From June 24, the British and French troops carried out seven days of artillery preparations, and at 7:30 a.m. on July 1, the infantry launched an attack with artillery support. On that day, both the French and the British in the direction of the main attack broke through the first line of German positions, but the British left flank made no progress.

The British advanced in dense formation and were severely wounded by German machine-gun and artillery fire, suffering nearly 60,000 casualties on the first day. The British right flank and the French occupied the second line of German positions, and the Germans took advantage of the interludes in the enemy's offensive to quickly mobilize forces, strengthen the defense in depth and carry out counterattacks in some areas.

The British and French attacked again in mid to late July, and the French on the south bank occupied the third line of positions, but failed to develop into a breakthrough in the campaign. The 32 divisions of the British army and the 26 divisions of the French army launched the third attack, and as of the 12th, they had only advanced 2~4 kilometers into the depth of the German army. The British used tanks on a large scale for the first time in the offensive, with a total of 69 tanks, but only 38 actually took part in the battle (31 were destroyed by the Germans), so the speed of the infantry attack increased, and several points of the third line of positions were captured that day. This was followed by two more large-scale use of tanks by the British in the offensive in late September and November, but in relatively small numbers and with little success.

The campaign was part of the Entente's general strategic offensive plan of 1916. The plan was drawn up as follows: under the unified command of General Foch, the 6th Army of General Fayole of France and the 4th Army of General Rawlinson of Great Britain were to be responsible for breaking through the defensive positions of the 2nd Army of General von Bello of Germany, which was stationed in the area of Fuucur and Ebitene (40 km); and used cavalry corps to open a breakthrough to Peronne and Mauborges, which were under the responsibility of the French army, and Babom, Cambrai, which were under the responsibility of the British army.

The British and French forces had 32 infantry divisions and 6 cavalry divisions, 2,189 artillery pieces, 1,160 mortars, and about 300 aircraft; The German 2nd Army had 8 infantry divisions, 672 artillery pieces, 300 mortars and 114 aircraft. The German defense consisted of 3 positions, with a total depth of 7~8 kilometers. The two sides prepared for more than 5 months, first carrying out 7 days of artillery bombardment, although they almost completely destroyed the first German position and partially destroyed the second, but lost the initiative that the offensive operation should maintain tactically.

The British 4th Army carried out the main assault in the direction of Babom 25 kilometers from Maricourt to Ebyten, covered by the 7th Army of the British 3rd Army on its left flank; The French 6th Army carried out auxiliary assaults from both sides of the Somme, north of Rossier, in the direction of Peronne. On the same day, the French and British right flanks broke through the first line of German positions, but the British left flank was blocked by German trench positions.

The British attacked in a dense formation and were killed and wounded by the powerful fire of the German Maxim machine guns, losing nearly 60,000 men. On July 2~3, the right flank of the British army and the French army captured the second line of German positions, and the French army once occupied Balle, Biash and other German defense points. In the days that followed, the advance was slowed due to the German army's commitment to reserve forces and the serious shortcomings of the British and French forces themselves in terms of breakthrough tactics and command and dispatch (mainly the cumbersome regulations for assaults in various areas, which limited the initiative of the army, etc.).

In such an environment, the German command put in a new wave of reserve troops, and in order to facilitate command, the 2nd Army was deliberately divided into the 1st Army under the command of General Bellow and the 2nd Army under the command of General Galvetz. In addition, the depth of defense was lengthened and a supplementary defense area was constructed.

In mid-July, the British and French forces advanced only a few kilometers and did not achieve the expected objectives of the operation.

From the end of July to mid-August, the British and French forces strengthened their forces to 51 divisions and increased the number of aircraft to 500; However, the German army increased to 31 divisions and the number of planes increased to 300.

On 3 September, General Michelet's 10th Army of France and General Gaff's 5th Army of Great Britain were engaged in battle, and the frontal area of the battlefield was expanded to a front 50 kilometers wide. The Germans were reinforced to 40 divisions and constantly strengthened the fortifications of the positions. Therefore, the advance speed of the British and French armies was only 150~200 meters per day and night on average.

The massive tank attack had a psychological shock to the German infantry on the defending side, causing them to abandon their positions and retreat without a fight. However, due to the fact that the technology and equipment of the tank have not yet been perfected, and the battle front is broad, the operational goal of opening a breakthrough has still not been achieved. The success of the tactical hierarchy did not lead to victory. Although the British later used tanks twice, again with little success, this allowed the Germans to learn how to deal with the enemy behemoth.

