Henri Barbusse

Henri Barbusse (1873–1935) enlisted in the French army in 1914 and served against Germany in World War I. Invalided out of the army three times, he served in the war for seventeen months, until the end of 1915, when he was permanently moved into a clerical position due to pulmonary damage, exhaustion, and dysentery. Barbusse first came to fame with the 1917 publication of his novel Le Feu (translated by William Fitzwater Wray as Under Fire), which was based on his experiences during World War I. By this time, Barbusse had become a pacifist, and his writing demonstrated his growing hatred of militarism. He then moved to Moscow for a time, married a Russian woman, and joined the French Communist Party.