Along with the terror of World War 1 there was a lot of controversy following the generals who were trying to lead their troop to victory. A lot of the dispute was aimed mainly the British who were not just being mocked within their own kind but in fact their enemies. In this essay I am going to try and address this question ‘were the British generals lions let by donkeys’ saying that the soldiers were lions which was admitted by the German army but the generals were donkeys. I will also try and give you my own opinion and for and against arguments on this topic from different sources.
Firstly I am going to point out argument for the generals being donkeys… ga lot of the time the generals were depicted as being lazy and not really caring about their battalion that they were supposedly leading. There was a poem written called base details just about these facts… If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath, I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base, And speed glum heroes up the line to death. You’d see me with my puffy petulant face, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel, Reading the Roll of Honour.
The Essay on General Motors 5
I first want to start out with the bailout in 2009 where the government gave General Motors money ($40 million) to help get them out the situation with their creditors and took over most of the company. According to reports all of the outstanding stock has been sold and now the company is out of the government’s hands. The total amount given to them was not paid in full and they do not feel like ...
‘Poor young chap,’ I’d say- ‘I used to know his father well; Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’ And when the war is done and youth stone dead, I’d toddle safely home and die – – in bed.
the generals are shown to be bald, fat and ugly If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath, also it has been said that they used to live in the best hotels whilst their soldiers lived in the worst cramped conditions, Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel. Another point is that the generals used to call the war a scrap and would just dryly and blatantly read out the roll call without a care for the world with some of the soldiers that died, Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’ I’d say- ‘I used to know his father well; some soldiers never came back from the trenches into open arms whilst most generals would go home and die on their bed without a care in the world, I’d toddle safely home and die – – in bed.
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Second Battle of the Marne It was in the summer of 1918 that Germany would commence their battle against the Allied Forces in what would become known as the Second Battle of the Marne, which would be the last major German offensive of World War I (Michael Duffy, 2009). It was this battle that would mark Germany’s last attempt of turning the tables of the war in their favor, though it was destined ...
Another point that supports this very idea was that the generals were slow to change their plans and were stubborn just like donkeys. It is these very mishaps that caused 60,000 deaths on the battle of the Somme on THE 1ST DAY. Another idea is that every death in passendaele represented a gain of only 2 inches of land. Imagine all the lives that were needed for the land needed… One general that was especially picked on was Haig who was one of the main generals in the war. Haig slept in a country chateau while his soldiers shared trenches with bloated rats which goes back to the poem. Also it has been said that Haig never visited his troops and would assume things about the soldiers like they were in good spirits.
Now how would Haig know this if he never visited them? A different claim that Haig was that he genuinely believed the attack went well on e bate o the some when it actually was if so then why was there 60,000 British deaths on the first day? A lieutenant stated that Haig did not care about the loss of life and only cared about himself. On some of the films made about the war the generals are depicted to be playing childish playground games such as leapfrog which shows that they thought the war was like a game also they were shown to be crazy and idiotic like in the films ‘oh what a lovely war’ and ‘Blackadder goes forth’ …these are just some of the points saying that the generals were donkeys.
Now I am going to move onto the idea that the general were not donkeys but in fact heroes.
A significant point that has been raised about the generals was that many of them were trained in the c19 and had no idea about modern warfare and tactics also they did not have much of an idea about the trenches which is where most of the generals were criticised such as General Haig.Continuing on the point of General Haig he was cavalry commander in the boeur war and was 54 with a long and successful military career which showed beforehand that he was in a good role to be a general for the great war.
The Report on Does General Haig Deserve to Be Remembered as ‘the Butcher of the Somme’?
Does General Haig Deserve To Be Remembered As ‘The Butcher Of The Somme’? On the 28th of July 1914 Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia as revenge for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and several other things, but the assassination was the trigger. By the 4th of August all the major European powers were at war, the Triple Entente; France, Britain and Russia and the Triple Alliance; ...
Another idea was that he apparently found it hard to deal with trench warfare which was a new way fighting this now also links back to the idea of the modern warfare. Also in 1918 Haig’s forces defeated the German army on the front. Another topic was that if Haig could call off the battle of the somme the reason of why he could not do this was that if he was to do this it would then be too much pressure on the French front at Verdun and then they could of lost the front which may of lost them the war in the long run. Likewise the French, Russian and German forces there was a lot of mutiny whereas on the British force there wasn’t which shows not all of the problems were mostly aimed at the British forces.
Additionally the British pioneered the development of tanks and aerial reconnaissance which was mostly the baseline for new modern warfare in the Great War. On the other hand British tactics on the western also improved as the war went on which added to the victory of the triple entente.
Moreover from 1916 the British started to become more adept at using artillery bombardments as well as the development for the modern warfare.
Further more general Douglas Haig apparently set up the royal British legion (poppy appeal) in 1921 to help care for ex-service men and their families: a question that has been raised about this is that maybe Haig done this surprisingly good deed out of guilt. Maybe…?
Personally I would say that the generals were donkeys and not heroes as there is frankly more evidence to support this point and there are more ideas about this. In contrast there is some evidence that backfires some points on the other side, so in some aspects I do agree with the generals being heroes but I mostly would agree with my 1st point. Also the majority would too considering how much info has been given in depth whereas with the against side there wasn’t as much information provided about the war. But who knows there might be something I don’t know this is just my opinion.
