Haig's Decisions in Attacking the Germans at the Somme

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Haig's Decisions in Attacking the Germans at the Somme

Source A tells us that Haig did not care about his men and is willing

to sacrifice lives in order to win. The source itself was written by

Haig in June 1916, a month before the battle of the Somme, and was

intended to be seen by the general public.

“ The nation must be taught to bear losses”

This makes it look like Haig doesn’t care about his mens’ well being

and seems to be telling people to “toughen up” and “live with it”.

Personally, I don’t think Haig meant it to sound like that. I think he

meant for it to explain that in war, men do die no matter how

precautious you are.

“No amount of skill on the part of the higher commanders, no training,

however good, on the part of the officers and men, will enable

victories to be won without the sacrifice of men’s lives. The nation

must be prepared to see heavy casualty lists.”

This sentence seems to tell us that Haig was ready to let people die

in their thousands, if not millions, in order to win the war and also

tells us that Haig believed that it was the only way to win. I feel

that the purpose of the source was to explain to the public that the

only way to win is to sacrifice lives. He is being realistic but

harsh.this source leads uus to believe that Haig was a butcher, even

though he was being realistic when he wrote it.

Source B was written by Haig in his journal during July 1916. The

first extract was written the day before the attack on the Somme began

and the second extract was written the day the attack started. It was

not meant for public eyes.

“The men are in splendid spirits”

This sentence tells us t...

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...voking a quarrel with America, the Somme would not have

saved us from a stalemate.”

This tells us that Lloyd George thought that the Somme was a failure

an that the battle killed off more of Britain’s best men than it did

the German’s best. He also says that Germany only lost the war because

they provoked a quarrel with America. This source tells us that Haig

made a massive military blunder in the Somme.

I believe that even though most of the sources tell us that Haig was a

butcher, I believe that the three most reliable ones are sources B, G

and H, and these all portray Haig as being a great general. Therefore,

my judgement on Haig’s decisions are greatly influenced by these

sources, meaning that I also believe that Haig cared about his men and

that he made the right decision in attacking the Germans at the Somme.

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