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British General Douglas Haig's thinking about the First World War is encapsulated in a note reflecting on the meaning of the heroic death of his British soldiers. He cites a statement by Moslem Emperor Baber (1527) before sending his troops into battle which "conveys the root matter of the present war:"
“The most High God has been propitious to us—that if we fall in the field, we die the death of martyrs; if we survive, we rise victorious the avengers of the cause of God.”
Haig's thinking about sending his troops into battle is identical to the thinking of revolutionary Islamic leaders of today who send young men on suicide missions.
Summarizing British casualties on August 22, 1919, Haig noted that British casualties were “no larger than to be expected”—killed, wounded, missing and prisoners—were “approximately three million (3,076,388)."
The First World War was the greatest martyrdom operation in human history. The difference between the two instances? The quantity of martyrs.
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