Useful for teaching historiography of WWI, especially when put up beside the work of more traditional academics. A book to be nibbled on, but one should not swallow it whole ( )

A damning indictment of British generalship in WWI. Douglas Haig comes in for the most criticism. The level of appalling disconnectedness and callous disregard for immense casualties in the prosecution of a pointless and stupid war is deservedly called out. The cover ups and blame shifting are worthy of the worst Corporate politics of today - only the victims were not employees but the poor common soldiers. Anyone thinking the Laffin is too hard on Haig need only remember the 20,000 dead on the first day of the Somme or the whole Passchendaele debacle from end to end. There was simply no excuse for what Haig and the other high ups allowed to happen to millions of British and Empire troops. ( )

Wow! Someone sure doesn't like the British Generals from the First World War; particularly Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig. That 'someone' is John Laffin. In this book he brings out every bad decision, major blunder and dumb thing Haig, et al. did during the war. If you study WWI you know Haig and his lot made some incredibly dumb decisions leading to unimaginable casualties. That said, he also won the war when the Allies were on the verge of losing (March, 21, 1918 German offensive); Ludendorff of course helped with the war losing decisions on the German side.

The reason I gave this book only 2 1/2 stars is that it is way out of balance in my opinion. Yes, there were time when I thought Haig should have been executed for his handling of the Somme in July, 1916 or Passchendaele in July, 1917, among others. However there should be some balance relative to judging Haig and the others by the standards and methods of their time. Also, their use of technology as it became available.

If you are interested in a vey biased negative look a WWI generalship on the British side read this book. I would then suggest reading something like Terraine's "Douglas Haig: The Educated Soldier" for a bias in the positive direction. As usual, I am sure some truth lies in the middle. ( )