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Panorama of Jerusalem from Palestine and Syria with Routes through Mesopotamia and Babylonia and with the Island of Cyprus by Karl Baedeker, a 1912 guide book.
Two Venetian fishing ships meet, brilliant sails spread. On one, beneath Venice's Lion of St. Mark, the words "Adriaticus mare nostrum — the Adriatic, our sea." On the further blue sail, the cross and words "Pax tibi Marce [Evangelista meus] — Peace to you, Mark, my Evangelist."Postcard promoting Italy's VI National Loan for the war, with a quotation from Gabriele D'Annunzio's "La canzone di Mario Bianco":"E' questo, Italia,é questo il tuo fermento e il tuo cemento"And this, Italy,This is your ferment and your foundation.G. d'Annunzio
Food supplies in the French trenches. A Susini tobacco / cigarette card.
Photograph of a French heavy mortar in action.
Postcard celebrating the ceasefire on the Eastern Front. The troops are Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and German. The flags are Austrian and Russian; the coat of arms and bunting German. Russia declared a ceasefire on December 15, 1917. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war, was signed on March 3, 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers.
"I entered [Jerusalem] officially at noon, December 11th [1917], with a few of my staff, the commanders of the French and Italian detachments, the heads of the political missions, and the Military Attachés of France, Italy, and America.The procession was all afoot, and at Jaffa gate I was received by the guards representing England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, India, France, and Italy. The population received me well.Guards have been placed over the holy places. My Military Governor is in contact with the acting custodians and the Latin and Greek representatives. The Governor has detailed an officer to supervise the holy places. The Mosque of Omar and the area around it have been placed under Moslem control, and a military cordon of Mohammedan officers and soldiers has been established around the mosque. Orders have been issued that no non-Moslem is to pass within the cordon without permission of the Military Governor and the Moslem in charge." ((1), more)
"The Austro-Hungarians were not aware of the dramatic change in Italian morale. Their front-line soldiers wanted the opportunity to break through before winter snows brought the offensive to a halt. Yet the very success of their rapid advance had put a tremendous strain on their logistical support. Thus it was 12 December [1917] before the offensive could be relaunched by General Conrad. He sent a message to his troops saying they would attend Christmas Mass in Venice. The battle opened with some success for the Austro-Hungarians, but they sustained severe losses against a resolute defence, and then the heavy snow began. Both sides realised that the campaign was over until the spring, and it was the Italians who would be celebrating Christmas Mass in Venice. The armies settled down to prepare for the following year's campaigns." ((2), more)
"Our main job was to bring rations up to the men on the front lines. The field kitchens were nearby, at the bottom of a ravine, or you could call it a precipice, next to which we were posted.You reached the bottom by a staircase which counted 500 steps, not one less. And they were 'poilu steps'—50 to 80 centimeters, each one. You couldn't be asthmatic and climb this gigantic staircase. It wasn't too hard in dry weather, but when the snow and ice and slick mud covered the steps, watch out for slippery spots! You had to grab onto roots and rocky outcroppings so as not to tumble all the way to the bottom.And the Boche lines weren't even a hundred meters from the last step of this staircase. Our outposts were only a few steps away from them." ((3), more)
"Discouraged by international developments and by the 'questionable friendship' of their Italian allies, French troops found their first months in Italy demoralizing. As one postal censor concluded in mid-December 1917, many were battling depression 'caused perhaps by homesickness, by a desire to see the end of the war, by a certain disgust with the need to support allies who weren't able to defend themselves.' More than anything else though, 'the desire for leave and the irregularity of the mails also [gave] rise to discouragement.'" ((4), more)
"Thus when the armistice agreement was finally signed on December 15, the duration was to be until January 14, 1918, with automatic prolongation unless seven days' notice of rupture was given by either party. Article 2 provided that, until January 14, no removal of troops should take place between the Black Sea and the Baltic, . . . For the 'organization' of fraternizing it was agreed that there should be two or three intercourse centres in every sector of a Russian division, but that 'there must not be present at any one time more than 25 unarmed persons from each side.' The exchange of views and newspapers was permitted.. . . As one historian has commented somewhat grimly, 'twenty-five men was enough for the Russian anti-war propaganda purposes.'" ((5), more)
(1) Excerpt from the account by British General Edmund Allenby of his entry into Jerusalem on December 11, 1917. Turkish forces had evacuated the city during the night of December 8–9.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. V, 1917, pp. 408–409, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(2) German and Austro-Hungarian forces destroyed the Italian Second Army in the Battle of Caporetto launched on October 21, 1917, and drove the Italians back 70 miles along the Isonzo Front before suspending their attack on November 11. The offensive threatened not only Venice, but the collapse of Italy as a combatant in the war. Austro-Hungarian General Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf had been Austro-Hungarian Commander in Chief until replaced by Kaiser Karl on March 1, 1917.
Caporetto and the Isonzo Campaign: The Italian Front 1915–1918 by John MacDonald with Željko Cimprić, pp. 175–176, copyright © John MacDonald, 2011, 2015, publisher: Pen and Sword Books, publication date: 2011
(3) Excerpt from the notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas, formerly of the 296th Regiment. Barthas was writing in mid-December, 1917, after his regiment had been dissolved and its men assigned to other units, Barthas going to a regiment from Breton.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, pp. 346–347, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(4) Martha Hanna's Your Death Would Be Mine is based on the correspondence between Paul Pireaud and his wife Marie. In the summer of 1917, Paul served with the 112th Heavy Artillery Regiment in the Moronvilliers sector northeast of Reims in Champagne. French and British units were sent to support the Italians after the disaster of Caporetto. The Italian retreat finally stopped on the Piave River. Paul's unit was ordered to Italy on November 12, and left on the 17th. He reached Italy on December 1.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 236, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
(5) Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks came to power in the October Revolution in part because of public support for an immediate end to the war. They perhaps genuinely expected their revolution would spread across the warring nations. The armistice between Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary signed on December 15, 1917 allowed for fraternization between the armies and the spreading of propaganda, something at which the Bolsheviks had experience and demonstrable success. The Black Sea was the southern boundary of the Russian Front, the Baltic Sea the northern.
Brest-Litovsk: The Forgotten Peace; March 1918 by John W. Wheeler-Bennett by John W. Wheeler-Bennett, page 93, publisher: The Norton Library, publication date: 1971, first published 193
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