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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.
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 !
"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."
"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.
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.
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.
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!
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
This channel has been a favorite of mine since I found it in 2015. I love how it’s turned out. He weekly videos before with 100 year live updates and now the in depth exploration I love. Amazing channel and work. Keep it up! Almost ten year long fan here!
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 👌
Kronprinz Wilhelm and The Kaiser did support Von Falkenhayn'account of Operation Gericht, after the war. The lack of written evidence is probably down to German Army records later being lost during Allied bombing, in WW 2.
@@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
@@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.
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.
From the German source the British losses are 108 724 dead, 40 971 missing and around 6000 captured while 343 431 were wounded. The French losses is stated as 205 000. For the Germans we have 50 900 killed in action while 78 301 were missing and 273 132 wounded. The British captured 40 207 Germans in 1916 and most of them were at the Battle of the Somme. Thus total losses for the British Empire are above 450 000, for the French 205 000 and the German Empire between 420 000 and 465 000. As stated by Basil Liddell Hart "nothing but stupid mutual mass slaughter".
Deep into a family history deep drive, just discovered my 2nd great grandfather died on the 1st day of the battle. It’s wild to think about now. This battle has taken on a whole new meaning to me.
I remember with fondness talking to my great Grandfather in the 1960's he was a WWI British Veteran and he fought at the Somme , we found documents in his personal possessions after he died aged 86 that shed light on his service . He was both machine gunned and gassed during the battle but still survived , when they say they don't make them like they used to they weren't joking . He was a quiet and gentle soul and you would have never known what he went through .
I too remember my grandfather who fought and was wounded on that first day of the Somme (Lancashire Regiment). He never really spoke much about it, but I remember when I had my toy rifle and was playing with him in the early 1960s, he would have a bit of devilish grin when i would fix the plastic bayonet and he would say 'that's how we gave it to 'em'. Nothing more. A 9 year old kid doesn't really understand. Now I do. He died at 83 years old in 1975. I miss him tremendously.
"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
My long since dead grandfather was in the Irish Guards who fought at the Somme. He survived the war but had breathing difficulties throughout the remainder of his life due to permanent lung damage. Ironically this was the result of allied forces launching gas on the enemy. As a result of unpredictable weather/wind conditions the gas would on occasions blow back into British trenches
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.
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.
@@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.
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...
@@anthonyeaton5153 I don't know about you, but if I mispronounce a place name or a person's name, I will try to learn how to pronounce it correctly, once I learn I was wrong
My uncle's regiment was there. He joined up in 1916 but I do not think he was at the battle. Many others, including Vimy and Passchendaele but, perhaps, not that one.
RTH channel is always sharing and introducing incredible, informative, and wonderful historical coverage epics ..like this work ...thank you 🙏 ( RTH) channel for sharing.
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.
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.
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.
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"."
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?
Battle of Flers-Courcelette: New Zealand forces participated in the Battle of the Somme, particularly in the successful capture of the village of Flers in September 1916. This battle marked the first use of tanks in warfare
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.
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 TH-cam history channel that drinks every time we say "Clausewitz"!
This channel is like lil Belgium in the first world war, it just REFUSES to go silent. And i love it! Love u TGW team, love u Belgium lol (im not even belgian i just idk why the comparison came to my mind)
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.
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.
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
What is truly sad is with the advent of the new weapons that came out of the American Civil War Gen. Longstreet (CSA) in conversation with Gen. Lee predicted the trench warfare and slaughter to come. As he had discussed the use of trenches with his generals but they thought it "Wasn't manly" in the face of the enemy. Remember the repeating ride and gattling gun had just been put in the Union battlefield. Longstreet had watch his men die in huge numbers and he thought to prevent it to some point. But he couldn't know that French, German, and English General would care so little for their men's lives. EBW USN Ret.
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 '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!'
7:44 I can't imagine being so desensitised to war that I call the hellfire of rounds that comes from machine guns as a "pitter patter" Like, as if it's soft raindrops on the roof as you fall asleep in your bed. These men really had amazing strength and resilience, on all sides of this battle. (Except for France)
It's funny because "Som" means catfish in Croatian and it's pronounced exactly the same. It sounds like the English heard it and made a massive mythology around this battle of the catfish
6:07 I can't help but feel you misrepresented Cpt May here in a way that makes him seem almost cowardly, omitting where he said he would glady give his life for his men and nation if need be. Having just read the book "To Fight Alongside Friends" which is where I'm assuming you sourced this quote, seeing as its the compilation of his dairies, its an unfair quote on its own. He died honorably in the battle and continued giving orders even after he was fatally wounded. He might not have wanted to die, but he met his fate bravely. He expressed great pride in his company being chose in what was described to him as being the most important and dangerous section of the battle. Ps. If any of you enjoy history you should really read that book. I don't think I've teared up because of a book since 3rd grade "Where the Red Fern Grows", but damn if reading his widowed wife's letters to him before she learned he'd died begging him to find the time to write her after the battle and wondering if he survived didn't choke me up. As a father of 3 who is reenlisting soon back into the Army Infantry after healing up from a medical discharge, I can't help but put my wife in her place.
