Resentment of the “slackers” and “profiteers” behind the lines increasingly embittered the outlook of the front-line soldier; his faith both in the civilian leadership that had been unable to avert the catastrophe of general war, and in the military leadership which seemed incapable of winning it, turned into doubt, then into cynical revolt or despair. The myth of the bungling or heartless “brass hat,” ruthlessly throwing away the lives of his men, was born. It was to reach full flower after the war in books and plays like Robert Graves’ Goodbye to All That, Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to
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