cover image Three Armies on the Somme: The First Battle of the Twentieth Century

Three Armies on the Somme: The First Battle of the Twentieth Century

William Philpott, Knopf, $35 (640p) ISBN 978-0-307-26585-2

Philpott, a military historian at King’s College, London, comprehensively challenges the enduring image of the Battle of the Somme (July–November 1916) as an indecisive, futile encounter in a pointless war. Instead, Philpott describes a battle that had to be fought, a war that “the young men of France, the British Empire, and Germany fought for their past, present and future.” The Somme was WWI’s central event. Its purpose was to show the German army could be defeated—not easily, but conclusively. Chaos in the battle zone, limited Allied logistical capacity, and the fighting power of a German army at the height of its effectiveness limited the offensive’s results. But Philpott’s massively researched text demonstrates the battle was fought with a coherent strategic and operational plan. It came closer to breaking German resistance than myth accepts, despite the British forces’ inexperience and the inflexibility of its methods. As Philpott concludes, the extended attritional battle that followed was not a farrago of random improvisations but embodied structure and design. The Somme was “a pyrrhic victory that nevertheless reversed the fortunes of war.” 16 pages of photos; 10 maps. (Oct.)