Field Marshall Haig

Field Marshall Haig

Sir Douglas Haig replaced Sir John French as commander of the

British army. He faced many problems from the state French had left

the army in. He faced the task of planning battles and training his

army. His tactics were first put to the test at the Battle of the

Somme in 1916 and the casualties began to rise into unacceptable

numbers.

The British army put their faith into Haig because of his reputation

as a great leader. He had had past success' during the Boer War in

South Africa, were some of his tactics proved to be very successful.

These tactics would soon come under scrutiny later on.

Many historians believed that Haig's tactics were outdated. Haig used

conventional tactics and believed that one final push against the

Germans at Somme would kill them off. This did not prove to be

successful as it resulted in 400,000 British deaths with only 10 miles

of ground gained by the end of the battle. Haig lost 20,000 men in one

day on occasions. Historians claim that Haig should have adjusted his

tactics due to these statistics. Haig's ignorance to the fact that his

tactics weren't working was the reason why Haig has been labelled a

'butchered' and a 'bungler' and in this piece of coursework I will try

and justify whether or not Haig deserved these titles.

Q2. During the time when Haig was Field Marshall, people held

different opinions on the way he commanded his men at the front line.

The prime minister at the time, Lloyd George, believed that Haig was

not a competent Field Marshall due to the fact that he was not gaining

much ground given the time he had had and the casualties that were

rising.

On the other hand, fellow Generals and Marshall's who had worked with

him in past wars and who had seen what Haig was capable of, believed

that Haig was accomplished enough to command an army the size of

Britain's. This knowledge came from what people had said who had been