France at War - On the Frontier of Civilization

By Rudyard Kipling

This early work by Rudyard Kipling was originally published in 1915 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introductory biography. Kipling began working for the War Propaganda Bureau in late 1914. The impressions displayed in 'France at War - On the Frontier of Civilization' were written after a tour of the Western Front in 1915. Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865 in Bombay, India, where he lived until the age of six, when his family took him back to England for schooling. Between 1882 and 1886, Kipling wrote profusely. In 1892, Kipling married Caroline Balestier and the couple moved to Vermont. Their two daughters were born there and is also where Kipling wrote his famous The Jungle Book (1894). Despite having turned down many honours in his lifetime, including a knighthood and the poet laureateship, in 1907, he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first English author to be so honoured. In 1915, his son, John, went missing in action during the Battle of Loos. Having played a major role in getting the chronically short-sighted John accepted for military service, Kipling had great difficulty accepting his son's death and subsequently wrote an account of his regiment, The Irish Guards in the Great War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: White Press
• Release date: Dec 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781473398603

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was the author of The Jungle Book, Captains Courageous, and Kim.

Book preview

FRANCE AT WAR -

On the Frontier of Civilization

by

RUDYARD KIPLING

Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.

This book is copyright and may not be

reproduced or copied in any way without

the express permission of the publisher in writing

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Contents

FRANCE AT WAR - On the Frontier of Civilization

Rudyard Kipling

FRANCE BY RUDYARD KIPLING

ON THE FRONTIER OF CIVILIZATION

AN OBSERVATION POST

THE BARBARIAN

SOLDIERS IN CAVES

THE SENTINEL HOUNDS

WORK IN THE FIELDS

A WRECKED TOWN

IN THE CATHEDRAL

II. THE NATION’S SPIRIT AND A NEW INHERITANCE

THE LINE THAT NEVER SLEEPS

FAMOUS FRENCH 75’s

LESSON FROM THE BOCHE

TRAGEDY OF RHEIMS

IRON NERVE AND FAITH

III. BATTLE SPECTACLE AND A REVIEW

FARM LIFE AMIDST WAR

WATCHING THE GUN-FIRE

BEHIND THE GERMAN LINES

VETERANS OF THE WAR

AN ARMY IN MOTION

ARTILLERY AND CAVALRY

THE BOCHE AS MR. SMITH

IV. THE SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE

A CITY AND WOMAN

FRENCH OFFICERS

FRONT THAT NEVER SLEEPS

THE BUSINESS OF WAR

A CONTRAST IN TYPES

V. LIFE IN TRENCHES ON THE MOUNTAIN SIDE

TRENCHES

IN THE FRONT LINE

FRONT LINE PROFESSIONALS

HANDY TRENCH-SWEEPERS

A BOMBARDED TOWN

CASES FOR HOSPITAL

VI. THE COMMON TASK OF A GREAT PEOPLE

SUPPORTS AND RESERVES

PARIS—AND NO FOREIGNERS

A PEOPLE TRANSFIGURED

THE NEW WAR

A NATION’S CONFIDENCE

Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling was born in 1865 in Bombay, India. Amongst his family members he could number not only the famous painters Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Sir Edward Poynter, but also Stanley Baldwin, a future Prime Minister. Kipling lived in India until the age of six, when his family took him back to England for schooling.

In 1872, Kipling began boarding with the Holloway family in Southsea. Between 1878 and 1882, Kipling attended the United Services College at Westward Ho! in northern Devon. Nearsighted and physically frail, he was once again teased and bullied. However, it was also here that he developed a love of literature. Near the end of his stay at the school, it was decided that he lacked the academic ability to get into Oxford University on a scholarship, and so Kipling’s father secured a job for him in Lahore, Punjab (now Pakistan), working as the assistant editor of The Civil & Military Gazette.

Between 1882 and 1886, Kipling wrote profusely. His first volume of poetry, Departmental Ditties, was published in 1886. He followed this with a vast amount of short stories: in 1888, he published six collections of short stories: Soldiers Three, The Story of the Gadsbys, In Black and White, Under the Deodars, The Phantom Rickshaw, and Wee Willie Winkie.

Following a dispute over pay, Kipling was discharged from The Pioneer in early 1889. Following this, he returned to London, the literary centre of the British Empire, where he was already a growing popular and critical success from afar. Over the next two years, he published a novel, The Light that Failed, had a nervous breakdown, and met an American writer and publishing agent, Wolcott Balestier, with whom he collaborated on a novel, The Naulahka.

In 1892, Kipling married Caroline Balestier, the sister of an American friend, and the couple moved to Vermont in the United States, where her family lived. Their two daughters were born there and Kipling wrote his famous The Jungle Book (1894). In 1896, a quarrel with his wife’s family prompted Kipling to move back to England and he settled with his own family in Sussex. His son John was born in 1897.

By now Kipling had become an immensely popular writer and poet for children and adults. His subsequent publications included Stalky and Co. (1899), Kim (1901) and Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906). Despite having turned down many honours in his lifetime, including a knighthood and the poet laureateship, in 1907, he accepted the Nobel Prize for Literature, the first English author to be so honoured.

In 1915, his son, John, went missing in action during the Battle of Loos. Having played a major role in getting the chronically short-sighted John accepted for military service, Kipling had great difficulty accepting his son’s death and subsequently wrote an account of his regiment, The Irish Guards in the Great War. He also joined the Imperial War Graves Commission and selected the biblical phrase inscribed on many British war memorials: Their Name Liveth For Evermore.

Kipling kept writing until the early thirties, but at a slower pace and with much less success than before. He died in 1936, at the age of 70, and is buried at Westminster Abbey.