posted September 12, 2013 10:46 AM            

I already know Sam was supposed to be the embodiment of the fellow English soldiers Tolkien fought alongside with during Somme.

I am very curious however on Tolkien's opinion of the generals of World War 1. Before I got into Lord of the Rings, I was a student of Military History and while it was never my primary interest (until after getting in Tolkien) I read some stuff about World War 1. I even have a paperback copy of The Price of Glory:Verdun 1916 by renown British historian Alistair Horne (and thanks to Tolkien its gonna be the first history book I reread from cover to cover).

The popular opinion about World War 1 generals is that they were all stupid and incompetent. Sheltered in their luxurious headquarters,they had no idea of the horrors of the war and threw their men into machine gun fire like they are all like ants that can easily be replaced.

Seeing the Tolkien actually fought in Somme, I am very curious if he shares this same view that general history and the public has of World War 1 generals. Honestly only those who actually read deeper into World War 1 than general public school history textbooks know the claim of generals being arrogant and stupid men who had no idea of the horrors of war is all baloney.

posted September 12, 2013 01:38 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by freebrainstorms:
this isn't exactly the right place for this question...i'm a lotr nerd and i've read a lot about sauron being compared to stalin/hitler in some instances, but haven't read enough about that lately to help you out.

i would try asking this question on an epic fantasy forum, a lotr forum, a tolkien forum, a peter jackson forum even...a large number of forums would be better to ask that question on than here.

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