The Allies welcome Italy to the victory banquet, serving her Trento and Trieste. Turkey, Austria-Hungary, and Germany (the Central Powers) look in on the feast. The artwork is from the period between Italy's entry into the war on May 23, 1915, and Bulgaria's joining the Central Powers on October 14. It was a difficult year for the celebrants. Postcard by Aurelio Bertiglia.
Image text: Grande Hotel della CiviltàPiatti del GiornoImpero TedescoAustria-UngheriaTurchia EuropeaDolceVittoriaDolce della VittoriaTrento Trieste'Il Banchetto dei Vincitori''Le Banquet des Vainqueurs''The Banquet of the Victors'Great Hotel of CivilizationDishes of the DayGerman EmpireAustria-HungaryEuropean TurkeysweetvictorySweet VictoryTrento Trieste'The Banquet of the Victors''Le Banquet des vainqueurs''The Banquet of the Victors'Reverse:Logo:CCMRiproduzione artistica riservata1019Made in ItalyArtistic reproduction restricted
The exploding shell of a French 75 mm. field gun blasts the crown from the tree of the Central Powers as the axe of Justice strikes its trunk. A background map shows British towns on the English Channel and Belgian and French cities shelled by German forces burning. A 1915 French postcard.
Image text: 75, Turquie, Allemagne, Autriche, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Yarmouth, Hartlepool, Whitby, Scarborough, Ypres, Arras, Reims, LouvainMalheur aux ennemisTo the D...with the Enemy1914 1915Déposé. . . Tous Droits RéservésArtist LogoReverse:Edition Globe TrotterParisMarque Déposée Trade MarkCarte PostaleF. Bouchet, Éditeur-Imprimeur, 5bis, Rue Béranger, Paris (IIIe)Visé - Paris No. 1
Design for a memorial in memory of Harold Lionel Isidore Spielmann of Pembroke College, Cambridge, a Captain in the 10th Manchester Regiment, who 'led his men with skill & gallantry & reached his objective.' He was killed in action at Helles on Gallipoli on August 13, 1915, and is buried there in the Pink Farm Cemetery. The upper portion of the design is the coat of arms of Pembroke College at Cambridge University on a field of 'P's for Pembroke College. Signed Nelson Dawson, Inv. et Fecit.
Image text: This Ark was presented in loving memory of Harold Lionel Isidore Spielmann of Pembroke College Camb Captain 10th Manchester Regiment T:F ... Born. Jan 12, 1893 killed in action Gallipoli Aug 13 1915 May his soul rest in peace."He led his men with skill & gallantry & reached his objective"Nelson Dawson Inv. et Fecit.
German volunteer motorboat in a reconnaissance skirmish. After a painting by C. W. Kiesslich.
Image text: Text, reverse:Kriegskünstlerkarten nach Originalen des Schlachtenmalers C. W. Kiesslich: Deutsches Freiwilligen-Motorboot im AufklärungsgefechtArtist battle cards after originals of the battle painter C. W. Kiesslich: German volunteer motorboat in a reconnaissance skirmish
French folding postcard map of Verdun and the Meuse River, number 9 from the series Les Cartes du Front. Montfaucon is in the upper left and St. Mihiel at the bottom.
