'Lions Led by Donkeys'. How valid is this interpretation of the conduct of British soldiers and generals on the Western Front of World War one in 1914 - 1918?

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History Coursework

Investigation of the First World War.

‘Lions Led by Donkeys’.  How valid is this interpretation of the conduct of British soldiers and generals on the Western Front of World War one in 1914 - 1918?

Introduction

        Ever since the end of WW1 in 1918 which was won by the British allies against the Germans it has been hugely debated whether the famous interpretation ‘Lions Led by Donkeys’ is correct.  In this essay I am going to look at various peoples interpretations of this statement to reach an overall conclusion.  I will be looking at different views for and against the statement.  I will evaluate poems by soldiers, letters written by Douglas Haig and also authors of books written about the war.

The Battle of the Somme gave the British their first experience of modern warfare.  The Generals had been brought up in the wars of the late 19th century.  So they did not have first hand experience of the technology that was being used in this battle.  So the soldiers were not as prepared as the Germans were for this type of warfare.

        The meaning of the interpretation ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ is that the brave and heroic Soldiers of the WW1 are referred to as the Lions, and the incompetent and inexperienced Donkeys who led them to a gruesome mass slaughter are the Generals.

          The main issues and arguments that I am going to study in this essay are based on interpretations of the events that led to thousands of British casualties to find out if it is fair to say that the war was fought by ‘Lions led by Donkeys’.

                                   

This is a picture of British troops waiting in their trenches for the call from the arguably predictable and inexperienced Generals to go ‘over the top’.

Many people say that the generals did not understand what it was like on the battle field.  They say that they led a comfortable lifestyle miles from the front line.

        A source that supports this is ‘Haigs GHQ’ by Phillip Gibbs on the realities of war, written in 1920.  He says ‘it was as though men were playing at war here, while others, sixty miles away, were fighting and dying, in mud and gas waves and explosive barrages.’  This source may not be reliable as it was written straight after the war, when most people were against the generals so therefore this source may be biased.  Phillip Gibbs though was a British War correspondent so his work would have been well researched and justified.  Also because he is well known, this affects his interpretation because people will read his work and believe it.

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        Another case for the interpretation is that too many lives were lost for too small a gain.  A source that supports this is a piece of dialogue from ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’ series 4 – episode 1.  The script reads:

This source may be reliable because it is written long after the time of the war and would have been a balanced interpretation of General Haig. Also the script writers would have researched these opinions very well.  Blackadder is a comedy and people laugh at it.  Therefore there must have been ...

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