Haig's family tree dates back at least six centuries and he comes of the very flower of Scotch stock. The virtues of the "Haigs of Bamersyde" were extolled by the poets of the thirteenth century. And to discuss this feature of his career without giving due credit to the position and influence of his wife would be ungallant as well as unfair. She was the Hon. Dorothy Vivian, daughter of the third Lord Vivian, and maid-of-honor to Queen Alexandra, and the pair were married in Buckingham Palace.
He did not enter the army until after his graduation from Oxford and then he took service in the cavalry, the usual choice of the English "gentleman." When twenty-four years old, he received his commission as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Hussars, one of the ultra-fashionable regiments. Six years later he was made a Captain and then decided to take a regular military course at the Staff College.
In 1898 he took part in Kitchener's campaign up the Nile and in the Soudan as a cavalry officer. He was then thirty-seven years old. He distinguished himself in several engagements, was "mentioned in the dispatches," was awarded the British medal and the Khedive's medal and was promoted to Major.
His career in the Boer war, which followed that in Egypt, was characterized by distinguished services and numerous rapid promotions. It was during this latter war that Haig became attached to the staff of Sir John French, whom he succeeded in France and Flanders. He came out of the war in South Africa a full-fledged Colonel, and with a fresh supply of medals and "mentions." Then he was sent to India as Inspector General of Cavalry.
DIRECTOR OF MILITARY TRAINING.
He remained in the Indian service three years, and then was given a post at the war office in London, with the title of "Director of Military Training." He remained in London three years, when he was sent to India as Chief of the Staff of the Indian Army. Three years later he returned to England and was given what was known as the "Aldershot Command," which, in fact, was the command of the real active British army. He had this post when the war broke. His assignment as Commander of the First Army Corps under Sir John French soon followed.
The man, who next to the Kaiser had more to do with Germany's plans for world domination, is Dr. Theobold von Bethmann-Hollweg, Imperial Chancellor of Germany.
The elevation of Hollweg to the Chancellorship came when Prince Bulow stood in the way of complete domination of Germany's policies by the militarists, headed by the Kaiser. Prince Bulow was dismissed and Bethmann-Hollweg became Chancellor in 1909. From that time on he dedicated his life to the achievement of a single aim—the completion of Germany's plans of aggression.
Bethmann-Hollweg comes from an old Prussian family ennobled in 1840. He was born about 1855 and was a student with the Kaiser at the University of Bonn. He studied law at Gottingen, Strassburg and Berlin, and for several years followed the law and was appointed a judge at Potsdam.