The battle of the Somme is the most famous battle of World War I in the English-speaking world. This wide-ranging collection of articles sheds new light on this famous story, examining it from all angles.

Dr Matthias Strohn was educated at the Universities of Munster (Germany) and Oxford. He has lectured at Oxford University and the Joint Services Command and Staff College at Shrivenham. Since 2006 he has been a lecturer in the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and in 2011 he was also made a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Buckingham. He holds a commission in the German Army and is currently a member of the military attache reserve. He has published widely on 20th century German and European military history. Hew Strachan is Chichele Professor of the History of War at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of All Souls College. He also serves on the Strategic Advisory Panel of the Chief of the Defence Staff, on the UK Defence Academy Advisory Board, and on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. His books include the first volume of his projected three-volume work The First World War (2001), The First World War: A New History (2003), and Carl von Clausewitz's On War (2007).

Foreword by Professor Sir Hew Strachan / The Context of the Somme/ Attrition or Annihilation?/ French Strategy in 1916 and the Battle of the Somme/ Air War over the Somme/ The British Army's Operations on the Somme/ Trial and Error: the Dominion forces/ French Generalship on the Somme/ The Road to Modern Combined Arms Warfare/ British Tactical Practice During the Somme Campaign/ The German Army at War/ The Evolution of French Tactics 1914-16/ The Long Shadows of the Somme