The Totality of War

Abstract

The war the American combat soldiers encountered overseas proved so total in nature that it appeared to have tainted everyone and to have contaminated even the smallest corner. On the one hand, the GIs witnessed with dismay how Europe’s civilians could not be stopped from interfering with the business of warfare. On the other hand, they also watched in frustration how war could not be prevented from engulfing all of Europe’s society. As a result, whether the American combat soldiers were fighting in the front lines or resting in the rear, they never had a chance to form a reliable picture of how Europe might have looked under the normal conditions of peace.