World+War+1

World War 1: Begin in 1914 and ended in 1919. On July 1st 1916 the british army endured the bloodiest in its history, suffering 57,470 casualties including 19,240 dead on the [|first day] of the [|Battle of the Somme]. Most of the casualties occurred in the first hour of the attack. The entire Somme offensive cost the British Army almost half a million men.[|[33]]Neither side proved able to deliver a decisive blow for the next two years, though protracted German action at [|Verdun] throughout 1916,[|[34]] combined with the bloodletting at the [|Somme], brought the exhausted French army to the brink of collapse. Futile attempts at frontal assault came at a high price for both the British and the French //[|poilu]// (infantry) and led to [|widespread mutinies], especially during the [|Nivelle Offensive].[|[35]] Throughout 1915–17, the British Empire and France suffered more casualties than Germany, due both to the strategic and tactical stances chosen by the sides. At the strategic level, while the Germans only mounted a single main offensive at [|Verdun], the Allies made several attempts to break through German lines. At the tactical level, Ludendorff's doctrine of "[|elastic defence]" was well suited for trench warfare. This defence had a relatively lightly defended forward position and a more powerful main position farther back beyond artillery range, from which an immediate and powerful counter-offensive could be launched.[|[36]][|[37]] Ludendorff wrote on the fighting in 1917,But Many died from that war that day. Many sacrificed that day for their lives and their countries for their families.