WAR AND PEOPLES

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32524, 6 February 1971, Page 10

WAR AND PEOPLES

Impacts of War, 1914 and 1918. By John Terrains. Hutchinson. 227 pp. In an introduction to this book, John Terraine defines the impact of the First World War upon Britain as occurring at four levels: impact upon the soldiers and sailors in the battle line—the most severe; impact upon the military leaders (the generals above all) who directed them—this also could be severe; impact upon politicians who directed the generals and admirals—and here the severities begin to change their substance; impact upon the people whom the politicians represented—this is where generalisation must always be taken with large pinches of salt Attempting so large an area of coverage, and so diverse, John Terraine runs the risk of either producing a mass of vague generalisations or else writing a disjointed series of detailed examinations, ill-connected with each other. It is vastly to Mr Terraine’s credit that "Impacts of War” holds together so well, and takes us so far into the subject The means by which this is accomplished are partly organisational. The two civilian impacts, on government and people, are considered solely in their opening stages, i.e., in 1914. Similarly, the two military impacts are dealt with in connection with the swaying fortunes of March to November 1918. This division may seem artificial; Mr Terraine makes it seem natural. In the first part of the book we learn how a nation generally unprepared, both militarily and socially, for war, took the shock of a European conflagration. Mr Terraine’s account is by turns funny and very serious. The blindness and complacency of the

populace, its elected representatives, and its means of communication, the newspapers, are funny when seen in general terms. When considered in particular, however, they assume grave proportions. For when the blind and the complacent awake, they look for scapegoats. In 1914, they found them in two men. Prince Louis of Battenberg, the First Sea Lord, and Lord Haldane, the Minister of Defence, who had done more than most others to ensure that when war came, it did not result in instant disaster for Britain. By March 1918, when the German offensive nearly smashed the British forces opposing them, it might be thought that the nation would have been more clearly aware of its situation. In fact the impacts which Haig and his men had to face were considerably worsened by the behaviour of politicians who directed them. Walking a tightrope between the demands of a war-weary nation that the war be brought to a speedy conclusion, yet that the casualty rate be held down, and the view of Haig that he could win by the autumn, given the men and materials, Lloyd George is seen here as sometimes magnificent, sometimes sordid, always a politician. He is at his worst in relation to Haig, whom he could scarcely bring himself to congratulate, even when the Germans were heading for total disaster. Haig himself, Mr Terrain champions as honest, courageous and loyal to his French commander, Foch. All in all this is a most interesting book, relating the civilian and military aspects of the First World War in a subtle and thought-provoking way. Read with understanding, it offers a number of lessons which might be heeded today by democracies fighting unpopular wars.