Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig
Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, was a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front from late 1915 until the end of the war.
Haig's military career included service in the War Office, where he was instrumental in the creation of the Territorial Force in 1908. In January 1917 he was promoted to the rank of field marshal, subsequently leading the BEF during the final Hundred Days Offensive. This campaign, in combination with the Kiel mutiny, the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, the proclamation of a republic on 9 November 1918 and revolution across Germany, led to the armistice of 11 November 1918. It is considered by some historians to be one of the greatest victories ever achieved by a British-led army.
Haig gained a favourable reputation during the immediate post-war years, with his funeral a day of national mourning. However he also had some prominent contemporary detractors and, beginning in the 1960s, has been widely criticised for his wartime leadership. He was nicknamed "Butcher Haig" for the two million British casualties under his command. The Canadian War Museum comments: "His epic but costly offensives at the Somme and Passchendaele have become nearly synonymous with the carnage and futility of First World War battles." Since the 1980s many historians have argued that the public hatred of Haig failed to recognise the adoption of new tactics and technologies by forces under his command, the important role played by British forces in the allied victory of 1918, and that high casualties were a consequence of the tactical and strategic realities of the time.
Early life
Haig was born in a house on Charlotte Square, Edinburgh. His father, John Richard Haig, an alcoholic, was head of the family's successful Haig & Haig whisky distillery; he had an income of £10,000 per year, an enormous amount at the time. His mother, Rachel, was from an impoverished gentry family. The family home was Haig House in Windygates, Fife.Haig's education began in 1869 as a boarder at Mr Bateson's School in St Andrews. Later in 1869, he switched to Edinburgh Collegiate School, and then in 1871 to Orwell House, a preparatory school in Warwickshire. He then attended Clifton College. Both of Haig's parents had died by the time he was eighteen.
After a tour of the United States with his brother, Haig studied Political Economy, Ancient History and French Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford, 1880–1883. He devoted much of his time to socialising – he was a member of the Bullingdon Club – and equestrian sports. He was one of the best young horsemen at Oxford and part of the University polo team. While an undergraduate he was initiated as a Freemason in Elgin's Lodge at Leven, Fife, taking the first and second degrees of Freemasonry. In 1920 Archibald Montgomerie, 16th Earl of Eglinton encouraged Haig to complete his Masonic progression, and he returned to his lodge to take the third degree, serving as Worshipful Master of the lodge from 1925 to 1926. He became an officer of the Grand Lodge of Scotland.
Although he passed his final exam at Oxford, he was not eligible for a degree as he had missed a term's residence owing to illness, and if he had stayed for longer he would have been above the age limit to begin officer training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, which he entered in January 1884. Because he had been to university, Haig was considerably older than most of his class at Sandhurst. He was Senior Under-Officer, was awarded the Anson Sword and passed out first in the order of merit. He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 7th Hussars on 7 February 1885.
Career
Junior officer
Early in his military career, Haig played polo for England on a tour of the United States. He would remain a polo enthusiast all his life, serving as Chairman of the Hurlingham Polo Association from 1914 until 1922, President of the Army Polo Committee, and founder of the Indian Polo Association.Haig saw overseas service in India, where he was appointed the regiment's adjutant in 1888. He was something of a disciplinarian, but impressed his superiors by his administrative skill and analysis of training exercises. He was promoted to captain on 23 January 1891.
Haig left India in November 1892 to prepare for the entrance exam for the Staff College, Camberley, which he sat in June 1893. Although he was placed in the top 28 he was not awarded a place as he had narrowly failed the compulsory mathematics paper. He concealed this failure for the rest of his life and in 1910 recommended dropping the mathematics paper as a requirement. Adjutant-General Sir Redvers Buller refused to award Haig one of the four nominated places, citing his colour blindness, despite Haig having his eyesight rechecked by a German oculist and despite glowing testimonials. It has been postulated that Buller was looking for a rationale to give a place to an infantry officer.
Haig returned briefly to India as second-in-command of the squadron which he had himself commanded in 1892, then returned to the UK as Aide-de-camp to Sir James Keith Fraser, Inspector General of Cavalry. Fraser was one of those who had lobbied for Haig to enter the Staff College, and he was finally nominated in late 1894, a common practice in the day for promising candidates. While waiting to take up his place, he travelled to Germany to report on cavalry manoeuvres there, and served as staff officer to Colonel John French on manoeuvres. The careers of French and Haig were to be entwined for the next twenty-five years, and Haig helped French write the cavalry drillbook, published 1896.
Haig entered the Staff College, Camberley, from 1896 to 1897, gaining his psc, where he was apparently not popular with his peers. For example, they chose Captain Edmund Allenby as Master of the Drag Hunt, despite Haig being the better rider. Haig impressed the chief instructor, Lieutenant Colonel George Francis Robert Henderson, and completed the course, leaving in 1897. Camberley's old-fashioned curriculum especially influenced Haig, as he was an absorber of doctrine rather than an original thinker. Haig was taught that victory must come from defeating the main enemy army in battle, and that attrition was merely a prelude to the commitment of reserves for a decisive battlefield victory; traces of this thought can be seen at Loos and the Somme. Great emphasis was placed on morale and mobility, and on Joachim Murat's cavalry pursuit after Napoleon's Jena campaign of 1806.
