The Somme: Heroism and Horror in the First World War
by Martin Gilbert
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From one of our most distinguished historians, an authoritative and vivid account of the devastating World War I battle that claimed more than 300,000 livesAt 7:30 am on July 1, 1916, the first Allied soldiers climbed out of their trenches along the Somme River in France and charged out into no-man's-land toward the barbed wire and machine guns at the German front lines.By the end of this first day of the Allied attack, the British army alone would lose 20,000 men; in the coming months, the show more fifteen-mile-long territory along the river would erupt into the epicenter of the Great War. The Somme would mark a turning point in both the war and military history, as soldiers saw the first appearance of tanks on the battlefield, the emergence of the air war as a devastating and decisive factor in battle, and more than one million casualties (among them a young Adolf Hitler, who took a fragment in the leg). In just 138 days, 310,000 men died.In this vivid, deeply researched account of one history's most destructive battles, historian Martin Gilbert tracks the Battle of the Somme through the experiences of footsoldiers (known to the British as the PBI, for Poor Bloody Infantry), generals, and everyone in between. Interwoven with photographs, journal entries, original maps, and documents from every stage and level of planning, The Somme is the most authoritative and affecting account of this bloody turning point in the Great War. show lessTags
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4307 The Somme Heroism and Horror in the First World War, by Martin Gilbert (read 28 Apr 2007) This is a 2006 book and is the kind of book I cannot keep from reading. The book has no footnotes but does have a seven page list of "works consulted." The text is uneven. He names many names and tells where they are buried or where they are commemorated. Some of the account of the fighting is wearying, but there is much interesting and of course it is all awful. He often quotes poetry of men who died, and it is unfailingly poignant. His account of the years since, and of how the battlefield looks now is of high interest. A lot of people still go to the battlefield. I don't suppose I will ever get there but it would be a momentous place to show more visit. Harold Macmillan, later British prime minister, was wounded severely at the battle and while he lay on the field waiting for someone to rescue him he read his pocket edition of Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound in the original Greek before falling asleep. His injury gave him a "shuffling walk" for the rest of his life. show less
A sensitive telling of the absolute horror that was the five month-long Battle of the Somme in 1916. Gilbert intersperses the names and fates of numberous soldiers, mostly British, bringing home the reality that real people of flesh and blood fought and died in that corner of hell in WWI France.
Good account, but not gripping reading.
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Author Information
190+ Works 16,735 Members
Martin Gilbert was born in London, England on October 25, 1936. He was sent to Canada during World War II, but returned on a liner bringing American troops to Britain in preparation for D-day. After national service in the intelligence corps, he was educated at Magdalen College at Oxford. He graduated from Oxford in 1960 and wrote his first book show more entitled The Appeasers. In 1961, after a year of research and writing, he was asked to join a team of researchers working for Winston Churchill. At the age of 25, he was formally inducted into the team, doing all of his own research. Gilbert became known as Churchill's official biographer, but he also wrote books on the Holocaust, the first and second world wars, and Jewish history. During his lifetime, he wrote over 80 books including Winston Churchill, Auschwitz and the Allies, The Holocaust: The Jewish Tragedy, The Jews of Hope: The Plight of Soviet Jewry Today, Shcharansky: Hero of Our Time, Letters to Auntie Fori: The 5,000-Year History of the Jewish People and Their Faith, and In Search of Churchill. He died after a long illness on February 3, 2015 at the age of 78. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- People/Characters
- Harold Macmillan; Herbert Kitchener; David Lloyd George; Douglas Haig; Siegfried Sassoon
- Important places
- France; Somme, Hauts-de-France, France; Western Front in World War I; Picardy, Hauts-de-France, France
- Important events
- World War I (1914 | 1918); Battle of the Somme (1916-07-01 | 1916-11-18)
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 940.4272 — History & geography History of Europe History of Europe Military History Of World War I Land campaigns and battles of 1914-1916
- LCC
- D545 .S7 .G627 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania History (General) World War I (1914-1918)
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 322
- Popularity
- 96,866
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.71)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 11
- ASINs
- 1
