# Homer Lea — The Great Illusion character guide

> Homer Lea in The Great Illusion by Norman Angell.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Mr. Lea, Mr. Homer Lea

**First appearance:** 0003-the-great-illusion

## Snapshot

American geopolitician whose warnings about invasion and imperial collapse give Angell the alarmist claims his economic argument must dismantle piece by piece.

## Who they are

Lea belongs to the chorus of writers whose fears of conquest and national ruin Angell quotes in order to refute. His vision of invasion as an existential threat collides with Angell's insistence that modern credit and trade make such devastation commercially suicidal. By putting Lea's anxieties on the page, Angell gives readers a concrete target: the superstition that military conquest can still pay.

## Relationships

### [Norman Angell](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/characters/norman_angell)

_rivalry_

Lea's apocalyptic warnings about Asian conquest conflicted with Angell's optimistic internationalism, making them intellectual adversaries.

### [General Bernhardi](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/characters/general_bernhardi)

_friendship_

Both were militarists who shared a belief in the inevitability and necessity of war, possibly citing each other's works approvingly.

### [Robert Blatchford](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/characters/robert_blatchford)

_friendship_

Both were proponents of military preparedness and saw threats from foreign powers, aligning in their alarmist views.

## In the story

### [The Great Illusion](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/chapters/the-great-illusion)

Mentioned as a proponent of the view that war is a natural and necessary part of national life, which the author critiques.

### [The Psychological Case for War](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/chapters/i-the-psychological-case-for-war)

American soldier whose work argues that war is inevitable and that international arbitration is a foolish attempt to thwart universal natural laws.

### [Unchanging Human Nature](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/chapters/iii-unchanging-human-nature)

Cited as a militarist writer who laments the decline of military spirit in America, but whose complaints are similar to those in other nations.

### [IV: Do the Warlike Nations Inherit the Earth?](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/chapters/iv-do-the-warlike-nations-inherit-the-earth)

Quoted as a primary proponent of the view that military vigor is the strength of nations and that the law of struggle is universal and unalterable.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/characters/homer_lea
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_great_illusion_se/characters