World War 1 had a great impact on the world with live in today. It was the time period of war, romance, and above all literature. Earnest Hemingway emerged from this era with one of his most famous books A Farewell to Arms published just a little under a decade after the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.
On August 3, 1914 many Americans sat at home while Germany invaded Belgium on the other side of the world (Littel 374), becoming the first battle of World War 1. Some would say this war actually began seven years earlier when France, Britain, and Russia formed the Allies; and Germany, Austra-Hungary, and Italy formed the Alliance (Littel 373). Tensions between the two alliances grew with the effects of nationalism, militarism, and imperialism. The constant professing of one’s nation through nationalism created a strain between the alliances (Littel 373). They began to increase the size of their armies until they felt they were no longer threatened by any possible enemies as a result of militarism (Littel 373). Then as Germany industrialized it began competing for colonies with France and Britain as a result of imperialism (Littel 373). The mounting tension did not explode until July of 1914. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian thrown, and his wife, were shot and killed by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip causing Austra-Hungary to declare war against Serbia on July 28 (Littel 374).
To avoid unnecessary deaths America declared neutrality. This suited many Americans who felt that there was “no reason to join a struggle 3,000 miles away” (Littel 377), while others simply did not want their sons to be exposed to the horrors of war as expressed in a hit song of 1915, “I didn’t raise my boy to be a solider, I brought him up to be my pride and joy. Who dares to place a musket on his shoulder to shoot some other mother’s boy?” (Littel 377). America’s neutrality remained, but its true neutrality came into question. America had strong economic ties with the Allies, “before the war America’s trade with Britain and France was more than double its trade with Germany” (Littel 377). Germany began to doubt America’s “neutrality” and sent Mexico the Zimmerman note asking for Mexico’s help in case the United States entered the war and in return Germany would support Mexico’s regain of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Although this was supposed to be a secret proposal, the telegram was intercepted by British agents (Littel 379). Even with the underhanded tactics America remained Neutral. On May 7,1915 a U-boat sank the British Liner, Lustania, killing all 1,198 passengers, 128 of which were American; Germany defended their actions saying the liner carried ammunition, but despite Germany’s explanation the American public began to turn against Germany and the Alliance (Littel 379).
The war ended on June 28, 1919 with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles (Littel 400). It established nine new nations in Europe and shifted the boundaries of others (Littel 400). The Treaty of Versailles weakened Germany in such a way that it angered many Germans, providing a grim outlook for lasting peace in Europe (Littel 400). The League of Nations was established to keep peace between the nations and was “the world’s best hope for lasting peace” according to Woodrow Wilson (Littel 401). “Appalled by the scale of destruction, Americans began to call World War 1 ‘The war to end all wars’ in hope that humanity would never again be willing to fight such a war” (Littel 403).
Almost every tragedy has a positive outcome in some way shape or form. And out of World War 1 came one of America’s most lucrative authors, Earnest Hemingway. He was the author of such books as The Old Man and the Sea, From Whom the Bell Tolls, and A Farewell to Arms. He was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, and died July 2, 1961 in Ketchum, Idaho; he married four times, usually within a year of the divorce of the previous wife (Littel Reynolds 13). In the spring of 1918, Hemingway enlisted in the Red Cross to be an ambulance driver on the Italian front; one day while delivering chocolate to a group of soldiers he was injured by an Austrian trench mortar canister and spent the following six months in the hospital because he needed surgery for his right knee (Reynolds 3).
Hemingway’s life could be described as anything but placid, especially for an author. Hemingway started his career as an average journalist; his articles appeared in more than 60 newspapers including the New York Times, the Los Angles Times, and the San Francisco Chronicle with parts of the articles being published in Time, and New Republic (McDaniel 90). “By the time he began writing breakthrough short stories in 1924, he was a seasoned journalist who could write under almost any circumstances” (Reynolds 37). From then on his career boomed and he became a world famous writer. In one interview, Hemingway told reporters “After I have written a book I only wish to see it published exactly as I wrote it and have as many people read it as possible. You write for yourself and for others” (Reynolds 38). Then, in another interview he addressed the hazards of his profession, “Writing at its best, is a lonely life. Organizations for writings palliate the writer’s loneliness but I doubt if they improve his writing. He grows in public structure as he sheds his loneliness and his work deteriorates. For he does his work alone and if he is a good enough writer he must face eternity, or the lack of it, each day” (McDaniel 14).
