Which war is cited as shaping themes of heroism and warfare in The Hobbit?

The First World War is cited as shaping themes of heroism and warfare in The Hobbit.

Tolkien served on the Western Front in 1916, where he experienced trench warfare before illness sent him home. Scholars have connected that experience with the novel’s treatment of courage, battle, destruction and the limits of conventional heroism. Bilbo is drawn from a sheltered rural home into a distant conflict, while the Battle of Five Armies unfolds amid a damaged, desolate landscape.

The influence is thematic rather than a direct allegory. Tolkien generally resisted one-to-one readings of Middle-earth, and The Hobbit also draws heavily on Old English, Norse and fairy-tale traditions. Its war echoes are therefore blended with older heroic storytelling, including ideas of honour, loyalty and the costs of greed.

A common mix-up is the Second World War, which began after The Hobbit was published in 1937. Tolkien’s personal military experience belonged to the First World War, also called the Great War, making that the canonical answer.