Was General Haig to blame for so many deaths at the battle of the Somme? In this essay I will be trying to answer the following question: ‘do you think General Haig was to blame for so many deaths in the battle of the Somme?’ Haig became General of the Army on the 10th of December 1915 at the age of 54. At the time‚ he appeared to be the best man for the job as he had led and won successful battles in his past. In 1916‚ he launched an attack. His attack took place near the Somme River‚ against
Premium World War I World War II Ottoman Empire
Haig was born in Edinburgh on 19 June 1861. He was born into a wealthy family that had good business. When Haig was younger he went to a good school and in 1884 went to Royal Military Academy at Sand Hurst. He first served as a Calvary Commander; however this experience was not useful in the battle of Somme because it was trench warfare which was a new kind of war so he couldn’t use the same tactics. He was also a celebrated commander of the Boer war‚ but the Africans were weaker and were poorer
Premium Trench warfare Battle of the Somme Tank
Does General Haig deserve to be remembered as the Butcher of the Somme? In 1st July 1916‚ the river the Somme in France is used as the fighting tool place and war has begun near the river so the war is named. During the period‚ General Douglas Haig is the Commander-in-Chief for the British Army so he took full control of the attack. The General wanted to make a breakthough to get through the German trenches and defeat the army once and for all. What he planned to do is to firstly smash the German’s
Premium Trench warfare British Army Western Front
Haig was a significant character for various reasons during World War One‚ most of which were negative. In his earlier days‚ Haig was significant because it was ultimately his leadership that resulted in a number of disasterous losses for the British Army‚ for example the Battle of the Somme (1916) which is still seen as one of the British Army’s biggest failures to this day. His intial failures stem from his backward leadership and poor connection with the British troops. Having said this‚ in the
Premium British Army Battle Western Front
To what extent does Haig deserve to be called butcher and a bungler? To a certain extent Haig does deserve to be called a butcher and a bungler as his conduct in WWI proved poor. He was the architect of many of the British failures of 1915-18. In 1915 he was responsible for the offensive at Loos which resulted of huge British losses for very little gain. In 1916 he commanded the battle of the Somme for which he earned the title of “the butcher of the Somme” due to the massively high rate of casualties
Premium World War I World War II Military
Was Haig really “a donkey leading lions”? General Douglas Haig was the commander of the British army during WW1. He was accused of getting soldiers killed‚ and sacrificing thousands of men just to win the war. They blamed him because he was the commander and all orders came from him or passed through him. Approximately 900‚000 British soldiers died and about 3/4 of these deaths were due to rubbish leadership. The main reason he was blame was because of bad leadership. It was said by Gary Sheffield
Premium Battle of the Somme Western Front World War I
The Battle of the Somme In February 1916‚ after a year of stalemate‚ the Germans decided to attack France and capture strategic French forts in the area of Verdun‚ 15 miles west of Paris. They aimed to ’bleed France white’ with the attrition tactic developed by their commander‚ Falkenhayn. In an attempt to force the Germans away from Verdun‚ the French allies from Britain‚ led by General Haig‚ planned an artillery bombardment of the Germans. The battle carried on for a whole 10 months with a
Free World War I Trench warfare Attack
Was the battle of the Somme a success or failure? It’s a question that has plagued the minds of many historians over the years. On one hand‚ without the battle the war could have had a very different outcome; but on the other hand‚ was it really worth all the slaughter and bloodshed? In 1916‚ General Sir Douglas Haig was enforced with chance to conduct a major offensive against the Germans‚ ‘The Big Push’ some called it. His plan was to gather thousands of troops to attack the enemy at the Somme
Premium World War II World War I United Kingdom
The battle of Somme was a tiresome attrition battle. For approximately five months the British‚ French and German armies engaged in what was called “one of the bloodiest (battles) of World War One”. Located in Northern France. During this battle the British were unsuccessful; their strategies were incompetent to the harsh conditions of the stalemate. Thus‚ making the battle of Somme a complete failure to the Triple Entente. Many historians argue that the Germans had caused more significant amount
Premium World War I World War II United Kingdom
Why Was the First Day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916) Such A Disaster? The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st of July 1916 just north of Somme. This was over a month earlier than planned but the British needed to attack early in order to draw out the German troops from Verdun and save the French army. The battle was intended to create a rupture in the German line which could then be exploited so the Allies could get deep into the enemy lines. But the first day was a disaster and
Premium British Army Allies Trench warfare