"The Three Horsemen of Apocalypse"

“The Three Horsemen of Apocalypse” is a curious story by G.K. Chesterton about the Prussians having too many men follow orders too closely. The short story is found in a collection called “The Paradoxes of Mr. Pond.” The main story of interest concerning the Prussians and Polish is told primarily in quotes by Mr. Pond even though the story opens from the perspective of a young boy whose father knows Mr. Pond. The story is presented as a riddle. The first time through, Mr. Pond only tells a slice of the story, which does not make much sense to his audience, who then request that he tell the whole tale. Based on the title, it is no surprise that this first story in the collection contains several paradoxes. For instance, “Paul Petrowski was one of those utterly unpractical men who are of prodigious importance in practical politics.” At first sight, such quotations make no sense, but after Chesterton argues on for the next paragraph, his point, among many, that practical politicians always have practical objections and thus never accomplish anything makes more sense out of the initial nonsense. In fact, the main story of which Paul Petrowski is only a small part happens to be a paradox. How could it possible have cost the Prussians dearly to have a military that is too disciplined, obedient, and seamlessly constructed? “The Blue Cross’s” unexpected happenings and the paradoxes of “The Three Horsemen of Apocalypse” both involve twists of reality and a variety of fascinatingly unexpected arguments throughout. A prevailing trait of Chesterton’s writing seems to be his desire to turn matters on their head. The question remains, however, whether he does this for specific ends or merely for entertaining and witty writing. Based on the political and moral tidbits found in these stories, I would argue that the answer is both.