BBC Timewatch – Haig: The Unknown Soldier (1996)
English | Documentary | Size: 956 MB
Douglas Haig is the single most controversial general in British history. Posterity has not been kind to Haig, the commander of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front for much of World War I. He has frequently been presented as a commander who sent his troops to slaughter in vast numbers at the Somme in 1916 and at Passchendaele the following year. In 1918, after his armies had played a major role in the First World War, he was feted as a saviour. But within twenty years his reputation was in ruins, and it has never recovered.
Scottish field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig is infamous for being known as the man responsible for sending 723,000 British soldiers to their deaths – carnage on an unheard of scale. Inarticulate and stubborn, Haig was accused of being callous and incompetent, the “Butcher of the Somme,” the donkey in charge of the British army of lions.
Field-Marshal Earl Haig was once described as ‘ pre-eminently the Unknown Soldier.’ The recent publication of the Haig Papers has revealed many of his private thoughts, during the period of the 1914-18 War. This Timewatch production reassesses the leadership of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, the British Commander charged with sending thousands of British soldiers to their death on WWI’s Western Front. But did he, as accused, send thousands of British to a futile death? On the 80th anniversary of the battle of the Somme, Timewatch explores a newly emerging historical debate.
Condemned by many historians for his outmoded battle strategies and a seeming indifference to the devastating consequences of his orders, this film offers a different perspective on his role, using the testimony of leading historians and military experts, readings from Haig’s diary, interviews with veterans and archival footage.
Written & Produced by Helen Bettinson ; Laurence Rees: Editor ; BBC Two Production for Timewatch
Narrator: Kirsty Wark
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