Study sources D and E.
These two sources are not bout Haig and the battle of the Somme. How far do you agree that they have no use for the historian studying Haig and the Battle of the Somme?
In source, D there is a still from the TV series ‘Blackadder goes forth’. This program was written for TV to entertain people while still getting across about the trench warfare ( new kind of fighting) and historical facts even though it was not written in 1916. Blackadder comes across as someone who is professional, realistic and knows what will happen from passed knowledge. Lieutenant George seems someone who signed up to join war due to the propaganda. He is posh, maybe from university with a very poor knowledge and confusion on what is going on. George seems very enthusiastic because of this. Although it was not written about the Somme it does talk about the strategy Haig used while also suggesting that it was inevitable that lots of people would die: "Are we all going to get killed? Yes." This highlights the fact that Haig did not change his strategy because they are talking before a battle and know that many will die. ”His drinks cabinet six inches closer to Berlin” shows war was pointless and in a way making fun of Haig.
