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BOOKS I READ: To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918 (2012) by Adam Hochschild. The insanity of the Great War, kept alive by the ruling class and national fervor in service of the British Empire. The horrific trench warfare foments an evolution of weaponry, from machine guns and shells, to poison gas, and, finally, tanks. The casualty numbers for a given battle or even for a single day of charges across no-man’s-land are staggering. To hammer home the point, “If the British dead alone were to rise up and march 24 hours a day past a given spot, four abreast, it would take them more than two and a half days.” That’s just for the British soldiers. The loses by Russian, French, and German armies were much worse. That’s the loyalty story.
Anti-war protesters, pacifists, and conscientious objectors, who saw past the fog of war, are highlighted. Bertrand Russell, among others, is revered for his opposition to the war. That’s the rebellion story.
The tragedy of the soldier-poet Wilfred Owen, who died in the last week’s of the war, is particularly heart wrenching. See Dulce et Decorum Est and Anthem for Doomed Youth.
NB: using Medium’s shortform posts to chain my recent reads. Follow the chain; go to previous book:
