The problem of Douglas Haig's role as an over-all on the European Front, during the Challenge of the Somme in 1916, has been completely questioned by many historians to date. Through different views and viewpoints, Haig's skills have been both greatly celebrated and criticised. Therefore he has been considered both 'Butcher of the Somme' and the 'Architect of Win', much data supporting both arguments. However the bulk of people seem to favour the thought of Haig being truly a merciless leader, which is totally understandable. For instance, the Challenge of the Somme hugely affected almost every person in Britain, many losing family. For them, it could have been easy at fault the British losses solely on Standard Haig, and many have that. However many people found him as a highly gifted soldier and innovator, and there was a good side to Haig, for example, he performed have the ability to eventually wear down the German army, and played a part in the result of World Warfare 1. Therefore this controversial issue will perhaps be regularly debated.
The Challenge of the Somme was a essentially Scottish battle, with three Scottish divisions participating. This also applied to Douglas Haig, who was simply blessed in Edinburgh and was commander in key. He was blamed for the tremendous slaughter of the Fight of the Somme, where there were around 60, 000 English casualties on just the first day, one third of which were killed. This alone is facts enough for a whole lot of folks of Haig's failures as a general. However, lots of the defects in Haig's leading of the Challenge of the Somme stemmed from the fact that he was commanding a group of sixty divisions, when the usual quantity was just six. This shows the extreme circumstances under which Douglas Haig was commanding at the Fight of the Somme.
The Challenge of the Somme was a significant event ever sold; this is mainly because of the absurd amount of deaths, even though they were 'no larger than were to be expected', however some individuals find mistake in the actual fact that Haig stored the army struggling even when he became alert to the continuous height of casualty information. Just like any standard, Haig strove for success, however he had a major problem: he was extremely positive, and constantly presumed that the German army was close to surrendering, therefore thinking that a gain was also close. Despite the fact that he noticed that his military was fully capable of defeating the Germans, he wasn't correct, in fact, Haig's army didn't have large amount of soldiers, that your German army were able to take good thing about this clearly demonstrates his focuses on were impossibly to achieve, he was just too ambitious. Haig was also seriously criticised for the ridiculous length of the battle, this is simply because it could have been concluded much sooner than it was, and this would have even prevented Britain in constantly finding problem in Haig's management skills. The main reason that Haig even allowed the battle to continue because he wished to straighten his trenches, as this might experienced a great effect on his army's episodes. However Haig was also criticised for allowing the British army to fight in the appalling weather at the time of the Somme, although officially he cannot take the entire blame because of this decision as the idea actually came from the French army officer.
Haig was certainly someone to override his military commanders, although this is understandable, as though he found their advice questionable then he had to trust himself to help make the correct decision by themselves. However at the start of the battle of the Somme, Haig was overruled himself, by the governments of Britain and France, they asked Haig to strike the German military at that point with time, but Haig didn't agree this is because he felt that his armies weren't ready; however his debate wasn't effective, therefore he was overlooked. Haig realized that he'd have to plan an strike quickly, because if he got a lot of time to do so then your alliance which ceased the French from attacking the British could be placed in jeopardy, and that was a risk that Haig couldn't manage to adopt.
At the beginning of the battle, the British army looked to have no chance in defeating the German army, in fact, Official History published that the Somme was the first time that the '. . . British isles line been performed with so few men therefore few weapons. . . '. The English military were also overwhelmed by the energy of the Germans and after just one day of fighting there were a massive amount of casualties, most of them credited to 'bite and keep attacks'. Initially, Haig was severely short of causes and, trying to find a solution, ended up needing to leave Gough's twelve divisions together to defend 42 kilometers of leading, this led to some having very few soldiers. Haig might have maintained the Somme better, however by the finish of the fight, the British were obtaining success against the Germans and eventually the Germans does surrender, in reality the German Standard Ludendorff mentions in his autobiography, My warfare memories, 'As due to the Somme we were completely fatigued on the European Front'.
When considering Haig's skill as an military commander it should be remembered that the problem at the Fight of the Somme was extremely unique, Haig was controlling ten times the amount of forces, the majority of whom were learning the techniques of battle as they went along. After the battle concluded Haig was compared to other generals who sent hundreds of soldiers to their fatalities, he was seen as uncaring and constantly making terrible decisions. Although Haig's opinion of the turnout of the conflict was never clarified, it was suggested that he decided with the result, just as 1919, Haig defended the fact that the Germans were offered a settlement at the end of the warfare.
The marriage between Douglas Haig and David Lloyd George was a cause of major discord and possessed an overpowering effect on Haig's reputation. Lloyd George was clear in the fact that he had no trust or liking for Haig, especially during the Somme, when he didn't realize why Haig was allowed the high casualty rates to continue, especially since this didn't give any benefits to the Uk. He found Haig simply as a man with no cleverness, no understanding, although he also never changed him, or even stood up to him. However, it was no secret that a warfare was waged between Haig and Lloyd George. An example of the tension between these individuals was on the very first September, when Haig received a telegram from Henry Wilson, designated 'personal', this carried a warning, that Haig was to avoid preventable casualties during the struggle of the Somme. The clear reason behind the telegram was for the safeguard of Lloyd George; however Haig took it that he could punch the Hindenburg line if he felt the need to do so. The tension between them grew when Lloyd George shared his conflict memoirs, in which he unleashed an strike on Haig, both, simply as a man and as part of the army. This is one of the extremely little books that really cause chaos for an important characters reputation, especially since when it became available, Haig acquired already passed and for that reason he couldn't even protect his own reputation.
