The General by C.S. Forester is a 1936 novel set in WWI. The central character, General Herbert Curzon makes an improbable rise of in the class driven world of the British military through remarkable courage, sense of duty and luck. As a young officer in the Boer War, by attrition he is left in command of his Calvary regiment as it about to be overrun. He leads the troops in what he imagines to be a retreat, gets lost, yet finds himself in the rear of his attackers. He leads a charge that sacks the Boers, bringing victory to the British and accolades to himself.
Military life between the Boer War and the Great War is rather dull, with little chance for the glory that he craves. This thirst if finally relieved with the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, and he goes off with his regiment on horseback, with sabre at this side, to confront the reality of machine guns and poison gas. The quick war that was anticipated declines into a miserable trench battle. Curzon rises in rank, largely through his willingness to send untold numbers of his men to their deaths in pursuit of a promised breakthrough of the German lines. The General cannot conceive of the possibility that his officers and their men may not have the same sense of duty that drives him, a duty energized by the possibility of shame.
The General highlights a perversion of virtue. Virtues intersect. Courage without prudence leads to slaughter. Curzon rejected anything new, any other approach to war than the way he was trained. Courage without right judgment is foolishness. Yes, he could inspire his men by his courage under fire. Superiors trusted him to “do his duty”. But he, and the system he represented, let the virtue of courage overwhelm all others. Small wonder God died after WWI.