Calton Hill from Edinburgh Castle (HDR)
Earl Haig: Born in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square in 1861, Douglas Haig attended school in the city before moving on to Oxford University and then Sandhurst College.
From 1906-09 he was assigned to the War Office, where he helped form the Territorial Army and organise an expeditionary force for any future war in Europe.
In August 1914, Haig led the 1st Corps in France. In December 1915 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the British Armies in France, perhaps the biggest assembled army in history.
Many military historians say Earl Haig – who led the army in France between 1915 and 1918 – bears much of the responsibility for the huge losses at the likes of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and the campaign in Passchendaele the following year.
Instead of accepting an Army posting after the war, Field Marshal Haig committed his energy to the problem of ex-servicemen and set up the Royal British Legion