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Western Front: Aisne & Oise. French folding postcard map of the Aisne and Oise, number 3 from the series Les Cartes du Front. The map includes the Champagne front from Compiègne in the west to Chalons-sur-Marne in the east including Soissons, Chemin des Dammes, Laon, Reims, and Château Thierry.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
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.
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
". . . after some painful blows had been successfully inflicted upon the enemy in January by throwing in at several places swiftly concentrated front reserves — with the 5th Army under Lieut.-General the Crown Prince Wilhelm, Chief of Staff Major-General Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, in the Argonne, and with the 7th Army under General von Heeringen, Chief of staff Lieut.-General von Hänisch, north of Soissons, a welcome if only short pause set in." ((1), more)
"According to the Gregorian Calendar the year 1915 begins to-day. At two o'clock under a wan sun and pearl-grey sky which here and there cast silvery shadows on the snow the Diplomatic Corps called at Tsarkoïe-Selo to wish the Emperor a Happy New Year.. . . I added that in its recent declarations to the Chambers the Government of the [French] Republic had solemnly affirmed its determination to continue the war to the bitter end and that that determination is a guarantee of final victory. The Emperor answered :'I have read that pronouncement of your Government and my whole heart goes with it. My own determination is no less. I shall continue this war as long as is necessary to secure a complete victory. You know I have just been visiting my army ; I found it animated by splendid ardour and enthusiasm. All it asks is to be allowed to fight. It is confident of victory. Unfortunately our operations are held up by a lack of munitions." ((2), more)
"Never in the history of the Prussian Army had a theatre commander demanded the dismissal of the Chief of the General Staff, much less under threat of resignation. And never in the annals of that institution had an army commander registered a vote of no confidence in the Chief of the General Staff with the monarch. Ominously, the affair introduced a deep and abiding lack of trust among the Chancellor, the Chief of the General Staff, and the two eastern commanders. Bethmann Hollweg survived the crisis, but only so long as Falkenhayn and Hindenburg-Ludendorff continued their animosity. . . .The greatest loser — apart from the German war effort — was Wilhelm II. On 15 January the Supreme War Lord begged Hindenburg to remain at his post." ((3), more)
"On January 11th [1915] the tide turned, but it was not until January 16th, when a strongly fortified Turkish position at Zivin, a few miles west of Kara Urgan, was stormed, that victory was assured and the Turks were thoroughly routed. 'Despite violent snowstorms, which lasted from the 8th to the 16th of January, rendering the roads very difficult, our troops by dint of the greatest heroism and extraordinary tenacity progressed continuously with attack after attack,' says the Russian communiqué of February 1st; 'the enemy's forces were completely broken up and retreated precipitately, abandoning wounded and ammunition and flinging their guns down precipices.'" ((4), more)
"Just as the course of the war hitherto had given every soldier new conceptions of human powers of endurance, so it had established totally new standards for the requirements of matériel and its efficiency. Only those who held responsible posts in the German G.H.Q. in the winter of 1914-15, during which almost every single shot had to be counted in the Western Army, and the failure of one single ammunition train, the breaking of a rail or any other stupid accident, threatened to render whole sections of the front defenceless, can form any estimate of the difficulties that had to be overcome at that time." ((5), more)
(1) From December 20, 1915 to January 12, 1915, French commander Joseph Joffre launched offensives in Flanders, at La Boiselle, in the Argonne, on the Meuse, on the Aisne, and around Reims, to prevent the Germans from disengaging and redeploying their forces either to the Eastern Front or for an offensive against the Allies on the Western Front. As Joffre brought his winter attacks to an end, the Germans struck.
General Headquarters and its Critical Decisions, 1914-1916 by Erich von Falkenhayn, pp. 57, 58, copyright © 1920 by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publication date: 1920
(2) Entry from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, for Thursday, January 14, 1915. Tsarkoïe-Selo was Tsar Nicholas II's palace south of Petrograd, the Russian capital, where rumors circulated that the Tsar's German-born wife was secretly corresponding with Germany to end the war, and that she undermined the Tsar's determination to fight on. None of the combatants had entered the war with supplies of munitions adequate to meet demand, and struggled to increase production. Russia's shortfall was particularly acute.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 253, 254, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(3) Unable to pressure Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn to move new troops and additional resources to the Eastern Front to further their plan to defeat Russia, the two eastern commanders Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff campaigned against Falkenhayn, and brought others into their their widening struggle including German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg and Kaiser Wilhelm's wife. The Kaiser's submission to von Hindenburg made a mockery of his title of Supreme War Lord.
The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, page 134, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997
(4) The Turkish offensive that aimed to seize the frontier rail terminus at Sarikamish before advancing on Russia's fortress at Kars ended in disaster in the mountains, snow, and bitter weather of the Caucasus. On January 16, 1915, the Battle of Sarikamish, which had begun on December 24, 1914, was drawing to a close.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, pp. 47, 48, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(5) No army had been prepared for the enormous quantities of munitions that were expended in the opening months. By early 1915 all nations were under-supplied, and did not have the weapons to mount major offensives. The shell shortage was particularly acute in Russia, which purchased weapons from Japan and the United States, and Britain, were the issue precipitated a political crisis.
General Headquarters and its Critical Decisions, 1914-1916 by Erich von Falkenhayn, pp. 47, 48, copyright © 1920 by Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publisher: Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc., publication date: 1920
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