Map of the Trentino, part of "Italia Irredenta," unredeemed Italy: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)
Image text: Venezia Tridentina (Trentino and Alto Adige)Confine del Regno d'ItaliaConf.[ine] Geografico d'ItaliaConfine fra Trentino e Alto AdigeFerrovieTramvieIst. Geogr. De Agostini-Novara - Riproduzione InterdettaVenezia Tridentina (Trentino and South Tyrol)Border of the Kingdom of ItalyGeographic boundary of ItalyBorder between Trentino and Alto AdigeRailwaysTramwaysGeographic Institute of Agostini-Novara - Reproduction prohibitedReverse:Message dated December 14, 1917
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
Front cover of La Domenica del Corriere of August 22–29, 1915, an illustrated weekly supplement to Corriere della Sera, published in Milan, Italy. The front and back covers are full-page illustrations by the great Italian illustrator Achille Beltrame. The front cover is an illustration of contemporary trench warfare, with soldiers throwing both ball and stick grenades to turn back an enemy attack. The back cover is an illustration of Italian author, pilot, soldier, and self-promoter Gabriele d'Annunzio dropping streamers in the colors of the Italian flag and bearing patriotic massages over the city of Trieste, Austria-Hungary.
Image text: Guerra modernissima: i nostri lanciano granate a mano nelle trincee nemiche distanti pochi metri.Ultimate modern war: our hand grenades are thrown into enemy trenches a few meters away.(Disegno de A. Beltrame).
A Bulgarian postcard of Red Army soldiers at rest, with rifles stacked, and reading newspapers or leaflets.
Image text: Reverse:Чървено-армейци на цочивкаСерия В., 3/13Red Army at restSeries B., 3/13
Grand Harbour in Malta, a British possession that initially served as a base for French as well as British ships. At the Malta conference, March 2 to 9, 1916, the French agreed move their base. They first went to Argostoli in Cephalonia, then to Corfu. In the message, the writer notes that they are no longer in Malta, but in Corfu, and that the enemy submarines are rather numerous.
Image text: Malta - Grand HarbourReverse:Message from Corfu dated 23 January, likely 1917. [The French fleet had moved from an Allied base on the British possession of Malta to Corfu after the March 1916 Malta conference.]
French and British headstones in Dormans National Cemetery, Dormans, France. From left to right Second Lieutenant J. Aitken, Royal Air Force, Jean LaGorce and Germain Bouchareisses, both of the 273rd French Infantry Regiment, and Sergeant S.W. Melbourne, RAF. The French infantrymen both died on July 15, 1918, the men of the RAF the following day, the first and second days of the German Champagne-Marne Offensive. © 2014 by John M. Shea
Image text:
Headstone of Second Lieutenant J. Aitken, Royal Air Force, died July 16, 1918, buried in Dormans National Cemetery, Dormans, France. © 2014 by John M. Shea
Image text: Second LieutenantJ. AitkenRoyal Air Force16th July 16, 1918
"Marquis San Giuliano is sceptical of the diplomatic measures planned by Austria against Serbia. In his view they cannot lead to results. Even if Serbia yielded to Austrian demands, i.e., prohibited and dissolved Pan-Serb associations etc., the agitation would simply go underground. The would even be the case if Austria occupied Belgrade. National aspirations of such strength cannot nowadays be suppressed by force. It was the old Austrian mistake of believing in the omnipotence and effectiveness of the police in such national questions. Italian history of the last century was an example. The analogy of the situation was so striking that on those grounds alone Italians could not be expected to sympathize with the Austrian measures." ((1), more)
"16th July [1915], MakovIt is raining heavily. Shells are already exploding nearby. Refugees are walking and driving from all directions. We are ordered to pull out of Makov immediately. It turned out that two of the injured are actually dead, so they were taken to the cemetery and I think they managed to bury them. The battle is raging, everything is shaking. In Makov there is a crush of people, an endless procession of carts, no way to get out of here fast. Screaming, noise and crying, everything is confused. We are supposed to be retreating, but in two hours we only make it down one street. In the end, we hardly make it to the bridge, where the longest queue is. Everyone is desperate to avoid being taken prisoner by the Germans. We cross the bridge and just about reach the road when the shells start exploding all over town. Several fall next to the bridge. We march six and a half miles in an hour and turn off to the side of the road to await further orders." ((2), more)
". . . He was drinking and seemed to be in good humour. He knew of the preparations that were being made for the next attack, and I told him of the arrangements made by our battalion commander.'I know,' he said; 'now it's my turn to go first over the top. One by one we all get killed.''This time we shall have artillery support,' I said, to cheer him up.'We shall have the enemy's artillery against us,' he retorted,' and there are barbed-wire entanglements everywhere. . . . There's no point at all in my studying the ground. What does it matter whether we attack to the right or the left? It's all the same to me whether I die in one place or another. Still, since it's the battalion commander's wish, come along.'" ((3), more)
"According to information received from Russia, the offensive in Galicia has given rise to great indignation among the Russian people. In all major towns crowds of people are assembling in protest against the mass slaughters of Russia's sons. Anger at the British, who are considered by everyone to be responsible for prolonging the horrors of war, is steadily growing. Kerensky is quite openly being called a traitor to his country. In Moscow, where the cossacks have been sent to control the outraged populace, there have been mass demonstrations. The present situation cannot last much longer. Russkoye Slovo reports that in the last few days the state of siege in Petrograd has grown worse. In the last few weeks a large number of extreme left-wing socialists have been arrested. The paper reports that the extreme left-wing leaders have had to leave Petrograd and go far inland." ((4), more)
