Douglas Haig: War Diaries and Letters 1914-1918

Abstract

There's a commonly held view that Douglas Haig was a bone-headed, callous butcher, who through his incompetence as commander of the British Army in WWI, killed a generation of young men on the Somme and Passchendaele. On the other hand there are those who view Haig as a man who successfully struggled with appalling difficulties to produce an army which took the lead in defeating Germany in 1918, winning the greatest series of victories in British Military history. Just as the success of the Alanbrooke war diaries can be put down to its 'horse's mouth' view of Churchill and the conduct of WWII, so Haig's Diaries, hitherto only previously available in bowdlerised form, give the C-in-C's view of Asquith - he records him getting drunk and incapable - and his successor Lloyd George, of whom he was highly critical. As Haig records the relationship it was stormy ('I have no great opinion of L.G as a man or leader' - Sept 1916). The diaries show him intriguing with the King (George V) vs. Lloyd George. Additional - and never previously published - are his day by day accounts of the key battles of the war, not least the Somme campaign of 1916.' I found Foch (Allied C-in-C) most selfish and obstinate...Foch suffers from a swollen head, and thinks himself another Napoleon.' Haig is revealed as an early admirer of the tank and of the 'airoplane'. He revels in turning the well-meaning BEF under Sir John French into the professional fighting force that eventualy one the war.

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