An Italian postcard of the Industry of War. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany squeezes gold from France and Belgium, filling sacks of money he provides to his ally Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary who feeds his guns to fire at Tsar Nicholas of Russia who vomits up troops. On the bottom right, Serbia, Montenegro, and Japan join the battle against Germany and Austria-Hungary. To the left, Great Britain flees to its ships. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy surveys it all, serenely neutral until May 1915. Germany taxed Belgium and occupied France heavily during its occupation, in money, in food and other necessities, and in human life and labor. Austria-Hungary borrowed heavily from Germany to support its war effort. The enormous manpower of Russia was a source of consolation for its allies, and of trepidation to its enemies. Some suspected Great Britain would take its small army and return to its ships, home, and empire.
Image text: Le Industrie della GuerraThe Industry of War
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
Monument in Pozières, France to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and men of the First Australian Division who fought in France and Belgium 1916, 1917, and 1918. © 2013 John M. Shea
Image text: To the officers non-commissioned officers, and men of the First Australian Division who fought in France and Belgium 1916, 1917, 1918. Pozieres, Mouquet Farm, La Barque, Thilloy, Boursies, Demicourt, Hermies, Lagnicourt, Bullecourt, 3rd Battle of Ypres, Menin Road, Broodseinde Ridge, Passchendaele, Battle of the Lys, Second Battle of the Somme, Lihons, Chuignolles, Hindenburg LineÀ la mémoire des officiers sous-officiers et soldat de la Prèmiere Division Australienne qui ont combattu en France et en Belgique 1916, 1917, 1918
French Farman two-seater planes on the Romanian front.
Image text: Reverse:Front RoumainReproduction Interdite
Newsboys Memorial to Albert Edward Scott, Company H, 101st United States Infantry, A.E.F., Killed in Action at Epieds, France, July 23, 1918. Designed by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson (1871-1932), sculptor. Installed 1923 at Brookline, Massachusetts town hall (ww1mproject.org/items/show/765, July 6, 2018). Further information on Scott, who lied about his age and enlisted at the age of 15, can be found (July 6, 2018) at www.wickedlocal.com/x206836716/Age-didnt-stop-young-Brookline-newsboy-from-becoming-a-WWI-legend. © 2018 by John M. Shea
Image text: Newsboys Memorial to Albert Edward ScottCompany H, 101st United States Infantry A.E.F.Killed in Action at Epieds France July 23 1918
". . . The Royal Servian Government further undertake:1. To suppress any publication which incites to hatred and contempt of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and the general tendency of which is directed against its territorial integrity; . . .3. To eliminate without delay from public instruction in Servia, both as regards the teaching body and also as regards the methods of instruction, everything that serves, or might serve, to foment the propaganda against Austria-Hungary;4. To remove from the military service, and from the administration in general, all officers and functionaries guilty of propaganda against the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy whose names and deeds the Austro-Hungarian Government reserve to themselves the right of communicating to the Royal Government;5. To accept the collaboration in Servia of representatives of the Austro-Hungarian Government for the suppression of the subversive movement directed against, the territorial integrity of the Monarchy;. . . 10. To notify the Imperial and Royal Government without delay of the execution of the measures comprised under the preceding heads.The Austro-Hungarian Government expect the reply of the Royal Government at the latest by 6 o'clock on Saturday evening, the 25th July." ((1), more)
"In the evening we went, at eight o'clock, to poor Mignot's funeral. Sad and horribly gruesome it was. Imagine a little chapel with four coffins in front of a small altar — one of them with many flowers, and of oak — Mignot's — the other three just pinewood — the ordinary war coffin. The Governor came, and I shall not forget the dim scene — the priest who intoned the Latin burial service out of tune, and the 'choir' consisting of one man who sang badly and as loud as he could, and a congregation of silent mourners. Every note, every word, as it re-echoed through the chapel, seemed like the cry of despair of France — a small put pitiful note of the anguish of this country. Over at last, the coffins were shuffled out of the little chapel, and we were allowed to follow them to the bridge of St. Martin, where they were buried in a cemetery constantly upheaved by German shells. Horrible! horrible! horrible! — that is all I can write." ((2), more)
