J. R. R. Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings between 1937 and 1949, overlapping with the period from 1939 to 1945 when England was at war with Nazi Germany and its allies. Tolkien was a veteran of World War I, and many critics have discussed the impact that his own experiences in war had upon his literary work. Tolkien denied that The Lord of the Rings trilogy was meant to be an allegory for World War II, writing in the forward to the second edition of his books:

[…] the real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion. If it had inspired or directed the development of the legend, then certainly the Ring would have been seized and used against Sauron; he would not have been annihilated but enslaved, and Barad-dûr would not have been destroyed but occupied… in that conflict both sides would have held hobbits in hatred and contempt: they would not long have survived even as slaves (xvii).

Tolkien’s forward indicates his attitude toward the real war being fought during the time in which he wrote The Lord of the Rings. In his statement, he is critical of his own home country for focusing more on seizing power rather than destroying evil.