History WarIsHell / Literature

* ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'' is a surprisingly dark Literature/{{Discworld}} novel dealing with war. Topics include execution of prisoners of war, intentional friendly fire, rape and murder of civilians, corruption in the supply chains, starvation, field surgery, mental illness, etc.
** "Discworld/NightWatch" is another novel from the series which becomes a very dark condemnation of war, but where 'Monstrous Regiment' was a response to long-term meaningless border squabbles (along with sexism and religious extremism), 'Night Watch' dealt with meaningless ''[[TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified revolutions]]''. The main theme is the tragedy of good people giving up their lives, hoping for a better future, only for the terrible leaders manipulating them to lead to a FullCircleRevolution.
** "Discworld/{{Jingo}}" comes down hard that War, any war, is a ''Crime'', resulting in Vimes arresting both armies.

* ''Literature/TheAngloSaxonChronicle'' partially subverts the assertion on the main page that "not many" of the common people could write about their experiences, or knew anyone who could write that cared. Its entry for the year 1137 is a harrowing litany of the horrors experienced by great and humble alike in the anarchy associated with the dynastic war between Stephen and Maud, rivals for the crown.

* Creator/WilfredOwen's poems. The most famous example is probably ''Dulce et Decorum Est'', which happens to be loaded with enough horror and powerful messages to completely convince someone that war is an awful thing.

* ''Sarny'' takes place during and after UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar. It doesn't sugarcoat the events. Sarny comes across numerous soldiers from both sides (many who were [[ChildSoldiers only teenagers]]), civilians, and horses brutally injured or dead because of the war. One chapter has her and Lucy staying with four dying soldiers who were shot in the stomach. It took them less than two days to die. Another has them come across an [[RapePillageAndBurn abandoned house]] where everyone was killed [[SoleSurvivor except]] for a toddler who is too traumatized after the events to speak.

* Zigzaged all over the place in Literature/TheHeroes. The author explains in the foreword that he didn't just want to show that War is Hell, but to explore why it nevertheless has such a hold on human imagination. Thus, we get to see both the stupidity and waste and horror of it and the way it can [[BloodKnight turn men into monsters,]] but also examples of how it brings out the best in some people, and how the constant danger and [[TrueCompanions the bonds among soldiers]] can be so addictive as to make someone who's gotten used to them feel like a peaceful civilian life is hardly worth living.

* ''Dogfight--1973'' by Mack Reynolds. Used for the punchline of this 1953 sci-fi story; TheReveal is that the dogfight is actually being fought by remote piloted drones, and the war is hell because he'll be late for dinner because of the debriefing. Becomes HarsherInHindsight given the use of drones now, not to mention all-too-real air combat was taking place in the Middle East in 1973.

* ''Dogfight--1973'' by Mack Reynolds. Used for the punchline of this sci-fi story; TheReveal is that the dogfight is actually being fought by remote piloted drones, and the war is hell because he'll be late for dinner because of the debriefing. Becomes HarsherInHindsight given the use of drones now, not to mention all-too-real air combat was taking place in the Middle East in 1973.

* ''Dogfight--1973'' by Mack Reynolds. Used for the punchline of this sci-fi story; TheReveal is that the dogfight is actually being fought by remote piloted drones, and the war is hell because he's going to miss out on his wife's dinner because of the debriefing. Becomes HarsherInHindsight given the use of drones now, not to mention all-too-real air combat was taking place in the Middle East in 1973.

* The non-fiction ''Literature/StormOfSteel'', a [[UsefulNotes/ImperialGermany Imperial German]] officer's account of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, is a pretty gruelling account of what day to day life was like for the average soldier. Unlike many other people writing about this particular war, the author doesn't see it as a brutal and pointless slaughter. While he often fears for his life, and would of course prefer not to have to kill anyone, he nevertheless seems to portray combat as a kind of boys' own adventure, not "fun," exactly, but still very exciting and preferable to dull civilian life, making ''Storm of Steel'' in some ways a subversion despite all the horrible things described in it.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' and ''Literature/CodexAlera'' books (both by JimButcher) employ this trope in UrbanFantasy and HighFantasy settings. While the combat provides many opportunities for the protagonists to do no end of [[Awesome/TheDresdenFiles ridiculously]] [[Awesome/CodexAlera awesome]] things, neither do the books shy away from showing how much mental and physical damage conflict does both to the combatants and the civilians. While various candidates for BigBad may use war for their own ambition, they never believe WarIsGlorious (and anyone who does espouse that mindset is either seen as an idiot or is deliberately using it to manipulate others) and however cool the battles may be, the books do not for a moment suggest that the awesomeness outweighs the suffering and brutality.

** Unusually, the series also addresses how the ''end'' of warfare is also Hell, with the too-abrupt cessation of hostilities causing an economic and racial upheaval, a wave of authoritarian crackdowns by the government, and a new generation of upper-class snots who've never learned that ''they'' bleed as easily as the underclasses. And that's for the nation that ''won'' the war: the opposing empire is rumored to have fallen into complete chaos, with former troops pillaging their own homeland or languishing as permanent POWs because their rulers are in too much disarray to petition for their release.

* Almost any ''Franchise/{{Starcraft}}'' novel where the main characters are soldiers will have this as one of its themes. The notable examples are ''Speed of Darkness'' (in which a forcibly-conscripted Confederate marine takes part in one of the first engagements with the Zerg) and ''Heaven's Devils'', featuring Jim Raynor as a fresh Confederate recruit who bought into the WarIsGlorious propaganda before finding out for himself that it's far from it. The latter case actually takes place ''before'' the game's storyline and features the war between the Confederacy of Man and the Kel-Morian Combine, with both governments being full of corruption and greed. There is plenty of both heroic and senseless deaths (such as one of the main characters' LoveInterest being suddenly shot [[EyeScream through the eye]] by a sniper).

* DaleBrown tears strips out of ElitesAreMoreGlamorous in his works. You may be a member of a top secret unit with the BiggerStick, but the numbers will always be on the enemy's side. Plan for every contingency, do your best, and at best the enemy will still get licks in. At worst, friends and trusted comrades will die. Succeed and no one will know your name; fail and at best you die, at worst you are disavowed, thrown to the wolves of public opinion as a sacrifice by uncaring superiors. War is never pretty even from behind a drone control station.

* ''Literature/TheAngloSaxonChronicle'' partially subverts the assertion on the main page that "not many" of the common people could write about their experiences, or knew anyone who could write that cared. Its entry for the year 1137 is a harrowing litany of the horrors experienced by great and humble alike in the anarchy associated with the dynastic war between Stephen and Maud, rivals for the crown. ''"They were all forsworn, and forgetful of their troth... Then took they those whom they supposed to have any goods, both by night and by day, labouring men and women, and threw them into prison for their gold and silver, and inflicted on them unutterable tortures.... This lasted the nineteen winters while Stephen was king; and it grew continually worse and worse. They constantly laid guilds on the towns, and called it "tenserie"; and when the wretched men had no more to give, then they plundered and burned all the towns; that well thou mightest go a whole day's journey and never shouldest thou find a man sitting in a town, nor the land tilled. Then was corn dear, and flesh, and cheese, and butter; for none was there in the land. Wretched men starved of hunger. Some had recourse to alms, who were for a while rich men, and some fled out of the land. Never yet was there more wretchedness in the land; nor ever did heathen men worse than they did: for, after a time, they spared neither church nor churchyard, but took all the goods that were therein, and then burned the church and all together."''