Postcard of Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, showing Appel Quay and the Lateiner bridge at the intersection where Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophia were shot and killed by Gavrilo Princip on June 28, 1914. The card is field postmarked by a Landstrumm Infantry Regiment, with a message dated July 3, 1915.
Image text: Sarajewo - Appel Quai+ Ort, wo das Attentat vom 2[8] Juni 1914 verübt wurde.Sarajevo - Appel QuaySpot where the assassination was perpetrated on June 28, 1914.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
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A map of the Russian-Turkish front from Der Weltkrieg 1914-1918, a 1930s German history of the war illustrated with hand-pasted cigarette cards, showing the Turkish Empire in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas and the Persian Gulf. To the west is Egypt, a British dominion; to the east Persia. Erzerum in Turkey and Kars in Russia were the great fortresses on the frontier.
Image text: Mittelmeer: Mediterranean SeaSchwarzes M: Black SeaKasp. M.: Caspian SeaKleinasien: Asia MinorTürkei: TurkeyRussland: RussiaMesopot.: MesopotamiaPersien: PersiaAgypten: EgyptKairo: CairoStellungen der: Positions of theTürken Jan. 1915. . .August 1916Russen Mai 1915 . . . Frühjahr 1916Engländer: November 1914 . . . Ende 1917Herbst 1918Positions of theTurks Jan. 1915 . . . August 1916Russians May 1915 . . . spring 1916English: November 1914 . . . the end of 1917autumn 1918
Postcard celebrating the fall of Belgrade, Serbia, to German and Austro-Hungarian forces under the command of Generals von Gallwitz & General Kövess v. Kövesshaza on October 9, 1915. Images of the city include the King's Palace, Terazié Square, the University, the National Theater, King Milan Street, and the city from the Save River.
Image text: Belgrad erobert von den Verbündeten am 9. Oktober 1915General Kövess v. Kövesshaza, General von GallwitzKönigs-Palast, Terazié, Universität, National Theater, König Milan Strasse, Belgrad von der SaveBelgrade conquered by the allies on 9 October 1915General Kövess v. Kövesshaza, General von GallwitzKing's Palace, Terazié, University, National Theater, King Milan Street, Belgrade from the Save5361Reverse:Card postmarked Belgrade, June 6, 1918
The department of the Marne in Champagne was some of the most contested land during the war, site of the initial German invasion, the Battle of the Marne, the First and Second Battles of Champagne, the Champagne-Marne Offensive, Rheims Cathedral, Épernay, Châlons, Vitry-le-Francois, Ste-Menehould, and Perthes-les-Hurlus (First Champagne).
Image text: Reverse:No. 51. Marne - Formé en 1790 d'une partie de la Champagne. Ce territoire à été le theâtre de nombreux évenements historiques: défaite d'Attila, baptisme de Clovis, sacre des rois de France, prédication de la seconde croisade, invasion de Charles Quint, Guerres de la Révolution et de l'empire, Guerre de 1870 et de 1914. Victoire de la Marne. Reims est décorée de la Légion d'Honneur. CÉLÉBRITÉS: Urbain II pape; Colbert; St. Jean-Batiste de la Salle. CURIOSITÉS: Cathédrale de Reims, église N.D. de l'Épines à Chalons, chateau de Montmort, vignobles et caves. PRODUITS: Céreales, cerises, betteraves, élevage, moutons, tonnellerie, bouchons, lainage, blanc d'Espagne, vin de champagne, biscuits. Station thermale: Sermaize.No. 51 Marne - Formed in 1790 from part of Champagne. This area was the scene of many historic events: defeat of Attila, baptism of Clovis, the coronation of the kings of France, preaching the Second Crusade, invasion of Charles V, Wars of the Revolution and the Empire, War of 1870 and 1914. Victory of the Marne. Reims is decorated with the Legion d'Honneur. CELEBRITIES: Pope Urban II; Colbert; St. Jean-Baptiste de la Salle. SITES: Reims Cathedral, Church of Our Lady of the Thorns in Chalons, Montmort Castle, vineyards and wineries. PRODUCTS: Cereals, cherries, beets, livestock, sheep, cooperage, caps, wool, Spanish white wine, champagne, cookies. Spa: Sermaize.
