Sir Douglas Haig

Haig was commander of the British Expeditionary Force on the western front.

By October 1918, Haig was confident the British Army had the beating of the Germans.

The enemy has not the means, nor willpower, to launch an attack strong enough to affect even our frontline troops. We have got the enemy down, in fact he is a beaten army and my plan is to go on hitting him as hard as we possibly can, till he begs for mercy.

With the war coming to a close, Prime Minister David Lloyd George asked Haig to consider the terms of an armistice. Haig was pragmatic as he considered the Allied armies victorious in the field, but almost exhausted.

The situation of the Allied armies is as follows: French army worn out and not been fighting latterly. It has been freely said that “war is over” and “we don’t wish to lose our lives now that peace is in sight”. American army is disorganised, ill equipped and ill trained. Good officers and NCOs are lacking. The British army was never more efficient, but has fought hard and it lacks reinforcements. Morale is bound to suffer. French and American armies are not capable of making a serious offensive now. British alone cannot bring the enemy to his knees.

Haig recommended that a moderate approach be taken.

Everyone wants to have done with the war, provided we get what we want. I therefore advise that we only ask in the armistice for what we intend to hold, and that we set our faces against the French entering Germany to pay off old scores. In my opinion, the British army would not fight keenly for what is really not its own affair. Despite the wisdom of not seeking to crush Germany, the provisions of the armistice and 1919 Treaty of Versailles stoked up German resentment in the postwar years.

Peter Hart is the oral historian at the Imperial War Museum