Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 116 views

    Lions Led by Donkeys - History Asst. Essay

    Uploaded by

    Ryka Ramesh
    World War 1 began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During the war, over 16 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. The phrase "Lions Led by Donkeys" criticized British generals for being incompetent leaders, while the soldiers they commanded were brave. The Western front became a stalemate as trenches stretched across Europe, and tactics failed against modern weapons like machine guns and artillery. While generals deserve some blame, politicians also made major decisions and the war evolved quickly, challenging long-held military assumptions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Lions Led by Donkeys - History Asst. Essay

    Uploaded by

    Ryka Ramesh
    116 views2 pages
    World War 1 began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During the war, over 16 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. The phrase "Lions Led by Donkeys" criticized British generals for being incompetent leaders, while the soldiers they commanded were brave. The Western front became a stalemate as trenches stretched across Europe, and tactics failed against modern weapons like machine guns and artillery. While generals deserve some blame, politicians also made major decisions and the war evolved quickly, challenging long-held military assumptions.

    Original Title

    Lions Led by Donkeys - History Asst. Essay (1)

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    World War 1 began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During the war, over 16 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. The phrase "Lions Led by Donkeys" criticized British generals for being incompetent leaders, while the soldiers they commanded were brave. The Western front became a stalemate as trenches stretched across Europe, and tactics failed against modern weapons like machine guns and artillery. While generals deserve some blame, politicians also made major decisions and the war evolved quickly, challenging long-held military assumptions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    116 views2 pages

    Lions Led by Donkeys - History Asst. Essay

    Uploaded by

    Ryka Ramesh
    World War 1 began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. During the war, over 16 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. The phrase "Lions Led by Donkeys" criticized British generals for being incompetent leaders, while the soldiers they commanded were brave. The Western front became a stalemate as trenches stretched across Europe, and tactics failed against modern weapons like machine guns and artillery. While generals deserve some blame, politicians also made major decisions and the war evolved quickly, challenging long-held military assumptions.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Lions Led by Donkeys

    History Assessment

    World War One began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz
    Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted
    until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the
    Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France Russia,
    Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). By the time the
    war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people,
    soldiers and civilians alike were dead. Also, in this war, a lot of horrifying battles
    took place, for example, the Battle of the Somme. A lot of the decisions the
    Generals made were then criticized because a lot of people believed the Generals
    were no good at leading the army, and that the soldiers were really brave and
    compared them to lions. ‘Lions Led by Donkeys’ is a fair description of the British
    Army because it describes the British Ranks of the First World War. It also means
    blaming the Generals who led them.

    The Western front problem was not simple. The War in the West turned quickly
    into a stalemate, having trenches stretching from neutral Switzerland, through
    France and Belgium all the to the English Channel. They could not have bordered
    and charges were useless against trenches, barbed wire, machine guns and
    modern artillery bombardments. The War dragged on and the casualty bills
    lengthened. Allied Leader were concerned it was the Generals fault. The generals
    had spent long careers in the military, fighting and training with certain
    presuppositions in mind. World War One smashed many of those in just weeks,
    and they were having to relearn tactics and strategy while fighting the war.

    The commanders didn’t do a great job and the soldiers paid the price. However,
    we shouldn’t blame only the military commanders, since the politicians shared in
    the big decisions and ordered the commanders to try to win the war. The phrase
    “lions led by donkeys” was not so much of a fair description of the Battle of the
    Somme; I feel like it was a bit too harsh. Soldiers may have felt bossed around but
    it was inexperienced civilians who volunteered. Haig encouraged the
    development of advanced weaponry. The result to this was by the end of 1918,
    the British Army was second to none. It was now led my Men. ‘Lions Led by
    Donkeys’ should be dismissed. It is what it is – a misleading caricature.

    Therefore, I agree with the statement because ‘Lions Led by Donkeys’ is a fair
    description of the British Army because it describes the British Ranks of the First
    World War. It also means blaming the Generals who led them. The Battle of the
    Somme itself had 20,00 deaths alone in one day. It is known as the deadliest
    battle in History. This refers to ‘War of Attrition - Fighting a War by wearing down
    the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous attacks.’ In the end, I think
    the Generals were the problem who led them.

    You might also like