An almost unstoppable wave of emotion poured across Europe at the outbreak of World War I, triggered by boredom and nationalism. Many saw the war as an opportunity to race for glory and break with the numbing routine of a world before the mass distraction of popular culture had fully taken hold. But as Adam Hochschild writes in his elegantly composed account, small but vocal numbers of people opposed the war, and although they were pilloried as traitors, weaklings or hopelessly naïve, their positions usually appear unimpeachable from the perspective of our era.
Hochschild focuses on Britain, where anti-war activists and military commanders often came from the same families—even brothers and sisters took opposing views. As casualties mounted into unbelievably huge tallies of the dead, exhaustion spread to the masses, frontline troops dragged their feet and workers at home went on strike. Even London's famed Bobbies walked off for two days. By the end, even Rudyard Kipling, the bugle blowing, saber rattling poet, was moved to compose a haunting couplet: “If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied.” (David Luhrssen)
