The battle of the Somme in 1916 was seen in early 1917 as a morale-raising victory for England and its ally France. England's contributions to this battle were made possible by a military force that had grown significantly since World War I began in August 1914.
Also, the United States entered the war while Ward was writing Towards the Goal. A sense of America's shared responsibility for the Allied effort is evident in the latter part of Towards the Goal, as well as in contemporary reviews of the book in American newspapers. When America entered the war, Ward wrote:
America is with us!
At last, we English folk can say that to each other, without reserve or qualification; and into England's mood of ceaseless effort and anxiety, there has come a sudden relaxation, a breath of something calming and sustaining.Towards the Goal was a sequel to Ward's 1916 book England's Effort. The first book described how England and its related countries like Ireland and Scotland had mobilized their societies to meet the challenge of the European war.
The second book showed how that mobilization was paying off on the battlefields of France. Both books were written at the urging of Americans who wanted the wartime efforts of the England more widely known.
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| Mary Augusta Ward, 1914 |
Ward's two books added to a growing list of books by novelists who were given special access to the war zone and used their writing skills to provide unique perspectives on the war.
Earlier such books included:
- With the Allies (1914), by Richard Harding Davis
- Fighting France (1915), by Edith Wharton
- The Living Present (1917), by Gertrude Atherton
Towards the Goal was written in the form of personal letters to Theodore Roosevelt from March 1917 to June 1917. Ward was allowed to tour areas of the battle of the Somme, as well as areas of northeast France involved in the earliest days of fighting in August and September 1914.
In the Somme war zone, Ward visited areas that were taken from Germany by the British and French armies in the fighting that lasted from July to November 1916. That fighting was stopped in part by the onset of winter. Ward's observations of the Somme war zone add to the understanding of why that battle was not resumed in early 1917.
Ward also toured the battle areas near the Marne River and in the Lorraine area around Nancy. That fighting had occurred almost three years earlier, but Ward saw much of its long term damage to buildings, farmland, and people's physical and emotional states.
In the Ourcq plateau area of the battle of the Marne, Ward wrote:
There has been neither labour nor money indeed as yet wherewith to rebuild the ruined villages and farms, beyond the most necessary repairs. They stand for the most part as the battle left them. And the fields are still alive with innumerable red flags—distinct from the tricolour of the graves—which mark where the plough must avoid an unexploded shell.Ward also heard many accounts of the atrocities committed by German soldiers as they passed through the area. No age group or profession was spared from these atrocities, whose targets included elderly people and religious officials.
These tales of personal destruction left Ward with very vengeful feelings towards Germany. Her descriptions of these strong emotions help explain the general desire for German reparations after the war.
Ward witnessed and wrote about the preparations for the second battle of Arras, which was fought while Towards the Goal was being written. This battle included the famous battle of the Vimy Ridge.
Ward (1851-1920) was best known for the popular novels that she wrote in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Later in 1917, she used her war zone observations to write the novel Missing.
Newspaper reviews of Towards the Goal often connected the book with America's recent entry into the war. A review in the (Philadelphia) Evening Ledger on August 18, 1917 read:
It is an excellent book for Americans to read at the present time, for the obligation is now upon us to go to the help of the British as the British went to the help of the French in order that the Germans may be driven back in their own territory and freedom may be restored to the Belgians and democracy may be made safe.
Towards the Goal was published in England in July 1917. It was published in the United States around August 11, 1917, when it was advertised in the New York Tribune and other U.S. newspapers. Front page headlines in that day's Tribune included:
- British Capture Westhoek as Ypres Drive is Renewed / Haig's Battalions Take Ridge and Swamp After Artillery Hurricane
- McAdoo Plans New Bond Issue Of Six Billions / Will Raise First Year's War Cost to Fifteen Billions; Second Loan Near
- Bribery Charge Causes Ousting Of Draft Board / Men Near Its Headquarters Said to Have Sold Waivers to Registrants
Online versions:
Newspaper information from Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/).
Photograph of Mary Augusta Ward by H. Walter Barnett -
Pillars Of Society: https://archive.org/stream/pillarsofsociety00gardiala#page/124/mode/2up,
Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31227165.
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