ducting the orderly withdrawal of his forces during the
early German advance at the battle of Ypres, his former
commander, Sir John French, now commanding British
forces in France, reorganized the BEF into two armies
and named Haig as commander of the First Army. In
this role, Haig fought the Germans at Aubers Ridge (9–
17 May 1915), Loos (25 September–19 October 1915),
and Neuve Chapelle (10–13 March 1915). For his ser-
vice, he was honored with the Knight Grand Cross of
the Order of the Bath (GCB) by King George V.
Despite their previous close relationship, French
and Haig’s disagreement on vital matters of coordinating
with their French allies, the rising number of casualties,
and the stalemate of their armies all led to heightened
tension. By December 1915, the British government
was questioning French’s command of the armies, and
Prime Minister Herbert Asquith ordered his resignation.
Asquith subsequently wrote to Haig: “Sir John French
has placed in my hands his resignation of the office of
Command in Chief of the forces in France. Subject to
the King’s approval, I have the pleasure of proposing to
you that you should be his successor.”
Haig’s new responsibilities were awesome. As a sol-
dier of the 19th century, he had to alter his planning and
thinking on the role of cavalry in battle to a new type of
conflict in which artillery and machine guns ruled the
day. However, he rose to the challenge and led the Brit-
ish forces until the end of the war. In February 1916, the
Germans launched a massive offensive on the French at
Verdun, which lasted until December. Haig’s forces re-
lieved the French in other sectors of the line and, in July
1916, launched an attack to take the pressure off Ver-
dun. The Battle of the Somme saw over 420,000 Brit-
ish troops killed in the four-month campaign, by the
end of which only 10 miles of territory had been gained.
Blamed by the soldiers for the massive carnage, Haig
was criticized as “The Butcher of the Somme.” Whether
or not he deserved the sobriquet is a matter for debate.
Critics point to a statement Haig made just prior to the
Somme: “The nation must be taught to bear losses. No
amount of skill on the part of the higher commanders,
no training, however good, on the part of the officers
and men, no superiority of arms and ammunition, how-
ever great, will enable victories to be won without the
sacrifice of men’s lives. The nation must be prepared to
see heavy casualty lists.” However, he was also being un-
dermined in England: The new prime minister, David
Lloyd George, detested Haig and wanted him placed
firmly under the command of Robert niVelle, the
French commander in chief.
Despite the losses of 1916, Haig convinced his fel-
low Allied commanders that the German toll had ex-
hausted their army and that a well-placed offensive in
1917 would win the war. He opened this offensive with
an Allied victory at Messines (7 June) under General
Herbert Plumer, followed by Third Ypres (31 July). The
German-Austrian victory over the Italians at Caporetto
(23 October 1917) resulted in a unified Supreme War
Council being established, and in November there was
an Allied victory at Passchendaele.
In early 1918, Haig welcomed the decision to give
the command of all Allied forces to Marshal Ferdinand
foch, the French general. Working with Foch, Haig
waited for the German offensive that he knew would
be the Germans’ last-ditch attempt to break out of the
stalemate on the western front and win the war. When it
came in mid-1918, his reserve of troops and materiel led
to a German withdrawal after heavy losses, followed by a
gradual Allied advance and finally, the end of the war on
11 November 1918.
In 1919, Haig was raised to the peerage as first earl
Haig and Baron Haig of Bemersyde; he was also awarded
the Order of Merit, and Parliament granted him a pay-
ment of £100,000. That same year, he was named com-
mander in chief of the British Home Forces, but he left
that position in 1921. He spent the remainder of his
life in aid of disabled and wounded soldiers from the
Great War, toward which end he founded the British Le-
gion in 1921. Serving as president of the organization
until his death, he traveled around Britain in fundraising
drives for soldiers’ relief and medical care and organized
the sale of poppies on 11 November, the anniversary of
the end of the war. The annual event became known as
Poppy Day.
Haig died in London on 28 January 1928 at the
age of 66. After a military funeral, he was buried in Dry-
burgh Abbey, Roxburghshire, south of Edinburgh, next
to famed poet and fellow Scotsman Sir Walter Scott. A
statue of Haig stands on Whitehall in the center of Lon-
don; it reads, “Field Marshall Earl Haig. Commander-
in-Chief of the British Armies in France, 1915–1918.”
Historians still debate Haig’s role in the carnage of
the First World War. In 1973, his biographer, General
Sir James Marshall-Cornwall, wrote: “Haig was truly
dedicated to the welfare of his troops, a devotion which
he maintained long after hostilities had ceased.... In hAig, DouglAS, FiRSt eARl hAig AnD bARon hAig oF bemeRSyDe