In which war did J.R.R. Tolkien serve as a signals officer?

J.R.R. Tolkien served as a signals officer in World War I.

Tolkien served in the British Army during the First World War. After studying at Oxford and completing officer training, he was commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1915. He served as a second lieutenant and worked as a signals officer, responsible for communications in difficult battlefield conditions.

He was sent to France in 1916 and took part in the Battle of the Somme. Tolkien became ill with trench fever later that year and was returned to England. His wartime experience affected him deeply, although specific one-to-one interpretations of Middle-earth should be treated cautiously rather than presented as direct allegories.

Many of Tolkien’s friends and fellow students were killed in the war. His experience of loss, endurance, fellowship, and devastated landscapes contributed to the emotional background of his writing, alongside his interests in language, myth, and medieval literature.