European Reading Challenge #9

The Generation of 1914 - Robert Wohl

This intellectual history was released in 1979, four years after the seminal book The Great War and Modern Memory (Paul Fussell) influenced historians to examine the idea that what people think happened was just as interesting as what really happened. Wohl explores the intellectual and cultural landscape of Europe before, during and after World War I. To study what young educated men regarded as “generations,” Wohl delves into the thoughts and writing of the intelligentsia who came of age during the tumultuous period running up the WWI, focusing on the middle-class elite of five European countries: France Germany, England, Spain, and Italy.

Readers like me who are not so up on European history in the 19^th century will appreciate Wohl's comprehensive approach. He examines briefly the events and how each country’s unique experiences shaped its intellectual climate. For instance, in the example most familiar to us hardcore readers because of Fussell’s book, in England, the concept of the "lost generation" emerged due to the significant losses suffered by the British upper class during the war who happened to be literary guys like Robert Graves, Edmund Blunden, and Wilfred Owen. In contrast, Germany's war generation became a driving force on the political right, emphasizing the supposedly “moral” strength gained through the hardships of the trenches. I had no idea that the war had damaged Ernst Jünger so severely as to drive him to such wrong conclusions about human nature, democracy, and the Weimar Republic.

The book is structured around separate chapters for each country, allowing Wohl to highlight the distinct generational concepts that developed in each culture. Wohl's use of primary sources, including novels, journalism, autobiographies, and political speeches, adds depth to his analysis. He skillfully connects these personal and collective experiences to broader historical trends, such as the rise of Communism and Fascism, and the decline of liberal and humanitarian values.

One of the book's strengths is Wohl’s decision to disregard the definition of a generation, in favor of analyzing what the figures such as Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset thought was a generation. Wohl is careful to point out that the thinkers themselves were well aware of the logical problems with defining what a generation is. Translating theoretical constructs like "generation" into specific variables or factors that can be studied in quantifiable research is a challenging intellectual task, for example, needing the statistical tools of sociology. Wohl captures the sense of disillusionment and sheer confusion that characterized the generation of 1914, making the book both an intellectual history and a poignant human story.

Overall, this is an engrossing study that offers valuable insights into the minds of young, more or less educated or well-read men who lived through one of the most transformative periods in modern history. Serious students of European history will get much from this book, even if they think that terms like ‘generation z,’ ‘boomers,’ and ‘millennials’ are the worst kinds of pseudoscientific horseshit.