The desperation of many young men to go to war throughout history is well documented. The power of a figure like Napoleon to galvanize – even those from nations other than France – is captured in novels like The Charterhouse of Parma and The Red and the Black
I’ve never been enamoured by the glamorisation of war in pop culture. I’m currently reading “World War 2 in simple French”. As an Indian, both world wars evoke very mixed feelings because we were fighting for the UK’s freedom and not our own. I wonder what soldiers from the British Indian Army felt. Did they feel the same emotions as Europeans enlisting en masse or were they fighting merely for a promise of independence and a secure pay? I also believe that’s why there’s such a chasm between the west and the rest on the Russia Ukraine war. Emerging economies don’t want to take sides in wars where they are not decision makers now.
To add to the conversation and contrast, see To His Dead Body by Siegfried Sassoon. Not a comment on better or worse, yet another approach to sharing with the reader war.
I’ve never been enamoured by the glamorisation of war in pop culture. I’m currently reading “World War 2 in simple French”. As an Indian, both world wars evoke very mixed feelings because we were fighting for the UK’s freedom and not our own. I wonder what soldiers from the British Indian Army felt. Did they feel the same emotions as Europeans enlisting en masse or were they fighting merely for a promise of independence and a secure pay? I also believe that’s why there’s such a chasm between the west and the rest on the Russia Ukraine war. Emerging economies don’t want to take sides in wars where they are not decision makers now.
The Gift of India by Sarojini Naidu
Just read it! Magnificent. Should be mandatory reading for every Brit IMO.
To add to the conversation and contrast, see To His Dead Body by Siegfried Sassoon. Not a comment on better or worse, yet another approach to sharing with the reader war.
The dear boy was famously bisexual, but couldn't reconcile it.