Closed petition Subject Field Marshal Douglas Haig to a posthumous court marshal

Closed on 4 September 2014

In honour of the fallen, and to mark the centenary of the First World War, we call for a timely, albeit posthumous, court martial of Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig of Bemersyde, KT, GCB, OM, GCVO, KCIE, ADC, the 'Butcher of the Somme'. His gross incompetence, strategic recklessness, abuse of power and disregard for the wellbeing of his men led to millions of British and Commonwealth servicemen needlessly losing their lives in a murderous succession of futile offensives.

There has never been a posthumous court martial in British history. But we demand one for Earl Haig to end the political point-scoring of those who still pursue a nationalistic defence of the First World War and to make the national position clear ahead of the centenary.