A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
I've killed many Germans, but never women or children. Original French watercolor by John on blank field postcard. In the background are indolent Russian soldiers and Vladimir Lenin, in the foreground stands what may be a Romanian soldier who is telling the Russians, 'You call me savage. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!'
Image text: T'appelles moi sauvage !. Moi, tuer Boches beaucoup, mais jamais li femmes et li s'enfants !You call me wild. I killed a lot of Boches [Germans], but never women or children!
Hand-painted miniatures of Mecca and the Ka'abah from the Islamic prayer book 'Prayers to Muhammed,' composed by Muhammed b. Suleyman al-Jazuli.
Image text:
Photograph of Russian troops on the front line taken May 15, 1917, after the Russian Revolution, from the German or Austro-Hungarian line. A barbed wire emplacement separates the photographer from the Russians. The Russian front was mostly quiet between the revolution in March and a Russian offensive begun July 1.
Image text: Russische Ostern, 15. V. 1917.
Photograph of Marshal Ferdinand Foch and General John Pershing meeting at Chaumont, General Headquarters on June 17, 1918.
Image text: Marshall Foch and General Pershing at Chaumont G.H.Q.
"Brünn (745 ft.), the capital of Moravia, with 125,000 inhab. (two-thirds German), lies in a beautiful fertile region at the foot of the Spielberg, between the Schwarzawa and the Zwittawa. The town, which was an important place as early as the 9th cent. is now one of the chief manufacturing places in the Austrian empire, especially for cloth." ((1), more)
"Suddenly the artillery fire died away. The front line became visible. But then we began firing again. Our artillery put the Russian trenches under heavy fire. I demanded that the reserves go in. We had a firing line, man against man. The Russians didn't advance and those who tried to retreat were blown away. We killed hundreds of them. It is irresponsible, how ruthlessly the Russians drive their men forward. My men were exemplary. An unshakeable wall. The night passed without incident. We left the Russians alone so that they could collect their wounded. Many were screaming all day in the wheatfield." ((2), more)
"God (blessed and exalted be He) has vouchsafed the land an opportunity to rise in revolt, has enabled her by His power and might to seize her independence and crown her efforts with prosperity and victory, even after she was crushed by the maladministration of the Turkish civil and military officials. She stands quite apart and distinct from countries that still groan under the yoke of the Union and Progress Government. She is independent in the fullest sense of the word, freed from the rule of strangers and purged of every foreign influence. Her principles are to defend the faith of Islam, to elevate the Moslem people, to found their conduct on Holy Law, to build up the code of justice on the same foundation in harmony with the principles of religion, to practice its ceremonies in accordance with modern progress, and make a genuine revolution by sparing no pains in spreading education among all classes according to their station and their needs." ((3), more)
"There remained one other factor in the situation: the great amorphous mass of the Russian people themselves. Up to this point the revolution had not improved their living conditions in the least, at any rate in the cities. The food shortage in the cities had grown worse, and prices had now risen to seven times above the prewar level. The bread ration had gone down to 1½ pounds for manual workers and one pound for others. In Petrograd many factories had closed down, and the unemployed men, mingling with the idle military garrison, formed a solid pacifist block. They believed that their leaders in the Ex Com and the Soviet had betrayed them by joining a belligerent coalition government. They wanted peace." ((4), more)
"June 27 thus marked the final step in Foch's rise to power. Like previous selections of Joffre, Nivelle, and Pétain, Foch's elevation had a profound effect on French strategy, operations, and doctrine. The day after the War Committee met, Foch sent Pétain a letter that began, 'It is important to envisage henceforth the resumption of the offensive by the allied armies in 1918 as soon as means permit.' Bowing to Foch's new powers, on July 2 Pétain sent his army-group commanders a copy of Foch's memorandum of June 16 on doctrine. Neither Foch nor Pétain realized how close they were to the end of the war." ((5), more)
(1) The Sokol sports and gymnastics movement was founded in Prague in the Czech region of Austria-Hungary in 1862, and spread to other Slavic regions and countries. The movement played a role in the rise of nationalism. The Sokols held gatherings, "slets," with gymnastics competitions, demonstrations, speeches, and performances. A regional slet was in progress in Brünn (Brno), Austria-Hungary, when Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Czech wife were assassinated.
Austria-Hungary, including Dalmatia and Bosnia : handbook for travellers by Karl Baedeker, 342, 343, copyright © 1911, publisher: Karl Baedeker, publication date: 1911
(2) Ernst Nopper, a German officer on the border of Austria-Hungary and Polish Russia, writing on June 27, 1915. The Russians had attacked two days earlier, suffering heavy losses with no gain. The Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, a joint German-Austro-Hungarian assault, had driven the Russians back, but not yet broken their line. The Russian version of the shell shortage was the most extreme of the major powers, the army lacking guns, artillery shells, rifles, and ammunition to respond to the German attacks.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 105, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(3) Excerpt from the June 27, 1916 proclamation of independence by Hussein ibn Ali, the Sherif of Mecca and King of Hijaz. Hussein cites the behavior of the Society of Union and Progress, the party of the Young Turks, as the justification for his declaration. The Party stripped the Sultan of his power, putting command of the Ottoman Empire in the hands of Enver Pasha, Djemal Pasha, and Talaat Bey who were responsible for the loss of the empire's territory and the impoverishment of its people. The crimes Hussein attributes to them include religious offenses, the hanging of 21 'eminent and cultured Moslems and Arabs of distinction,' and the shelling of the Kaaba in Mecca, which set its covering cloth ablaze and nearly struck the Black Stone set into one corner of the structure.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. IV, 1916, p. 237, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(4) The All-Russian Congress of Soviet and Front Line Organizations began June 16, 1917 and voted to support a new offensive against Germany and Austria-Hungary on its first day with only the Bolsheviks opposing. The Ex Com (the Executive Committee of the Soviet) had approved the inclusion of six socialists in the revolutionary government formed in mid-May. Along the the majority of Socialist delegates, the center and right-wing members of the government supported an offensive. The Allies, including representatives of the United States who offered loans on condition of continuing the war, urged the Russians to attack.
The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, page 201, copyright © 1958 by Time, Inc., publisher: Carroll and Graf, publication date: 1989
(5) Joseph Joffre, Robert Nivelle, and Henri Philippe Pétain were the Commanders-in-Chief of the French Army during the war. Ferdinand Foch path to becoming Allied Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies began in late 1917 as the French and British Prime Ministers Georges Clemenceau and David Lloyd George struggled to guide military policy after a year that saw the disasters of the Nivelle Offensive, the French army mutinies, and the Battle of Passchendaele. Foch consistently pressed for a unified command and reserve force that could seize the offensive when the opportunity presented itself. Foch's rise was incremental, but after four German spring 1918 offensives that stunned first the British and then the French, the French, British, American, and Italian civilian and military leaders agreed the role required authority to command and not simply coordinate.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, page 460, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
