haig coursework

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1.        The message of the source is that in 1916, one year before this cartoon was  published; General Haig had not been present on the frontline at the Battle of the Somme. This is shown by “the absence of the General, Sir.” This suggests that in 1916 many men believed that because General Haig was not with them on the frontline, the fighting they were doing was just a rehearsal. This is also shown by the Major General addressing the men and not General Haig himself. Which suggests that Haig did not want to be a part of the battle himself. Just wanted to conduct from a distance how the battle went. This refers to the fact, that in 1916, Haig was at his base 40 miles behind the frontline and never visited the frontline during the battle. This also refers to the fact that many people called him ‘the Butcher’ because he sent many men to their death but never in front of his own eyes. In source A the cartoonist is criticising General Haig because it suggests that during the war he never visited the font-line to see how his men were fighting “…there’s a difference between rehearsal and the real thing…The absence of the general” This shows that the cartoonist wants people to think that the general’s of the war were never at the font-line so many will think it is a rehearsal when it is actually not.

 2.        I trust source C more as evidence about the leadership of British forces at the Battle of the Somme. This is because source C is written by a man who fought in the battle; source B is written by Haig who never visited the frontline and got all of his information from commanding officers who did not want to let the General know how badly the British were doing. This is shown by in source C “quite as many died on the enemy wire as they did on the ground.” This suggests that Haig’s plan to bombard the enemy lines and destroy the barbed wire did not work as planned. This is also shown by “hundreds of dead were strung out on the barbed wire…” This suggests that many of the men who are actually died, died because Haig’s plan was not as reliable as it should have been. Source B shows that Source C is more reliable because “the enemy is so short of men…collecting them from all parts of the line.” This suggests that Haig did not realise how many of his own men had died and that the Germans had in fact survived the two day bombardment and were waiting for the allies to finish they bombardment before they attacked. This is also shown by “the barbed wire has never been so well cut…” This suggests that Haig had not been told how many hundreds of his men had been cut down by the wire as he plan of breaking the wire had not succeeded. This refers to the fact that on the first day nearly 60,000 allies had either died or been injured. This also refers to the Germans had made concrete dugouts that they had retreated to when firing had begun.

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  1. Source D and E have different views of the Battle of the Somme because although they were written by the same person, Lloyd George, at the time of the battle when he wrote source D he did not want to disappoint General Haig with the way he was running the battle. Whereas in source E Lloyd George is writing after the war when he does have to worry about disappointing Haig on how he had run the battle.  This is shown by in source D “…heartening news…confirmed our hope…I congratulate you most warmly” That Lloyd George does not ...

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