1918 battle of the somme .. Haig? Hellp?

Question

in history i need to no why
source a showed haig didnt care about his men & why in some ways haig did care about his men.

Soure A:
"the nation must be taught to bear losses. no amount of skill on the psrt of the higher commanders, no training, however good, on part of the officerds and men, no superiority of arms and amunition, however great, will enable victories to be won without sacrifice of mens lives. the nation must be prepared for heavy casulaty lists"

Plzz Help
i really havnt got a clue.

& atm im in an afterschool detention trying to find info about it..

I Dont want to fail my gcses plezz help me

Answer 1

Hi,
Firstly you have to understand that his statement was in response to a great deal of anti-war sentiment and pressure from the press and to some degree Parliament itself. He needed support and this was his response. You also need to understand that the thinking at that time was far different to that which we would find acceptable today, people lead far harder lives and did not have the type of expectations that we take for granted today. The type of wars fought were terrible and bloody affairs with much loss of life, although Haig and his counterparts did bring wholesale slaughter to a new level.
He was simply stating that you cannot fight a war without loss of life, as he saw it.
He was thought of as a poor leader and history does back this up. As for caring about his men, in his way (which was very 18th century) he did. but it falls far short of today's values.

By the way when I used to get detention it usually involved cleaning up the playground and playing fields or staring at a wall for 2 hours, not using a computer.. How times have changed....Good luck.

Answer 2

Haig has been criticised by many over the years for his tactics, which it is argued were deeply flawed. The wartime Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, was one such critic. He wrote that he sometimes wondered whether he should have resigned on more than one occasion rather than permit Haig to continue with his strategy. On the other hand, it is suggested that Haig's hand was largely forced by the pressure placed by the French for constant relief on the Western Front, on the Somme in 1916 and at Passchendaele in 1917.

After the armistice Haig served as Commander in Chief of the British Home Forces until 1921, the year of his retirement. His recent predecessor in this role was Sir John French. Haig was also awarded a grant of £100,000 by the government. He was made an earl in 1919 and then Baron Haig of Bemersyde in 1921.

Haig dedicated the remainder of his life to service in the Royal British Legion (which he helped to establish), caring for the welfare of the troops who served under him during the war.

There is a wealth of information at the links provided.

Answer 3

Firstly you will if you do not get the time scales right. The Battle of the Somme was launched July the 1st 1916 and continued to April 1917 where the offensive in that area was finally called off.

Lord Haig, was not a complete killer or butcher of his troops and was against the battle once it was delayed for so long, but was pushed into conforming with the politicians requirements to ease the French possible collapse around the Verdun area. The whole point of the initial plans for the Somme where a joint attack by French and Empire troops against the area.
The Bombardment of the lines stipulated that a constant barrage of 6 days was required to destroy the wire, bunkers and defence works of the German defences, unfortunatley it carried on for a lot longer than required, so expending ammo at a far greater rate than it could be restocked, the ammo was faulty as the goverment had rushed the production of shells at home and over 50% of them failed to explode.
It was thought at that time the new shrapnol air burst shells would pierce the wire in front of the defences, this was untrue and in the evening when the bombardment lifted, the Germans could easily come out and repair the line damage.
The deep safe bunkers where unaffected mainly by the shelling of the front as the planners failed to realise how deep and reinforced the Germans had made the mainline and where quite surprised over the conditions they found when they did capture some of the trenches.
The tatics of wave attack had not been perfeted against a stout enemy and after a constant barrage of shells, the planners believed the enemy would be so shell shocked, destroyed and morale sapped the sight of wave upon wave of massed infantry advancing would be the last straw and the Germans would surrender.
Also a full pack advance was looked as, as required as the repairs required to the trenches would be paramount for a stop measure against reserves being rushed in to counter attack.
Finally the losses seen on the Somme where actually lower than some of the battles in the Second World War, the thing was the Empire troops where in a formation known mainly as 'Pals', these where regiments, battalions and companies of volunteer soldiers intermingled with regular NCO'c and Officers that had been brought together from one place, one town, one large estate or buisness, that had joined up together. A source of troops never really tried before, yes the county regiments of old, had been brought together, but never in such huge numbers, so when the units where mauled badly and casulaty rates run high, the casualties seemed worse as whole sections of the community where devestated by the losses.

Haig himself was a man of his time, he looked at the situation and developed stratagy as much as he could given the tools to hand. He was a believer in tanks, contary to what a lot of people though and required there development as quickly as possible, but as they where primitive 4 mph maximum speed Leviathons, with limited firepower and use, they often broke down and failed before they even got to the front line. He was a believer in the power of the Army, could see into the requirements and tried to stall each new attack by demanding the best build up of troops, cavalry, artillery and power he could before sending the troops over, he developed the ideals of creeping barrage, of stop and cover to a fine point with his staff, the movement of great masses of troops. If he was the insensative butcher as portrayed, why did he help set up the British Legion after the war, campaign for proper war pensions and invalid payments? Not because he felt guilty thats for sure.
It has to be remembered the great war, was a defensive war, there was no easy way for an attacker to break a line of well constructed defences anywhere in the world from the late 1870's when items like machine guns, barbed wire, concrete, artillery and rapid fire individual arms reached the advanced state there was in until the experiences, training and offensive ideals matured in late 1918. Indeed the General Staff with most nations still had the same ideas and set ups at the start of WW2.
Hope this helps.

Answer 4

It shows he may not have cared about his men in the sense that he was willing to lose some in order to win the battle and to show the nation that sacrifices would have to be made in order to win.

It also shows he did care about his men as he has put prior thought into the outcome of what may happen, he says that no matter of training or munitions could stop the inevitable casualties...then goes on to say that the nation must be prepared for this - showing he in some way that he understands the grief that will be involved in loss.

Answer 5

Its not that he didnt care about his men he was trying to prepare people for the great loss of life that was expected, in his own words the message I get is that he knew what was expected of his men and that regardless of the training and superiority of weaponry some men will die or be maimed and that the families should be ready for and accept the sacrifice when it came. His men were willing to sacrifice their lives for the greater good and he was a realistic man who knew that victory comes at a price. Doesnt mean he didnt care.

Answer 6

A minor detail but the battle of the Somme was 1916. In history it is always a problem whether to judge people's actions by the standards of the time or by today's standards. Mr Bush and Mr Blair have given us a good example of how the military have to sort out the mess made by incompetent politicians.

Answer 7

Field Marshall the Earl Haig knew that heavy losses would occur from the trench warfare that prevailed at the time.Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery also knew the losses he would have to allow at the start of the El Alemain battle of WW2,
Haig wouled only try to win if the rules of engagement at the time were adhered to,As one of Wellingtons generals said to him at the beginning of the battle of Waterloo
Wellington "They are coming at us in the same old way"
"Then we shall meet them in the same old way"
sorry I have gone of in a bit of a tangent.
Haig had to put up with the losses and prepared the nation for the worst,but in later life regretted it terribly.It was after all he who set up the "Haig fund" to help old soldiers,sailors,airmen in times of financial trouble,the Haig fund was to be retitled The Royal British Legion.and still raise the money from the sale of poppies each year in November.

Answer 8

Haig is infamous for sending many thousands of young men to their deaths. He did not believe in shell shock so many were shot for cowardness. Also he also ordered that men should charge cannons etc in the belief that some would get through.
See below for more info

Answer 9

This is an excellent example of why kids graduate from school and can't earn a living.
You should be worrying about your future, not some stupid squabble nobody has heard or gives a hoot about a century ago.

Answer 10

he was trying to say about how one lost german life would be worth it to save the whole german army