To what extent was Douglas Haig the butcher of the battle of Somme?

Answer 1

Sir Douglas Haig as a general could easily be named a butcher. Any person in any war could be called a butcher . In history ,many men are rightly or wrongly given the same title. Though few men actually deserve it.

Haig does not deserve the name Butcher because England won the war and killed more Germans than they did to us. He had a very good tactic and without it the war would have gone nowhere. so he didn't deserve it :p

I think Haig does deserve the title "Butcher of the Somme" as the amount of people he sent to their deaths is not really humanly possible. He killed 25,000 soldiers and 60,000 casualties in only a few hours.

In addition, Haig continued to use exactly the same tactics, even though after a few weeks (or even perhaps after the first day), it was obvious that thousands upon thousands of people were being mowed down by machine guns.

Answer 2

== Answer == Sir Douglas Haig as a commander can easily be called a butcher. Any battle in any war can be called a butchery and nameless battles in the history of man are rightly or wrongly given the same title. Within their lifetimes few men are given or deserve that appellation. There are also arguments for Haig earning his title. Though all the evidence to suggest he was a butcher was all roughly written about the first day of the somme and a good general is one who wins wars and he did just that. You could say that he didn't have the right technology, got incorrect intelligence, etc.

Answer 3

Answer =]HE WAS A BUTCHER BECAUSE

• HE WASN'T PREPARED
• USED PEOPLE WHO WERE INEXPERIENCED SOLDIERS
• WORST LOSS OF PEOPLE IN THE BRITISH MILITARY ARMY HISTORY
• REPEATED MISTAKES
• OPPOSITE OF WHAT WAS SAID HAPPENED
• NOT ORGANISED

Answer 4

there are many reasons for and against haig's title of the butcher of the somme.

a good website fo rinffo is http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWsomme.htm

or change the end /FWWsomme.htm to /FWWhaig.htm

he was a parrot

yes he was

you can't say it is wrong because it is

don't go to the stupid website

cause I've been there

and

it's

rubbish

absolutely

rubbish

well thank you for your time and I HOPE U DO NOT USE THAT WEBSITE

Answer 5

The troops under his command sustained around 420,000 casualties, pushing the German front line back only 7 miles. Haig's tatics are widely considered controversial, due to the large amount of casulties and small gain.

Answer 6

General Haig could be named the butcher of the Somme because ALOT of people died in that war, on the other hand Britain won as they didn't lose as many people as Germany! (:

Answer 7

The Battle of the Somme occurred in 1916, between the dates of 1st July and 18 November. Over the course of the offensive attack the Allies lost a total of 623,907 men and 782 aircraft and the German Empire lost 465,000 men. The man who ordered this attack was Sir Douglas Haig, with his French ally Ferdinand Foch. But did he really deserve that title? As it wasn't him who decided to fight for the Somme, but he did send attack after attack over the top against advice from other officers.

Firstly Sir Douglas Haig should have the title Butcher of the Somme as it represents the lives he cost by ordering hundreds of attacks from the trenches. Typically we know a Butcher as a person who kills animals for food, however in this instance the title refers to Sir Douglas Haig being a butcher of human lives. Those lives being the 623,000 plus men he got killed by ordering these attacks. These - arguably unforgivable - deaths were in aid of an attack that after just 3 months gained 40 miles of land.

Some of my research has shown interesting quotes from soldiers in the Battle of the Somme, one example is 'It was pure bloody murder. Douglas Haig should have been hung, drawn and quartered for what he did on the Somme. The cream of British manhood was shattered in less than six hours' (P. Smith's Diary July 1916) Many other soldiers had view similar to this, all portraying one idea. That Sir Douglas Haig was the man who killed half the country's men.

However Sir Douglas Haig should not be given this title as one interpretation was that he was just doing his job. Many people believed that he was a hero because he defeated and took over a heavily defended position in the German lines, in very challenging circumstances. Every soldier could be called a Butcher but they aren't because they fought for their king and country. So why should this be different to Sir Douglas Haig, because he was doing his job. Sending attacks against enemy positions, and giving orders to other soldiers and battalions.

Therefore, in conclusion I feel that Sir Douglas Haig does deserve the tile Butcher of the Somme, because he caused hundreds of thousands of soldiers to be killed, and only in aid of 60 kilometers. However it is arguable that he was doing his job, and that he was doing what he was told. But he 'Killed half the country's men' and therefore is a 'Butcher' of human lives.

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Answer 8

you could say yes he was for not seeing what was going on at the battle of the somme

you could say no he wasn't because he had no idea what was going on in battle

in my opinion he was the butcher of the battle of the somme because he lead thousands of people to death =(

Answer 9

Because he worked in a shop in the trenches that was a butchers selling meat