Image text: Les Cartes du FrontVerdun et Côtes de MeuseEchelle 1:32,000RoutesChemin de ferCanauxMaps of the FrontVerdun and the Hills of the MeuseScale: 1:32,000RoadsRailwaysCanals1. - Les Flandres2. - Artois, Picardie3. - Aisne, Champagne4. - Argonne et Meuse5. - Lorraine6. - Vosges et Alsace7. - Route des Dame et Plateau de Craonne8. - Région de Perthes9. - Verdun10. - Somme et Santerre11. - Plateau d'Artois12. - Belgique - FlandresA. Hatier. Editeur.8.Rue d'Assas, Paris.Outer front:Correspondence of the ArmiesMilitary Franchise
The Allied tortoise climbs the victory podium ahead of the German hare. A postcard by F. Sancha from between March 1916 when Portugal entered the war, and April 1917, when the United States (not included) did. The card was printed in England for a Portuguese audience. Sancha produced other war postcards based on Aesop's fables. The German officer bears containers including poison (veneno) and inflammables. The Allied tortoise bears carries conventional weapons for Japan, Belgium, England, France, Russia, Italy, Serbia, and Portugal. Allied productive capacity, including that of poison gas, would eventually far outpace that of the Central Powers. © London
Image text: Reverse:A tartaruga e o lebreO lebre e a tartaruga que competem na corrida; o lebre leva a dianteira no principio, rindo-se do seu adversario ronceiro; mas afinal das contas é a laboriosa tartaruga que ganha a corrida;Mercê dos preparativos organisados annos antes da guerra, a Alemanha levou a dianteira aos Aliados, no principio; mas tendo hoje os Aliados munições a fartar, sāo elles que já divisam o triunfo.As Fabulas de Æsopo Modernisadas.Copyright LondonPrinted in England.The tortoise and the hareThe hare and the tortoise competing in the race; the hare takes the lead in the beginning, laughing at his stubborn adversary; but after all it is the laborious turtle that wins the race;Throughout the preparatory years before the war, Germany led the Allies in the beginning; but now the Allies have plenty of ammunition, they are the ones who already see triumph.Modernised Aesop's Fables
"[British Colonel Fairholme] has been going to Louvain every day, to visit the General Staff and report to the King as the military representative of an ally. The first time he arrived in a motor with Gen. de Selliers de Moranville, the Chief of Staff. As they drew into the square in front of the headquarters, they saw that everything was in confusion and a crowd was gathered to watch arrivals and departures. When their car stopped, a large thug, mistaking him for a German officer, reached in and dealt him a smashing blow on the mouth with his fist, calling him a 'sal alboche' by way of good measure." ((1), more)
". . . Compared with the towns of the north, Rheims is relatively unharmed; but for that very reason the arrest of life seems the more futile and cruel. The Cathedral square is deserted, all the houses around it are closed. And there, before us, rose the Cathedral — a cathedral, rather, for it was not the one we had always known. It was, in fact, not like any cathedral on earth. When the German bombardment began, the west front of Rheims was covered with scaffolding: the shells set it on fire, and the whole church was wrapped in flames. Now the scaffolding is gone, and in the dull provincial square there stands a structure so strange and beautiful, that one must search the Inferno, or some tale of Eastern magic, for words to picture the luminous unearthly vision. The lower part of the front has been warmed to deep tints of umber and burnt siena. This rich burnishing passes, higher up, through yellowish-pink and carmine, to a sulphur whitening to ivory; and the recesses of the portals and the hollows behind the statues are lined with a black denser and more velvety than any effect of shadow to be obtained by sculptured relief. The interweaving of colour over the whole blunted bruised surface recalls the metallic tints, the peacock-and-pigeon iridescences, the incredible mingling of red, blue, umber and yellow of the rocks along the Gulf of Ægina. And the wonder of the impression is increased by the sense of its evanescence; the knowledge that this is the beauty of disease and death, that every one of the transfigured statues must crumble under the autumn rains, that every one of the pink or golden stones is already eaten away to the core, that the Cathedral of Rheims is glowing and dying before us like a sunset. . ." ((2), more)
"This Ark was presented in loving memory of Harold Lionel Isidore Spielmann of Pembroke College Camb Captain 10th Manchester Regiment T:F ... Born. Jan 12, 1895 killed in action Gallipoli Aug 13 1915 May his soul rest in peace."He led his men with skill & gallantry & reached his objective"Nelson Dawson Inv. et Fecit." ((3), more)
"On 29 July [1916] the Germans, Austrians, and Bulgarians reached an agreement, later adhered to by the Turks, on the conduct of the campaign. Field Marshal Mackensen was given command of the southern frontier, that is, the region of the Dobrudja and Danube. AOK decided to retain the majority of the Danube Flotilla in the lower Danube rather than ordering it to make the long trip upstream from Rustschuk. After hostilities began, the flotilla, including the monitors at Rustschuk and the armed steamers spread along the Danube, proceeded to Balene; only the armed steamer Almos and patrol boats Lachs and Stör were upstream at Kladovo, and there were a few German motorboats at Orsova. The Austrians also sent special bridging equipment down to Belene in a few echelons in preparation for a future crossing of the Danube. On 13 August the Danube Flotilla was placed under the orders of Army Group Mackensen." ((4), more)
