The Allied tortoise climbs the victory podium ahead of the German hare. A postcard by F. Sancha from between March 1916 when Portugal entered the war, and April 1917, when the United States (not included) did. The card was printed in England for a Portuguese audience. Sancha produced other war postcards based on Aesop's fables. The German officer bears containers including poison (veneno) and inflammables. The Allied tortoise bears carries conventional weapons for Japan, Belgium, England, France, Russia, Italy, Serbia, and Portugal. Allied productive capacity, including that of poison gas, would eventually far outpace that of the Central Powers. © London

Reverse:

A tartaruga e o lebre

O lebre e a tartaruga que competem na corrida; o lebre leva a dianteira no principio, rindo-se do seu adversario ronceiro; mas afinal das contas é a laboriosa tartaruga que ganha a corrida;

Mercê dos preparativos organisados annos antes da guerra, a Alemanha levou a dianteira aos Aliados, no principio; mas tendo hoje os Aliados munições a fartar, sāo elles que já divisam o triunfo.



As Fabulas de Æsopo Modernisadas.



Copyright London

Printed in England.



The tortoise and the hare

The hare and the tortoise competing in the race; the hare takes the lead in the beginning, laughing at his stubborn adversary; but after all it is the laborious turtle that wins the race;

Throughout the preparatory years before the war, Germany led the Allies in the beginning; but now the Allies have plenty of ammunition, they are the ones who already see triumph.



Modernised Aesop's Fables

Other views: Larger, Back

Tuesday, October 29, 1918

"— The 29th. Since last evening there has been a rumour that Austria is begging for a separate and unconditional peace. This time, people are displaying a certain lively satisfaction. No doubt the idea of Austria throwing herself on our mercy has carried people away. And likewise the reflection that Germany will be isolated. Officers in billets are drinking champagne. The troops wear a permanent grin ; the delight of waking up in the morning with the thought that they will not be killed within six months. . . . A headline of the Œuvre for the 29th : 'Ah ! If they had made only half the efforts to prevent war that they are now making to delay peace !'

— The 29th. Some people refuse to recognize the prevalence of influenza. To hear them, you would think that they applied the term influenza to any disease which proves fatal. They also declare : 'It is not so severe as the influenza of 1889.' This attitude is regarded as heroic.

— In Paris, during the present crisis, burials are conducted as late as midnight."

Quotation Context

Entry from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government writing in Paris on October 29, 1918. Austria-Hungary had requested an armistice on the 27th. Corday had long supported negotiating peace with Germany, and opposed carrying on the war to victory regardless of cost. Those who would 'delay peace,' such as French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, would not negotiate while the Allied advance of 1918 continued. Influenza struck during the spring and summer of 1918 as a three-day fever, but returned in the autumn in a more deadly form.

Source

The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 382, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934

Tags

1918-10-29, 1918, October, Paris, peace, influenza, influenza epidemic, influenza pandemic, flu, flu epidemic, flu pandemic, Austria-Hungary, separate peace, Sancha Tortoise and Hare