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Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, (19 June 1861 – 29 January 1928) was a British senior officer during the First World War. He commanded the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from 1915 to the end of the war. He was commander during the Battle of the Somme, the battle with one of the highest casualties in British military history, the Third Battle of Ypres and the Hundred Days Offensive, which led to the armistice in 1918.〔Sheffield 2002, p. 21.〕〔Sheffield 2002, p. 263.〕〔Hart 2008, p. 2.〕 Although he had gained a reputation during the immediate post-war years, with his funeral becoming a day of national mourning, Haig has since the 1960s become an object of criticism for his leadership during the First World War.〔 Biographer J. P. Harris writes that “it seems impossible to make a case for Haig as one of history’s great generals … (or for) most of the war even a good one ... the British Army could have achieved equally good, or better, results … at a somewhat lower cost … (and) after years predicting the imminent collapse of German military morale, when … it was finally happening he failed to recognise it ….”.〔J. P. Harris, ''Douglas Haig and the First World War'' (2009), p545〕 ''Military History'' magazine in 2007 called him, "World War I's Worst General." Called "Butcher Haig" for the two million British casualties under his command, he became the model of class-based incompetent commanders unable to grasp modern tactics and technology. The Canadian War Museum comments, "His epic but costly offensives at the Somme (1916) and Passchendaele (1917) have become nearly synonymous with the carnage and futility of First World War battles."〔See ("Canada and the First World War: Sir Douglas Haig" )〕 Major-General Sir John Davidson, one of Haig's biographers, praised Haig's leadership and since the 1980s some historians have argued that the public hatred in which Haig's name had come to be held, failed to recognise the adoption of new tactics and technologies by forces under his command, the important role played by British forces in the Allied victory of 1918 and that high casualties were a consequence of the tactical and strategic realities of the time.〔〔〔〔Davidson 2010, p. 137.〕〔Todman 2005, pp. 73–120.〕〔Corrigan 2002, pp. 298–330, 406–410.〕 ==Early life== Haig was born in a house on Charlotte Square, Edinburgh but technically it was addressed as 19 Hope Street, the side street to the south-west (a plaque exists). He was not an aristocrat by birth, or even landed gentry.〔Neillands 2006, p. 29.〕 His father John Haig—an irascible alcoholic—was middle class ("in trade"), and as head of the family's successful Haig & Haig whisky distillery had an income of £10,000 per year, an enormous amount at the time. His mother (Rachel) was from a gentry family fallen on straitened circumstances.〔Groot 1988, pp. 1–2.〕 Haig attended Clifton College. Both of Haig's parents died by the time he was eighteen.〔Groot 1988, p. 18.〕 After a tour of the United States with his brother, Haig attended university, studying Political Economy, Ancient History and French Literature at Brasenose College, Oxford, 1880–1883. He devoted much of his time to socialising – he was a member of the Bullingdon Club – and equestrian sports. He was one of the best young horsemen at Oxford and quickly found his way into the University polo team.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.oxforduniversitypoloclub.com/index.php/archive )〕 Although he passed his exams (a requirement for university applicants to Sandhurst), he was not eligible for a degree as he had missed a term's residence due to sickness, and if he had stayed for longer he would have been above the then age limit (23) to begin officer training in the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, which he entered in January 1884. Because he had been to university Haig was considerably older than most of his class at Sandhurst, and was Senior Under-Officer, was awarded the Anson Sword, and passed out first in the order of merit.〔Groot 1988, p. 29.〕 He was commissioned as a lieutenant into the 7th (Queen's Own) Hussars on 7 February 1885. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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