A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
On May 23, 1915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, its former ally as a member of the Triple Alliance. Clasping the hands of the German and Austro-Hungarian emperors Wilhelm II and Franz Josef, Italy's king Victor Emmanuel III conceals the tattered document behind his back.
Image text: Ihr Völker merkt für jetzt und späterSo schwor zum Dreibund der VerräterYour people note both now and later,Thus swore to the Triple Alliance the traitor.Reverse:Militäramtlich genehmigt (Officially approved by the military)Logo: EMM No. 9
A Turkish funeral with Turkish and German soldiers and officers attending and praying.
Image text: Türk[isches] BegräbnisTurkish funeral
British infantry, artillery, cavalry, and a tank, likely on the Arras front, 1917. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot 1918 Edition.
Image text: British troops going to relieve their comrades in the front line trenches. A British tank is seen at the extreme left© Underwood & Underwood
On one bank of a river, dismayed French, Russian, Italian, and British soldiers watch Bulgaria drift from its broken Russian leash to the opposite bank where German, Austrian and Turkish soldiers express satisfaction and delight. The river leads, in the distance, to Istanbul. Still held by British tethers (and moneybag) are Greece and Romania.
Image text: ЧЕТВОРНИЯ СЪЮЗЪQuadruple AllianceE. A. Schwerdtfeger & Co. A.G. Berlin N. 85
A medal suspended on a green triangular ribbon with red stripes, bleeds. The medal reads 'Laeso Militibi' (or 'Militiri') MDCCCCXVIII (1918). Beneath the medal is written 'M?gegy', Another, or One More.The image is based on the Austro-Hungarian wound medal which was instituted under Kaiser Karl whose profile is on the obverse. The red stripes indicate the number of wounds, three in this case. The actual medal reads 'Laeso Militi', To the Wounded Soldier (Latin), and shows the year as MCMXVIII.The card was sent to Franz Moritos, and is postmarked Budapest, Hungary, November 16, 1918.
Image text: A medal suspended on a green triangular ribbon with red stripes, bleeds. The medal reads 'Laeso Militibi' (or 'Militiri') MDCCCCXVIII (1918). Beneath the medal is written 'M?gegy', Another, or One More.The image is based on the Austro-Hungarian wound medal which was instituted under Kaiser Karl whose profile is on the obverse. The red stripes indicate the number of wounds, three in this case. The actual medal reads 'Laeso Militi', To the Wounded Soldier (Latin), and shows the year as MCMXVIII.The card was sent to Franz Moritos, and is postmarked Budapest, Hungary, November 16, 1918.
"The hostility of public opinion in Germany towards us is growing and is being fostered by false reports coming from Vienna and Budapest. Such reports are being diligently spread in spite of the contradictions issued by some newspapers and new agencies." ((1), more)
"Tschirschky: I frequently hear expressed here, even among serious people, the wish that at last a final and fundamental reckoning should be had with the Serbs.Kaiser Wilhelm: Now or never.Tschirschky: . . . I take opportunity of every such occasion to advise quietly but very impressively and seriously against too hasty steps.Kaiser Wilhelm: . . . it is solely the affair of Austria, what she plans to do in this case. . . . Let Tschirschky be good enough to drop this nonsense! The Serbs must be disposed of, and that right soon!" ((2), more)
"Thirty-six hours after our June success, at midnight in the night of June 29th-30th [1915], the Turks made a counter-attack, not at Cape Helles, where their men were shaken, but at Anzac, where perhaps they felt our menace most acutely. A large army of Turks, about 30,000 strong, ordered by Enver Pasha 'to drive the foreigners into the sea or never to look upon his face again,' attacked the Anzac position under cover of the fire of a great artillery. They were utterly defeated, with the loss of about a quarter of their strength, some seven to eight thousand killed and wounded." ((3), more)
"30th June [1916]Visit to the sector of the British 9th Division (General Hunter-Weston) at Ypres.The British Army, from its leaders down to the ranks themselves, gives the impression of being a power of the first order. They are excellent troops from the point of view of courage and discipline. They are perhaps a little inexperienced, but that is quickly remedied in wartime. Particularly striking are the order, the ready obedience and the outward gaiety of the men, and the fine physique and the bold and resolute attitude of the officers." ((4), more)
