Haig as a Successful Commander

Haig as a Successful Commander

Field Marshal Douglas Haig was one of the most controversial people of

the Great War. While he brought eventual victory, he is accused of

being responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of young men

during 1916 and beyond. I will begin by looking at source C and the

opinions of the fighting man on Haig.

Fred Pearson was an infantryman that fought under Haig, and so might

not have ever met him. His thoughts on Haig are in an angry, annoyed

tone, saying that he's "very bitter, always have been and always will

be" and talks about Haig being "50 kilometres behind the line and

that's about as near as he ever got." This source is reliable as far

as facts go - Haig was that far away. The rest of the source is

personal opinion, but one that seems to be shared by other men of the

time. Other infantrymen of the time have said that it "apparently did

not bother Haig that his war was so much more comfortable than that of

the men" and that "a mate and many others were murdered through the

stupidity of those in authority". This suggests that he did not

inspire respect amongst his men - it is certainly true that even

today, Haig is looked upon as the "butcher of the Somme".

The reason behind this hatred lay in Haig's tactics during the Battle

of the Somme, which was intended to take pressure off the French at

Verdun and wear down the German army. He was a commander in 1900, in

the Boer War, and so his tactics were simply to send wave upon wave of

troops, claiming that "success in battle depends mainly on grit and

determination". This eventually resulted in 450,000 British men dead

for a maximum advance of twelve kilometres. This, understandably,

caused unrest both at the front line and at home. A similar situation

occurred two years later at Passchendaele, in which he continued to

throw troops forward long after his target was no longer tactically