Somme

Prior Robin, Wilson Trevor

Despite superior air and artillery power, British soldiers died in catastrophic numbers at the Battle of Somme in 1916. What went wrong, and who was responsible? This book meticulously reconstructs the battle, assigns responsibility to military and political leaders, and changes forever the way we understand this encounter and the history of the Western Front.

Reviews

"A precise and authentic record of the campaign, reconstructed from the public archives" – Ben Macintyre, The Times

"A major addition to the literature on the military history of the Great War" – Jay Winter

"These two distinguished Australian military historians have taken a battle layered with controversy, emotional responses, and populist myth and calmly reinterpreted the evidence from scratch" – Society for Army Historical Research, review of Passchendaele

"This is a magisterial piece of scholarship, based on a thorough examination of surviving records and presented in a clear, balanced and straight-forward manner. It is a model of historical research and should do much to further our understanding of the Great War and how it was fought" – Contemporary Review

"Revisionist history at its best; recommended for all libraries" – Library Journal (starred review)

"[A] ground-breaking revisionist study... A work that is likely to spark a great deal of scholarly fireworks" – A. A. Nofi, New York Military Affairs Symposium Review

"A fascinating book" – Dave Wood, Red Wing Republican Eagle

"The Somme bears... crisp writing, cogently presented arguments, lengthy and detailed research, impressive scholarship, and easy mastery of a mass of published and unpublished sources" – Peter Simkins, Journal of British Studies

"Delivers powerful narrative description and trenchant analysis of the topic, from homefront politics to a soldier's view in the trenches, that renders it superb... Should be required reading for anyone who would understand the Battle of the Somme and further, the nature of the First World War" – John H. Morrow, Jr., The International History Review

"A must read, hard-to-put-down book" – Robert G. Smith, Journal of Military History

"A wide-ranging and interesting book based on detailed archival research" – Daniel Todman, Canadian Journal of History

"In this carefully argued book of military history, Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson successfully challenge many of the oft-repeated cliches about the Somme campaign... A lucid top-down military history" – Alon Rachamimov, H-Net Reviews

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