Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1452358 in Books
• Published on: 1999-09
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Synopsis
This volume includes many leading historians who have produced a comprehensive and fascinating study of the most significant and frequently debated apsects of Haig''s career.'

Customer Reviews

Excellent reappraisal of a much maligned man.
If you believe that the true image of Sir Douglas Haig is the one demonstrated in 'Blackadder', with Geoffrey Palmer casually sweeping toy soldiers off of his battle map, and depositing them behind him with a dustpan, then this book will most definately be a real eye-opener. This excellent collection of essays delves into the many aspects of Sir Douglas Haig, including his command style, his relationship with his officers, his allies and the ordinary 'Tommy' as well as his post-war work, founding what we now know as the Royal British Legion.

Emerging from this book is man most unlike the myths that have surrounded Haig for over seventy years since his death in 1928. We realise that Haig was not living the high life in a grandiose chateau far behind the lines, but in a modest country house in Montreuil within a short riding distance of the front line. The authors also go to great lengths to dispell the most common myth that Haig was callous, cold and indifferent to battle casualties. It was in fact, this very fear that fuelled Haig's opposition to continuing the war into 1919. In addition to that, we learn that Haig was neither a 'reactionary cavalryman' or a 'technophobe'. The number of cavalry officers in the British Army's composition throughout the war was very low, and the number of cavalry divisions in comparison to the infantry was tiny. It must also be remembered that in 1918, Haig's victories were achieved through the use of combined infantry/tank/aircraft offensives that left the Germans baffled.

That being said, the book is does not seek to lionise of eulogise Haig, merely to place him in the correct historical context, and treat him a character deserving of serious, critical and academic study. The mistakes that led to the tragedy on the first day of the Somme are mentioned and epxlained in detail, as is Haig's tactical and strategic plan for the Passchendaele offensive (where, the book concludes, his greatest mistake was his dismissal of General Plumer, the most able man who had won victory at Messines Ridge with minimal casualties).

In conclusion, this book presents an excellent amount of facts and logical analyses that place Sir Douglas Haig in the correct context and position in history.

An excellent revisionist annalysis of FMHaig in WW1.
Excellent reevaluation of Field Marshal Haig and his role in the eventual Allied victories of 1919. Attempts to dismantle the disfigured repuation of Haig as the 'donkey' leading the 'lions' during the bloody conflicts on the Western Front.Establishes the superiority and excellence of the British army after 1917. Well worth a read

A great reappraisal of a much malaigned figure.
This is a fine collection of essays on Haig, which I would thoughly recommend to anybody intersted in this area. It adds valuable ammunition to those who seek to rehabilitate both Field Marshal Haig, and the British Army 1914-18 as a whole.

My only criticism is of the essay by Gerard J DeGroot, whose essay completeley fails to convince. In my opinion DeGroot has completley failed to understand his subject, seeing in Haig's personality things that were not there. However perhaps it is the trap of imposing modern values on the past that DeGroot has fallen into.

But don't let this criticism detract from what is otherwise a great book. For those seeking to better understand Haig as a man see his son's book My Father's Son.