a one-time tip here: ` https://ko-fi.com/brandonf ~~Timestamps~~ Intro 00:00 War is Not a Vacuum 02:10 The Scale of the Somme 05:28 Warfare by Timetables 13:18 Modern Judgements 24:12