Do you agree with this interpretation of the importance of the battle of the Somme? Essay

stemma A is an invoke from a bailiwick written by General Haig in December 1916 intimately a month after the bout of the Somme, the track was be try sent to the British cabinet. Douglas Haig was commander in chief of the British phalanx and in the promulgate he was trying to designate how vital he thinks the battle was in perspective of enticening the war. As with any ejaculate, it needs to be looked at in context so you can round off its provenance and reliability. When the report was writhen in that location was a new government in Britain. David Lloyd George who had been Secretary of State for War was at one time Prime Minister replacing.Haig had been criticised by Lloyd George, Churchill and Beaverbrook and for his outline of attrition at the Somme, this being the fuck off of huge casualties during the battle and sole(prenominal) a very small push in land taken. The British only gained an reasonable of 5miles for 420,000 casualties. Haig was now starting his own battle back home to save his composition as a military commander.In the report Haig seems to earn been using the report to apologise his decisions that had led to the heavy(a)st loss of forces and manpower of all time experience by the British array in one battle.Haig was commander in chief during the Somme and it was his air to set the play for commanders to carry out. The fact that Haig was Commander in Chief at the Somme meant that he was largely responsible for the tactics used at the battle. This means that in source A Haig is having to defend or justify his actions in on the Somme. This will make the source slight reliable as Haig has cause to be bias in his report. He is trying to lay aside his cheat and wants to be known as a heavy(p) military hero non a military disaster. This would capture given Haig evening more motive to give a biased report.Haig was respected by the cut generals and had the support of the king, this put him in a position of power particularly as there was no one get around to do the job. He knew that members of the cabinet did non like him being Commander in Chief so this may concur made Haig present the evidence in source A in a more positive light. He did this to cherish his reputation, justify his decisions and to keep his job.thither is no evidence that Haig was a un candid man. nonetheless, the likelihood that he was badly informed virtually the situation and his self-confidence and the fact that he was wanting to protect his reputation and job mean that Haig could be biased in his report and his reliability as a source can be doubted. flavor at Source A, it looks like close of the extract is accurate but non solely accurate. Haig states, the German casualties have been biger than ours . This is misleading as although the British casualties were less than the German casualties (420,000-500,000), the combined allied casualties were more. The assort suffered 620,000 whereas the Germans suffered about half a one thousand million casualties. Nevertheless Haig may not have known about this at the time. displume calls at the end of battles meant there were truthful records of allied casualties however German records would not have been available, so these casualty figures were estimates. notwithstanding Haig may have said the German casualties were greater than ours because he wants to keep his job and make his situation look better than it is.Haig admits that, the amount of ground we have gained is not great which is true but he then says, That is nothing. Even earlier the Somme, Haig had been more concerned with a dodge of attrition so. Haig was expecting his strategy to have large casualties but the public wanted a justification of why so galore(postnominal) lives had been lost. Even though the German forces had been disconnected from strong defensive positions the comprise was very high and the Germans had often move to equally strong defensive positions. Haig was presenting only part of the situation. He is doing this to put himself in a positive light. Because he wants to keep his job and be seen as a public hero rather than villain.However authorship about the Somme in 1919 the German General Ludendorff wroteWe had heavy losses in men and material. As a vector sum of the Somme we were completely exhausted on the western sandwich front.This German quote supports Haigs sound judgement of the effect of the Somme on the troops in the German army. Other than reports from captured prisoners its unclear how he can have been sure of this at the time. Whilst he has not lied in the report, Haig might be seen as fineable of laying out the information in a way that isnt completely truthful. Also he has been discriminatory by only mentioning the upbeat information. Perhaps the jumper cable thing wrong with the extract is it not showing the impact of the Somme on the British troops, but this would have undermined his argument because this would ha ve showed the down side of the war and thusly not put Haig in a positive light.In conclusion, it appears that in the extract Haig is justifying his strategy of attrition at the Somme by showing the significance of the battle, for demonstrating the might of the British army, and its role in the destruction of the German army. Haig is reasonable in his billet. It seems from the Reich archive that the profess on the German army from the Somme was great but nevertheless they still fought on for 2years. There are a figure of speech of key reasons why the Somme was all-important(a). It helped the French denial of Verdun and allied relations. It was a essay for new technologies in warfare much(prenominal) as tanks, machine guns and planes.Before the Somme, Kitcheners volunteer army had been amateurs and inexperienced. After the Somme, they were a force of battle hardened experienced troops. The objectives that were achieved through the Somme were done through a strategy that cost ma ny lives and alas many errors made the battle longer. There is no way of telling whether the corresponding things could have been achieved using different tactics. Haig was writing his report to people who were hostile to him and his strategy. He believed in his strategy and his ability to win the war, he was also worried about defending his reputation and job.His original select was to wear down the German army in a war of attrition. From his deliberate he achieved his aim so it is apprehensible why he wrote what he did. It is my view that what he said he achieved was important but even as an report to the British government themselves it presents a biased view because Haig has all the motive to be biased.