Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

The locomotive of war : money, empire, power, and guilt / Peter Clarke.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Bloomsbury Press, 2017Description: ix, 418 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781620406601 (hardback)
  • 1620406608 (hardback)
  • 1408851652
  • 9781408851654
Subject(s):
Contents:
Part I. Peace and war -- The disciple as prophet: Thomas Woodrow Wilson -- A man of the people: David Lloyd George -- Aristocrat and soldier: Winston Spencer Churchill -- How the liberals started a world war -- Goodbye to the Garden of Eden: John Maynard Keynes -- Knight-errant of progressivism: Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- The British war effort: Churchill, Lloyd George, Keynes -- The American way in warfare: Wilson and House -- Part II. War and peace -- Agenda for the hall of mirrors: Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Wilson -- The Fourteen Points in Paris: Wilson and Lloyd George -- A Carthaginian peace? Keynes -- Reparations and guilt: Lloyd George and Wilson -- Further economic consequences: Keynes and Lloyd George -- Second chances: Churchill, Roosevelt, Keynes -- Epilogue: the legacies of war in the long run.
Summary: "'War is the locomotive of history,' claimed Trotsky, a remark thought to acknowledge the opportunity the First World War offered the Bolsheviks to seize power in Russia 1917. And here Peter Clarke uses it on a broader canvas to explore how war, rather than socioeconomic forces or individuals, is the prime mover of history. Twentieth-century warfare, based on new technologies and mass armies, saw the locomotive power of war geared up to an unprecedented level, and through the unique prism of this vast tragedy Peter Clarke examines the most influential figures of the day: David Lloyd George who, without the strains of war, would never have become prime minister in 1916; Winston Churchill who, except for the war crisis of 1940, would have been unlikely to be recalled to office; and John Maynard Keynes who, but for the same, would hardly have seen his own economic ideas and authority so suddenly accepted. Gladstone, Woodrow Wilson, Asquith, Roosevelt, they're all here in this highly sophisticated analysis of the lives, writings, decisions and pronouncements of the era's leaders. By following the trajectories of these influential lives Peter Clarke illuminates some of the crucial issues of the period: not only leadership and the projection of authority but also military strategy, war finance and the mobilization of the nation's personnel and economic resources. The Locomotive of War is a fascinating examination of the interplay between key figures in the context of unprecedented all-out war of 1914 and 1939 and the broader dynamics of history in an extraordinary period"--Publisher's description.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 940.311 C599 Available 33111008798122
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

An innovative exploration of the origins, impact, and consequences of the First and Second World Wars, from Peter Clarke, one of our foremost historians.

"War is the locomotive of history," claimed Trotsky, a remark often thought to acknowledge the opportunity that the First World War offered the Bolsheviks to seize power in Russia 1917. Here, Peter Clarke broadens the application of this provocative suggestion in order to explore how war, as much as socioeconomic forces or individuals, is the primary mover of history.

Twentieth-century warfare, based on new technologies and vast armies, saw the locomotive power of war heightened to an unprecedented level. Through the unique prism of this vast tragedy, Peter Clarke examines some of the most influential figures of the day, on both sides of the Atlantic. In Britain, David Lloyd George, without the strains of war, would never have become prime minister in 1916; Winston Churchill, except for the war crisis of 1940, would have been unlikely to be recalled to office; and John Maynard Keynes likewise would hardly have seen his own economic ideas and authority so suddenly accepted. In different ways, the shadow of the great nineteenth-century Liberal leader Gladstone hung over these men - as it did also over Woodrow Wilson in the United States, seeing his presidency transformed as he faced new issues of war and peace. And it was Franklin Roosevelt who inherited much of Wilson's unfulfilled agenda, with a second chance to implement it with greater success.

By following the trajectories of these influential lives, Peter Clarke illuminates many crucial issues of the period: not only leadership and the projection of authority, but also military strategy, war finance and the mobilization of the economy in democratic regimes. And the moral dimension of liberalism, with its Gladstonian focus on guilt, is never forgotten. The Locomotive of War is a fascinating examination of the interplay between key figures in the context of unprecedented all-out warfare, with new insight on the dynamics of history in an extraordinary period.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 359-404) and index.

Part I. Peace and war -- The disciple as prophet: Thomas Woodrow Wilson -- A man of the people: David Lloyd George -- Aristocrat and soldier: Winston Spencer Churchill -- How the liberals started a world war -- Goodbye to the Garden of Eden: John Maynard Keynes -- Knight-errant of progressivism: Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- The British war effort: Churchill, Lloyd George, Keynes -- The American way in warfare: Wilson and House -- Part II. War and peace -- Agenda for the hall of mirrors: Clemenceau, Lloyd George, Wilson -- The Fourteen Points in Paris: Wilson and Lloyd George -- A Carthaginian peace? Keynes -- Reparations and guilt: Lloyd George and Wilson -- Further economic consequences: Keynes and Lloyd George -- Second chances: Churchill, Roosevelt, Keynes -- Epilogue: the legacies of war in the long run.

"'War is the locomotive of history,' claimed Trotsky, a remark thought to acknowledge the opportunity the First World War offered the Bolsheviks to seize power in Russia 1917. And here Peter Clarke uses it on a broader canvas to explore how war, rather than socioeconomic forces or individuals, is the prime mover of history. Twentieth-century warfare, based on new technologies and mass armies, saw the locomotive power of war geared up to an unprecedented level, and through the unique prism of this vast tragedy Peter Clarke examines the most influential figures of the day: David Lloyd George who, without the strains of war, would never have become prime minister in 1916; Winston Churchill who, except for the war crisis of 1940, would have been unlikely to be recalled to office; and John Maynard Keynes who, but for the same, would hardly have seen his own economic ideas and authority so suddenly accepted. Gladstone, Woodrow Wilson, Asquith, Roosevelt, they're all here in this highly sophisticated analysis of the lives, writings, decisions and pronouncements of the era's leaders. By following the trajectories of these influential lives Peter Clarke illuminates some of the crucial issues of the period: not only leadership and the projection of authority but also military strategy, war finance and the mobilization of the nation's personnel and economic resources. The Locomotive of War is a fascinating examination of the interplay between key figures in the context of unprecedented all-out war of 1914 and 1939 and the broader dynamics of history in an extraordinary period"--Publisher's description.

Powered by Koha