"Battle of the Somme" is a web resource being developed
by Leo Robert Klein in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for a Masters Degree at the Interactive Telecommunications Program
(ITP) at NYU. His academic adviser is Frank Migliorelli.
The purpose of "Battle of the Somme" is to serve as
a resource of information on the battle which took place between
July 1st, 1916 and November 13th, 1916 and resulted in over a
million casualties.
The
Somme is an area in France some distance above Paris. It was part
of the "Western Front"--a trench system running from
Belgium in the north all the way across France to Switzerland
in the south-east.
The battle was planned as an offensive by the British under General
Sir Douglas Haig. Its objective, in part, was to relieve the extraordinary
pressure on the French line further to the south as a result of
German efforts at Verdun. It was also hoped that a breakthrough
would be achieved with British forces overrunning the German line
reaching the "green pastures" in the rear. In this way,
the frustrating war of "position" would turn back into
a war of "movement".
The recipe to do this essentially entailed massive shelling of
the opposing side for days on end after which thousands and tens
of thousands of men would stream over No Man's Land meeting a
hail of bullets and artillery shells coming from the other side.
Progress was measured in yards. The results were catastrophic.
The purpose then of the Web site is to give the user an idea
of just what this catastrophy was all about. It will present a
sampling of the vast material available about the battle from
the period in question or shortly thereafter. This material will
consist of texts, images, film clips and an interactive battlefield
that will bring many of these elements together in a way only
possible using digital media.
