Haigs unsuccessful leadership of the British Army in the ww1 battle of the somme
Write an evaluation of Haigs leadership on the Somme, indicating to what extent you feel criticism of his leadership is justified. Sir Douglas Haig has received severe criticism for his leadership of the British army in the battle of Somme. ... Yet despite this, Sir Douglas Haig proved to be a poor leader of the British forces and does indeed deserve the criticism he has received from historians and others. The Battle of Somme was an offensive launched by the British as they wished to relieve the pressure on the French at Verdun and Haig believed that the offensive was absolutely necessary. ... If Haig had been more careful with the information then the British would not have been deprived of the key feature of their attack, the element of surprise. ... This was an unecissary setback for the British army and could have been avoided by Haig. Despite their enthusiasm, British infantry and artillery training preparations were totally inadequete. ... The tactic to be employed by the British in the Somme Offensive was a massive artillery bombardment 52, 000 tonnes of shells were fired at German trenches in just over a week.