Haig butcher of the Somme?
Haig; 'Butcher of the Somme' Does General Haig deserve to be remembered as 'the butcher of the Somme? In 1914, Europe descend was initiated into World War; fought between two powers, the allied and central. It also consisted of many hard well fought Battles; such as: the Battle of the Marne, Ypres, Cambria, and the worst in terms of soldiers lost, the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was mainly between the British and the Germans. It started on the 1st of July 1916. It has been remembered for the tragic lose of lives. On the very first day 60, 000 or more British soldiers died, were injured or were taken prisoner. The British had set out to break through the German lines and in doing so help the French forces at Verdun. Those who led this Battle, were not praised for their bravery, but rather condemned. Most noticeably due to the methods they used. General Sir Douglas Haig sent line after line of British soldiers into No Man's Land; where they were mowed down by the German machine guns. After a week bombardment of 1, 738, 000 shells, Haig didn't expect any reprisals from the Germans. The shells were used to not only to destroy the Germans and their trenches but to also destroy the barbed wire placed in front, stopping the Allies from going in and gaining that land. General Sir Douglas Haig died in January 1928. He left behind hero status; having an influential
Haig, Butcher of the Somme
Does Haig Deserve to be Remembered as the Butcher of the Somme? Introduction The first day of the battle of the Somme is remembered as the 'bloodiest day of the British army'. Led by General Sir Douglas Haig, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought a long battle of trench warfare, designed to relieve German pressure from the French at Verdun and to destroy German manpower. Starting on the 1st July 1916, the battle continued until November 1916. The soldiers believed this would be the decisive battle in the war, giving the Allied forces the advantage. Douglas Haig was a highly successful military commander. After service in Sudan and the Boer War he became the youngest major-general in the British Army. After praise for his Ypres campaign he was promoted to commander in chief of the BEF. This made him in charge of planning and implementing the Somme offensive in conjunction with French commander Joffre. Haig decided, as the battle became one of attrition, the only way to break the stalemate was to sacrifice men whilst wearing down the German forces both in physical number and mentally. Due to the numerous deaths, many people throughout history have believed that Haig was a murderer, sending thousand of soldiers to their deaths. For this reason some title him 'Butcher of the Somme'. This has been criticised by other historians who say Haig was just doing his job, doing
Haig: Butcher of the Somme
Haig: Butcher of the Somme? The First World War started when Austro-Hungary attacked Serbia. This triggered alliances and ententes to come to attention. Germany defended Austro- Hungary and Russia defended Serbia, France defended Russia and Britain defended France. That one declaration of war caused a chain reaction of countries and a tangle of European politics. Trench Warfare was where the War was fought and was an abomination to send men to War and eventually over the front line. Field Marshall Douglas Haig was the commander in charge of planning the Britain's attack, when they supported the French whilst they were attacked. Field Marshall Douglas Haig was born in 1861, making him 54 at the time when he was appointed for leadership. Haig has gone down in history as the Butcher of the Somme, for sending thousands of British troops over the front line to perish and threw away their lives in futile attacks. War affects everyone in different ways. Emotionally and psychologically; soldiers witnessing so much bloodshed or the loss of loved ones, events that people may never recover from. Militarily; the loss of huge numbers of troops and trench warfare, tried and failed. Politically; mass democracy and a second war mentioned by Winston Churchill. Economically; economy's ruined, anger at conditions and European map redrawn. In some ways these consequences were opposed by better
Haig – Butcher of the Somme?
Oliver Austin 25th September 2007 Haig - Butcher of the Somme? Haig was appointed commander of the army on 10th of December 1915, and he had had a very successful military career. Haig decided to attack the Germans at the river Somme in 1916 to attract German soldiers from the town of Verdun where they were fighting the French and had almost broken through. But even though he was victorious there was a very high number of casualties. But does this make Field Marshall Haig "The Butcher of The Somme?" "Britain should be prepared for a high loss of life," was Haig's view on the war, and this shows that he did recognise that the nature of World War One trench warfare meant that men's lives would be the cost of 'victory.' Haig did expect large casualties, but made them larger than they should have been, as the strategies he used were very outdated, and by telling his soldiers to "walk slowly in a line towards the enemy" he, unfortunately, gave the enemy machine gunners an easy target. A German soldier is quoted to have said, "No longer call it war, this is mere murder." Haig also knew that the shells that were being used did not cut through the wire, but with so many resources and untrained men concentrated along this stretch of the front, there wasn't much room for change, and plus there wasn't a plan B anyway. Another fatal flaw in the planning was that some
General Haig: Butcher of the Somme
Field Marshall Haig: Butcher of the Somme? No-one expected the First World War to last very long. This belief was shared between both sides. The Germans planned to sweep through Belgium and capture Paris. They were thwarted however by the French Army and were pushed back and a front-line was established. This did not change much for the next three years. In 1916, General Haig formed a plan to break this stalemate and the battle that took place is now known as the Battle of the Somme. Despite plenty of careful planning many losses were sustained by all parties. The Total Allied Forces had 623,907 casualties, 419,654 of them were British, while the Germans lost 465,000 men. This was a huge number of casualties and historians have debated about General Haig's role in this. Did General Haig attempt to achieve something at the Battle of the Somme, or was he a butcher who sent thousands of men to their deaths? One of the arguments against Haig is how much he cared for his men. Source A written by Haig in 1916, just a day before the battle, talks of sacrifice and its importance in war. He warns that 'the nation must be prepared to see heavy casualty lists' and you can't win a war without 'the sacrifice of men's lives'. At first Haig's tone indicates that he doesn't care much for the men fighting the war. However, what he says does make sense. He is only trying to warn the
Was Haig the "Butcher of the Somme"?
