Historical Context: The Somme War

The reason I chose The Somme War as my event was because it was one
of the largest battles of World War I dated from the 1st of July until the 18th of
November 1916. On the first day, Britain suffered more than 57,000 casualties
and South Africa was under British possessions. They went into war with the
British and most were forced out of their homes to help fight. The reason I
thought this would be a good event for my story was because the British
offensive suffered in this war and I wanted to base my character out of The
Somme War.
One of the largest battles of WWI. More than 1,000,000 men were
wounded or killed. On the first day, the British suffered more than 57,000
casualties [1]. In the early months of 1916, the French proposed to join with the
British offensive. Because of Verdun, the British army assumed the major role of
the Somme offensive. On July 1, 1916, the British army attacked the north of the
Somme with fourteen infantry divisions, while the French attacked astride and
south of the Somme with five divisions. In defense, the German army deployed
seven divisions. The British attack was planned by Douglas Haig and Henry
Rawlinson, GOC Fourth Army. The new plan failed. The infantry was unable to
take down wiring and destroy the German trenches, thus leaving them exposed.
On the morning of July 1st the British troops begin their advance, confident their
artillery barrage was successful they marched out during the day armed only with
rifles and bayonets; they were no match for German machine guns. What was
meant to be a great victory, ended in defeat.
South Africa joined on the side of Great Britain. The Boer war in 1900s
angered many South Africans, there were certainly those in South Africa who
thought in terms of a British defeat in World War One as this would end Britains
domination of South Africa[3]. By these two nations joining together strengthened
their army. The Boer Wars was the name given to the South African Wars of
1880-1 and 1899-1902, that were fought between the British and the descendants
of the Dutch settlers (Boers) in Africa. The Boers, under the leadership of Paul
Kruger, resented the colonial policy of Joseph Chamberlain and Alfred Milner
which they feared would deprive the Transvaal of its independence.
The Somme campaign in 1916 was the first great offensive of World War
I for the British and it produced a more critical British attitude toward the war [2].
During and after the Somme War, the British army started to improve war tactics.
Also, the French attacked at the Somme and achieved greater advances than the
British, with far fewer casualties. Most of the German offensives benefited from
the Somme war, but in a way the British and French also benefited, since they
learned from their mistake which aided in future wars.
A word from the author:
My poems form is epistle. Epistle is a letter based poem, but I was told
to make it rhyme and flow. I chose this form because I wanted my soldier to

write multiple letters about his time during the war. You can see how his mindset
has changed dramatically as the war goes on and I felt that I was better at
displaying that through writing rather than the regular poetry based form. I also
had a very deep personal connection towards the letter and felt it would portray
perspective and feeling.