The battle of the Somme help!

I am doing my independent section of A2 history on the battle of the Somme. I need two contrasting historians in my essay to get a high grade but I am struggling to find some as they all seem passive. Does anyone know of any historians to use?

Reply 1

999tigger

Hi
I think you are looking at Alan Clarke and the 1960's Historian who blamed Hague in his book Donkeys from the phrase Lions Led By Donkeys.
Modern Historians have a different revisionist view, where they blame Hague less and look at it as a time when the British Army had to learn some lessons, which it was able to apply to tactics and strategy in the rest of the war.

There are a few links to
Videos 1 short interview by the Historian Andrew Roberts only 3 mins , but very much in the revisionist mould.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urVLPsgYk0U&list=PL4InK8CrGP4WYGCgNryZMGeY7RoR9yuwj

Also two very good documentaries on the Battle by Richard Holmes, which takes a more humane look and is easy to watch and one with lost of maps and explains the battle by the historians at Sandhurst. Worth a watch when you ar sick of revising as they give an understanding of the battle. Better than reading imo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L4U89mQ8ME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72wUyowkfQA

Short article from the BBC

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5130386.stm
Someones essay on this point
https://thoughtsonmilitaryhistory.wordpress.com/2008/01/21/lions-led-by-donkeys/