[.uk] DOUGLAS HAIG: Architect of Victory (ISBN 1841585173)

Image and Reality of Sir Douglas Haig:
If we know of Douglas Haig at all, it is that he was the idiot that butchered a million soldiers of the British Empire in World War I. Haigs' blunders are well documented for us, from "Oh, What a Lovely War" to Black Adder to BBC documentaries. Everyone knows he was a blustering fool. Except, according to Walter Reid, the professional historians of the last few decades. Among them there is a consensus that he was an intelligent, effective general who more than any other in the First World War was responsible for the victory. So, how to explain this difference between the popular image and the scholarly image, and which is the true image? That is what the book sets out to do, and does it quite well. It details what Haig actually did and accomplished based on reseach of the last few decades. It describes the change in his popular image from a post war hero in Britain up to the 1950's to a poster child of the evils of militarism in the 1960's to the present. From a man who had the largest non-royal funeral until Churchill's to one whose portrait in his old school was vandalized. It covers his entire life, but of course concentrates on his role in World War I. It is not a fawning look. Haig had attributes but also flaws, and the book details both. He was not a Marlborough or Wellington. He made mistakes and men died unnecessarily because of them. But, in the end it is argued that it was the British army that was primarily responsible for the wearing down and final collapse of the German army. Haig created this instrument of victory and lead it. It could have been done better, but with the possible exceptions of Allenby or Plumer, not by anyone else that was available. Overall, the book makes an interesting case for Haig.