ABSTRACT
R. H. Tawney lived through the 'world crisis' of the First World War as a socialist, as a soldier, and above all, as a Christian. The key words in this appeal: concentration, obedience, discipline, duty, took on a new and specific meaning for Tawney during the First World War. Their religious as well as military reference reveal his belief in the need to transform the wartime state into a church militant. Tawney arrived at his decision to support the Allied cause and to enlist in the British Army after careful reflection. The point of fighting, ultimately, was to survive, and by surviving to achieve what he saw as a moral authority that could be applied positively to the re-making of English society. Tawney's brother-in-law William Beveridge had little difficulty in supporting the war, but the two men shared few beliefs or prejudices. Tawney's war ultimately was a struggle between ideas which were personified as nations.
