Follett suggests that war is needless and devastating. His choice to present characters from a number of the different countries involved helps to establish that devastation, mismanagement, and tragedy were universal experiences for soldiers involved in the war. The reader is not intended to be left favoring either the Allies or the Central Powers but instead simply mourning the immense casualties and trauma this catastrophic war brought for all involved.

Walter describes the British bombardment of the German lines as living in “hell” (478). The bombing is so intense the reverberations can be felt in London; Maud is awoken by their London house shaking. Soon after, Billy runs into no-man’s-land at the Battle of the Somme, and he sees the ground is littered with the corpses of thousands of men. “Khaki-clad bodies floated in the scummy water” of shell holes (497). Joey Ponti, Billy’s friend from Aberowen, is shot in the head and killed. Billy expects at any moment to be “shot through the skull” (494). Chuck Dixon, Gus Dewar’s friend from Buffalo, is tragically and horrifically blown apart by a German shell during the first minute of their first battle. Grigori also witnesses horrific and tragic loss of life in the Russian army.