"Artillery preparation began on the morning of August 11. Using 3,000 pieces, the French initially fired counterbattery missions and on August 13 began destroying enemy positions. From August 11 to 20 they fired 3,000,000 rounds of artillery, including more than 1,000,000 rounds from heavy guns. Using a technique borrowed from the British, the French also used machine guns to fire indirectly toward passage points, crossroads, supply lines, and enemy artillery batteries. The Germans responded with their own artillery fire and chemicals, but the French maintained control of the air with their fighters and obtained better results." ((5), more)
"During the [August 13, 1918] meeting, Ludendorff despaired of what he called Hindenburg's 'more optimistic view' of the situation.'I reviewed the military situation, the condition of the Army, the position of our Allies, and explained that it was no longer possible to force the enemy to sue for peace by an offensive . . . I sincerely hoped, however, that the Army in France would stand fast. The state of affairs on the Western Front was naturally bound to make an unfavourable impression on our Allies. In this connection, the morale of our Army and people became a matter of even greater importance than before.'After speaking for some time, the Secretary of State, Paul von Hintze, drew 'the logical conclusion that peace negotiations were essential and that we should have to bring ourselves to take up a very conciliatory attitude.'" ((6), more)
(1) Journal entry for August 13, 1914 by Hugh Gibson, Secretary of the American Legation in Brussels. With war begun, King Albert took command of the Belgian Army, and moved his headquarters and the Government to Louvain, east of Brussels and closer to the front.
A Journal from our Legation in Belgium by Hugh Gibson, page 65, copyright © Copyright, 1917, by Doubleday, Page & Company, publisher: Doubleday, Page & Company, publication date: 1917
(2) Edith Wharton toured the Western Front in 1915, reporting from the Argonne, Lorraine, the Vosges, northern France, and Belgium. In August she toured Alsace, stopping in Reims, France on her way. German artillery first shelled the magnificent Cathedral on September 19, 1914 igniting scaffolding that covered the north tower, and beginning a fire that spread to other woodwork within the building. The building was intermittently shelled throughout the war, particularly in the spring of 1917 when it was struck with 70 high-caliber shells.
Fighting France by Edith Wharton, pp. 184-186, copyright © 1915, by Charles Scribner's Sons, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1915
(3) Design for a memorial in memory of Harold Lionel Isidore Spielmann of Pembroke College, Cambridge, a Captain in the 10th Manchester Regiment, who 'led his men with skill & gallantry & reached his objective.' He was killed in action at Helles on Gallipoli on August 13, 1915, and is buried there in the Pink Farm Cemetery. The upper portion of the design is the coat of arms of Pembroke College at Cambridge University on a field of 'P's for Pembroke College. Signed Nelson Dawson, Inv. et Fecit.
Revolutionary Russia 1891-1991: a History by Orlando Figes, front, copyright © 2014 by Orlando Figes, publisher: Picador, publication date: 2015
(4) As Romania negotiated its entry into the war, its soon-to-be adversaries prepared. Protected by mountains to the north, only the barrier of the Danube River stood between it and Bulgaria to the south. In the country's east, where the Danube turned north before flowing east into the Black Sea, was the Dobruja, a region with no natural barrier against an offensive from the south. August von Mackensen was one of Germany's most effective generals during the war.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 275, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(5) French commander in chief Henri Pétain agreed to support British commander Douglas Haig's offensive in Flanders by attacking at Verdun to recapture territory lost in the German siege of 1916. The French army mutinies delayed Pétain's offensive until after Haig had already launched the Third Battle of Ypres. The Verdun offensive complied with the conditions Pétain had promised his army: greater use of artillery and other weapons before an assault by the infantry, all to achieve clear and limited objectives.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, pp. 380–381, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
(6) The success of the Anglo-French Battle of Amiens, particularly the seven-mile advance on a broad front in the first day, stunned German commander Erich Ludendorff who referred to a 'black day for the German Army.' Military and civilian leaders met at Spa on August 13 to review the situation, to be joined by the Emperors Wilhelm II of Germany and Karl of Austria-Hungary the next day. Some of the officers who met with him thought Ludendorff was suffering a nervous breakdown. Germany's Allies were on the verge of collapse. Austria-Hungary threatened to make a separate peace, and Turkey was losing ground on the Syria/Palestine and Mesopotamian fronts.
Hundred Days: The Campaign that Ended World War I by Nick Lloyd, pp. 71–72, copyright © 2014 by Nick Lloyd, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2014
