Douglas Haig
Douglas Haig
Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADCwas a senior officer of the British Army. During the First World War he commanded the British Expeditionary Forceon the Western Front from late 1915 until 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 of...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionWar Hero
Date of Birth19 June 1861
attack dangerous defensive desire enemy inception owes price standing war won
The idea that a war can be won by standing on the defensive and waiting for the enemy to attack is a dangerous fallacy, which owes its inception to the desire to evade the price of victory.
british-soldier defending good infantry low mass possessed
Once the mass of the defending infantry become possessed of low moral, the battle is as good as lost.
british-soldier forces numbers outset supremacy
So long as the opposing forces are at the outset approximately equal in numbers and moral and there are no flanks to turn, a long struggle for supremacy is inevitable.
british-soldier defensive involves
Further, a defensive policy involves the loss of the initiative, with all the consequent disadvantages to the defender.
casualties either greater higher length likely war
Obviously, the greater the length of a war the higher is likely to be the number of casualties in it on either side.