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A Russian POW leaning on a shovel or other tool. A drawing by Wilhelm Hartmann dated September 22, 1915.
'All for their Good,' a cartoon by Dutch artist Louis Raemaekers, from 'Through the Iron Bars (Two years of German occupation in Belgium)' by Emile Cammaerts Illustrated with Cartoons by Louis Raemaekers.
Postcard view of the Kremlin in Moscow with the broken Tsar or Royal Bell on the left and the Savior's Tower and Kremlin wall to the right.
Allied soldiers fortifying shell craters after an advance. From The Nations at War by Willis J. Abbot, 1918 Edition.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
"Germany now prepared to face the might of the United States. The danger of America's entry into the war was offset, however, as far as the German High Command was concerned, by the continual news from Russia of military weakness and anti-war feeling behind the lines. On February 16 [German] General Hoffmann noted in his diary: 'There is very encouraging news from the interior of Russia. It would seem that she cannot hold out longer than the autumn.'" ((1), more)
"In February, 1917, that is to say, at the moment when the Germans were beginning to prepare for their retreat, they committed the savage depredations which are now known to the entire world, and which revolt the universal conscience of mankind.. . . At Noyon, a week after sending off the first batch, on February 17th, the Germans selected fifty young girls who had been expelled from the region of St. Quentin and interned in the town. They were all sent to the north, in spite of the tears and entreaties of their parents, whose anguish was terrible." ((2), more)
"Now that food has grown scarce in Petrograd and Moscow, disorder takes the shape of riots and insurrections. We are told that mobs of the lower classes parade the streets shouting 'Peace and Bread!' They are aware that the war is at the root of their hardships. So it is: 'Peace and Bread!' But as the days pass, hunger gains primary place and the erstwhile docile rabble grow unruly and rampageous. They no longer bother about peace; their empty stomachs warrant no rival. So it is only 'Bread!' 'Give us Bread!'" ((3), more)
"This morning, every face is racked with exhaustion. As for me, I was seized by a strong urge to vomit while walking through the Caurettes forest. I survived thanks to a few drops of mint liqueur. I fell into a shell crater full of water and I got drenched up to my belt. I fell asleep at three in the hot humidity of this wretched sap. These night reliefs are the worst thing about this war." ((4), more)
"Until now, I always managed to still my hunger in the end. (The eternal theme of the German nation.) . . .A package arrived from Wiessee; it contained raw carrots and an enormous beet." ((5), more)
(1) Russia was coming to a crisis in a winter of brutal cold that disabled transport,and kept supplies from the army and food from Petrograd, the capital, and Moscow. In the armed forces, cities, and factories, antiwar and anti-Tsarist sentiment flared.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 309, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(2) Excerpt from the 'Official Report of the French Investigating Commission headed by Georges Payelle, President of the Court of Audits on Operation Alberich, the German strategic retreat of 1917 to a shorter, well-entrenched defensive system. This 'Hindenburg Line' was the Siegfried Zone of four trench lines. Germany deported citizens of occupied Belgium and French both within the occupied zone and to Germany itself. In this case, 'to the north' could have been further into northern France or into Belgium. The Germans evacuated Noyon itself in the retreat.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. V, 1917, p. 32, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(3) Undated excerpt from the diary of Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, writing around early February (mid- to late-January Old Style), 1917. She had been taken very ill in September, 1916, and was only recently back near the front. The winter of 1916–17 was bitterly cold, affecting the Russian transport system and its supplies to the front and the cities. Hunger preyed on the soldiers and citizens in Moscow and Petrograd.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, pp. 254–255, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(4) French Captain Paul Tuffrau writing on February 19, 1917. Tuffrau had fought since the Battle of the Marne in 1914, and had been wounded twice. He was deployed to Verdun in September, 1916, and was in the sector in February, 1917. The bitter cold of which he wrote on February 4 had broken in the middle of the month.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 208, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(5) Part of the diary entry of Paul Klee for February 20, 1917, during Germany's 'Turnip Winter.'
The Diaries of Paul Klee 1898-1918, Edited, with an Introduction by Felix Klee by Paul Klee, page 367, copyright © 1964 by the Regents of the University of California, publisher: University of California Press, publication date: 1968
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