"There is nothing to show the complicity of the Serbian Government in the directing of the assassination or its preparation or in the supplying of weapons. Nor is there anything to lead one even to conjecture such a thing. On the contrary there is evidence that would appear to show that such complicity is out of the question. . . .. . . Depositions of accused place it practically beyond doubt that the outrage was decided in Belgrade and prepared with the help of the Serbian railway officials Ciganović and Major Tankosić, by both of whom bombs, Brownings, ammunition and cyanide of potassium were procured." ((1), more)
"The Russians had lost 412 000 in May 1915 alone. Still, General Ivanov vowed to hold every square foot of ground. But the Russian 'Great Retreat' continued unabated. The Germans crossed the Dniester River on 27 June. On 13 July OberOst mounted another major offensive: Hindenburg attacked in Russian Poland from the northwest, Mackensen from the south, and Woyrsch from the west." ((2), more)
". . . the Russians had destroyed or captured fully a third of the Turkish Third Army — the units linked up against Lyyakhov alone lost 12,000 — and that defeat broke it as a fighting force. Now Yudenich need have no fear of it intervening on the left when he had to face Izzet's Second Army, as he knew he must in the weeks to come. His line was consolidated across the Pontic Alps from the Black Sea coast west of Trebizond to the Eastern Euphrates . . ." ((3), more)
"Regent Alexander then used his right and commuted the death sentences passed on Colonels Milovanović, Lazić, and Tucović and on Lieutenant-Colonel Vemić to twenty years in prison, while he reduced the prison sentences of Čedomir Popović, and Vice-Consul Radenković to ten years. Dragutin Dimitrijević, Ljubomir Vulović, and Rade Malobabić were executed near Salonika at dawn on 13 July 1917.The Salonika trial was rigged, its aim having been the forcible removal of a dangerous political rival. The executions of Dimitrijević, Vulović, and Malobabić were in fact political assassinations under the cover of a judicial sentence." ((4), more)
"The actual command for the operation came very late. I was just sitting and working over it, when a perfectly strange grenadier was announced. With excitement but modestly he asked if it were true that Americans were stationed over there and that our attack was betrayed. I quieted him, but inquired carefully here and there what the general opinions on the attack might be. There was thorough confidence in the leaders; but there was an indefinite feeling that the affair would not succeed. 'The infantry has the right instinct,' veterans of the front used to say.. . . The enemy had taken several prisoners from us, among others an officer of photometry who, contrary to orders, had carried important maps with him. . . .The enemy fire increased each day. When on July 13th we moved to the places of preparation, thick clouds of gas lay on the wood of Jaulgonne. 'It will turn out all right,' was the general consolation." ((5), more)
(1) To build his case for war, Austro-Hungarian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Berchtold sent Dr. Wiesner, a Legal Counsellor at the Foreign Office to Sarajevo on July 10, 1913 to report within 48 hours on the investigation into the assassination of the Archduke and his wife. Dr. Wiesner reported by telegram on July 13. While finding evidence the attack was planned in Belgrade, Serbia, he did not provide the solid case against the Serbian government that Berchtold and others arguing for war were looking for.
The Origins of the War of 1914, Volume Two: The Crisis of July 1914 from the Sarajevo outrage to the Austro-Hungarian general mobilization by Luigi Albertini, page 174, publisher: Oxford University Press, publication date: 1952
(2) The German offensive that began on July 13, 1915 put over ten divisions and 1,000 guns with 400,000 shells on a front of 40 kilometres. The Russian defenders were unprepared. OberOst was 'Oberbefehlshaber der gesamten Deutschen Streitkräfte im Osten'—'Commander in Chief of all German Armed Forces in the East, headed by Generals Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. General August von Mackensen had commanded the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive of which the July 13 offensive was an extension.
The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, page 144, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997
(3) From his victory over the Turks in the Battle of Sarikamish in December, 1914 to January, 1915, through his methodical advance into eastern Turkey through July, 1916, Russian General Nicholai Yudenich has repeatedly defeated Turkish forces in the mountains between the Black Sea, Persia, and the Russian frontier. The largely Christian population had suffered through governmental attacks, particularly the Armenian genocide. On July 13, 1916, Yudenich and Vladimir Lyakhov defeated the Turks on the Kara-Su River at Kotur. With this victory, Yudenich threatened the Turkish heartland.
Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East by Roger Ford, page 170, copyright © Roger Ford 2010, publisher: Pegasus Books, publication date: 2010
(4) Dragutin Dimitrijević, known as Apis, was a colonel in the Serbian Army and leader of the Black Hand Society that had plotted the 1914 assassination of Franz Ferdinand and supplied weapons to the assassins. After the conquest of Serbia, with its government in exile and its army fighting on the Salonica Front, three factions struggled for control. One was centered on the Government of Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, another around Regent Alexander. The core of the third was Apis and the Black Hand. Those who stood trial in Salonica were accused of plotting against the Serbian Government and attempting to assassinate Alexander. Sentenced to death, Apis was executed on July 13, 1917. (In his excellent history of the war on the Salonica Front, The Gardeners of Salonika, Alan Palmer (page 137) dates the execution on June 26.) Crown Prince Alexander became Regent of Serbia on June 24, 1914 after his father, King Peter, turned over royal authority to his son.
Serbia's Great War 1914-1918 by Andrej Mitrovic, page 183, copyright © Andrej Mitrovic, 2007, publisher: Purdue University Press, publication date: 2007
(5) Excerpt from an account of the immediate run-up to Germany's Champagne-Marne Offensive by Kurt Hesse, Grenadier Regiment No. 5, 36th Infantry Division. The attack would begin on July 15, 1918, and was Germany's last offensive of the war.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, pp. 250–251, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
