Sir Douglas Haig: The Controversial Figure Of World War One
World War 1 (1914-1918) was the first war that involved over 100 nations, many as far away from the centre of conflict (Europe) as the United States and Australia. Approximately nine million soldiers died in battle and an additional 13 million civilians lost their lives. ‘The aftermath of World War 1 marked the practical end of monarchy on the continent and of European colonialism throughout the rest of the world’ (sparknotes.com, 2014). World War 1 changed modern history forever.
Sir Douglas Haig remains one of the most controversial figures of World War 1. Some believe he was a hero, however, in my opinion, General Haig is to blame for the devastating losses of several battles due to his inability to adapt to modern warfare.
To support this …show more content…
Haig did not believe the war’s new weaponry was at all effective and refused to use it as the main source of defence and attack. He was ‘stuck in previous wars’ and had a very strong opinion about the effect of cavalry and insisted on using them, leaving his ‘battle strategies on par with those of a century before his time’ (www.historicalmusings.com by Julia Biris, 2013). He claimed that the machine gun was an overrated weapon and was unable to find the worth in airplanes and tanks. He famously stated, ‘the role of cavalry will always go on increasing’ and a reason for this was ‘the small-bore rifle, the bullet from which has little stopping power against a horse'. This demonstrates Haig’s extreme stupidity. In order to gain popularity, he should have kept these senseless opinions to himself during the war. It became evident however that horses and people were little match for automatic …show more content…
Captain Charles Hudson, an officer who took part in the battle for the BEF but was against Haig’s decisions, stated that, “Throughout the war huge bombardments failed again and again yet we persisted in employing the same hopeless method of attack. Many other methods were possible, some were in fact used but only half-heartedly,” (spartactus-educational.com/FWWhaig.htm). This demonstrates that even the soldiers under the command of Haig were strongly against his decisions, opinions and methods of
Sir Douglas Haig remains one of the most controversial figures of World War 1. Some believe he was a hero, however, in my opinion, General Haig is to blame for the devastating losses of several battles due to his inability to adapt to modern warfare.
To support this …show more content…
Haig did not believe the war’s new weaponry was at all effective and refused to use it as the main source of defence and attack. He was ‘stuck in previous wars’ and had a very strong opinion about the effect of cavalry and insisted on using them, leaving his ‘battle strategies on par with those of a century before his time’ (www.historicalmusings.com by Julia Biris, 2013). He claimed that the machine gun was an overrated weapon and was unable to find the worth in airplanes and tanks. He famously stated, ‘the role of cavalry will always go on increasing’ and a reason for this was ‘the small-bore rifle, the bullet from which has little stopping power against a horse'. This demonstrates Haig’s extreme stupidity. In order to gain popularity, he should have kept these senseless opinions to himself during the war. It became evident however that horses and people were little match for automatic …show more content…
Captain Charles Hudson, an officer who took part in the battle for the BEF but was against Haig’s decisions, stated that, “Throughout the war huge bombardments failed again and again yet we persisted in employing the same hopeless method of attack. Many other methods were possible, some were in fact used but only half-heartedly,” (spartactus-educational.com/FWWhaig.htm). This demonstrates that even the soldiers under the command of Haig were strongly against his decisions, opinions and methods of