Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was the first English author to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907. Controversial even during his lifetime, Kipling was primarily known for his masterful stories, being a literary impressionist trained by models such as Maupassant, with a keen eye for the brutality of life, particularly in the Indian colonial empire. This is also true for the present "Soldier Stories," which are connected to Kipling's 1890 published poem cycle "Barrack Room Ballads," whose artfully proletarian tone significantly influenced Bert Brecht.