The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie von Hohenberg was the cover story of La Domenica del Corriere for the week July 5 through 12, 1914. The assassin, Gavrilo Princip, said he aimed, turned away, and fired, and was not targeting the Countess. The illustrator may have positioned her standing to make sense of the two wounds: the Archduke was shot through the throat, his wife through the groin. Illustration by Alberto Beltrame.The cover story includes a picture of the deceased with their three children. A second photograph shows the new heir to the throne, Karl, holding his son, captioned "I due futuri Imperatori d'Austria" — the two future Emperors of Austria. Karl became emperor when Franz Joseph died in 1916. His son never did, as the Empire had dissolved by the time his father died.
Image text: La Domenica del Corriere5 – 12, 1914. L'assassinio a Serajevo dell'arciduca Francesco Ferdinando erede del trono d'Austria, e di sua moglie.(Disegno di A. Beltrame)The assassination in Sarajevo of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife.(Drawing by A. Beltrame)
A heavyset English sailor flies a panoply of flags of neutral nations including Sweden (civil ensign), Norway, Spanish Merchant Marine, the United States, Netherlands, Italy, and the Red Cross. Germany accused Great Britain of flying false flags on merchant and passenger ships, and of arming them. A postcard by P.O.Engelhard (P.O.E.), dated and postmarked January 15, 1916.
Image text: Die englische KriegsflaggeThe English Battle Flag
Russian troops fleeing a solitary German soldier. The Russian First Army invaded Germany in August 1914, and defeated the Germans in the Battle of Gumbinnen on the 20th. In September the Germans drove them out of Russia in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In September and October, a joint German, Austro-Hungarian offensive drove the Russians back almost to Warsaw. Illustration by E. H. Nunes.
Image text: Die Russen haben große Hoffnungen auf den Krieg gesetzt, - es ist aber auch eine Kehrseite dabei.The Russians have set high hopes for the war - but there is also a downside to that.Reverse:Kriegs-Postkarte der Meggendorfer-Blätter, München. Nr. 25War postcard of the Meggendorfer Blätter, Munich. # 25
Biaches Military Cemetery on the Somme: graves of Jules Auguste Huchard, Sergeant 44th Infantry Regiment, died August 11, 1916, and Prosper Victor Guinfoleau, Sergeant 79th Infantry Regiment, died July 6, 1916.
Image text: Jules Auguste Huchard, Sergeant 44th Infantry Regiment, died August 11, 1916Prosper Victor Guinfoleau, Sergeant 79th Infantry Regiment, died July 6, 1916
Russia's 1917 Offensive — the Kerensky Offensive — a pencil sketch of a Russian soldier fleeing his trench as Central Power bayonets rise over it. The failed offensive was Russia's last of the war. By Ger. F. Kollar, addressed to Frau Hermine Kollar of Vienna.
Image text: Russlands = Offensive 1917Russia's 1917 OffensiveGer. F. KollarReverse:Addressed to Frau Hermine Kollar, WienHermione Kollar, Vienna
Edito Card of an Hanriot HD.1. Introduced in late summer, 1916, the French Hanriot HD.1 was primarily flown by the Belgian and Italian air services. This plane is in the colors of the Belgian Air Corps. The white thistle on the fuselage was the symbol of the squadron of Willy Coppens, Belgium's leading ace of the war. The sawtooth pattern on the tail identified an individual pilot. Each patrol of three planes had an identifying cowling color. Coppens, as the leading ace, insisted on an all-blue plane.
Image text: Hanriot HD.1FighterFrance
"When the dear departed was still on his bier it was important not to introduce any discordant note into a solemn hour. But now our patriotic duty and the mood not only of Vienna and Austria but of the entire monarchy compel us to discuss why, according to the original arrangements, the funeral was to be so startlingly simple, and so insulting to the feelings of a grieving people. . . .To quote the words of one of the highest generals of our army, the funeral was . . . no different than one that would have been arranged for a six year old child." ((1), more)
"Yesterday being the day on which the remains of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife were brought from Serajevo to Vienna, I gave instructions that the national flag at my residence should be hoisted at half-mast as a sign of mourning.Yesterday evening, on this account, protests were made by the concierge, the other tenants, the landlord's agent, and the landlord himself, who demanded the removal of the flag. Explanations proved of no avail, and the assistance of the police authorities was requested. The latter privately asked that the flag should be removed in order to avoid further disorders. The flag was not removed, and accordingly noisy demonstrations took place last night in front of the Legation. The conduct of the police was energetic, and nothing happened to the flag or to the building which might constitute an insult. At 2 a.m. the crowd dispersed. To-day's papers, more particularly the popular clerical papers, publish articles under the heading "Provocation by the Serbian Minister," in which the whole incident is falsely described." ((2), more)
"Saturday, July 3, 1915.The imperial rescript which was published three days ago is causing great excitement. Everyone demands the immediate summoning of the Duma and some go so far as to claim that henceforward ministers shall be responsible to Parliament — a change which would mean nothing less than the end of autocracy.There is considerable unrest among the workmen. One of my informers, B———, has notified me of a recrudescence of socialist propaganda in the barracks, particularly in the Guards' barracks. The Pavlovsky and Volhynian regiments are said to be more or less contaminated." ((3), more)
