A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
ALTHOUGH theoretically there is such a thing as Total War, in which sll the citizens of all the belligerents are exposed to roughly equal dangers and sacrifices, you have only to compare the experiences in recent years of the residents of New York and London, Vladivostok and Warsaw, Pusan and Pyongyang to see that Total War is in some sense a misnomer. No modern war has been—except for the five million inhabitants 6f North Korea—less '" total" than the war in Korea; in no modern war (unless you .count the Chaco) has the burden fallen so exclusively on the shoulders of the men who fought it. They would not have had it otherwise, for danger,' hardship and monotony are not made easier to endure by the knowledge that your home and family are being bombarded from the air but it is odd how small has been the interest, and how perfunctory the pride, that most of us have taken in their efforts. Almost throughout its course (which admittedly has been uneventful for long Periods) the attention focussed on Korea has been focussed on abstractions and imponderables—on issues, implications, possible repercussions. If we were all statesmen, this would have been natural and proper; but most of us are nothing of the sort, and it may be because we have spared so little thought for the bloody heart of the matter that we have received the news of the cease-fire so listlessly.
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