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Disaster Of The Somme Was General Hag's Fault Essay

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“The disaster of the Somme was General Haig’s fault” Do you agree? The Battle of the Somme took place between July and November 1916. The battle was designed to help French troops by distracting German forces. However, many died and little ground was gained from poor planning and un-effective leadership. In my opinion Haig was to blame for the failures to and extent however some parts he had no or limited control over. Haig’s planning was poor when it came to directing his troops forward towards the trenches and he also encouraged his troops to use a poor technique. His troops were told to walk towards the enemy trenches instead adopting a technique similar to the French troops, called rushing, which involved small ground of people running forward and then ducking down in trenches so that by the time a gun had been aimed at them they where hidden and another group had emerged. By having the troops walk it made them easy and slow-moving targets to the German …show more content…

For example, the inadequacy of tools lead to major problems not caused by Haig. These tools, e.g. shells, meant processes such as breaking wire couldn’t work and many things would end up breaking down on the battle field. This was out of Haig’s control as he couldn’t create the tools available. Another thing Haig didn’t have control over was environmental factors such as the height of the ground which gave the German’s advantage. Haig had no control over this and couldn’t have prevented the German’s having an advantage by looking at the British troops below and being able to prepare. In conclusion, I think that the Haig contributed to many factors leading to the disaster of the Somme as despite not having adequate tools or resources he was in charge of handling them correctly and effectively. This is especially proven when it came to his strategies of shelling which actually put the German’s at an advantage by revealing where the British troops were coming

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