ABSTRACT
Haig naturally agreed with Joffre and Gastlenau. As far as he was concerned, the ‘wearing out’ phase of the war was nearly over. This belief caused him to be extremely scathing of the practice of drafting trained cavalrymen into the infantry, describing it as ‘a serious mistake. Robertson was alarmed at the way the Prime Minister had been led astray by the effervescent Frenchman. He feared that the plan for clearing the Belgian coast had been put at risk and proposed sending a stern memo to the War Cabinet outlining the dangers of the Prime Minister’s reckless decision. The Battle of the Aisne, which had enabled [Haig] to gauge the fighting qualities of the German troops, confirmed his belief that man-power would ultimately decide the war and he directed his staff to begin the study of the man-power which the German nation could effectively employ in the field.
