Its an old cliche that the Great War generals were all useless. Modern study is showing that, as always, the picture is more shades of grey than simple black and white.
There were 'good', 'bad' and just plain 'unlucky' generals in the Great War, as there were in other wars. The Second World War gave us the disaster of France 1940, the loss of Crete, the fall of Singapore and the heroic failure at Arnhem to name but a few. Even in the 1982 Falklands War we had the Welsh Guards left as sitting ducks for the Argentinian air force. The Great War didn't have a monopoly on poor leadership though that is not, of course, in any way to minimise the resulting tragedies for families at home.
Many regard Field Marshall Haig as the prime 'butcher' of the Great War although a look at the works of John Terraine and Gary Sheffield (amongst others) will give a fuller picture of the man, his successes and failures. Between August 1918 and the November 1918 Armistice he led the British Army to its greatest ever successes in the field.
And what did Swansea think of Haig in the post war period? He was awarded the freedom of the Borough of Swansea in the early 1920s and also laid the foundation stone of the cenotaph on Mumbles Road. He was thus clearly well thought of in the immediate aftermath of the war, and justly so in my opinion.
There will be more on this in my forthcoming book.
There were 'good', 'bad' and just plain 'unlucky' generals in the Great War, as there were in other wars. The Second World War gave us the disaster of France 1940, the loss of Crete, the fall of Singapore and the heroic failure at Arnhem to name but a few. Even in the 1982 Falklands War we had the Welsh Guards left as sitting ducks for the Argentinian air force. The Great War didn't have a monopoly on poor leadership though that is not, of course, in any way to minimise the resulting tragedies for families at home.
Many regard Field Marshall Haig as the prime 'butcher' of the Great War although a look at the works of John Terraine and Gary Sheffield (amongst others) will give a fuller picture of the man, his successes and failures. Between August 1918 and the November 1918 Armistice he led the British Army to its greatest ever successes in the field.
And what did Swansea think of Haig in the post war period? He was awarded the freedom of the Borough of Swansea in the early 1920s and also laid the foundation stone of the cenotaph on Mumbles Road. He was thus clearly well thought of in the immediate aftermath of the war, and justly so in my opinion.
There will be more on this in my forthcoming book.
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