WW1 was crazy considering the weapons used became more advanced and deadly compared to the outdated military tactics that were used cause lots of deaths fast.
Please cover the Battle of Neuve Chappelle and Festubert, where Indian troops fought with great distinction. Please do a video honoring these Indian soldiers who fought in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Also, cover an episode of French Colonial troops. Eurocentric history telling generally ignores their contributions.
Read up about the last hundred days when the Allies swept Germany from the battlefield with a series of stunning victories. That was the most important battle.
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.
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).
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The Great War always undermines German wartime performance and idolize the Allies
imagine being the guy telling a conscript "well it's a battle of attrition, i hope you said your goodbyes..."
A war of attrition in Europe is happening right now.
The soldier prays for himself before going into battle.
soldiers are irrelevant for polaticians and generals, not even human in their eyes, just servants at their service
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.
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 !
More than 600,000 Allied casualties for 6 miles of land. I see this as an absolute win!
"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."
That’s an oversimplification.
@@michaelsinger4638dude it's a comment on a youtube video...
Death won.
@@TheTutch so what?
"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.
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.
"Better Than the Best"
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.
“A northern soldier is worth 10 southerners!” Lmfao
It's easy to thump one's chest at brave words.
What is it they say?
"There's no glory in war."
5:50 The sad thing is, Charles died that day. His friend ended up marrying Bessie and looked after his daughter. RIP Charles May
I was looking for a post on this before asking about it. Very sad.
They actually say this in the video at 8:30.
@@theheadshot45 They do indeed, however I read this in the comments before I got to 8:30 on the video.
That's why it's sometimes better to avoid war
i’d be sick if my friend took my family after i died
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!
I was at Verdun last year. A powerful experience.
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
This channel has been a favorite of mine since I found it in 2015. I love how it’s turned out. He weekly videos before with 100 year live updates and now the in depth exploration I love. Amazing channel and work. Keep it up! Almost ten year long fan here!
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 👌
Haig didn’t pick the battlefield nor did he plan the battle. That was not his job.
Henry Rawlinson did most of the planning.
I mean, the Chantilly conference in 1915 already decided attrition was the way they would fight the war going forward...
Except that attrition was actually the goal of the battle of Verdun
@@davidbowen5621 Eh, it's murky on whether or not that is the case, and depends on what you read really IMO.
Kronprinz Wilhelm and The Kaiser did support Von Falkenhayn'account of Operation Gericht, after the war. The lack of written evidence is probably down to German Army records later being lost during Allied bombing, in WW 2.
Fascinating and informative as always, thank you!
Thank you for the hard work here and on your other channel. Sharp quality in these documentaries. Always look forward to more!
Thanks!
Excellent, and highly informative. Superb mix of even-handed narrative, pix, period film, and modern maps and data.
Thanks!
Another well produced, balanced account of a pivotal time in the Great War. Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
Otro gran episodio
Thanks!
WW1 commanders when their overly ambitious attack with no clear objective fails: “why we were trying to defeat the enemy through attrition of course”
Supposedly, that was Monty's plan for us British and Canadians in Normandy - after they failed to take Caen.
I can't believe they tried to pull off a Falkenhayn on this one.
When your plan is attrition, you’ve already lost.
Like throwing money into a slot machine, with the hope of breaking even.
@@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
@@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.
2 MILLION artillery rounds in ONE week…. Can’t imagine being on the receiving end of such a sustained barrage of artillery.
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.
The reverberations would be insane
How did those artillerymen not go deaf lmao
I wonder if that would bé possible today with modern artillery
Germans fired 5 million shells just at march 21th 1918
Well done explanation.
That note at 6:00 breaks my heart. So many who didn’t make it had a similar story and life with people back home who loved them.
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
From the German source the British losses are 108 724 dead, 40 971 missing and around 6000 captured while 343 431 were wounded. The French losses is stated as 205 000.
For the Germans we have 50 900 killed in action while 78 301 were missing and 273 132 wounded. The British captured 40 207 Germans in 1916 and most of them were at the Battle of the Somme. Thus total losses for the British Empire are above 450 000, for the French 205 000 and the German Empire between 420 000 and 465 000. As stated by Basil Liddell Hart "nothing but stupid mutual mass slaughter".
