Product Description

Haig commanded the British Army in France for much of the First World War and remained a robustly popular figure at the time of his death in 1928. It was only much later, in the 1960s, that he was recast in the role of the unthinking butcher sending his cheerful Tommies to the slaughter on the Somme and at Passchaendaele. Even now, revisionist military historians still pick over the bleached bones of Haig's campaigns, but they evince little interest in Haig himself, who remains an elusive and contradictory figure. A competent if undistinguished career officer, he reached the very top of his profession by dint of ambition and a passionate sense of duty towards army and nation. A cavalryman to the core, he enthusiastically supported tanks and other new technology on the battlefield. He was also an intensely private man, who could appear aloof and at a loss for words. Still, he devoted the last decade of his life to promoting the welfare of his soldiers and was instrumental in establishing both the British Legion-and the rituals of Remembrance Sunday. Previous biographies of Halg have lurched between haglography and character assassination. Instead, The Good Soldier offers what is long overdue: a considered, compelling and comprehensive portrait of one of Britain's most controversial milltary leaders.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44946 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-08
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 509 pages

Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph
the best and fairest biography of Haig that I have read... well-written, admirable biography.

British Army Review
Mead has an excellent turn of phrase that renders military matters more comprehensible to the lay reader... This engaging and vivid writing style makes this probably the most accessible of the Haig biographies.

David Edelston, The Field
This engrossing book has the great strength of having been written by someone who, by his own admission, started out a sceptic and came to admire, like and appreciate his subject.

Customer Reviews

More than a 'good' book
In `The Good Soldier', Mead has taken on seemingly insuperable odds and won. Could there be a character less sympathetic to the age we find ourselves in? How, in an `anti-war' and above all `anti-THAT-war' environment, do you hope to determine whether someone whose "name today is still synonymous with pointless expenditure of life in conditions of ghastly filth" is worth de-demonising, and still command a reader's attention? How, when celebrity is all and available to all, can you hope to persuade a contemporary audience to connect with a "tongue-tied Scots cavalryman", "without sparkle", who had "no charlatanism in his nature", and - beyond today's pale - came from old money and was not averse to pulling a string or two to assist his progress up the slippery military pole.? Mead therefore rather understates his task: "he is a hard character to like, not least because `being liked' was never very high on his list of ambitions." Yet he pulls it off, quite simply by telling his story, simply. And by the end of this tour de force - from Aldershot to South Africa, from India to the killing fields of Flanders - you feel something for a leader of men who showed little feeling. And something a lot less for Haig's peers - like Lloyd George and Churchill - who more readily strike a chord with "today's society, one in which public figures, at the drop of a hat, lay bare their souls, beat their breasts, thump tubs, even if they have very little to say." This is a very `good' book, indeed.

A biography for our time
Gary Mead's brilliantly written and compelling biography of one of this country's most controversial generals is likely to become the definitive work on Field Marshall Haig. With opinion still bitterly divided between those who see Haig as a 'good soldier', doing his job to the best of his ability under extreme conditions (as Mead suggests) or simply the butcher of millions, this is the kind of even handed biography that is needed right now. It succeeds in rising above some of this endless controversy to paint a portrait of a man who was complex, introverted, Victorian in outlook and at best hard to fathom. It is no coincidence that the book is subtitled 'the' biography of Douglas Haig for the simple reason that no on has ever before quite captured the essence of the man - until Mead's biography, that is.

There is no doubt that Haig believed in what he was doing and fighting for and Mead captures the man's persona through a combination of diligent research (the material on the First World War must be truly gargantuan) and a style of writing that is at once effortless, engaging and easy to follow. Despite the difficulties in describing complex battlefield manoeuvres (and the pros and cons of certain types of explosive shell that at times left me a tad confused) Mead still manages to sustain a forward momentum in his narrative that is constantly captivating and demands that you read on.

The two brilliant central chapters of the book, on the Somme and Passchendaele, bring the horror of war into sharp relief and help place Haig's sometimes impossible position as C-in-C in a new light. His dealings with the ever difficult French and the pesky Lloyd George make you wonder how we ever got through it all as eventual victors. But then the haunting photograph of German troops returning home to Berlin in 1918 "with a sense of betrayal and their heads held high" reminds us that after four years of unspeakable slaughter it is difficult still to know what it was all for.

With Amazon's bargain price (at the time of writing) of 50% off, you would be foolish not to ensure that this exceptional work ends up under someone's Christmas tree. Better still, buy it for yourself.

learning from poor leaders
Gary Mead's biography of Douglas Haig provides a balanced and detailed picture of this controversial first world war General. He explodes some myths about Haig not least the "heroes led by Donkeys" accusation and the black adder stereotypes of a very stupid man. He was not a stupid man but neither was he an insightful one. He had distinguished himself as a good organiser who challenged the amateurish attitudes of the British Army - he was willing to use new innovations - like the tank. But he has three key leadership flaws that led to a terrible legacy of unneccesary death and suffering.

1. He was over optimistic - he continually believed that the Germans were about to collapse and that his attacks were bound to succeed. This over optimism meant he did not properly consider the terrble terrain his troops had to cross, or think through the challenges they would face after they had crossed the first line of German defence, he pressed on with his attacks when all reasonale evidence said he should retreat. In short he failed to think through risks and then failed to reverse his poor decisions quickly enough.

2. He was blind to the failings of those close to him, loyalty was more important than capability. His Head of Intelligence for example constantly fed him poor information that sharpened Haig's false optimism. In modern leadership terms - he had the wrong people on the bus

3. He was unwilling to listen to people outside his close circle - he thought the French were stupid, the politicians inept and journalists beneath contempt. Lloyd George specifically requested him to listen to other opinions - he needed Haig to take on board ideas that would make better use of artillary, sharpen up the use of reserves and bring in fresh insights. Haig did not do so.

These are lessons for today. Haig was leading in a time of crisis - his failings meant he took clear decisions - but they were not well considered and for all too many people they were fatal. Haig was well intentioned but his failure to think things through, encourage rigorous debate on key plans and have high calibre people alongside him drove the decisons that led to unparalled slaughter. Sober thoughts on leadership fron Gary Meade's insightful book.

Steve Botham