The Battle of the Somme is still frequently looked at through the prism of the first day, and is regarded by many as senseless slaughter.  However, the modern interpretation, based on careful study of the wealth of historical records available, is that the Somme was politically and militarily inevitable and, although costly, it drained the strength from the German army and laid the foundations for Allied victory.

'By the end of July, responding to every British or French advance or attempt to advance, the German infantry had made not less than sixty-seven counter-attacks, large or small, that I can identify.  Probably they had made a great many more, now lost in time’s obscurity - possibly twice as many.  This was the texture of the battle: attack, counter-attack; attack again, counter-attack again…

That is why it is so utterly pernicious to dwell constantly on the freak of 1 July, and to associate the whole battle with the image of that day…

The Somme was the turning point.  The first dim harbingers of the still far-distant victories of 1918 may be discerned in the crude texture imparted to the Battle of the Somme by the German Army in 1916.'

John Terraine, The Smoke and the Fire: Myths and Anti-Myths of War 1861-1945, Sidgwick & Jackson, 1980

'I take some comfort from the fact that many of the simplistic views of the 1960s have been replaced by an altogether more balanced approach with scholars analysing primary sources to illuminate this appalling conflict which had such a profound and lasting effect on Britain.'

Professor Richard Holmes, foreword to Peter Barton, The Battlefields of the First World War: The unseen panoramas of the Western Front, Random House, 2005

'The Somme offensive was a necessary if painful stage in the process of weakening a skilful, courageous and highly professional enemy.'

Peter Simkins, foreword to Chris McCarthy, The Somme: The Day-by-Day Account, Arms & Armour, 1993

'The battle of the Somme was not a victory in itself, but without it the entente would not have emerged victorious in 1918.'

Dr Gary Sheffield, The Somme, Cassell, 2003

'The time is surely approaching, if it has not already arrived, when the First World War can be studied simply as history without polemic intent or apologies. It has taken a long historical march to reach this vantage point.'

Professor Brian Bond, editor, The First World War and British Military History, Clarendon Press, 1991