Three splendid new Great War books

[Guest Sidney]

Cataclysm: The First World War As Political Tragedy, by David Stevenson, Basic Books, NY, 2004, 564 pages, photographs, maps, bibliography, index, $54.00

Hell's Corner: An Illustrated History Of Canada's Great War, by J.L. Granatstein, Douglas & Macintyre,

Vancouver, 2004, 198 pages, photographs, index, $50.00

Saints, Sinners, and Soldiers, by Jeffrey A. Keshen,

UBC Press, Vancouver, 2004, 389 pages, index, $45.00.

Warfare took the lives of over 100,000 Canadians during the 20th century, and their sacrifices continue to be explained by historians every year. Three of the latest new military books manage to add additional understanding of those tragic events.

War has always been an insane business -- officially sanctioned mass-murder, however noble the cause. Usually, books about such mad enterprises focus on the cut and thrust of combat, seldom explaining them in context of the times. Cataclysm by David Stevenson is one of those rare exceptions, a thorough treatise that presents virtually everything there is to say about the causes and effects of the hideous 1914-1918 conflict forever known as the "Great War."

A massive 564-page tome densely-packed with intensive research, this is not what you call an easy read, and demands slow careful study. Stevenson is a professor at the London School of Economics and combines stringent historical standards with a mass of new material from recently released official documents. He begins by asking why should we still commemorate on each November 11th the Great War's 10 million military dead considering for example that 20 million lost their lives in road accidents worldwide between 1898 and 1998? His lengthy answer briefly stated is that the Great War set the style for modern wars up to the present day, but most of all because it was a special kind of cataclysm produced by deliberate political acts.

Though he is no revisionist, Stevenson does take a penetrating look at the motivations of every belligerent nation, being equally unsparing of Britain, France, and Russia as he is of the Central Powers. However, he makes no bones about blame when stating that in the summer of 1914 Germany and its partner Austria-Hungary "made a decision to start a Balkan war and accept the risk it would escalate into a European one." He then clearly explains the moves and counter-moves as one country after another fell into the abyss like the proverbial dominoes.

Russia moved to protect Serbia, Germany took the opportunity to attack France, and a reluctant Britain declared war to honour a century-old treaty to protect Belgium from invasion. Stevenson keeps firm control of incredibly convoluted issues while guiding the reader through a labyrinth of blundering political chicanery that aroused patriotic volunteerism which eventually culled each nation's bravest and best. Military events get equally thorough coverage, when Stevenson lucidly gives the reasons for a four-year war of attrition, and the casualty totals nation by nation, including 64,000 Canadian dead. Photographs and clear maps help the reader follow military campaigns in scores of unlikely places across the globe. If your interest is the Great War, Cataclysm is definitely the one book you must have.

Prolific military historian Jack Granatstein has brought out yet another impressive summary of the Canadian experience in the Great War. Hell's Corner is lavishly illustrated with photographs, sketches, and paintings, which convey the brutal environment of trench warfare more graphically than mere words ever could. They especially show that aside from the constant danger of death, there was the daily physical discomfort troops endured. Virtually every photograph shows how just plain miserable living-conditions were on the Western Front. Water-filled, stinking trenches, glutinous mud, and frequent chill rain combined to keep the men shivering in cold, wet uniforms.

They contrast with scenes back in Canada; recruiting drives for volunteers, civic unrest over conscription, raw soldiers being trained, and women in new roles as workers in munitions factories. Granatstein's accompanying narrative explains why and how Canada got into the war in the first place. He defines our country in 1914 as "a British colony, independent in its domestic policies but subordinate to London for foreign policy." He points out that the rules of war and international law being what they were then, Britain's declaration of war against Germany automatically made Canada a belligerent too.

In August 1914, it was a hugely popular alliance, at least among English-speaking Canadians. Tens of thousands of eager volunteers mobbed recruiting offices, eager to get into the fray. British Columbia was particularly fervent; close to 50 per cent of BC's eligible men went off to war, and Canada's 450,000 overseas army was led by Victoria's own General Arthur Currie. Hell's Corner documents every aspect of their role in combat as notably aggressive warriors. Sadly, the story of our hard-won victory ends on a sour note. Granatstein says the aftermath was "a hard, uncomprehending time," and indicts Canadian civilians in general for their widespread lack of understanding of what Canadian veterans had been through. Perhaps that is why the government felt free to renege afterwards on its promises made when volunteers were needed. Soon it was if the "war to end all wars" had never happened, but just 20 years later Canadians had to do it all over again.

The Second World War is still remembered as our Good War, fondly looked back on with affectionate nostalgia for when our country was sublimely united in a common cause. But was it all really like that? University professor Jeffrey Keshen thinks definitely not, and wrote Saints, Sinners, and Soldiers to point out the less attractive realities of our national behaviour between 1939 and 1945.

He is an assiduous researcher who has mined the sort of unpalatable negative material most historians never go near –- draft-dodging, sexual promiscuity, selfishness, profiteering, and governmental betrayal. He is clearly sincere, though basing a lot of his criticism of the past on present-day attitudes and political correctness. Keshan has something of the modern academic's distaste for patriotism and military valour, and his urge to dispel romanticism about warfare veers close to sneering at then–accepted attitudes that are ridiculed today.

His statistics show that while there was no relatively overwhelming rush to join up, enough men and women volunteered for active service that Canada could send half a million of them overseas. Still, he points out that many other young men refused to volunteer for combat, preferring to stay in Canada even if it meant being contemptuously labeled "Zombies." His wide-ranging study also includes the innovation of women in uniform, experiences of the 5,000 British evacuee children brought to Canadian homes, and frequent difficulties with re-adjustment after veterans returned to civilian life. In all, Saints, Sinners, and Soldiers is a unique compendium of the darker side of Canada in the Second World War that deserves being considered in the balance.

Victoria historian Sidney Allinson

is a past director of the Royal

Canadian Military Institute, a

member of The Great War Forum,

and author of "THE BANTAMS: The

Untold Story Of World War One."

www.xlibris.com/thebantams.html

[Guest Benoit Douville]

I am particularly interested by the work of Professor Keshen because it is true that it was not easy in Canada during that time, the politics of Mackenzie King the prime minister of that period was pretty controversial and Canada almost broke apart.

Regards

[Graham-McAdam]

Sidney - I've just noticed your review of the Stevenson, having asked in another topic (Summary WW1 Books) if anyone has read it. So pleased to read your interesting comments. 'Cataclysm' was published in the Uk in the Autumn as '1914-1918 The History of the First World War' (Brits apparently can't cope with emotive titles like 'Cataclysm!!!!!'). I've just been given a copy as a retirement present and have to confess (though not to the kind friend who gave it me) that it'll have to be special to make me slog through it - more to do in retirement than reading fat books!

Cheers

Graham