 |
A prolific writer, Veale was a regular contributor to The Nineteenth Century and After, a respected British monthly review. In addition to articles on economic and historical questions, he wrote four books, including The Man from the Volga: A Life of Lenin (1932), Frederick the Great (1935), and Crimes Discreetly Veiled (1958).
For years he lived in Brighton, England, where he also worked as a solicitor (attorney).
Certainly his most important and influential work was Advance to Barbarism, which was issued in several editions, including in Spanish and German. The first English-language edition appeared under the pen name “A. Jurist.”
This eloquent work traces the evolution of warfare from primitive savagery to the rise of a “civilized” code of armed conflict that was first threatened in the US civil war, and again in the First World War, and was finally shattered during the Second World War.
The ensuing “War Crimes Trials” at Nuremberg and Tokyo, and their more numerous and barbaric imitations in Communist-controlled eastern Europe, Veale argues, established the perilous principle that “the most serious war crime is to be on the losing side.”
Advance to Barbarism earned praise from some of the most astute thinkers of the age.
Max Eastman: “This is a relentlessly truth speaking book. The truths it speaks are bitter, but of paramount importance if civilization is to survive.”
Norman Thomas: “I have read the book with deep interest and enthusiasm. It is original in its approach to modern warfare, cogent and convincing… His indictment of modern warfare and post-war trials must stand.”
Harry Elmer Barnes: “The best general work on the Nuremberg Trials. It not only reveals the illegality, fundamental immorality and hypocrisy of these trials, but also shows how they are bound to make any future world wars (or any important wars) far more brutal and destructive to life and property. A very readable and impressive volume and a major contributor to any rational peace movement.”
J. F. C. Fuller called it “a very outstanding book,” and Lord Hankey, who had served as Secretary to the Imperial War Cabinet during the First World War, contributed a foreword.
The Seventh IHR Conference (1986) was dedicated to Veale’s life and work.
(July 2006)