The
Battle of the Somme (, ), also known as the
Somme Offensive, was a battle of the
First World War fought by the armies of the
British and
French empires against the
German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the
River Somme in France. It was one of the
largest battles of World War I, in which more than were wounded or killed, making it one of the
bloodiest battles in human history. A Franco-British commitment to an offensive on the Somme had been made during
Allied discussions at
Chantilly, Oise, 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. The main part of the offensive was to be made by the French Army, supported on the northern flank by the Fourth Army of the
British Expeditionary Force (BEF).