During the war, Wells wrote much fiction and nonfiction about the conflict, including a 1917 book that was published in the United States under the title Italy, France, and Britain at War. As the title indicates, the book is a history of the war, focusing on Wells's observations of the Western and Italian Fronts after he had toured them in 1916.
But Wells also gave his general opinions about what started the war; how people thought about it; and how another such war might be prevented. (In England, the book was published under the title War and the Future: Italy, France and Britain at War)
Wells described how the war looked and felt to him:
If I were to be tied down to one word for my impression of this war, I should say that this war is Queer. It is not like anything in a really waking world, but like something in a dream. It hasn't exactly that clearness of light against darkness or of good against ill. But it has the quality of wholesome instinct struggling under a nightmare. The world is not really awake.Italy, France, and Britain at War was published just a few months after the publication of a novel by Wells about life in England during the war—Mr. Britling Sees It Through.
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| H.G. Wells before 1922 |
Wells often described himself as a pacifist in Italy, France, and Britain at War, but that didn't prevent him from taking an intense interest in war weaponry. Wells tried to clarify his pacifism:
But most of the people that I meet, and most of the people I met on my journey, are pacifists like myself who want to make peace by beating the armed man until he gives in and admits the error of his ways, disarming him and reorganizing the world for the forcible suppression of military adventures in the future. They want belligerency put into the same category as burglary, as a matter for forcible suppression. The Yielding Pacifist who will accept any sort of peace and the Conscientious Objector who will not fight at all, are not of that opinion.Italy, France, and Britain at War reflected two of Wells's strongest beliefs at this time of his life. One belief was socialism, which for Wells seemed to be a hope for closer collaboration between government, industry, and labor, including the nationalization of particular industries. He also believed in a nonsectarian God whose moral authority was needed to save the world.
The book is valuable for its eyewitness insights into fighting on the Italian Front during August 1916, during what history now calls the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo. Wells described the challenges of the mountain fighting between Italy and Austria. Wells's reporting about the Western Front focused on the Battle of the Somme during September 1916.
Wells had the chance to meet some of the Allied leaders of the war. He was particularly impressed with French General Joseph Joffre and the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III.
Italy, France, and Britain at War was praised in a March 4, 1917 review in the Oakland (California) Tribune:
One walks with Wells in war scenes. Descriptions in which it is felt that there is no attempt at dramatics but rather toward the faithful picturing of fact and impressions, the details, the dust, fatigue and incidents of the war, are given as few but Wells could have written them.
Italy, France, and Britain at War was published in the United States on February 6, 1917, according to a small article in the January 21, 1917 book review section of The New York Times. The copyright page of the book states that it was published in February 1917. Front page headlines in the January 21, 1917 edition of The New York Times included:
- UNITED STATES TO DEFEND RIGHTS OF AMERICANS CAPTURED BY RAIDER; ARMED SHIP ISSUE IS AGAIN INVOLVED
- 50 DEAD, 100 HURT IN EXPLOSION THAT SHOOK UP LONDON / Munitions Plant Blast Swept Buildings Off Foundations with Mighty Roar. / BROKE WINDOWS FOR MILES
- German Workers Uphold War to a Finish, But Urge Reforms in Food Distribution
Online versions:
Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/)
H.G. Wells photograph from Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:H_G_Wells_pre_1922.jpg)
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