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East Front, 1917; a pencil portrait sketch of a pipe-smoking German soldier, on a postcard with a printed border in the colors of the German flag. The message on the reverse is dated February 4, 1917. In the upper left the reverse is numbered '4)'.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
German soldiers in a snow-covered trench, five of them in steel helmets. The men in the foreground may have just come out of a dugout. Those in the back wear heavy coats, look frozen, and may have been on guard duty. The photo postcard was sent from a soldier named Hermann Herold of the 16th reserve Jäger (mounted rifles) battalion, February 19, 1917.
1898 map of St. Petersburg, the Russian capital, from a German atlas. Central St Petersburg, or Petrograd, is on the Neva River. Key landmarks include the Peter and Paul Fortress, which served as a prison, Nevski Prospect, a primary boulevard south of the Fortress, the Finland Train Station, east of the Fortress, where Lenin made his triumphal return, the Tauride (Taurisches) Palace, which housed the Duma and later the Petrograd Soviet.
Chinese laborers working under the direction of German supervisors on a hill above the city of Tsingtau, China. The card was sent from Earl's Court in London, January 6, 1905, and cancelled in Teichel, Germany two days later. From a painting by K. Hei...
"The results of this conference, which has been the subject of so much mystery—and likewise so much talk—are very poor. We have exchanged views about the blockade of Greece, the inadequacy of Japan's help, the prospective value of intervention by America, the critical position of Rumania and the necessity of closer and more practical allied co-operation; we have ascertained the colossal requirements of the Russian army in matériel and made joint arrangements to provide for them as soon as possible. That is all. . . .'Please tell the President of the Republic and the President of the Council that you have left me very anxious. A revolutionary crisis is at hand in Russia; it nearly broke out five weeks ago and is only postponed. Every day the Russian nation is getting more indifferent towards the war and the spirit of anarchy is spreading among all the classes and even in the army.'" ((1), more)
"Be quite [sic] and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Zulus, Swazis, Pondos, Basothos, and all others, let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais back in the kraals, our voices are left with our bodies." ((2), more)
"Be quite [sic] and calm, my countrymen, for what is taking place is exactly what you came to do. You are going to die, but that is what you came to do. Brothers, we are drilling the death drill. I, a Xhosa, say you are my brothers. Zulus, Swazis, Pondos, Basothos, and all others, let us die like warriors. We are the sons of Africa. Raise your war cries my brothers, for though they made us leave our assegais back in the kraals, our voices are left with our bodies." ((3), more)
"My brain is so pitifully confused by the war and my own single part in it. All those people I have left in England have talked me nearly to death. The people I have seen out here so far have made me feel that there is no hope for the race of men. All that is wise and tender in them is hidden by the obsession of war. They strut and shout and guzzle and try to forget their distress in dreary gabble about England (and the War!). It is all dull and hopeless and ugly and small.. . . But spring in this cursed year of victory will be but a green flag waving a signal for devilish slaughter to begin. The agony of armies will be on every breeze; their blood will stain the flowers. The foulness of battle will cut off all kindliness from the hearts of men." ((4), more)
"The Imperial Duma is to resume its labours on Tuesday next, the 27th February, and the fact is causing excitement in industrial quarters. To-day, various agitators have been visiting the Putilov works, the Baltic Yards and the Viborg quarter, preaching a general strike as a protest against the government, food-shortage and war.The agitation has been lively enough to induce General Kharbalov, Military Governor of the capital, to issue a notice prohibiting public meetings and informing the civil population that 'all resistance to authority will be immediately put down by force of arms.'" ((5), more)
(1) Excerpts from the entry for Wednesday, February 21, 1917 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia in the Russian capital Petrograd. The conference had included French, Russian, and Romanian representatives. Greece was ostensibly neutral, but was occupied by over 500,000 French, British, Serbian, Russian, and Italian soldiers. Japan had seized territory such as Tsingtao and Samoa from Germany in the Pacific in 1914, and helped arm Russia, but did not provide combat troops. Romania, at the time of the conference, was reeling from its defeat by the Central Powers in the last months of 1916. The United States broke relations with Germany on February 3, but remained neutral. The Ambassador saw clearly Russia's approaching crisis.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. III by Maurice Paléologue, page 196, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(2) The address of Reverend I. W. Dyobha to his comrades aboard the SS Mendi, February 21, 1917. The Mendi was off the Isle of Wight when it was struck by the SS Darro, sinking in about 25 minutes. Many of those aboard we part of the South African Native Labour Corps. 633 South Africans and 30 sailors of the Mendi crew died in the disaster. About 207 men of the SANLC were rescued. The men did not panic, and oral tradition says some of the men performed the Death Drill Reverend Dyobha called for. The assegai was a spear or javelin with an iron of fire-hardened point. A kraal is an enclosure for livestock.
The Delville Wood South African National Memorial and Museum commemorates South Africa's partici, Wall plaque
(3) The address of Reverend I. W. Dyobha to his comrades aboard the SS Mendi, February 21, 1917. The Mendi was off the Isle of Wight when it was struck by the SS Darro, sinking in about 25 minutes. Many of those aboard we part of the South African Native Labour Corps. 633 South Africans and 30 sailors of the Mendi crew died in the disaster. About 207 men of the SANLC were rescued. The men did not panic, and oral tradition says some of the men performed the Death Drill Reverend Dyobha called for. The assegai was a spear or javelin with an iron of fire-hardened point. A kraal is an enclosure for livestock.
(4) Excerpt from the February 22, 1917 diary entry of Siegfried Sassoon, British poet, author, Second Lieutenant in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and recipient of the Military Cross for gallantry in action. Sassoon had just returned from an extended convalescent leave in Britain when he was sent to hospital in Rouen with German measles.
Siegfried Sassoon Diaries 1915-1918 by Siegfried Sassoon, pp. 133–134, copyright © George Sassoon, 1983; Introduction and Notes Rupert Hart-Davis, 1983, publisher: Faber and Faber, publication date: 1983
(5) Excerpt from the entry for February 23, 1917 from the memoir of Maurice Paléologue, French ambassador to Imperial Russia in the capital of Petrograd. The Putilov works was a leading weapons manufacturer; the Viborg quarter, north of central Petrograd, was the site of factories and worker housing. The bitter winter had made it impossible for the transport system to deliver adequate food supplies to major cities such as Petrograd. The Russian Duma had not met for two months.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. III by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 201–202, publisher: George H. Doran Company
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