4th November 2002. Was Haig the "Butcher of the Somme"? Many people have regarded General Haig as the Butcher of the Somme. Does he really reserve this name? To decide this it is necessary to consider what happened at the battle of the Somme and to what extent it can be blamed on Haig. The Battle of the Somme was intended to relieve pressure on the French at Verdun. The commander of the British troops at the time of the Battle of the Somme was field Marshall Haig. He thought that the battle would be easy to win. Haig had a very shallow opinion of the German's. He thought that they were useless "black" people and that they didn't know how to fight shat his army would surly win. He thought up some ideas on fighting and made up a plan. In 1907 Haig said, "Success in battles depends mainly on morale and determination." This later changed to "The way to capture machine guns is by grit and determination." This was his idea in 1915. Finally in 1916 his idea's were: " The machine gun is an overrated weapon," and " We must wear down the enemy as much as possible." Haig had a theory. It was to cut across the German wire, go onto the No Man's land and attack but this did not happen. Haig thought determination was needed to win. However, Haig had a lot of determination but still too many people died, maybe because he was too impatient and too determined. The great battle began on
Haig: Hero or Butcher of the Somme?
Question Four Sir Douglas Haig was born in Edinburgh, 19th June 1861. He studied first at Brasenose College in Oxford and then in 1884 at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst. He passed out of Sandhurst in less than a year and he joined the 7th Queens Own Hussars. He served there as a cavalry officer for nine years. He took part in the Omdurman campaign and in the Second Boer War. In 1906, he became Director of Military Training at the war office. In 1909, he was made the Chief of Staff of the Indian army. After the end of the war, Haig served as Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces until 1921, which was when he retired. He was made an earl in 1919. In 1921, he was made Baron Haig of Bemersyde. Sir Douglas Haig died on 28 January 1928. But the real question is: was he a hero? Or a butcher? First, I am going to discover what proved him to be a possible hero. Sources A, F, H, L, M and N show he is a hero. Source A demonstrates this by using a cartoon and headline from a British newspaper on 2nd July 1916. The headline "The day goes well for our patriotic heroes" can be annotated in a few ways. "The day goes well ..." expresses that the first day of the Somme was a good day, even though many casualties were caused. "... patriotic heroes." says itself that the loyal army were heroes. The cartoon in source A shows a big fist labelled "The British Army" hitting a
was haig butcher of the somme
Important Facts * Western front raged across 30 km. * Lasted from 1st July to the middle November 1916 * Largest battle Britain had ever fought (numbers and casualties) * Britain volunteer army had been recruited 2 years before it was finally unleashed (after much training) *It broke stalemate that had lasted 2 years * Idealism finally became grim reality of war on the western front. Britain Britain were insufficient and had little territory until.. 914- hoped to mobilise quickly to help France 915- volunteers after kitcheners call 916 -when they believed they could play a leading role on the western front. British Aim The aim of the British attack was to break through the German lines and defeat the German army. It was also hoped that this attack would help the French army which had been under a strong German attack at Verdun. Stale mate .... * Summer 1916 all methods of breaking stalemate had failed * 1915- Collapse of the Gallipoli expedition German attempts to use poisonous gas...... * 1916- Stalemate was broken * Britain promised those who joined together could serve together. Idea-to gain more recruitment Led to devastation in villages and towns from casualty lists. General Sir Douglas Haig's * Took command of BEF in 1915 * French and British were supposed to contribute to the attack evenly. * However after the battle at Verdun it
Does Haig deserve the nickname Butcher of the Somme?
Does Haig deserve the nickname ‘Butcher of the Somme?’ There are various reasons why Haig deserves his nickname ‘Butcher of the Somme’, on the first day of the Somme he led ’57,000 men to slaughter’. Haig was given the responsibility of these men, and therefore their lives. Due to his poor organisation ‘no one quite knew what they were doing’, he left his men sitting targets for the German machine gunners. Haig’s lack of organisation also meant the British didn’t reach the front line in time. Due to the ‘slow pace of the British’ the Germans were able to emerge from their dugouts and set up their machine guns. This now meant the British were up against a highly defensive German army who were prepared for the British arrival; whereas if Haig advanced his troops with the French specialists, their numbers would’ve overwhelmed the German army, therefore wouldn’t have suffered 57,000 casualties on day 1. Haig was also guilty of leaving his army malnourished; he took soldiers straight off the train from the coast, gave them nothing to eat and expected them to attack. His quote was ' A hungry soldier fights better'. This tactic clearly had no advantage or effect on the British army; all it did was damage morale and left them with little energy to fight a heavily equipped German army. In 1916 the first tanks were used in the war and Haig was keen to
Was Sir Douglas Haig the Butcher of the Somme?
Was Sir Douglas Haig the Butcher of the Somme? Was Sir Douglas Haig the "butcher of the Somme"? This is my argument: Sir Douglas Haig started his military career off as the head boy of his class at a military college in Sandhurst. As he grew older he became more respected and worked his way up the promotion ladder. The idea of the battle 0of the Somme was to relieve pressure on Verdun. Verdun is town in France, which was under siege from the Germans. It was also planned to lift the spirits in the French camp and damage the German armies morale. At first the battle did not go as planned, no ground was made and this was meant to be an easy battle. The battle went on for a long time and hundreds of thousands of men from both the Allies and the Germans were killed. Haig and his men had very different views of how the war was going. This is summed up in two quotes. Haig said, "The work of our artillery is wholly admirable", this evidently shows that Haig is happy with the performance of his soldiers and that they are doing well in the battle of the Somme. But lieutenant J A Raws said, "It's horrible but why should people at home not know?" This statement clearly shows that men are unhappy, and the situation is not what Haig has made it out to be. Haig's diaries where used as propaganda to support the war effort back home. Propaganda is where usually the Government or people in