It’s difficult to fathom how many people this is. Incredible numbers and tragic beyond any words that I could put together.
Fascinating! I hope to see an analysis of the Battle of Passchendaele in the future.
Deep into a family history deep drive, just discovered my 2nd great grandfather died on the 1st day of the battle. It’s wild to think about now. This battle has taken on a whole new meaning to me.
brilliant as always. Captivating. Thank you
Thanks!
I remember with fondness talking to my great Grandfather in the 1960's he was a WWI British Veteran and he fought at the Somme , we found documents in his personal possessions after he died aged 86 that shed light on his service . He was both machine gunned and gassed during the battle but still survived , when they say they don't make them like they used to they weren't joking . He was a quiet and gentle soul and you would have never known what he went through .
I too remember my grandfather who fought and was wounded on that first day of the Somme (Lancashire Regiment). He never really spoke much about it, but I remember when I had my toy rifle and was playing with him in the early 1960s, he would have a bit of devilish grin when i would fix the plastic bayonet and he would say 'that's how we gave it to 'em'. Nothing more. A 9 year old kid doesn't really understand. Now I do. He died at 83 years old in 1975. I miss him tremendously.
Great video as always!
You guys do great work!
Another great documentary, as always. Thanks for uploading, Great War team!
Thanks!
"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
Great episode
Thanks!
Great video
Thanks!
Please do some special episodes / docs like this one for Argonne & Champagne! This and the verdun video are great
My long since dead grandfather was in the Irish Guards who fought at the Somme.
He survived the war but had breathing difficulties throughout the remainder of his life due to permanent lung damage.
Ironically this was the result of allied forces launching gas on the enemy.
As a result of unpredictable weather/wind conditions the gas would on occasions blow back into British trenches
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.
I went to Beaumont Hammel in 2016, the monument to the missing British empire soldiers was truly staggering
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.
@@paulmadryga we drove to the larger monument, I didn't realize it was a town over. It was all of 5 minutes away
@@iwishiwaschrismacavoy8116 - Yeah, everything's pretty close there. Hard to comprehend that so much went down in such a geographically-small area.
@@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.
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...
Nice to see a WWI presenter who knows how to pronounce "Newfoundland" correctly.
Helps that I am Canadian.
@@jessealexander2695lots of Canadians seem to struggle with it, too.
@@alexkilgour1328Is it that important. We all at times mispronounce place names it’s no big deal.
@@anthonyeaton5153 I don't know about you, but if I mispronounce a place name or a person's name, I will try to learn how to pronounce it correctly, once I learn I was wrong
Some facts and figures I didn't know and well presented, great work guys.
Thanks!
Rats and flies won. They had a great feast.
My uncle's regiment was there. He joined up in 1916 but I do not think he was at the battle. Many others, including Vimy and Passchendaele but, perhaps, not that one.
RTH channel is always sharing and introducing incredible, informative, and wonderful historical coverage epics ..like this work ...thank you 🙏 ( RTH) channel for sharing.
I was the first guide at Beaumont Hamel
This is very wel explained, and thank you for the mention of the brave Newfoundlanders
I was a guide at Vimy - coudn`t leave them out. :)
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.
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.
Nah they lost way less. That was a disaster!
Very interesting
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.
My great grandfather was in a Newfoundland regiment and was shot in the leg on the first day.
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"."
Another great episode of the great war
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?
Souvenirs
This is probably the best History Channel in TH-cam. Thank you.
Thanks!
If possible do belluwood. Great video
Battle of Flers-Courcelette: New Zealand forces participated in the Battle of the Somme, particularly in the successful capture of the village of Flers in September 1916. This battle marked the first use of tanks in warfare
Great!
Well SommeONE won it
😢
😂😂😂😂😂😂 I gotta know where ya heard that
Slow clap😂
😂😂😂😂
😂
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.
Chunks of clay raining down
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 TH-cam history channel that drinks every time we say "Clausewitz"!
Thanks
This channel is like lil Belgium in the first world war, it just REFUSES to go silent. And i love it!
Love u TGW team, love u Belgium lol (im not even belgian i just idk why the comparison came to my mind)
Like the war in general: Nobody won, some people just lost more badly than others.
Thank you.
The Charles May quote always brings tears to my eyes, it is so poignant
It was ME, i won the battle.
Congratulations
Ha! Ha! Ha! Amateur! It was me!
You won the battle, but you lost the war.
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.
@@TheRealForgetfulElephant That's me!!
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.
My great uncle was killed in the Battle of the Somme.
