The Path of Peace: Walking the Western Front Way

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In 2009, he set up The Wellington Academy, the first state school to carry the name of its founding independent school. Photograph: The Print Collector/Heritage Images/Getty View image in fullscreen Anthony Seldon’s ‘strikingly tormented book’ follows in the footsteps of great war soldiers. It is not a history book of the First World War and there are some nitpicking things which I could say were not quite correct, but while this book will undoubtedly interest students of WWI it is not a history of the war.

The links and sequences between the great battles are shown, thereby making it much easier to understand their history, much better than in any larger and more comprehensive presentation. The initiative “Western Front Way” aims at making it possible to walk the length of the Western Front of the Great War, to walk in the memory of the “Silent Witnesses” lying on both sides of the front. For me it was as if there was too much packed into it, and it was distracting to have had the book manoeuvred into such a personal shape.

An very interesting read on several levels: in addition to the many trials and tribulations of establishing this route (1000 km / 600 miles), Anthony Seldon weaves in much of his personal life which into the walk. There’s a lot more on this subject, with facts and figures, which I’m not good at retaining, and some interesting points about how much, by contrast, World War Two meant to Americans, including the role of Hollywood in its promulgation. This described his dream of creating a commemorative path after the war, along no man’s land all the way from Switzerland to the Channel. This was given to me as a birthday present, and was the first of Seldon's books I've read (he has written or co-written many, mostly political). He was the 13th Master (headmaster) of Wellington College, one of Britain's co-educational independent boarding schools.

In a 'warts and all' description of a gruelling hike, Sheldon captures the sheer scale of both the conflict and the casualties along with its continuing connection to the landscape and lives of people today.A deeply informed meditation on the First World War, an exploration of walking's healing power, a formidable physical achievement.

Very moving and I do hope this dream becomes a reality as a lasting monument for unnecessary deaths. We use Google Analytics to see what pages are most visited, and where in the world visitors are visiting from. Some of his problems, Seldon now suspects, can be traced back to the psychological aftershocks of the great war. Passing through rebuilt towns and cities, destroyed villages, numerous memorials and remains of trenches and shell craters, Seldon paints a vivid picture of the bloody campaigns.Yet even if it is unlikely to usher in an era of world peace, as Seldon occasionally tries to convince himself and us, there is something noble and impressive in the goal of realising Gillespie’s Western Front Way. Seldon was knighted in the 2014 Birthday Honours for services to education and modern political history.

My only criticism would be - not enough to knock a star off - was the quality of the photographic reproduction. To support the “Western Front Way”-initiative the author in the late summer of 2021 set out to walk the whole length “from the Vosges to the sea” . As his journey involved a lot of walking along busy roads I thought it did not paint the Western Front Way in the best light and I hope its final route is a bit more rural. For the reasons stated above, a similar book from the German point of view, alas, will not be forthcoming. this would be a 'Via Sacra' which would provide a pilgrimage route to enable the inhabitants of Western Europe to 'think and learn what war means.His walk had echoes of the exploits of nineteenth century explorers - not only did he undertake it when most of us weren't travelling because of the Covid pandemic, it seemed to involve very vague planning, carrying no paper maps, and the mad inspiration of not taking any spare clothing to reduce the weight of stuff to carry. With an interest in WW1 and particularly the Western Front, having followed my grandfather’s diaries around the Ypres salient, I found this most informative and filled many historical gaps in areas I haven’t visited. Memories of the Civil War were still vivid; this, not the 1917-18 war, was to Americans, their own ‘Great War’. Douglas Gillespie, somewhat oddly writing to his old school headmaster, expresses a wish that 'when peace comes, our government might combine with the French government to make one long Avenue between the lines from the Vosges to the sea. Any student of the history of WWI could use this book to recapitulate in short form the battles of the Western Front and their distinctive elements.