Within this evaluation I will answer the question "Does General Douglas Haig deserve his reputation as the "Butcher of the Somme?" as numerous historians criticize him for why numerous soldiers died during the battle of the Somme, essentially because of its poor battle plan, but alongside every event there are two sides of what happened The Battle of the Somme came about because the British and French armies needed to relieve German pressure off the French city of Verdun and obtain an expansion of the territory. Haig was chosen to plan and prepare for the battle, but we can say that even before the battle he was reluctant about his plans and predicted that there would be heavy losses: "We must teach the nation to bear the losses." No skill on the part of superior commanders, no training, however good, on the part of officers and men, no superiority of arms and ammunition, however great, will enable victories to be achieved without the sacrifice of life. of men. The nation must be prepared to see heavy casualty lists. This source was written by Haig himself and shows that Haig was "prepared to see heavy casualty lists" and expected the nation to feel the same way, showing us that he was not sure of himself. his battle plan and was already quite sure that something would go wrong. He could have changed the battle plan to be more in favor of the soldiers, but instead he continued and this led to the death of a large number of men. This source was written to convince the British public that Haig would do everything in his power to keep as many men alive as possible, but he couldn't... middle of paper... ..ig thought about how thought he was "chosen by God to serve his country" even though Haig thought he was doing it for the right reason, this has similarities to modern day terrorists as they also use the excuse of being chosen by God to serve their country . In conclusion, I believe that General Douglas Haig was not a butcher but was constantly under pressure from his colleagues, which led him to always try to keep people's trust high even if it meant lying to them. Haig was just trying to do the right thing and also to please God as he was a God fearing man and believed that he was chosen by God. Although I find that Haig was not a butcher, I do not agree with his strategies and I believe he could have come up with a better battle plan to compliment the efforts of the British men. By Zeynab Hassanali Works Cited Great Battles of World War 1 (1989) by Anthony Livesey