Douglas Haig was born in Edinburgh in 1861, to John Haig, who was the owner of a successful whisky distilling company. After obtaining a degree at Brasenose College, Oxford University, he went to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst, despite being color-blind. He was then granted a special nomination to the British Military Staff College, a common practice in the day for promising candidates. The following year he was commissioned into the 7th Hussars and promoted to lieutenant shortly afterwards.

In 1918, after the German Spring Offensive had ground to a halt, Douglas Haig commanded the successful British advances on the Western Front, storming the Hindenburg Line in October and advancing into Belgium, almost as far as Brussels. This led to an Allied victory later that year. After the war Haig’s management of the major campaigns, notably on the Somme in 1916, and at Passchendaele in 1917, was criticized by David Lloyd George, the British prime minister. Some military historians have claimed that Haig tactics were deeply flawed. Others, however, have defended his actions and claimed that his approach was determined by French demands for continuous action at that part of the Western Front.

After the war Haig was posted as commander in chief of home forces until his retirement in 1921. Haig, who was granted £100,000 by the British government, devoted the rest of his life to the welfare of ex-servicemen via the Royal British Legion. He was made Earl Haig in 1919 and then Baron Haig of Bemersyde in 1921. Douglas Haig died on January 29, 1928, at the age of 66 and was given a state funeral.

John French joined the navy in 1866, but was transferred to the army in 1874 as a lieutenant in the 8th Hussars. French took part in the Sudan expedition of 1884-1885 and then was quickly promoted. Commanding the 19th Hussars from 1889 to 1893, he was made Assistant Adjutant-General. In 1897, French took part in the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 as a commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade.

John French became full general and Inspector-General of the Army between 1907 and 1912 before he was made an ADC General to H.M. the King. From March 1912 to April 1914, he served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff but resigned following the Curragh Mutiny and was made again Inspector-General of the Army.

At the start of the Great War, John French was appointed Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force in August 1914.  He argued with the Cabinet against Field-Marshal Lord Kitchener and General Sir Douglas Haig that the British Expeditionary Force should be deployed in Belgium, rather than Amiens, where both Haig and Kitchener believed it would be well placed to deliver a vigorous counter attack once the route of German advance was known.

After the BEF’s first battles at Mons and Le Cateau, John French was increasingly indecisive and more concerned with preserving his troops, even suggesting removing them to the Channel Ports than aiding the French. He began a tentative withdrawal which threatened to break the line between French and Belgian armies and needed an unwanted emergency meeting with Kitchener on September 2, 1914 to reorganize his thinking and direct the counter-offensive at the First Battle of the Marne. No one knows exactly what was said during the meeting, as neither man kept any record, but French became increasingly antagonistic towards Kitchener in the following months.

John French issued a series of hasty orders, during the Battle of Mons, to abandon positions and equipment which were ignored by his subordinate in charge of the II Corps of the BEF, General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien. Smith-Dorrien instead mounted a vigorous defensive action, relieving the pressure and allowing the troops to reorganize, gather up their supplies and make a comfortable fighting withdrawal. Smith-Dorrien also ignored other orders from John French which he considered to be unrealistic.

French remained in command as trench warfare began as he oversaw the fighting at Neuve Chapelle and Ypres that finally destroyed the last of the original BEF. In 1915, he declined to cooperate with the French and after the failures at Aubers Ridge and, at Loos, the British offensive operations were halted. In December 1915, he was replaced by General Sir Douglas Haig. French returned to England to be appointed Commander-in-Chief of the British Home Forces in December 1915 and oversaw the suppression of the Irish uprising in 1916.

Ferdinand Foch was born on October 2, 1851, in Tarbes, France. He was the son of a civil servant and attended school in Tarbes, Rodez, and the Jesuit College in St. Etienne. His brother was later a Jesuit and this may initially have hindered Foch’s rise through the ranks of the French Army as the Republican government of France was anti-clerical. Foch enlisted in the French 4th Infantry Regiment, in 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, and decided to stay in the army after the war. In 1871, at the age of twenty, Foch entered the École Polytechnique.

