Guy Fleetwood Wilson Quotes
I write as a man in the street. Doubtless I am abnormally dense one because I cannot for the life of me see why this country should be drawn into this war [WWI]. Serbia is not worth the life of one single British Grenadier.
Guy Fleetwood Wilson, 1851–1940, British Privy Councilor, Letter to the London Times in the Run Up to WWI, August 3, 1914
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
1914 was the outbreak of WWI in which all the belligerents had very different interests and reasons for war—even allies on the same side greatly differed as to their motivation for fighting.
This was very much a minority opinion at the time, and has much historical significance as he was the father of the British Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, 1869-1940, whose appeasement of Germany led to Word War II. . See {585941}.
stating that war was obsolete See {640087} for the quotation of exactly what Angell wrote.
Germany had just attacked Russia with whom it had a treaty. For a while, Hitler paid little attention to Italy and just gave their “ally” orders and instructions. Italian public opinion was concerned about the same question. See {627973} .
Hobson, like Mark Twain in America, was a major critic of imperialism.
Berger was actually prosecuted, convicted, and sentenced to 20 years in prison, for this editorial. The House refused to seat him after the 1918 election (see {587981}); his constituents re-elected him in 1920 anyway. Finally the Supreme Court overturned his conviction, and he was again seated in Congress.
See the American ambassador’s assessment after the war began {41089}
Sir Guy Douglas Arthur Fleetwood Wilson GCIE KCB KCMG PC was a British public servant who served in British India for more than half a century.