"Sunday, 23 July [1916]: A general attack was made at 1.30 a.m. The 5th or Reserve Army on our left advanced well to the west of Pozières village with 48th Division, while the First Australian Division captured the village of Pozières itself as far as the Albert-Bapaume Road and reached within two hundred yards of the windmill on the hill north-east of the village. . . . The Fourth Army was not so fortunate." ((3), more)
"Soldiers! . . . The moment so much expected by the entire Romanian nation, by you especially more than anybody else has come; it is the time to resume the fightings in order to remove the barrier beyond which the groans of our parents, brothers and children under the oppression of the grabbing enemy can be heard. Do not forget that we resume the fight for the righteous and most sacred cause, namely for chasing away the invaders from our home." ((4), more)
"The next morning (July 23) after a skillful battering of the German positions with gas and high explosive shells by the divisional artillery, the 101st Infantry assaulted the Bois de Trugny, and by noon had penetrated almost through to the other side of this piece of woods. But in the afternoon the Germans rallied; machine-gun nests firing from every angle of the woods forced the Americans to draw back to the western edge. That night the Corps Commander, General Liggett, reënforced General Edwards with the 56th Infantry Brigade of the 28th Division, Brigadier General Weigle in command." ((5), more)
(1) Excerpts from the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia on Thursday, July 23, 1914, delivered to the Serbian Government in Belgrade. Austria-Hungary required 'the execution the measures' in full, and expected Serbia to reject the ultimatum. Austria-Hungary had delayed delivering the note until 6:00 in the evening to assure that French President Poincaré would have left Russia after his state visit of the last several days.The ruler of a nation composed of the Empire of Austria, the Kingdom of Hungary, and many ethnic groups, some striving for union with neighboring nations, some for independence, played a role in holding together the 'ever disintegrating composition of nations beside the Danube.' Emperor Franz Joseph had approved the text of the ultimatum to Serbia.
Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, 7, 8, publisher: His Majesty's Stationery Office by Harrison and Sons, publication date: 1915
(2) Excerpt from a letter dated July 24, 1915, by Leslie Buswell recounting events of the the previous days. A driver with the American Ambulance Field Service, a volunteer organization attached to the French Armies, Buswell was stationed at Pont-à-Mousson, France, north of Nancy. On July 22nd, a dozen shells exploded just after Buswell had finished his lunch, and a dozen more in the evening, seemingly targeting the Ambulance unit. Mignot, an all-purpose aide to the American drivers, was killed in the evening bombardment.
Ambulance No. 10; Personal Letters from the Front by Leslie Buswell, pp. 78, 79, copyright © 1915, and 1915, by Houghton Mifflin Company, publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, publication date: 1916
(3) Entry from the diary of British Commander in Chief Douglas Haig on the assault on the village of Pozières on July 23, 1916.
Somme by Lyn Macdonald, page 172, copyright © 1983 by Lyn Macdonald, publisher: MacMillan, publication date: 1983
(4) The Order of the Day given by the Romanian Second Army's Commander on the eve of the battle of Mărăşti quoted in Vasile Alexandrescu's Romania in World War I. Romania entered the war on August 27, 1916, and was overrun by Central Power forces by the end of the year, driven out of Wallachia and Dobruja and back to Moldavia where the Russians held the Allied line. After rebuilding with support, training, and weapons from France, the Romanian army launched its offensive to retake the country's lost territory.
Romania in World War I, a Synopsis of Military History by Vasile Alexandrescu, page 48, copyright © 1985, publisher: Military Publishing House, publication date: 1985
(5) The 101st Infantry was part of the 26th (Yankee) Division, the New England National Guard. They moved from Belleau Wood on July 21, 1918, advancing four miles north of the Marne between Trugny and Epieds, through the well-defended Epieds forest.
The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas, page 175, copyright © 1920, by George H. Doran Company, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1920
