Posterity has not been kind to Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Army on the Western Front for much of the First World War. He was caricatured in Oh What A Lovely War! as a greedy and ruthless manipulator, selling tickets to the war then looking on from safety behind the lines. In Blackadder Goes Forth, he was satirised as General 'Insanity' Haig, merrily flicking toy soldiers into a bin as he constructed his battle plans. However, as Gary Mead's biography shows, in his own day Haig was a hero, who won the war. In this definitive account, Gary Mead combines insight and even-handedness to offer what is long overdue: a considered, compelling and comprehensive portrait of Britain's most controversial military leader.