Skip to main content

Primary sourceDocument21 March 1919

Final Despatch of Sir Douglas Haig

Douglas Haig · 21 March 1919

Haig's own official report of 21 March 1919, defending his conduct of the war's battles as one continuous campaign leading to victory in 1918.

Haig's own written defence of his strategy as commander-in-chief, submitted at the war's end.

Ask Field Marshal Douglas Haig about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Front cover of a red cloth-bound book with gold lettering reading 'SIR DOUGLAS HAIG'S DESPATCHES' and a gold coat of arms with a crest and motto banners above and below the shield.
Douglas Haig, Final Despatch, 21 March 1919. The National Archives / London Gazette.

About this source

What it is

This is the Final Despatch written by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, dated 21 March 1919, submitted as an official report on the operations of the forces under his command. It covers the campaigns from 1917 into the final year of the war and was published, with the text held among official war records.

Why it matters

Historians note that in this despatch Haig sought to shape how his leadership would be judged and to answer criticism in advance. As commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, his account presents the war's battles as linked stages of one long attritional struggle ending in the 1918 Allied victory. It is a primary example of a commander writing his own defence of decisions that cost many lives.

Look closer

  • Why might a commander want to control how his own record of the war is written?
  • What kind of language does Haig use to describe setbacks or losses?
  • What questions would you want answered that a despatch like this does not address?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Field Marshal Douglas Haig on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Field Marshal Douglas Haig sources

Meet the AI Field Marshal Douglas Haig →
Large group painting of about two dozen British army officers in khaki uniforms with red tabs and leather belts, standing in rows in a stone-columned hall, with a tall sword and a bowler-hatted officer at right.Painting

Primary source

General Officers of World War I

John Singer Sargent · 1922

Oil painting of a middle-aged man with grey-brown swept-back hair and a white handlebar moustache, wearing a khaki military uniform with medal ribbons on the chest and red-and-gold insignia on the shoulder. Blue-grey background with dark smudges. Signed GHQ and dated 30th May 1917.Painting

Primary source

Field-Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, Commander-in-Chief, France

William Orpen · 1917

A red cloth remembrance poppy with three petals, black stamen-like threads, and a brass-colored central button stamped with the words HAIG'S FUND. A thin pale stem extends downward from the base against a plain light background.Artifact

Primary source

Haig Fund remembrance poppy

1921-1928

Black and white photograph of four uniformed military officers standing in a row before a brick and stone building with a window. From left: a man in a peaked cap with a mustache, a man in a peaked cap with a cane, a man in a kepi with a mustache, and a man in a peaked cap with a mustache.Photograph

Primary source

Foch, Pershing, Pétain and Haig

Clara E. Laughlin · 1918

Black-and-white photograph of uniformed officers walking along a muddy trench-side path past wooden posts and timber revetting. Front left, an officer with a sword-like cane and medals; center, a bearded officer in a greatcoat and kepi with a cane; beside him a taller officer in a peaked cap. Several officers follow behind, some wearing caps and riding boots, under a hazy tree line.Photograph

Primary source

Generals French, Joffre and Haig at the Front

Unknown · 1915

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Field Marshal Douglas Haig now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions