Adam Hochschild's "To End All Wars"

I love reading books about World War I more than any other war, with the exception of the American Civil War. The two wars have much in common: trench warfare, modern weapons making frontal attacks horribly murderous, vestiges of honor and chivalry co-existing with the advent of technology, the "total war" strategy of punishing civilians.

World War I is not as interesting as the Civil War in military history. Unlike with the Civil War, World War I battles were grinding affairs of little strategy, mainly soldiers running from their trenches, getting slaughtered, and retreating. In short, stalemate, not great risky charges and swings of fortune as at Gettysburg or Chancellorsville. What fascinates me about World War I are personal stories of men who endured the trenches, their heroism and sense of honor in such a tawdry reality. The great poets and writers such as Wilfred Owen and Robert Graves make World War I rich in literature. 

My latest World War I book is Adam Hocheschild's "To End All Wars." He goes over much ground as familiar as the same bit of Belgian soil fought over on the Western front, but he goes into much I've never read about, mostly characters on the British home front. Like Niall Ferguson's "The Pity of War," Hochschild focuses on Britain and the devastating costs of World War I on British society. He builds a similar case, that Britain paid too high a cost in the war, and that if Germany had won World War I, World War II and the Nazi regime would not have risen. Such counterfactual reasoning is dubious, but Hochschild's book is a fascinating look at Britain, especially the attention he gives to the antiwar movement and a gallery of once famous figures now obscure. 

Hochschild possesses the gift of writing dramatic narrative. As with all of the best books about World War I, the sense of tragedy, of a rich European culture destroying itself, is strong. I don't agree that a German victory in World War I might have been more beneficial to the world, but his book is an essential addition to the history of the era.

Comments

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I like counter factual reasoning is debatable, but hte book is a fascinating look at England, at least not the attention it gives to the antiwar movement and a cast of characters than once famous now uncertain.