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Douglas Haig: The educated soldier
This biography, scrupulously researched, takes an objective and accurate approach to the figure of Haig - the supreme commander of the British Army - and to the history of the war.
508 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 31, 2024
This is a sympathetic study of a much maligned man. Haig was certainly flawed. Many fellow GR members will doubtless agree with me that his biggest flaw was that he never read a novel – for how can anyone be a rounded human being if they have never read a novel, and how can such an unformed person presume to lead armies of millions?
This was not Haig’s only oddity. What are we to make of his apparent total lack of interest in the opposite sex until he was well into middle age, when all of a suddent he met, proposed and married within days? And what of his inability to make great speeches or even adequately convey his thoughts? He was so inarticulate as to give the impression, at times, of tongue tied imbecility. Surely this is not what one wants or expects from a great leader. His overly trusting nature made him too ready to believe fools and knaves. And most disastrously for his posthumous reputation, he allowed himself to be completely undermined and outmanouevered by David Lloyd George.
If there is a villain in this book it is certainly Lloyd George and not Haig – although Pétain is also revealed to be duplicitous and false. The author gives a devastating dissection of Lloyd George’s mendacity and his undermining, backstabbing, interfering nature – a damning portrayal which I found utterly convincing.
But despite the author’s best efforts I remain unconvinced that Haig was the best man for the job. His faults were too great. Yes, he had lucidity of thought and good relations with Joffre, Clemenceau, the King, etc. He was no mindless butcher. But he lacked imagination and had a deep ignorance of everything not directly connected with his narrow military profession. As this ignorance included politics, this was a disastrous handicap when trying to deal with a slippery crook like Lloyd George.
After the war, Haig showed admirable restraint. His instincts that the Versailles treaty was overly harsh and would store up future trouble were right – though, alas, he was disregarded. His work with founding the British Legion for veterans was wholly admirable. I will spare a thought for him when I wear my poppy on Remembrance Day this year. When he died, said Churchill,
“Everybody saw how admirable had been his demeanour since the peace. There was a majesty about it that showed an exceptional greatness of character. It showed a man capable of resisting unusual strains, internal and external, even when prolonged over years; it shows a man cast in a classic mould.”
This was not Haig’s only oddity. What are we to make of his apparent total lack of interest in the opposite sex until he was well into middle age, when all of a suddent he met, proposed and married within days? And what of his inability to make great speeches or even adequately convey his thoughts? He was so inarticulate as to give the impression, at times, of tongue tied imbecility. Surely this is not what one wants or expects from a great leader. His overly trusting nature made him too ready to believe fools and knaves. And most disastrously for his posthumous reputation, he allowed himself to be completely undermined and outmanouevered by David Lloyd George.
If there is a villain in this book it is certainly Lloyd George and not Haig – although Pétain is also revealed to be duplicitous and false. The author gives a devastating dissection of Lloyd George’s mendacity and his undermining, backstabbing, interfering nature – a damning portrayal which I found utterly convincing.
But despite the author’s best efforts I remain unconvinced that Haig was the best man for the job. His faults were too great. Yes, he had lucidity of thought and good relations with Joffre, Clemenceau, the King, etc. He was no mindless butcher. But he lacked imagination and had a deep ignorance of everything not directly connected with his narrow military profession. As this ignorance included politics, this was a disastrous handicap when trying to deal with a slippery crook like Lloyd George.
After the war, Haig showed admirable restraint. His instincts that the Versailles treaty was overly harsh and would store up future trouble were right – though, alas, he was disregarded. His work with founding the British Legion for veterans was wholly admirable. I will spare a thought for him when I wear my poppy on Remembrance Day this year. When he died, said Churchill,
“Everybody saw how admirable had been his demeanour since the peace. There was a majesty about it that showed an exceptional greatness of character. It showed a man capable of resisting unusual strains, internal and external, even when prolonged over years; it shows a man cast in a classic mould.”
May 20, 2019
Have finally completed this tome, one of the longest, and heaviest, Great War books (or any book) I have read in the past year or so.
Terraine left an indelible mark on the published works of the 1914-18 wartime period and that is saying something since there are now so many you would need two or more lifetimes to read them all. And that is let alone all the papers, reports, accounts and other literature that abounds on those 4 years. Not only that a fair proportion of them restrict themselves to ground fighting in the north which is much of what this account is concerned with, Haig's achievements cover most of that time.
In all my time of reading WW1 stuff, getting on for a decade now (I used to be a WW2 and after fan) one of the things that sneaked up on me is the polarisation of the coverage in print. Much of this centres on Haig. Sadly the man continues to torment me so I cannot say that after completing this book, one published some years ago now, it is 100% clearer.
Terraine dissects the evolution of the war with many quotes from the man himself balanced with those from others who likely were not convinced he was the man for the job. His biggest anti-fan, the British PM Mr George soon took a dislike to him and coloured the departed Field-Marshall's career in his own inimitable Welsh whitewash or should that be blackwash. Terraine set himself the daunting task of sifting and sorting then putting down the facts as could be found and I think he achieved that goal. In fact I think he made this book essential reading.
I bought a cheap paperback version of this book so I could annotate the margins and underline key points but soon found pages covered in pencil marks... it makes me cringe a bit but it will help me greatly when I return to this book later on as I most surely will.
Terraine left an indelible mark on the published works of the 1914-18 wartime period and that is saying something since there are now so many you would need two or more lifetimes to read them all. And that is let alone all the papers, reports, accounts and other literature that abounds on those 4 years. Not only that a fair proportion of them restrict themselves to ground fighting in the north which is much of what this account is concerned with, Haig's achievements cover most of that time.
In all my time of reading WW1 stuff, getting on for a decade now (I used to be a WW2 and after fan) one of the things that sneaked up on me is the polarisation of the coverage in print. Much of this centres on Haig. Sadly the man continues to torment me so I cannot say that after completing this book, one published some years ago now, it is 100% clearer.
Terraine dissects the evolution of the war with many quotes from the man himself balanced with those from others who likely were not convinced he was the man for the job. His biggest anti-fan, the British PM Mr George soon took a dislike to him and coloured the departed Field-Marshall's career in his own inimitable Welsh whitewash or should that be blackwash. Terraine set himself the daunting task of sifting and sorting then putting down the facts as could be found and I think he achieved that goal. In fact I think he made this book essential reading.
I bought a cheap paperback version of this book so I could annotate the margins and underline key points but soon found pages covered in pencil marks... it makes me cringe a bit but it will help me greatly when I return to this book later on as I most surely will.
March 31, 2023
John Terraine was the pioneer of revisionist accounts of the Great War, and in particular he has done much to rehabiliate the much-maligned Field Marshall Haig. This excellent biography, well-written and in his characteristically trenchant style will do much to dispell old myths.
December 28, 2024
The original biography intent on clearing Haig's name from the 'Donkey' narrative the likes of Basil Liddell-Hart and later Alan Clark cast over him. While its quality has since been surpassed, Terraine's work was a much needed effort to help the historiography reach the balanced point it currently sits in today. Still, it is a shame only historians know Haig was not the stereotypical bumbling bafoon that Clark and the likes of 'Blackadder Goes Forth' portrayed him as to the population all those years ago. One can only hope students are educated better than what the comedy show depicts about this man and his contemporaries.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews