Britain
Douglas Haig
1861–1928 Commander-in-Chief, British Expeditionary Force, from December 1915
A Scottish cavalryman and a staff officer of ability, Haig succeeded French in December 1915 and was promoted field marshal on 1 January 1917. Stubborn, devout, courtly and optimistic, he believed that the war would be won on the Western Front by sustained offensive pressure, and he planned the Somme, Arras and Third Ypres on that belief. His reputation has been bitterly contested. For decades he was the Butcher of the Somme; more recently historians have emphasized the learning of his army, the improvement in its techniques and its victories in 1918. He is buried in Dryburgh Abbey, and after the war he devoted himself to the welfare of ex-servicemen, helping to found the Royal British Legion.