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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.
A woman munitions worker carrying a shell apparently drops another one on the foot of a frightened man who clearly does not realize, as she does, that they are not in danger. No doubt his foot hurt.
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.
Refugees in Van, Armenian Turkey, crowding around a public oven in hopes of getting bread. Photograph from 'Ambassador Morgenthau's Story' by Henry Morgenthau, Formerly American Ambassador to Turkey from 1913 to 1916. The Ambassador made repeated attempts during 1915 to convince the rulers of Turkey, particularly Interior Minister Talaat and War Minister Enver, to spare the Armenian population.
An Italian soldier lying in the snow waving a handkerchief to a plane overhead. The logo is for Societa Italiana Aviazione, founded in 1916, which became part of Fiat Aviation in 1918.
"The General Confederation of Labour has split. The majority, led by Jouhaux, support the war. Opposed to it there is a minority led by Merrheim, an interesting man, of whom we shall hear more. . . .To sum up, there is considerable feeling which is kept within bound only by use of the Secret Service funds. One agitation, based on the high cost of living, petered out. But it would only need some incident, such as a Zeppelin raid involving many victims, to unloose disorder. Especially as, at the other end of the scale, the Action Française is trying hard to stir up public opinion with the bogy of German spies. Those two influences might easily meet under one flag: 'Treachery.'" ((1), more)
"Our women munition workers out to be proud! Mr Lloyd George has brought out a picture book about them! It is a large, handsome book, costing 1s, entirely of pictures of women workers and all the processes they can do. According to Mr Lloyd George, never was there such useful workers as women munition workers. He says they can do bronzing and soldering, they can make 8-pounder shells, and some of them are very successful in making high explosive shells.Well, it is very nice to be praised by so important a man, and it is even nicer that he should take the trouble to have a book filled with pictures of girls at work. We women, however, have always had a lurking suspicion that we were, after all, as clever as the men, and it is pleasant to hear Mr Lloyd George say so. But there is a conclusion to be drawn from all this. If girls are as important and as clever as the men, then they are as valuable to the employer. If this is so it becomes the duty of girls to see, now and always, whether on government work or not, that they receive the same pay as men." ((2), more)
"The spiralling violence of the war at sea aroused bitter hatred on both sides of the North Sea. On 23 December 1915 Britain issued the Trading with the Enemy Act which established a 'statutory black list' of firms — friendly or neutral — that traded with the Central Powers. Germany responded on 12 February 1916 with its second U-boat offensive against shipping bound for the British Isles. Once more, German U-boat captains reported difficulties in distinguishing between neutrals and belligerents. They also reported that British ships used neutral flags to confound them and armed decoy (Q) ships to trap them." ((3), more)
"As we were passing by the last vegetable gardens on the edge of town, we saw an elderly hunchbacked Turkish woman with disheveled hair, dressed in rags. She stood like a statue, sometimes raising her hands to the sky and then striking her knees, and shouting:Cursed be they, it's a world of doers and finders; they're taking these innocent people away to murder them; the enemy to come, in turn, will treat us this way in the future . . . Look here, those who remain alive won't enjoy the spoils . . . may God be with you, my children." ((4), more)
"— A story by the artist C———. An Italian officer was trying to induce his men to advance out of the trenches by sheer eloquence. In fiery language he reminded them of their hereditary foe, of their king hovering over the battlefield in an aeroplane. Then he charged forward, but turned around again to observe that his men were still firmly planted in the trench, applauding his speech with cries of 'Bravo, bravo!'" ((5), more)
(1) Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government, visited Sûreté Générale, the French national police, on February 10, 1916 where he reviewed information on pacifist movements. Syndicalists called for peace and tended to emphasize that the war was not one of German aggression; Anarchists that workers were sacrificing their lives for a handful of people. Action Française, begun as an anti-Dreyfus movement, was the leading far right group that opposed the legacy of the French Revolution, was staunchly pro-Catholic, and included monarchists. The group supported Georges Clemenceau, who became French Prime Minister in November, 1917.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, pp. 144, 145, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(2) An excerpt From Women Worker, February 1916. David Lloyd George was appointed to the newly-created position of Minister of Munitions in May, 1915 in the political crisis of the shell shortage.
The Virago Book of Women and the Great War by Joyce Marlow, Editor, pp. 172, 173, copyright © Joyce Marlow 1998, publisher: Virago Press, publication date: 1999
(3) German submarines began sinking shipping around the British Isles in 1914. Great Britain declared the entire North Sea a military zone effective November 5, and imposed a blockade of Germany. On February 4, 1915, Germany announced a campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare in which all ships of Britain and its allies were subject to sinking without notice. It became effective on February 18. Germany accused Britain of false-flagging its merchant ships, sailing them under the flags of neutral nations. Britain both armed merchant ships, and used decoy merchant ships, the armed Q ships, to lure submarines before opening fire on them. On May 7, 1915, German submarine U-20 sank the passenger liner Lusitania, killing 1,195 civilians, 128 of them Americans. Responding to American protests, Germany restricted, but did not end, its campaign at the end of August.
The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, page 287, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997
(4) Excerpt from the memoir of Grigoris Balakian, a priest of the Armenian Church, and one of the Armenian intellectuals of Constantinople imprisoned on the night of April 24, 1915. Most of the others were dead the end of the summer of 1915, but Balakian survived, and was imprisoned in Chankiri. On February 13, 1916, he was taken from its jail to join the Armenians of Chankiri who were being deported to Der Zor and likely death in the Syrian desert.
Armenian Golgotha: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1918 by Grigoris Balakian, page 127, copyright © Introduction and Translation 2009 by Peter Balakian, publisher: Vintage Books, publication date: 2009-00-00
(5) Undated mid-February, 1916 entry from the diary of Michel Corday, a senior civil servant in the French government. Italy's hereditary foe was Austria, with whom Italy fought three Wars of Independence from 1848 to 1866.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 145, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
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