D. H. Lawrence wrote Movements in European History as the result of a commission by Oxford University Press for a textbook for schools. He took on the commission in 1918 as the result of adversity. The First World War led to a difficult literary marketplace, and the banning of his novel The Rainbow in 1915 had damaged Lawrence’s reputation. The request came when he was living in Derbyshire, in a period when he needed financial support from family, friends and literary funds to supplement the meagre sums he could earn from his writing. He had moved there after being expelled from Cornwall, a restricted area in wartime. The scandalous author and his German wife were suspected of signalling to passing German submarines. Friends who were aware of Lawrence’s situation did what they could to help....
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Citation: Booth, Howard J.. "Movements in European History". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 29 August 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3435, accessed 14 December 2025.]
