Forging a Peaceable Kingdom: War, Violence, and Fear of Brutalization in Post–First World War Britain

This article is concerned with three key moments during which fears about “brutalization” proved especially intense in Britain after the First World War. These moments are the urban riots and disorder of 1919, the furor over the punishment of Brigadier General Dyer for his part in the Amritsar massacre in India (1920), and reactions to the bloody cycle of violence in Ireland during 1920–21. The article also examines other facets of the tumultuous postwar period that encapsulated this all-pervading fear of “brutalization”: most notably, fears associated with the unparalleled industrial unrest of 1919–21, with the general indifference to the mass famine caused by Britain’s naval blockade of Central Europe in early 1919, and, with the violent behavior of ex-service-men. In all these cases, the author argues, the perception of turbulent postwar events was shaped by fears about “brutalization”—fears that the barbarism of war had left an indelible mark on British society.