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Re-elect President Woodrow Wilson! An October 18, 1916 cartoon from the British magazine Punch. The German sinking of ships that killed American citizens and sabotage such as the July 30, 1916 attack that destroyed the Black Tom munitions plant in Jersey City, New Jersey, were not enough to make Wilson call for a declaration of war on Germany, much to the distress of Great Britain and the other Entente allies. The date on Wilson's desk calendar is October 8, 1916, a day on which German submarine U-53 sank five vessels — three British, one Dutch, and one Norwegian — off Nantucket, Massachusetts. One of the British ships was a passenger liner traveling between New York and Newfoundland.
Stamps of occupied Belgium: German stamps overprinted in black with 'Belgien' and denominations in centimes: 3, 5, 8, 10, 15, 25, and 75.
The French birth rate, at roughly 20 per 1,000, was below that of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Belgium when the war began, and fell to half that rate during the war. This disturbing card reflects a real social concern.
Happy New Year 1915! Bonne année! The New Year shoots down the Old over Paris. 1914 is represented by a German Taube, the New Year is loosely based on a French Blériot.
England's Distress: Postcard map of England and Ireland with the restricted zone Germany proclaimed around the islands, showing the ships destroyed by submarine in the 12 months beginning February 1, 1917.
"On 18 December 1916 [Woodrow Wilson] sent identical notes to the Allies and Central Powers, inviting each to state its war aims fully and frankly as a step towards negotiations.In his note Wilson observed that publicly stated objectives of both sides were 'virtually the same' in that both claimed to seek security for weaker states and for themselves and a stable order that would eliminate future wars. There was a double purpose behind this statement. One was to undercut secret agreements among the Allies for a division of the spoils if the Central Powers were defeated. The other was to force both sides to state goals in such a way as to maximize the chance of agreement." ((1), more)
"Whatever procedure may be adopted for the reply to the German notes, we cannot identify our reply with that of the Great Powers. The Belgian point of view is not the same. Our country is almost entirely overrun. On the other hand, the experience of recent offensives shows that the conquest of Belgium by the Allied armies would expose her to total destruction. What judgement would history pronounce on a policy which had been unable to conceive any other means of liberating the country than a war of attrition, bringing in its wake the ruin and depopulation of our finest provinces?" ((2), more)
"This young boy, whose earliest years were marked by his father's absence, was shaped by the Great War in yet another, and very significant, way. He was a child of the "hollow years." Born in 1916, he would be one of only 313,000 French children to possess a birth certificate inscribed with the year of Verdun. As he grew up, he would discover that fewer children were in his classes than in all other classes, and later fewer conscripts in his military cohort than France had ever known. In fact, so few children were born in the middle years of the Great War that fears arose for the future: twenty years hence, when the boys born in 1916 and 1917 came of military age, would France be able, should the need arise, to field an army large enough to defend itself?" ((3), more)
"Bonne Annee = Happy New YearFrance Dec. 21st 16Dearest Rose,This is the P.C. I mentioned in letter of above date.Alf Cornish tells me he will be going to England on about the 28th inst. Good luck to him. Wish I could go but of course I hope the war ends long before my turn for leave comes round. 'England's old in story' etc but Aussy for me. Best love from yours as ever Walter" ((4), more)
"In October 1916 Holtzendorff launched the restricted submarine campaign according to prize rules, which has been overshadowed by later events but was not devoid of results. Sinking had already risen sharply in September to 172 ships, representing 231,573 tons. This was largely due to the entry into service of the larger and more potent UB.II boats of the Flanders Flotilla, which could now operate well beyond the Channel into the western approaches or as far south as the Gironde. The Allied losses grew higher: in October 185 ships, 341,363 tons; in November 180 ships, 326,689 tons; in December 197 ships, 307,847 tons, and in January 1917, 195 ships, 328,391 tons. The Germans lost during this period only 10 boats (3 in the unhealthy Black Sea), giving an exchange ratio of 65 ships sunk for every U-boat lost." ((5), more)
(1) President Woodrow Wilson's claim that publicly stated objectives of both the Entente Allies and the Central Powers were 'virtually the same' infuriated the French and British, and brought King George of the United Kingdom to weep publicly.
Woodrow Wilson: World Statesman by Kendrick A. Clements, page 164, copyright © 1987 by G. K. Hall & Co.; 1999 by Kendrick A. Clements, publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher, publication date: 1987
(2) Excerpt from a speech by Albert, King of the Belgians, to his ministers on December 19, 1916, in a meeting to discuss their country's response to the German peace proposal of December 12, 1916. Nearly all of Belgium was occupied by German forces. 'Recent offensives' included the German offensive of Verdun and the Anglo-French Battle of the Somme, both of which caused vast destruction for little gain.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 135, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(3) 'This young boy' was Serge Pireaud, whose father was away fighting in the war with an artillery unit that spent much of 1916 at Verdun. Serge's parents, Paul and Marie Pireaud, had actively tried to get pregnant during one of Paul's leaves. His mother nursed Serge through a difficult infancy. The French birth rate, at roughly 20 per 1,000, was below that of Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Belgium when the war began, and fell to half that rate during the war. Cf. citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.707.2458&rep=rep1&type=pdf.
Your Death Would Be Mine; Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War by Martha Hanna, page 174, copyright © 2006 by Martha Hanna, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2006
(4) New's Year's postcard from Walter to Rose, written December 21, 1916. We know nothing of Walter, Rose, or Alf Cornish, but it seems Walter only recently arrived in France, and looks forward to returning to Australia. The war would not be over before his leave, but would continue for nearly two more years.
Happy New Year by E.M, back, publisher: Etablissements photographique de Boulogne-sur-Seine., publication date: 1916
(5) Admiral Henning von Holtzendorff replaced Alfred Tirpitz as head of the German Admiralstab on September 6, 1916 in a dispute over the conduct of Germany's submarine campaign, expanding it, but not yet moving to the unrestricted submarine warfare of 1917. Flanders, on the English Channel, is a region of Belgium and northern France. Germany occupied nearly all of Belgium and nearly all of its coastline including the ports of Ostend and Zeebrugge. The German U-boats were less successful in the Black Sea. The Gironde Estuary on France's southwest Atlantic coast is formed by the meeting of the Dordogne and Garonne Rivers.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 335, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
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