". . . the Malta-Alexandria convoy was introduced on 22 May [1917] with four ships escorted by four trawlers. It proved a success; only two ships were lost between 22 May and 16 July. The French on 18 June formally established a special directorate for the submarine war. The Direction générale de la guerre sous-marine was to a large extent the result of pressure from the French parliament, where there were strong suspicions that the French naval staff had been to tradition-bound and had not paid enough attention to submarine warfare." ((5), more)
"By the evening of the first day, July 15, the German attack was brought to a standstill by the sudden and unexpected resistance of the French and American troops along the whole front from Château-Thierry to the east of Reims, where the 42nd Division (Rainbow) was in the line. On the 16th and 17th of July, the Germans tried by local attacks to gain some ground and better their positions." ((6), more)
"To the French and American Soldiers of the Army:We may be attacked from one moment to another. You all feel that a defensive battle was never engaged in under more favorable conditions. We are warned, and we are on our guard. We have received strong reënforcements of infantry and artillery. You will fight on ground which by your assiduous labor you have transformed into a formidable fortress, into a fortress which is invincible if the passages are well guarded.The bombardment will be terrible. You will endure it without weakness. The attack in a cloud of dust and gas will be fierce, but your positions and your armament are formidable.The strong and brave hearts of free men beat in your breasts. None will look behind, none will give way. Every man will have but one thought—'Kill them, kill them in abundance, until they have had enough.' And therefore your General tells you it will be a glorious day." ((7), more)
(1) Flotow, German Ambassador at Rome writing to German Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg on July 16, 1914. Marquis San Giuliano was Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs.Neither Austria-Hungary nor Germany has spoken to Italy — their ally and third leg of the Triple Alliance — about their plans and impending war with Serbia. With large Italian populations in Trieste, Trentino and Alto Adige — all part of Austria-Hungary — there was much sentiment against the empire.
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 228, publisher: Oxford University Press, publication date: 1952
(2) Entry for July 16, 1915 from the journal of Vasily Mishnin, part of the Russian forces and refugees retreating before the German offensive launched on July 13.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 106, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
(3) Excerpt from an episode during the Asiago Offensive on July 16, 1916, from Emilio Lussu's account of his service on the Asiago front as part of the Sardinian Sassari Brigade. In preparation for an attack the next day, Lussu was ordered to take a Captain of the 9th Company along the front, to show him the Austro-Hungarian position. When Lussu takes the Captain to loophole number 14, the one with the best view of the enemy line, the two are told the loophole is closed because it is too dangerous to use: snipers have a fixed rifle trained on it. Drunk, fatalistic if not suicidal, the Captain pushes aside the stone and within seconds is shot in his face. Some of his men think he preferred 'a bullet through his head' to leading 'his men to the slaughter like a lot of cattle.'
Sardinian Brigade by Emilio Lussu, pp. 106-107, copyright © 1939 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., publisher: Knopf, publication date: 1939
(4) Article published in Tovarishch, 'a subversive weekly published for Russian soldiers by the German staff in Vilna,' quoted by Alexander Kerensky in his Russia and History's Turning Point. Then-Russian War Minister Kerensky was at the front as his Galicia offensive faltered. The article was dated July 16 (July 3 Old Style), the same day Kerensky read it, and the same day violent demonstrations against the pro-war government broke out in Petrograd. Although some left-wing soldiers and workers — including some Bolsheviks — were prepared to seize power, Bolsheviks leader Vladimir Lenin was not. One hundred or more people were killed, and the threatened government turned on the Bolsheviks in the coming days, with many of them arrested, some killed, and others, including Lenin, going into hiding. Kerensky found the foresight of the article suspicious. Russkoye Slovo is Russian Word.
Russia and History's Turning Point by Alexander Kerensky, page 290, copyright © 1965 by Alexander Kerensky, publisher: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, publication date: 1965
(5)
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 393, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(6) The German's launched their fifth and final offensive of 1918, the Champagne-Marne Offensive, on July 15. German commander Erich Ludendorff called his offensive Friedensturm, Peace Assault, which would bring peace through victory. The United States did not yet have an Army in Europe; its units were incorporated into British and French forces. The Rainbow Division included units from twenty-six states and the District of Columbia.
The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas, page 123, copyright © 1920, by George H. Doran Company, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1920
(7) The official appeal of General Gouraud to the soldiers of his 4th Army on July 16, 1918. The German's had launched their fifth and final offensive of 1918, the Champagne-Marne Offensive, the prior day. German commander Erich Ludendorff called his offensive Friedensturm, Peace Assault, which would bring peace through victory. The United States did not yet have an Army in Europe; its units were incorporated into British and French forces. In his History of the A.E.F., Shipley Thomas dates this quotation to July 7.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, pp. 243–244, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
