![]() ![]() ![]() The deluge of books that will mark the war’s centenary is proof of this obsession. The immense destruction seems all the more tragic because the war lacked clear cause and noble purpose.Ī century after its outbreak, Europeans remain obsessed with the 1914-18 war they still find it difficult to shoulder its heavy burden. “We are readying ourselves to enter a long tunnel full of blood and darkness,” André Gide correctly predicted in July 1914. Prodigious losses provided a cruel counterpoint to expectations of a short and glorious war. For Europeans, however, the earlier contest represents a horrible chasm between sublime grandeur and bleak modernity. World War II, after all, seems more important and was more destructive. His book “Back in Blighty: British Society in the Era of the Great War” will be published in 2014.Īmericans often have difficulty understanding the grip that World War I exercises upon European consciousness. Gerard DeGroot is a professor of history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. ![]()
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