The outcome of this battle was evident, as the weather began to deteriorate in the autumn, and the fighting gradually subsided due to continuous rain and muddy roads, and by November it was completely stopped, and the British and French battle plans were declared defeated. But it is undeniable that the Battle of the Somme was the largest battle of the First World War. There were about 1.34 million casualties on both sides, including more than 450,000 British troops, more than 340,000 French troops, and 538,000 German troops. The British and French forces failed to achieve the goal of breaking through the German defense line, but pinned down the German attack on Verdun and further weakened the German army. A total of 1,332,000 people were killed on both sides, making it the most tragic positional battle of the First World War.

Compared with the tragic battlefield on the Western Front, the Eastern Front battlefield is much more peaceful, and the Czech Principality has single-handedly defeated the powerful Russia, which seems to have a huge difference in comprehensive national strength between the two countries, but in fact, the elite Czech Army has stubbornly blocked Russian soldiers from the border and has not given up a single piece of territory.

But this situation did not last long after all, because the number of land forces of the Czech principality made it impossible for him to fully defend the entire eastern front of the Central Powers, and the eastern front of Austria-Hungary was the first to lose and fall, and East Prussia was much better but was barely able to hold on, and there was no means of rescue at all.

The Czech principality wanted to support Austria-Hungary but was bitten by several Russian army groups and could not draw troops at all, and the defeat on the Eastern Front made Austria-Hungary begin to panic, and the defeat of several wars with the Kingdom of Italy made Austria-Hungary precarious for a while.

At this time, the east was also not stable, and the Beiyang government began to deal with the imperial planning and operation personnel, and a large number of officials and generals took off their official hats on their heads in this political struggle, and a small number of them were also imprisoned and even in danger of life.

At the same time as rectifying internal affairs, the Yanjing government also hurriedly appointed military and political governors in various places, and for the time being, this ancient land was stable, but the private undercurrent may only be clear to those high-ranking officials.

In August, when the war in Europe was raging, the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Beiyang government held a congress in Beijing, and Duan Qirui was elected and became the prime minister. This is the result of a political compromise, and at the same time, it is also an outcome that President Le Yuanhong does not want to see, but there is no way to let things develop at this moment.

Japan seems to have found a loophole in this country, and he began to be unstable again, and the powerful Zhang Zuolin had to continue to be trapped in the northeast region, and Yanjing, whether it was the president or the prime minister, had nothing to do with him at this time, after all, he had the responsibility of defending the territory.

In the same month, the contradictions between the State Council and the government, which were quite powerful, began to deepen, and the dispute between the government and the court became more and more out of control.

The year 1916 passed like this, and the major events of the year were nothing more than millions of dead and wounded soldiers in the European theater, who gained some superiority in the navy, Austria-Hungary was defeated, and the borders of the Czech principality were impregnable but lacked mobility to hold on.

1916 was the year of the war, but the disadvantages of the Allies began to become more and more obvious than last year, and some of the countries that were originally neutral began to think about their own camps, after all, neutrality could not gain any benefits.

Prague Royal Palace:

"Your Majesty, news from St. Petersburg ......"

"Let him in."

Before Bert's words were finished, Ernst stood up with an excited and nervous face and prepared to greet him, seeing this scene, even though Bert had a lot of puzzlement in his heart, he could only hurriedly go out and summon the intelligence staff of the secret police department.

This is a very ordinary-looking Russian youth, after all, it is a spy department, if it is too handsome or too ugly, it does not meet the standards, which high-profile spy can really complete the intelligence officer? Of course, it is not for nothing, and some beautiful women are always very easy to spy on.

Without too much etiquette, the intelligence officer entered the door and told Ernst the news he had brought, and the matter was very important, both for the Czech principality and for the Central Powers as a whole.

The Russian Empire began to be unstable!

The revolution has penetrated all over the country!

There were signs of mutiny among the soldiers, some workers and peasants began to gather purposefully, local officials began to lose control of the localities, and some newspapers even began to openly promote things that were unfavorable to the Russian royal family.

February Revolution!

This was naturally a shock to the European royal family, but at the same time it was also an opportunity, an opportunity for the Allies to turn over, if not to turn over, to keep the Czech principality, and there was no room for Ernst not to be excited.