Phillip Warner - Field Marshal Earl Haig

Warner offers neither eulogy nor condemnation for a character who has concocted a variety of opinions like no other in British military history. So often remembered for infamous and contraversial battles such as those on the Somme, and at Passchendaele, Sir Douglas Haig has been referred to as "callous", "uncaring", "reactionary" and as a "butcher". Warner offers us a very different portrait. Haig was a man of high moral virtue who prided himself on his social conduct in front of others, be they friends of family. Warner also mentions Haig's substantially inarticulate manner of speech, which ran him into troubles (not too drastic though) with his fellow senior officers in the army. Warner lists Haig's services in both the Sudan and South Africa, both times being under the command of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener. Warner even recalls how Haig strived to set up a polo game between Great Britain and South Africa in the aftermath of the Boer War! Warner also strives to be as impartial and objective as possible when concerned with the battles of the Somme and Third Ypres. Whilst he does not attempt to cover up or gloss over Haig's strategical errors during these campaigns, he notes that no one in the British Army was able to offer plausible alternatives. The only exception being Plumer at Messines Ridge, and even then, Haig came around to his way of thinking. Warner emphasises the point that Haig's Generalship evolved and progressed throughout the war. He gained from experience, and learned from his previous errors, and in 1918, he was able to deliver the most remarkable series of victories in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. Far from being the donkey that history has portrayed him as, Haig appears as man who grasped as best he could, the technological innovations of the Western Front. He was a keen proponent of tanks in warfare, and as such, the scenes at the British advance in 1918 would have seemed more reminiscent of 1940!Overall, a fair and accurate account that offers the reader with a new perspective of a much-maligned and badly judged character.