Was General
Haig…
the Butcher
of
the Somme?
The Battle of the Somme
The Battle of the Somme started on July 1st 1916 and lasted
until November 1916. The British army launched an offensive
against the Germans. It is one of the most famous battles of
the First World War.
For many years those who led the British campaign,
especially General Sir Douglas Haig, have received a lot of
criticism for the way the Battle of the Somme was fought.
Casualties, suffering and the human tragedy were …
Horrific!
The Battle
of the
Somme
 60,000 British casualties on first day of battle alone.
 11th Cambridgeshire Battalion sent 750 ‘over the top’ -
691 became casualties of war.
 Most casualties were men in their late teens or early to
mid twenties.
 By end of battle a strip of land 25 km long and 6km wide
taken at the cost of …
The Battle of the Somme
420,000
British
casualties
The Battle of the Somme
200,000
French
casualties
The Battle of the Somme
500,000
German
casualties
 Why did so many men die?
 Could the enormous loss of life have been avoided?
 Was the loss of life worth the achievement?
 Does General Haig deserve the title of …
‘The Butcher of the Somme’?
Should Haig be described as the ‘Butcher
of the Somme’?
Haig had been ordered to launch
the offensive to let the
French recover at Verdun,
where there was heavy fighting.
‘Going over the top’ at the Somme was the first taste of
battle many of these men had. Many were part of
Kitchener’s Volunteer Army’ persuaded to volunteer by
posters showing Lord Kitchener himself summoning these
men to arms to show their patriotism.
Britain had never experienced a
War of stalemate before.
Living in trenches and fighting
in No Man’s Land was a
new experience.
The Battle of the Somme started with a
weeklong artillery bombardment of the German
lines. 1,738,000 shells were fired at the
Germans. The logic behind this was that the
artillery guns would destroy the German
trenches and barbed wire placed in front of the
trenches.
Haig genuinely felt that this tactic
would work. He had been advised
that barbed wire in No Man’s Land
would be destroyed by the shells.
The Allied troops climbed out of their trenches and moved over
no mans land towards the German front lines. Many were gunned
down in no man’s land. However, due to the huge number of
troops attacking the German line soldiers did get through. They
were followed by cavalry. This was not a great success. The
muddy conditions made horses a slow and riders easy targets.
Haig
had been
a successful
The man to man
combat
that followed
wasBritish
bloody and horrific.
Commander many times. Using
cavalry was a traditional and
successful method of attacking.
Nobody was used to this new
modern warfare.
More German soldiers died than
British soldiers at the Battle
of the Somme. Surely this shows
that Haig’s plan was partially
Successful!
Did Haig see the soldiers of the British
Army as nothing more than pawns in his
vain search for glory?
Was Haig unbending in his belief in the
'big push' theory that one major victory
would end the war?
The loss of hundreds of thousands of
soldiers was simply a statistic of war in the
mind of this man.
The Battle of the Somme was not the first
time Haig had tried the tactic of
bombardment.
Haig continued to send men into the
Somme battlefield for four months even
when it was obvious that the plan was a
disaster.
Haig was faced with an impossible dilemma.
This was a war that no-one was prepared for
or able to win on the battlefield.
Haig was under constant pressure from the
British Government for a morale boosting
victory over the Germans.
It was not considered acceptable to simply
sit in the trenches of the Western Front and
wait for the Germans to give in.
In 1916 the Germans were attacking the
French fortress of Verdun. By attacking the
Germans on the Somme, Haig was able to
relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun
and give them time to reorganise.
The British Army captured 70 square miles of
land
CONTROLLED ASSESSMENT 2
Some people have the view that British generals like Haig were
incompetent leaders.
How far do your sources support or contradict this
interpretation?
Haig’s leadership during the Battle of the Somme is just one
example of possible incompetence and many generals lead in a
similar way. Many historians hold the view that the soldiers in
World War I were…
“Lions led by donkeys”
From what you have learned so far, draw up a table of arguments
FOR and AGAINST this statement.