The Lessons of War: The Experiences of Seven Future Leaders in the First World War

William Van der Kloot examines the experiences of seven future national leaders during the World War I. Adolf Hitler served on the Western Front for four years; Charles de Gaulle was bayoneted and captured at Verdun; Benito Mussolini was so badly wounded that he was discharged as a hero; Gustav Mannerheim was a cavalry commander who fought on the Eastern Front; Mustafa Kemal Atatürk commanded a division at the Battle of Gallipoli; Harold Macmillan was wounded at Loos and again at the Somme; and Herbert Hoover, although a civilian, organized humanitarian relief in German-occupied Europe, especially Belgium. Combining information gleaned from memoirs, diaries, biographies, and regimental histories, this book illustrates how these experiences formed them into the men remembered by history.

William Van der Kloot is a retired American biology professor now living in south England. He studied at Harvard and Cambridge universities and taught at Harvard, Cornell, NYU and Stony Brook, where he is now Distinguished Professor Emeritus. As well as numerous scientific works, he has previously written articles on the energy balance of the German people during the blockade of 1914 1919, weapons of mass destruction and the academic-industrial-military complex and the development of sound-ranging during World War I.