Mahdist War, 1898
In early January Haig was picked by Evelyn Wood as one of three recent staff college graduates requested by Kitchener for a campaign in the Mahdist War in the Sudan. He may have been picked to keep an eye on Kitchener, as Wood invited him to write to him in confidence. Haig needed little encouragement to criticise his superiors – he was especially critical of Kitchener's dictatorial habits. Kitchener's force was Anglo-Egyptian, and Haig was required to formally join the Egyptian Army, most of whose officers were British. The plan had been for him to train and take command of an Egyptian cavalry squadron, but Kitchener did not want a command reshuffle with combat imminent. Unlike many British officers, Haig believed that the Egyptians could make good soldiers if properly trained and led. Still without a formal position but accompanying the cavalry, Haig saw his first action in a skirmish south of Atbara. In his report to Wood about the skirmish, Haig commented on the lack of British machine guns. While later criticized for his failure to optimize the use of machine guns, Haig made a special trip to the Royal Small Arms Factory at Enfield to study the Maxim Gun, and throughout the campaign commented on its worth.Four days later he was made staff officer of Robert Broadwood's cavalry brigade. Haig distinguished himself at his second action, the Battle of Nukheila, where he supervised the redeployment of squadrons to protect the rear and then launch a flank attack. He was present at the Battle of Atbara, after which he criticised Kitchener for launching a frontal attack without taking the Dervishes in flank. During the latter action Haig risked his life rescuing a wounded Egyptian soldier under enemy fire, an act which moved several officers present to believe Haig should receive the Victoria Cross. After Atbara, Kitchener was given reinforcements and Haig received a squadron of his own, which he commanded at Omdurman. He was promoted to brevet major on 15 November 1898.
Second Boer War, 1899–1902
Haig returned to the United Kingdom hoping for a position at the War Office, but was instead appointed brigade major to the 1st Cavalry Brigade at Aldershot.Haig had recently lent £2,500 to the brigade commander, John French, to cover his losses from South African mining speculations. The loan allowed French to maintain his commission. Haig was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 26 June 1899.
Haig was soon appointed Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General and then Assistant Adjutant General of French's brigade-sized force as it was sent to the Boer War. He took part in French's first battle, Elandslaagte. French and Haig were ordered to leave Ladysmith as the four-month siege began, to take charge of the new Cavalry Division arriving from the UK. The two men escaped on the last train to leave Ladysmith, lying down as it passed through enemy fire.
Haig continued to be sceptical of the importance of artillery, basing his opinions on interviews with enemy prisoners. After French's Colesberg Operations to protect Cape Colony, Frederick Roberts, newly arrived as Commander-in-Chief, appointed his protégé Colonel Charles Hay, 20th Earl of Erroll, over French's protests, to the job of Assistant Adjutant General of the Cavalry Division, with Haig, who had been promised the job, as his deputy. Cavalry played a leading role in this stage of the war, including the relief of Kimberley, which featured a spectacular British cavalry charge at Klip Drift. Haig was briefly given command of the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, then made AAG to the Cavalry Division after Erroll was moved to a different job. French's Division took part in the capture of Bloemfontein and Pretoria. Haig privately criticised Roberts and thought him a "silly old man".
After Roberts had won the conventional war, Kitchener was left in charge of fighting the Boers, who had taken to guerrilla warfare. The Cavalry Division was disbanded and French, with Haig still his chief of staff, was put in charge of an all-arms force policing the Johannesburg area, later trying to capture the Boer leader Christiaan de Wet around Bloemfontein. In January 1901 Haig was given a column of 2,500 men with the local rank of brigadier general, patrolling Cape Colony, and chasing Commandant Pieter Hendrik Kritzinger. As was standard policy at that time, Haig's actions included burning farmsteads as part of the scorched earth policies ordered by Lord Kitchener as well as rounding up Boer women and children to be placed in concentration camps.
Throughout the war Haig's sister, Henrietta, had been lobbying Evelyn Wood for her brother to have command of a cavalry regiment when the war was over. French, probably not wanting to part with a valuable assistant, recommended Herbert Lawrence for the vacant command of the 17th Lancers, but Roberts, now Commander-in-Chief back in Britain, overruled him and gave it to Haig. As the 17th Lancers were in South Africa at the time Haig was able to combine that command with that of his own column.
As the war drew to a close Haig had to locate and escort the Boer leader Jan Christiaan Smuts to the peace negotiations at Vereeninging. Haig was mentioned in despatches four times for his service in South Africa, and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in November 1900. He was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant colonel on 17 July 1901.
Following the war, Haig left Cape Town with 540 officers and men of the 17th Lancers on the SS German in late September 1902. The regiment was supposed to stay in South Africa but in the end returned home sooner than planned, and arrived at Southampton in late October, when they were posted to Edinburgh. Haig was appointed an aide-de-camp to King Edward VII in the October 1902 South Africa Honours list, with the brevet rank of colonel.