The morning of 1st July, 1916, the opening of the Battle of the Somme, “marked the end of an age of optimism in British life that has never been restored,” as historian John Keegan puts it. But the four years of the First World War also marked one of the greatest leaps forward in technological innovation that the world has seen. Some forces went into the war in 1914 with horses and swords; four years later, the tank had been invented, reliable machine guns, and aircraft capable of firing forwards through their propellers. It was one of the most fertile periods of innovation, contributing to the growth and inventions of the 20th century—Prospecthas explored the question of whether we have now reached the end of thatperiod of innovation and economic expansion. In this essay, prompted by a new collection of rarely seen photographs, GeoffDyer, the novelist and writer, reflects on the transformation from pastoral scenes of 1914 to desolation.
The First World War: “The ‘glory’ that is celebrated lies not in the magnitude of victory but in the scale of loss”
PHOTOGRAPH © CITY ARCHIVE BRUGES.
What comes to mind when you’re asked to think of the Second World War? If you’re British, it might be, as Churchill urged, “our finest hour”—the so-called Battle of Britain— but this would be followed, instantly, by the North Africa campaign, Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Atlantic, Stalingrad, D-Day, the carpet bombing of German cities, the