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The '''Battle of the Somme''' ({{lang-fr|Bataille de la Somme}}; {{lang-de|Schlacht an der Somme}}), also known as the '''Somme offensive''', was a major battle of the [[First World War]] fought by the armies of the [[British Empire]] and the [[French Third Republic]] against the [[German Empire]]. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river [[Somme (river)|Somme]] in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]]. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom more than one million were either wounded or killed, making it one of the [[List of battles by casualties|deadliest battles]] in all of human history.
The French and British had committed themselves to an offensive on the Somme during the [[Chantilly Conferences|Chantilly Conference]] in December 1915. The Allies agreed upon a strategy of combined offensives against the [[Central Powers]] in 1916 by the French, Russian, British and Italian armies, with the Somme offensive as the Franco-British contribution. Initial plans called for the French army to undertake the main part of the Somme offensive, supported on the northern flank by the [[Fourth Army (United Kingdom)|Fourth Army]] of the [[British Expeditionary Force (World War I)|British Expeditionary Force]] (BEF). When the [[Imperial German Army]] began the [[Battle of Verdun]] on the [[Meuse]] on 21 February 1916, French commanders diverted many of the divisions intended for the Somme and the "supporting" attack by the British became the principal effort. The British troops on the Somme comprised a mixture of the remains of the pre-war army, the [[Territorial Force|Territorial Force,]] and [[Kitchener's Army]], a force of wartime volunteers.
On the [[first day on the Somme]] (1 July) the German [[2nd Army (German Empire)|2nd Army]] suffered a serious defeat opposite the French [[Sixth Army (France)|Sixth Army]], from [[Foucaucourt-en-Santerre]] south of the Somme to [[Maricourt, Somme|Maricourt]] on the north bank and by the Fourth Army from Maricourt to the vicinity of the [[Albert, France|Albert]]–[[Bapaume]] road. The 57,470 casualties suffered by the British, including 19,240 killed, were the worst in the [[history of the British Army]]. Most of the British casualties were suffered on the front between the Albert–Bapaume road and [[Gommecourt, Pas-de-Calais|Gommecourt]] to the north, which was the area where the principal German defensive effort ({{lang|de|[[Blitzkrieg#Schwerpunkt|Schwerpunkt]]}}) was made. The battle became notable for the importance of air power and the first use of the [[tank]] in September but these were a product of new technology and proved unreliable.
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