Planned as a decisive strike but fought as a bloody battle of attrition in 1916, the Battle of the Somme claimed over a million dead or wounded in months of fighting that have long epitomized the tragedy and folly of the First World War. By focusing on the first-hand experiences and personal stories of both Allied and enemy soldiers, Sebag-Montefiore defies the customary framing of incompetent generals and senseless slaughter. In its place, eyewitness accounts relive scenes of extraordinary courage and sacrifice, as soldiers ordered over the top ventured into No Man’s Land and enemy trenches, where they met a hail of machine-gun fire, thickets of barbed wire, and exploding shells. Chaired by Jesse Norman.