Fight the Good Fight: Voices of Faith from the First World War

“The inspiring stories of a number of very different characters who used their Christian faith to cope with their experiences of the First World War.” —Jacqueline Wadsworth, author of Letters from the Trenches
 
While a toxic mixture of nationalism and militarism tore Europe and the wider world apart from 1914 to 1919, there was one factor that united millions of people across all nations: that of a Christian faith. People interpreted this faith in many different ways. Soldiers marched off to war with ringing endorsements from bishops that they were fighting a Godly crusade, others preached in churches and tribunal hearings that war was fundamentally against the teachings of Christ. Whether Church of England or Nonconformist, Catholic or Presbyterian, German Lutheran or the American Church of Christ in Christian Union, men and women across the globe conceptualized their war through the prism of their belief in a Christian God.
 
This book brings together twenty-three individual and family case studies, some of well-known personalities, others whose stories have been neglected through the decades. Although divided by nation, social class, political outlook, and denomination, they were united in their desire to ‘Fight the Good Fight.’
 
“John Broom looks at such beliefs during the first world war—the Tommies were always fighting for God, the king and their country . . . a fascinating study.” —Books Monthly
 
“A detailed study of a usually hidden aspect of wartime social history, the topic of Christian faith. Fight the Good Fight has been meticulously researched and includes a wealth of previously unpublished material.” —Come Step Back In Time