A British Mark IV tank advances across the red field, star and crescent moon of a Turkish flag under a chain of grey and yellow clouds. Entitled Entente-török fegyverszünet, Entente-Turkish Armistice, it refers to the British-Turkish Armistice signed on October 30, 1918, that took effect on October 31. Original watercolor postcard by Schima Martos.
Entente-török fegyverszünetEntente-Turkish Armistice
"— The 31st. Turkey has accepted the armistice conditions proposed by the Entente. Some joyful demonstrations in the streets. The news was brought by the British general, Townshend, lately prisoner of war in Turkey.— The 31st. On the 31st, Professor Vincent was telling me that the influenza epidemic is graver than is admitted by the authorities, who are concealing the truth to bolster up the public morale. He himself would set up a dictatorship of doctors. Close the theatres, cinemas, and large shops. 'Forbid people to spit, cough, or sneeze, except in their handkerchiefs.'— The Catholics are saying that God has sent this influenza to restore the balance, since twice as many women as men have been struck down. The apathy of the masses is indescribable. Last week 1,800 people died of influenza in Paris—that is, nearly 300 people every day ; in other words, as many as have been killed by aeroplanes and super-guns in four years of war."
The Cabinet of British Prime Minister David Lloyd George authorized Vice-Admiral Sir Somerset Gough-Calthorpe, Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Fleet, to negotiate an armistice with Turkey rather than a surrender as a way to exclude France from the bargaining table. They held negotiations on HMS Agamemnon, thereby ensuring France representation could be excluded and as a reminder to the Turks of another defeat on their shores. Influenza struck during the spring and summer of 1918 as a three-day fever, but returned in the autumn in a more deadly form. During the war, Paris had been bombed by Zeppelins and Gotha and other bombers, and shelled by a German gun capable of reaching the capital from 80 miles away.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 383, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
1918-10-31, 1918, October, Turkish Armistice, Turkey, influenza, influenza epidemic, influenza pandemic, flu, flu epidemic, flu pandemic, super-gun, Paris gun
