What is a Zeitgeist?

1. Tuesday 2nd December The mood of the time What is a Zeitgeist? The Zeitgeist is a point of view or set of opinions that is held by a lot of people at one time e.g. ‘I’m a Celebrity is really interesting!’ The Zeitgeist can influence people as they start to share this view.

2. How Have Changing Zeitgeists Affected Interpretations of Haig? Learning Objective Develop understanding of how popular opinions have affected historical interpretations.

3. Why have attitudes to Haig changed so much over time? 1990s: A campaign is launched to get Haig’s name removed from the centre of the poppies sold to raise money. It is successful. 1940s: Winston Churchill praises Haig for being ‘like a great surgeon’ 1916: First day of the Battle of the Somme 60,000 British Casualties 1921: Retires from the army after setting up the Royal British Legion 1928: Haig dies. 200,000 soldiers file past his coffin in respect. 2005-08: Lack of clear success in Iraq & Afghanistan lead people to question why soldiers lives are being lost. 1960 & 70s: With the rise of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and the carnage of the Vietnam War, Haig is once again seen as a butcher. 1914 2008 1967: Summer of Love. Hippies promote ideas of peace and equality including protests against the Vietnam War 1950s: Post World War Two, people are more interested in building a new Britain ‘fit for heroes’. 1918 Armistice 1927-1933: Owen’s and Sassoon’s War poems are released and the first anti-First World War books are released; ‘All Quiet on the Western Front ‘ & ‘Goodbye to All That’ . 2008: Douglas Haig and the First World War, published today on the 90th anniversary of the Armistice. Very critical of Haig. 1915 Appointed commander 1930s: Lots of old, injured soldiers on the streets. High unemployment.

4. Self-Assessment Learning Objective Develop understanding of how popular opinions have affected historical interpretations. • How successfully have you met the Learning objective? • Rate yourself red, amber or green. Red – Have not met the L.O • Amber – think so but not 100% clear • Green – Totally certain!

5. Blackadder Goes Forth was written by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton. Richard Curtis was a university student in the mid-1970s and Ben Elton went to Manchester University in the late-1970s. Blackadder was aired from 28 September to 2 November 1989. The series was set in a trench during the First World War. The series was particularly strong in its criticism of the British Army leadership during the campaign, including Douglas Haig.

6. 1916: First day of the Battle of the Somme 60,000 British Casualties 1928: Haig dies. 200,000 soldiers file past his coffin in respect. 1940s: Winston Churchill praises Haig for being ‘like a great surgeon’ 1990s: A campaign is launched to get Haig’s name removed from the centre of the poppies sold to raise money. It is successful. 1960 & 70s: With the rise of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and the carnage of the Vietnam War, Haig is once again seen as a butcher. 1921: Retires from the army after setting up the Royal British Legion 2005-08: Lack of clear success in Iraq & Afghanistan lead people to question why soldiers lives are being lost. 1967: Summer of Love. Hippies promote ideas of peace and equality including protests against the Vietnam War 1918 Armistice 1930s: Lots of old, injured soldiers on the streets. High unemployment. 2008: Douglas Haig and the First World War, published today on the 90th anniversary of the Armistice. Very critical of Haig. 1927-1933: Owen’s and Sassoon’s War poems are released and the first anti-First World War books are released; ‘All Quiet on the Western Front ‘ & ‘Goodbye to All That’ .

7. What happened to this historian’s views? There has hardly been a finer defensive general… As a great gentleman, also in the widest sense, and as a pattern of noble character, Haig will stand out in the Roll of History, chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, (knight without fear and without reproach )more spotless by far than most of Britain ’s national heroes. Basil Liddell Hart, Reputations (1928) That an officer who had fought so nobly as Lieutenant JA Raws, should, in the last letter before his death, speak of the “murder” of many of his friends “through incompetence, callousness, and personal vanity of those in high authority”, is evidence… of something much amiss in the higher leadership. Basil Liddell Hart, The Real War (1930, page 263) Liddell Hart’s opinion of Haig continued to fall until, in a diary entry in 1935, he could write: He [Haig] was a man of supreme egoism and utter lack of scruple – who, to his over-weaning ambition, sacrificed hundreds of thousands of men. A man who betrayed even his most devoted assistants as well as the Government which he served. A man who gained his ends by trickery of a kind that was not merely immoral but criminal. Diary note (1935)

8. Why have attitudes to Haig changed so much over time? 1990s: A campaign is launched to get Haig’s name removed from the centre of the poppies sold to raise money. It is successful. 1940s: Winston Churchill praises Haig for being ‘like a great surgeon’ 1916: First day of the Battle of the Somme 60,000 British Casualties 1921: Retires from the army after setting up the Royal British Legion 1928: Haig dies. 200,000 soldiers file past his coffin in respect. 2005-08: Lack of clear success in Iraq & Afghanistan lead people to question why soldiers lives are being lost. 1960 & 70s: With the rise of CND (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament) and the carnage of the Vietnam War, Haig is once again seen as a butcher. 1914 2008 1967: Summer of Love. Hippies promote ideas of peace and equality including protests against the Vietnam War 1950s: Post World War Two, people are more interested in building a new Britain ‘fit for heroes’. 1918 Armistice 1927-1933: Owen’s and Sassoon’s War poems are released and the first anti-First World War books are released; ‘All Quiet on the Western Front ‘ & ‘Goodbye to All That’ . 2008: Douglas Haig and the First World War, published today on the 90th anniversary of the Armistice. Very critical of Haig. 1915 Appointed commander 1930s: Lots of old, injured soldiers on the streets. High unemployment.

9. You’re the family of an ‘Old Soldier’ who has seen action in the trenches and lost a lot of friends in the First World War. Your family are from the 1960s and believe in CND and therefore peace. You are a modern military historian who understands the difficulties of fighting wars and how new the trenches were in warfare. You’re the family of a Second World War Prime Minister. You understand needed his country to focus on successful battles in Britain’s past to encourage people that Britain could win the Second World War. Haig! You’re from post war family who respected the past but your tired of war and want to look forward to prosperity and peace. You’re grandfather and grandmother were writing between the wars as new details of the horrors of the front become public they began to question their own beliefs and the abilities of the generals during WW1. Where do you stand and why?

10. How to write an interpretation answer...Your Statements • Think of your statement strand: I think interpretations have changed over time due to..... the media, such as books, films, television programmes changed people’s views, the view of war changed, other wars or current conflicts made people remember, important individuals change the publics’ mind

11. How to write an interpretation answer...Your Evidence • Think of your evidence strand: For example.... You could use the timeline, the source sheets or your own knowledge as evidence.

12. How to write an interpretation answer...Your explanation • Think of your explanation strand: Therefore this would mean interpretations had changed over time because...Link this back to your statement.

13. Some useful resources about Haig Books on Haig - the Haig Debate http://www.johndclare.net/wwi3_HaigHistoriography.htm Haig-Debate http://www.gwpda.org/comment/haig-debate.html