Field Marshal Douglas Haig was a British senior officer in World War One and commanded in the Battle of the Somme‚ which was arguably one of the bloodiest battles in British military history. Haig gained the title of the butcher of the Somme after the end of World War One‚ due to the indescribable amount of casualties and deaths that took place. One could say that Haig deserves the title because of the huge loss of life‚ his bad planning and repetition of bad tactics and the fact that he was completely
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To what extent does Haig deserve to be called butcher and a bungler? To a certain extent Haig does deserve to be called a butcher and a bungler as his conduct in WWI proved poor. He was the architect of many of the British failures of 1915-18. In 1915 he was responsible for the offensive at Loos which resulted of huge British losses for very little gain. In 1916 he commanded the battle of the Somme for which he earned the title of “the butcher of the Somme” due to the massively high rate of casualties
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To what extent does Haig deserve the title “Butcher of the Somme”? On 27th June 1916 the Battle of Somme began. This battle is also known as the battle of the most dead soldiers in all the wars. Most of the historians blamed Haig for all the deaths and casualties who are known as the orthodox but there were many contradictions on this point by many historians who are known as revisionist. This essay is going to be looking at both the perspective and then will conclude by evaluating on which side
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Does field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig deserve the name ‘The Butcher of the Somme’? The battle of the Somme took place in 1916 and was Haig’s idea. He wanted to draw enemy troops away from the battle at Verdun to give the allies a better chance of victory. Haig’s tactic was to send troops over the top to attack the German trenches and end the stalemate. Before the troops were sent over the top there would be severe artillery bombardment of the enemy trenches. This was designed to damage or destroy
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Why Was the First Day of the Battle of the Somme (1st July 1916) Such A Disaster? The Battle of the Somme began on the 1st of July 1916 just north of Somme. This was over a month earlier than planned but the British needed to attack early in order to draw out the German troops from Verdun and save the French army. The battle was intended to create a rupture in the German line which could then be exploited so the Allies could get deep into the enemy lines. But the first day was a disaster and
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“The Battle of the Somme was a total failure” How far do Sources A-F support this statement? On the 1st July 1916‚ the battle of the Somme began. Sources A‚ D‚ E and F suggest that the Battle of The Somme wasn’t a total failure. However‚ Sources B and C suggest that the British underestimated the Germans and this was the cause of their massacre. Source B proposes that although the British were organized and everything was going according to their plan‚ the first line‚ which had nearly reached
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Why Did the Battle of the Somme go so Badly for the British Army? The Battle of the Somme took place during 1916 to take pressure off the French at Verdun and the Russians on the Eastern Front. The French were under heavy fire at Verdun and had been since February‚ and the army itself was close to cracking. The Russians had fought gallantly on the Eastern Front to try and avert the German Forces away from the Western Front. After launching many small offensives the Russians had gained very little
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Is it fair to criticize General Haig as a donkey who led lions? Douglas Haig was a General during World War One. There is much controversy over General Haig’s reputation due to the high level of losses during his battles in command. Many people agree with David Lloyd George’s attitude of Haig and many other British Generals of World War One. They are said to be “donkeys”‚ incompetents who sent the “lions” (the soldier) into futile bloody battles. Many popular books‚ films and television programs
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among the rotting carcass of their own fellow soldiers. During “The Battle of Somme”‚ in 1916‚ German soldiers was trained to spot how British officers dressed and was ordered to kill them. I also know from my own knowledge that before the battle had started‚ British forces had fired over 1‚700‚000 shells at the German soldiers‚ this potentially could have been a leading factor to make‚ “The Battle of Somme” the bloodiest battles of the war‚ or of any war before or since. Source A3 is a photograph
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Haig was born in Edinburgh on 19 June 1861. He was born into a wealthy family that had good business. When Haig was younger he went to a good school and in 1884 went to Royal Military Academy at Sand Hurst. He first served as a Calvary Commander; however this experience was not useful in the battle of Somme because it was trench warfare which was a new kind of war so he couldn’t use the same tactics. He was also a celebrated commander of the Boer war‚ but the Africans were weaker and were poorer
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