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Publitsistikakogumiku «Sõjamõtteid» ilmumise 1919. a. võib paigutada enam-vähem A. H. Tammsaare (1878–1940) neljakümne aastaseks saamise murrangukohale. Lähtudes Esimese maailmasõja kogemusest ütles Tammsaare oma seisukohad selgelt välja, ta kasutas avalikkuse ette jõudmiseks kõiki selle aja võimalusi, avaldades oma artikleid päevalehtedes. Neid tekste praegu üle lugedes tekib sügav austus ka tollaste ajalehetoimetuste vastu, kes sõjaseisukorras viibiva suurriigi tsensuurist hoolimata avaldamisvõimaluse andsid. Nõnda said Eesti maailmasõja ajal Tammsaare artiklitest Tallinna ajalehtede juhtkirjad, mis pakkusid tavalise sõjakroonika laiemat analüüsi ja sügavamat mõistmist. Autor lisas oma raamatu lõpuossa ka viis ilukirjandusliku koega ja ajalehtedes ilmumata lugu. «Eesti mõtteloo» 170. köitele, mis on «Sõjamõtete» kui tervikkogumiku teine väljaanne ühtede kaante vahel, on järelsõna kirjutanud Peeter Järvelaid.
Author
A.H. Tammsaare, born Anton Hansen, was an Estonian writer whose pentalogy Truth and Justice (Tõde ja õigus; 1926 – 1933) is considered one of the major works of Estonian literature and "The Estonian Novel". Tammsaare was born in 1878 into a farming family. He attended secondary school in Tartu from 1898 to 1903 and from 1903 to 1905 he worked as an editor at the Tallinn newspaper, Teataja. In Tallinn he was able to witness the Russian Revolution of 1905. In 1907 he enrolled as a law student at Tartu University, but in 1911 he was unable to sit his finals, as he became very ill with tuberculosis. He was moved to Sochi on the Black Sea and then to the Caucasus Mountains, where his condition improved. On his return to Estonia, he lived for six years on his brother's farm where he was again affected by illness. Unable to work, he threw himself into his studies and mastered English, French, Finnish and Swedish. After his marriage in 1920 he moved to Tallinn and embarked on the most productive period of his life. His greatest influences were the Russian classics of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Gogol, butt his work also shows the influence of Oscar Wilde, Knut Hamsun and Andre Gide. He occupies a central place in the development of the Estonian novel and is a figure of European significance.
