The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 found Tolkien in a difficult position, as he delayed joining the British Army to complete his degree, a decision that drew public scorn from his relatives. He eventually enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1915, and by 1916, he was deployed to the Western Front, where he experienced the horrors of trench warfare firsthand. The Battle of the Somme, in which Tolkien participated, was a devastating experience that left him with trench fever and a deep sense of loss, as many of his closest friends, including members of the Tea Club and Barrovian Society, were killed in action. The war's brutality and the senseless destruction of life would profoundly influence Tolkien's later works, particularly The Lord of the Rings, where the themes of corruption, power, and the cost of war are central. The trauma of the war also led Tolkien to begin writing The Book of Lost Tales, an attempt to create a mythology for England that would never be completed but would form the foundation of his legendarium. The war's impact on Tolkien was so profound that he later described it as a time when he felt an affinity for the working-class soldiers he commanded, despite the rigid class structures of the military.