"At Assevillers, at the other end of the line, the defence was more tenacious: the first French assault was beaten off by artillery fire from unsilenced batteries to the south, and a second with fresh battalions was heavily counter-attacked. More battalions, hastily scraped up from the front to the south, were being thrown in to hold the line. The village was not finally in French hands until 09:00 on 3 July. Following closely the methods prescribed by GAN for the multi-stage set-piece battle, the Colonials demonstrated that early success could be quickly exploited — the capture of one German position could be followed up with the capture of a second while the defence was disorganised. In forty-eight hours the French had broken through on the Somme on an eight-kilometre front!" ((4), more)
"During the first two day of this offensive we were extremely successful. We took several thousand prisoners and captured scores of field guns. On the third day our advance came to a halt. The report submitted by General Erdeli, commander of the Eleventh Army, gave a good idea of what had happened: '. . . despite our gains on June 18 and 19, which ought to have raised the spirits of the men and encouraged them to press on, no such spirit was noticeable in the majority of regiment, while in some there was a predominant feeling that they had done their stint and there was no point in going on with the advance.'" ((5), more)
"After a hurried lunch, I slipped away to Paris, my first visit being to the Hanriot works. Monsieur René Hanriot, who was one of the pioneers of aviation, was one of its staunchest supporters and had devoted his life to the new science. His little Hanriot H.D.1, graceful and manoeuvrable, designed by Dupont and first adopted by the Belgian Flying Corps, was his outstanding achievement, and he was always delighted to meet any of the Belgian pilots. He took me out to Villacoublay and showed me some of the new types of aeroplanes that were undergoing their tests. In addition, I saw a Fokker D.VII captured from the Germans, a curious-looking machine with its thick wings. Our eyes were so used to thin planes. I met Heurteaux, the great French 'ace' there, and generally enjoyed myself; a real bushman's [sic] holiday in fact!" ((6), more)
(1) Commentary from the conservative newspaper Reichspost about the funeral arrangements for Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie von Hohenberg.Because of Countess Sophie's lower station — she was not a member of a European ruling family — Emperor Franz Joseph and the Austrian court disapproved of their marriage, which was morganatic. Disapproval continued after their death. Because they had insisted on being buried together, they were not buried in the imperial crypt in Vienna. They were not given an imperial funeral, and heads of state were invited to, then uninvited from, the funeral. The couple lay in state briefly in the Hofburg chapel in Vienna the morning of July 3 before the noon closing of the doors and baring of the public.Their coffins were moved to and from Vienna at night, and their funeral processions were impromptu. Their remains lie in their castle in Artstettin, Austria.
Sarajevo: The Story of a Political Murder by Joachim Remak, page 175, copyright © 1959 by Joachim Remak, publisher: Criterion Books, Inc., publication date: 1959
(2) Telegram from M. Yov. M. Yovanovitch, Minister at Vienna, to M. N. Pashitch, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Vienna, June 20/July 3, 1914.
Collected Diplomatic Documents Relating to the Outbreak of the European War, page 374, publisher: His Majesty's Stationery Office by Harrison and Sons, publication date: 1915
(3) Entry for July 3, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. On June 27, 1915, the Russian press published an Imperial declaration that closed with the announcement that the Russian Council of the Empire (upper house) and the Duma (lower house) would meet in the immediate future. Russia's seemingly endless retreat before the combined forces of Germany and Austria-Hungary and their Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, its enormous losses, and the government's continued failure to resolve the shortages of artillery, shells, rifles, and ammunition, increasingly undermined what faith nobles, workers, soldiers, and peasants had in their autocratic Emperor, Nicholas II. The Duma had been founded after the Russian Revolution of 1905. With the onset of the war, the Fourth Duma had dissolved itself, but was reconstituted in August, 1915.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 24, 25, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(4) The French at the right wing (southern) of the Anglo-French line in the Battle of the Somme were much more successful than their Ally in the first days of the offensive. Although the Germans had been tenacious at Assevillers, they had been quickly defeated at other points, such as Herbécourt. GAN was the Groupe des Armée du Nord commanded by General Ferdinand Foch.
Three Armies on the Somme by William Philpott, pp. 207-208, copyright © 2009 by William Philpott, publisher: Alfred A. Knopf, publication date: 2009
(5) Russian Minister of War Alexander Kerensky's summary of the first three days of Russia's last offensive of World War I launched on July 1, 1917 (June 18, Old Style). The Russian Revolution of March had removed the Tsar and seized power for a provisional government and soviets, councils of workers, soldiers, cities, and towns. France and Britain implored the Russians to launch an offensive, and the United States conditioned financing on Russia actively pursuing the war. Many agreed with Kerensky that success would boost morale despite ample evidence large parts of the military and civilian population were sick of the war.
Russia and History's Turning Point by Alexander Kerensky, page 285, copyright © 1965 by Alexander Kerensky, publisher: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, publication date: 1965
(6) Excerpt from Flying in Flanders, a memoir by Willy Coppens, Belgium's greatest ace in World War I with 37 victories, all but two of the victims observation balloons. Coppens first flew a Hanriot HD.1 in June, 1918. The German Fokker DVII was one of the most successful fighter planes of the war. French ace Albert Heurteaux ended the war with 21 victories. His eighth victory was over the German ace Kurt Wintgens.
Flying in Flanders by Willy Coppens, page 188, publisher: Ace Books, publication date: 1971
