Haig – An Assessment
Career
• Born 1861, Edinburgh. Son of a whisky distiller.
• Educated at Clifton School, Oxford and Sandhurst.
• Army career: Cavalry officer fought in the Sudan and with distinction as a
staff officer in the Boer War.
• Replaced Sir John French as Commander-in-Chief after the failure of the
battle of Loos.
• Well-connected, married to a maid of honour to Queen Alexandra.
Career
• A deep-thinking person and very determined.
• Serious-minded Christian.
• Battle tactics: artillery bombardment to break defences; infantry to move
under ‘creeping barrage’ to take the trenches.
• Poor relationship with Lloyd George, who was horrified at the high
casualties.
Career
• Lloyd George attacked Haig in his memoirs (1936), causing huge damage
to Haig’s reputation.
• This attack coincided with first books from authors unhappy with the war.
As a result, Haig’s name became shorthand for military incompetence.
Historians’ opinions
• 1953: Major-General Sir John Davidson, Haig – Master of the Field.
Defends ‘loyalty and imperturbability’.
• 1958: Leon Wolff, In Flanders Fields. Severe criticism of the Third Battle of
Ypres.
• 1961: Alan Clark, The Donkeys. Characterised the British army as ‘lions led
by donkeys’.
Historians’ opinions
• 1963: John Terraine, The Educated Soldier. Defence of Haig’s character and
battle tactics; necessary to wear down the enemy and win the war.
• Haig’s Final Dispatch, 1919: ‘It is in the great battles of 1916 and 1917 that
we have to seek for the secret of our victory in 1918’.
An assessment
• Different from the stereotype; ruthless and indifferent.
• Graduate of the army’s Staff College.
• Director of military training.
• At the centre of the thinking that created the British Expeditionary Force
(BEF).
• Operational experience in the Sudan and the Boer War.
An assessment
• Commanded the Aldershot garrison and trained the troops that went to
war as 1 Corps.
• Ambitious and exploited social connections; as did every other successful
officer.
• Inherited stalemate situation, but orders were to defeat Germany.
An assessment
• Commanded an army learning as it went along, not professional soldiers.
• Decided on tactic of ‘big battles’.
• Only other tactic, ‘bite and hold’, still would have had high casualty rates.
• Over optimistic that the battles of 1916–7 would achieve a breakthrough.
• Army lacked the troops and firepower to achieve a breakthrough.
An assessment
• Attacks probably continued for too long.
• Some attacks, eg the Somme, continued to help allies.
• Haig could be difficult and touchy, but was not out of touch with his
soldiers.
• Mental toughness to order men into battle.
• Central role in creating the British Legion and Earl Haig Fund – work that
helped lead to an early heart attack.