Shortly after graduating from there Ferdinand Foch enrolled at the Ecole de Guerre, France’s war college. As he was such an outstanding cadet, Foch was asked to be a teacher there and went on to teach military tactics, obtaining the rank of major. His lectures were were made into two works, The Principles of War, and De la Conduite de la Guerre. From 1901 until 1907, Foch served as a line officer with the French army, but he was called back and made director of Ecole de Guerre from 1908 to 1911. Later he was assigned to command the Eighth and the Twentieth Army Corps.

Henri Philippe Petain was born on April 24, 1856, in Cauchy-à-la-Tour, into a farming family from northern France. He joined the French army in 1876 and attended the St Cyr Military Academy in 1887. He rejected the French Army philosophy of the furious infantry assault, arguing instead that firepower anhialates. His views were later proved to be correct during the Great War. He was promoted to Captain in 1890 and Major in 1900, but unlike many French officers, served only in mainland France, never in Africa or Indochina. With the rank of Colonel, he was given command of brigade in the spring of 1914 when he was already fifty eight years old.

At the outbreak of World War I, Philippe Petain was quickly promoted to Brigadier General and given command of the 6th division. In 1916, he was ordered to stop the massive German attack on the city of Verdun. Petain reorganized the front lines and transport systems and was able to inspire his troops, turning a near-hopeless situation into a successful defence. He became a popular hero and replaced General Nivelle as commander-in-chief of the French army. Petain then successfully re-established discipline after a series of mutinies by explaining his intentions to the soldiers personally and improving their living conditions.

In 1918 there were major German offensives on the Western Front. The first of these, "Michael" in March 1918, threatened to split the British and French forces apart, but as Petain attempted to retreat on Paris, he was replaced by Ferdinand Foch as Allied Commander in Chief. Nevertheless, Philippe Petain was made marshal of France at the end of the war.

In 1934, Philippe Petain was appointed minister of war, and then secretary of state in the following year. In 1939, he was appointed as French ambassador to Spain. In May 1940, with France under attack from Germany, Petain was appointed vice premier. In June he asked for an armistice, upon which he was appointed chief of state, enjoying almost absolute powers. The armistice gave the Germans control over the north and west of France, including Paris, but left the remainder as a separate regime under Petain, with its capital at Vichy. Officially neutral, in practice the regime collaborated closely with Germany.

Sopwith Camel. The Sopwith Camel was a British World War I single-seat fighter biplane, famous for its maneuverability. Powered by a 110 hp Clerget 9Z rotary engine, the Sopwith Camel was built by the Sopwith Aviation Company and was first flewn in December 1916 as a prototype. This biplane aircraft was armed with two .303 in (7.7 mm). Aproximately 5,490 Sopwith Camel were built.

Albatros D.I. The Albatros D.I was a World War I German fighter aircraft. Although its operational career was short, it was the first of the Albatros D types which formed the bulk of the German and Austrian fighter squadrons for the last two years of the war. Designed by Robert Thelen, R. Schubert and Gnädig, the Albatros D.I was powered by either a 150 hp Benz Bz.III or a 160 hp Mercedes D.III six-cylinder watercooled inline engine. Introduced in 1916, it was manufactured by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and only 50 units were built.

Nieuport 11. The Nieuport 11 was a World War I French single seat fighter aircraft, designed by Gustave Delage. Nicknamed the Bébé, it is famous as one of the aircraft that ended the Fokker Scourge in 1916. Powered by the Le Rhone 9J 110hp (92kW) rotary engine, the Nieuport 11 was a biplane with a full-sized top wing with two spars, and a lower wing of much narrower chord. A "Vee" interplane strut joined the lower wing with the broader upper wing on each side. This layout main drawback is that, unless it is very strongly built, the narrow lower wing is prone to twist and bend under stress.

Airco DH.2. The Airco DH.2 was a World War I British biplane aircraft. Although it was a single-seat pusher, the Airco DH.2 was used as a fighter. It was the second pusher design by Geoffrey de Havilland for Airco, based on his earlier DH.1 two-seater. The DH.2 was the first effectively armed British single-seat fighter that enabled Royal Flying Corps pilots to counter the Fokker Scourge that had given the Germans the advantage in the air in late 1915. Until the British developed an interrupter gear to match the German system, pushers such as the DH.2 carried the burden of fighting and escort duties.