Lion Led By Donkeys

Authors Avatar

Lion Led By Donkeys?

Is the interpretation of “lions led by donkeys” referring to the generals in the First World War, unfair?

The First World War took place from 1914 to 1918. Some historians describe the First World War as “The Great War” this was due to the sheer size and tragic of human loss during the war, which was responsible for thirteen million people dying the first time the war had been fought on three levels air, sea, and land.

On the Western Front, the battle was fought on land. The battles on land consisted if trench warfare there were four different lines of trenches these were the front line, support, reserve and communication trenches. For the first time in war, the air was used as a military tactic. The air would be used by respective air forces to gain intelligence about the enemy attack. The sea was also used. There was a naval campaign where submarine were used to destroy ships, which had supply on board this war was very much a defensive war the winner would be the country, which could continue their war effort longest possible time.

After the aftermath of the Great War, brought General Field Marshal Haig under heavy scrutiny for the approach he used during the war, due to the fact that so many British soldiers lost their lives at the battle of the Somme. Many people argued that the generals were poor leaders whose stupidity led to the death of millions of soldiers. John Laffin named the interpretation “lions led by donkeys” which implied that Haig was an inadequate leader of the brave British soldiers in to war.  

John Terraine in response to John Laffin’s criticism of the generals. The source is a diagram, which shows the different elements, which caused such a high death toll. The source was produce in the 1980’s the exact date is unknown. This publication was for the audience of whom are interested in past wars and the history of the British Armed Forces. I do not think the source is bias as it was written on historical facts as John Terraine had the benefit of hindsight, and wide range or sources to make an accurate argument from. The First World War was the first of its type, which nobody had any experience in such a war therefore Haig was no exception. John Terraine tells us that this war was on a much bigger scale, as there were mass production of munitions and mass recruitment of soldiers also weapons of mass destruction were used as well as poor communications between generals and the front lines. All these factors lead to a large death toll. The source may show that the generals could have communicated better to the front lines, however they had little chance in reducing the death toll as they type of battle was never experience before and the large death toll was inevitable.

Join now!

An extract from historian John Terrain book “The Smoke and the Fire” in a school textbook in tiled “Twentieth Century” written by John D Clare. The textbook was published in 1995 and was produce to inform the younger generations about the past and to make money. John D Clare produces textbooks for schools and would aim to produce a balanced argument. I believe that the source would not be bias as it is focus on facts. The author also has the benefit of hindsight and is able to produce an accurate and reliable source.  The extract tells us that there ...

This is a preview of the whole essay