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
What is truly sad is with the advent of the new weapons that came out of the American Civil War
Gen. Longstreet (CSA) in conversation with Gen. Lee predicted the trench warfare and slaughter to come. As he had discussed the use of trenches with his generals but they thought it "Wasn't manly" in the face of the enemy. Remember the repeating ride and gattling gun had just been put in the Union battlefield. Longstreet had watch his men die in huge numbers and he thought to prevent it to some point.
But he couldn't know that French, German, and English General would care so little for their men's lives.
EBW USN Ret.
the amount of casualties is crazy
12:01 oh I Got the reference!
The arms dealer won in somme
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?
@@amogusenjoyer Brother ignore those people. According to them all wars are waged by bankers and arms dealers😂
@@amogusenjoyer some middleman must exist in the supply chain that probably got filthy rich from all the government contracts for weaponry
@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!'
@@siyar-mc1xz It's projecting the modern world into that of 100 years ago
7:44 I can't imagine being so desensitised to war that I call the hellfire of rounds that comes from machine guns as a "pitter patter" Like, as if it's soft raindrops on the roof as you fall asleep in your bed. These men really had amazing strength and resilience, on all sides of this battle. (Except for France)
It's funny because "Som" means catfish in Croatian and it's pronounced exactly the same. It sounds like the English heard it and made a massive mythology around this battle of the catfish
Can the next documentary be about the Brusilov offensive?🙏🙏🙏
We did an episode on it, just look at our videos from last year.
@@jessealexander2695 Jesse the 🐐
2 steps ahead as always
Can you make a WWI country video on the country of Liberia and the Central American countries?
Tis amazing that man can get used to ANYTHING- even a seemingly hopeless, endless war....
The munitions industry tbh, the increase in requirements and investment was jaw dropping
6:07 I can't help but feel you misrepresented Cpt May here in a way that makes him seem almost cowardly, omitting where he said he would glady give his life for his men and nation if need be. Having just read the book "To Fight Alongside Friends" which is where I'm assuming you sourced this quote, seeing as its the compilation of his dairies, its an unfair quote on its own. He died honorably in the battle and continued giving orders even after he was fatally wounded. He might not have wanted to die, but he met his fate bravely. He expressed great pride in his company being chose in what was described to him as being the most important and dangerous section of the battle.
Ps. If any of you enjoy history you should really read that book. I don't think I've teared up because of a book since 3rd grade "Where the Red Fern Grows", but damn if reading his widowed wife's letters to him before she learned he'd died begging him to find the time to write her after the battle and wondering if he survived didn't choke me up. As a father of 3 who is reenlisting soon back into the Army Infantry after healing up from a medical discharge, I can't help but put my wife in her place.
The fact this battle lasted as long as it did should be criminal. It should have ended when nothing was gained immediately.
Interesting
WW1 was crazy considering the weapons used became more advanced and deadly compared to the outdated military tactics that were used cause lots of deaths fast.
War is war but there is something about WW1 and the accompanying black & white film footage that portrays it's visceral nature.
the owners of the coffin, cross, and shovel factory
Please cover the Battle of Neuve Chappelle and Festubert, where Indian troops fought with great distinction. Please do a video honoring these Indian soldiers who fought in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Also, cover an episode of French Colonial troops. Eurocentric history telling generally ignores their contributions.
An insanity that repeats itself around the world today with lessons never fully learned.
My grandfather fought in this battle with the NZEF.
People in the 2020s: "Video games make kids violent!"
Kids in 1916: "20,000 dead in the first day? I'd call that a solid day of work"
Hello folks, have a great weekend 😊❤
It makes you think that military leadership at that time selected strongly for sociopathy. The hardness of these generals' hearts is astounding.
Shows the Anglophobic Petain and his later treachery up for what it was
My grandad was shot in the elbow at the Somme. His brother and three cousins were killed in the war.
Do you mean the Entente ???
As with the Great War, as a whole, no one won, Europe lost.
Why do you guys constantly change the title of your videos now? Every video goes through like three or four different titles.
Is the Somme the most important battle in ww1? Seems like it.
Read up about the last hundred days when the Allies swept Germany from the battlefield with a series of stunning victories. That was the most important battle.
Young Indiana Jones Chronicles anyone?
The French saying the British didn't have the stomach to fight. The irony 🤣.
The more I learn about WW1 the more I wonder how they got anyone to fight it.
The British soldiers and sailors were fully supportive of the war from 1914 to 1918 as was the civilian population.
The quote at 5:00 why does it read, “…which money and America have created”
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.
I love how the US was not even in the war yet, and Germany was still mad at us.
Yeah, I was wait, what 😂
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).
Greetings from the BIG SKY. My grandfather had 2 brothers there.