The trial of General Haig

1. The trial of General Haig

2. Evidence 1.By the the end of the war, around one in every fifteen men aged between 18 and 50 had died. On the first day of the Somme, there were 60,000 casualties, nearly enough to fill the millennium stadium.

3. Evidence 2; part of a report by Field Marshall Sir John French, Commander in Chief of the British Forces (before Haig) “The deadly accuracy of the modern machine gun means that No Man’s Land must be crossed in the shortest possible time. If men are held up by mud, victory became impossible.” The only tactic commanders had was to order their soldiers to charge across No Man’s Land on foot. Whilst they were running, machine guns would shoot them down. There was huge loss of life, and any hold up, such as mud, produced even more casualties.

4. Evidence 3; One soldiers’ attitude toward their generals From the British magazine ‘Punch’

5. Evidence 4; By Earl Haig, son of Field Marshall Haig. It is high time my father was given credit for the job he did and the victories he achieved in the First World War which brought the war to an end. I think he was one of the great men of the twentieth century yet he is portrayed as this most callous, uncaring man when he was the most humane man. When the old soldiers who fought in the war were alive, I never heard a word of criticism from them. It is in more recent times that it has come. Many of the people who now pour scorn on my father and the way he fought don’t know the first thing about it. I think the serious historians are now coming to the view that the war had to be fought to the end.

6. Evidence 5; The C.V of General Haig 1883 Entered Sandhurst Military College Failed Medical Exam due to colour blindness 1896 Entered staff college through influence of Prince of Wales 1899 Fought in South Africa against the Boers 1903 Appointed Inspector General of Cavalry in India 1906 Appointed Director of Military Training 1914 Took past in early WW1 battles at Ypres 1916 Replaced Sir John French as Commander in Chief

7. Evidence 6; A sarcastic view of a fictional British general’s orders Captain Blackadder: ‘Gentlemen, our long wait is nearly at an end. General ‘Insanity’ Melchitt invites you to a mass slaughter….. We’re going over the top….. after sitting here since Christmas 1914, during which millions of men have died and we’ve advanced no further than an asthmatic ant carrying some heavy shopping.’ From ‘Blackadder Goes Forth’, BBC TV

8. Evidence 7; Machine Gun and artillery. The most effective weapons the army had. The machine gun could fire 8 bullets per second.

9. Decision time.... Was Haig a war hero or mass murderer? Explain your decision using the evidence you have heard