"With Russia slipping into civil and military disarray, the Balkan front in stalemate, and the Americans still months away from appearing in force, the entente was desperate to strengthen its position in southeastern Europe. On 10 June 1917 France demanded that King Constantine abdicate within twenty-four hours and prepared to occupy Athens. Confronted with overwhelming force, the king complied with the ultimatum. His second son Alexander succeeded him and immediately agreed to form a united government in Athens under Venizelos. Greece duly declared war on the Central Powers on 30 June 1917, the last European state to enter the First World War." ((5), more)
"The greater part of the 100,000 men we have lost on the Piave was composed of Hungarians. We have no exact information as to the proportion of nationalities, but the descriptions of the battle show us that the Hungarians were in the center of the melée. The Hungarian regiments have been sacrificed. It matters little to us that the enemy losses have been superior to ours. Our grief is sore indeed when we think that we have suffered the loss of hundreds of thousands of men, at the end of the fourth year of the war." ((6), more)
(1) M. Yov. M. Yovanovitch, Serbian Minister at Vienna, to M.N. Pashitch, Serbian Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs
Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, 371 (The Serbian Blue Book, No. 4), publisher: His Majesty's Stationery Office by Harrison and Sons, publication date: 1915
(2) Count Heinrich Leopold von Tschirschky und Bögendorff, German Ambassador in Vienna delivered a written report to German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg on a conversation Tschirschky had with Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Count Leopold Berchtold. Berchtold had said that the threads of the conspiracy ran together at Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany annotated the report.
July, 1914; the Outbreak of the First World War; Selected Documents by Imanuel Geiss (Editor), 64, 65, copyright © 1967 Imanuel Geiss, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1967
(3) In the Gallipoli campaign, British, Indian, and French forces faced the Turkish lines on the end of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Further north, the Turks contained the invaders at Anzac Cove, the beachhead held by the ANZACs, the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps, where as little as 30 yards separated the lines. The Turkish attack was in reponse to those the Allies mounted on June 28, the primary one by the British at Helles and a diversionary one at Anzac Cove. Enver Pasha was the Turkish War Minister.
Gallipoli by John Masefield by John Masefield, pp. 92, 93, publisher: William Heinemann, publication date: 1916
(4) Entry for June 30, 1916, from the war diary of Albert, King of the Belgians. South of Ypres, the British were preparing to attack the next day, July 1, in their Somme Offensive.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 111, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(5) Since being invited into neutral Greece by then-Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos at the end of 1915, the Allies had had a contentious relationship with pro-German King Constantine, who had promptly sacked Venizelos for his violation of Greek neutrality. The former Prime Minister formed a provisional government in Salonica in October, 1916, and raised battalions that fought on the Balkan Front. Russian Tsar Nicholas II had opposed the removal of a crowned head of state, but the March Russian Revolution had made his views irrelevant. Athens, the Greek capital, had already seen violent confrontations between the Allies and forces loyal to Constantine.
Decisions for War, 1914-1917 by Richard F. Hamilton and Holger H. Herwig, page 181, copyright © Richard F. Hamilton & Holger H. Herwig 2004, publisher: Cambridge University Press, publication date: 2004
(6) Excerpt from the Budapest newspaper Az Est of June 30, 1918, quoted by Henri Kervarec, French official observer, in his account of the Second Battle of the Piave. The offensive was launched by the Austro-Hungarians on June 15, 1918 along a front from the Asiago Plateau to the Adriatic Sea. The Austro-Hungarians suffered approximately 120,000 casualties in the battle.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 220, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
