Postcard of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Kaiser Franz Joseph, in the Secessionist style. Kaiser Wilhelm is wearing the uniform and shako of the Death's Head Hussars.

Völkerkrieg (people's war)

1914; In Treue Fest



People's War

Firm in Loyalty

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Tuesday, December 1, 1914

"Yesterday morning we spent visiting soup kitchens, milk stations, and the distributing centres for supplying old clothes to the poor. The whole thing is under one organisation and most wonderfully handled. It is probably the biggest thing of the sort that has ever been undertaken and is being done magnificently.

It is a curious thing to watch the Commission [for Relief in Belgium] grow. It started as nothing but a group of American mining engineers with the sympathetic aid of some of our diplomatic representatives and the good-will of the neutral world. It is rapidly growing into a powerful international entity, negotiating agreements with the Great Powers of Europe, enjoying rights that no Government enjoys, and as the warring governments come to understand its sincerity and honesty, gaining influence and authority day by day."

Quotation Context

Excerpt from the December 2, 1914 entry from the journal of Hugh Gibson, Secretary to the American Legation in Brussels, Belgium. By September, 1914, serious food shortages had developed in Belgium, and Gibson had been working with the Spanish ambassador and the German authorities to import food for the civilian population. On October 5, Gibson met in London with 'Herbert Hoover, an American mining engineer,' (and later American President) who took the lead of the American Relief Committee. Throughout October, Gibson met with the Committee for the Provisioning of Belgium, with the German authorities in Brussels, and with the British in London to negotiate agreement for the transport of food.

Source

A Journal from our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson, page 321, copyright © Copyright, 1917, by Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Doubleday, Page & Company, publication date: 1917

Tags

1914-12-01, 1914, December, Gibson, Commission for Relief in Belgium, Belgian Relief Commission