If you want another example of this, Try "Haig's Command: A Reassessment" by Denis Winter.
Winter had access to documents held in the Australian war memorial archives which strongly disagree with official war history, because they're the input texts before the official edit. He drives very hard to this being a whitewash by the establishment of Haig's command. The counter view is that it's entirely normal editing, He's displaying the not uncommon Australian/Canadian/New-Zealand dislike of Haig because Haig used the colonial forces as shock troops and then played down their role in the turn-around to attrition warfare, and he's probably also strongly leftist and anti-establishment. It's a great read, but unquestionably one-eyed.
I don't agree with you about Windschuttle but I am also very biassed against him by his continued association with the News Ltd schools of journalism which is a strongly rightist world view. I could believe he's a good historian. He's not in any sense the neutral arbiter. I think he would be amongst the first to deny it.
His primary vocal opponent in the press here in Oz (Robert Manne) is equally one-eyed and at times, more passionate than accurate.
I'm not sure the practice of history in Oz is any better or worse than anywhere else to be honest. I miss Eric Hobsbawm, who never hid his marxist affiliations. Hobsbawm absolutely hated counter-factuals. I rather like them but they're fiction, not history.
But let's be honest, regardless of all the work Haig did after the warbto support veterans, militarily he wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. Sure, we argue from hindsight. Also true, the opposition wasn't much better. Also true, most WW1 commanders were better than what we make them today. And Haig was no Cadorna or Hötzendorf.
The big mistake Haig made, or the thing he didn't see, was IMHO how the war was fought and won on the Western Front. He wanted a breakthrough, instead he got a war of attrition. One the Entente was winning. Haig went from attempted breakthrough to winning, without realizing why his strategy worked. Because one can fight a war of attrition without sacrificing as much of your own men as the Entente did.
How the Entente reacted to the Kaiserschlacht so, well, that was the right reaction: let the Germans leave their fortified positions, outrun their logistics, and sacrifice some ground until the enemy runs out of steam. Then counter attack. That way, you don't even have to break through the enemies lines as they are already abandonned and unmanned. No idea how much influence Haig had on this so.
At least the authors you mentioned argue based on primary sources and facts. As oppossed to people using autobiographies and post-war memoires of WW2 generals.
Winter had access to documents held in the Australian war memorial archives which strongly disagree with official war history, because they're the input texts before the official edit. He drives very hard to this being a whitewash by the establishment of Haig's command. The counter view is that it's entirely normal editing, He's displaying the not uncommon Australian/Canadian/New-Zealand dislike of Haig because Haig used the colonial forces as shock troops and then played down their role in the turn-around to attrition warfare, and he's probably also strongly leftist and anti-establishment. It's a great read, but unquestionably one-eyed.
I don't agree with you about Windschuttle but I am also very biassed against him by his continued association with the News Ltd schools of journalism which is a strongly rightist world view. I could believe he's a good historian. He's not in any sense the neutral arbiter. I think he would be amongst the first to deny it.
His primary vocal opponent in the press here in Oz (Robert Manne) is equally one-eyed and at times, more passionate than accurate.
I'm not sure the practice of history in Oz is any better or worse than anywhere else to be honest. I miss Eric Hobsbawm, who never hid his marxist affiliations. Hobsbawm absolutely hated counter-factuals. I rather like them but they're fiction, not history.