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Postwar postcard map of the Balkans including Albania, newly-created Yugoslavia, expanded Romania, and diminished former Central Powers Bulgaria and Turkey. The first acquisitions of Greece in its war against Turkey are seen in Europe where it advanced almost to Constantinople, in the Aegean Islands from Samos to Rhodes, and on the Turkish mainland from its base in Smyrna. The Greco-Turkish war was fought from May 1919 to 1922. The positions shown held from the war's beginning to the summer of 1920 when Greece advanced eastward. Newly independent Hungary and Ukraine appear in the northwest and northeast.
The poet, novelist, and political activist Gabriele d'Annunzio speaking in favor of Italy's entry into the war on the side of the Entente Allies, and against 'Giolittismo' at the Costanzi Theater in Rome, May, 1915. Giovanni Giolitti was five-time Prime Minister of Italy, and opposed intervention in the Great War. Illustration by Achille Beltrame.
British soldiers pushing an ambulance through the mud. A mounted horseman is on the road ahead.
Zeppelin Kommt! Children play a Zeppelin raid on London. Holding his bomb in the gondola is a doll of the airship's inventor, Count Zeppelin. The other children, playing the English, cower, and the British fleet — folded paper boats — remains in port. Prewar postcards celebrated the imposing airships and the excitement they generated with the same expression, 'Zeppelin Kommt!'. Postcard by P.O. Engelhard (P.O.E.). The message on the reverse is dated May 28, 1915.
Kaisers Wilhelm II and Franz Joseph with Sultan Mohammed and their generals over some of their conquests: Lüttich — Liege, Belgium, Warschau — Warsaw, Russia, and Przemysl, Austria-Hungary, recaptured from the Russians.In the top left, Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor of Germany from 1871 to 1890, points to the dawn of the German Empire. In the top right, Helmut Moltke (the Elder), who led Germany to victory in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars, discusses his plans with the future Emperor Wilhelm I.
"Most important of all were the effects upon Greece. We have seen how on February 11 M. Venizelos, in spite of his friendship with the Allies and his deep desire to join them, had refused to be drawn into the war by the futile offer of a British and French division. But the attack on the Dardanelles produced an immediate change. On March 1 the British Minister in Athens telegraphed that M. Venizelos had put forward a proposal that a Greek army corps of three divisions should be sent to Gallipoli. Sir Edward Grey promptly replied that H.M Government would gladly accept this aid, and added that the Admiralty were very anxious that the Greeks should assist with ships as well as troops in the Dardanelles." ((1), more)
"On March 2 [1915] our Minister at Bucharest telegraphed that the Roumanian Prime Minister had said that his conviction that Italy 'would move soon' had become stronger. 'My Russian colleague has twice seen the Italian Minister and while the latter had often before spoken to him about . . . Italy . . . joining us in the war, his language on the last two occasions was more precise than ever before and was indeed almost pressing. He spoke of acquisitions on the Adriatic coast, and a share in the eventual partition of Turkey. . . . Italy would have in a month's time an army of 1,800,000 men ready to move. . . .'" ((2), more)
"On March 2 [1915] Dr. Bergfeld reported from Trebizond:Spotted typhus is raging in all the hospitals of the city. The extent of the epidemic is approaching a catastrophe. With an average sick report of 900-1,000 soldiers the daily death rate is between thirty and fifty.The Red Cross surgeons, Dr. Colley and Dr. Zlocisti, reported on March 3 from Ersindjan:Lack of sanitary arrangements and of sufficient medical help is decimating the ranks of the Turkish soldiers in a manner unthinkable under German conditions." ((3), more)
"On February 26 [1915], LZ.8 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Helmut Beelitz, left her shed at Düsseldorf and headed for England, but strong headwinds forced her to land at an Army encampment field in occupied Belgium. On March 4 Beelitz tried again, but was trapped by a North Sea gale and blown out of control over Nieuport, and his brand new Zeppelin was shot down by Belgian gunners." ((4), more)
"The attitude of Italy is remarkable. If she can be induced to join us, the Austrian Fleet will be powerless and the Mediterranean as safe as an English lake. Surely some effort should be made to encourage Italy to come forward. From leaving an alliance to declaring war is only a step." ((5), more)
(1) An attempt to reach Constantinople and drive Turkey out of the war, the first Anglo-French naval attack on the Dardanelles was launched on February 19, 1915, and met with some success. By February 26, the outer forts had been reduced, and Allied ships had entered the Strait. The government of Greece was divided, its King pro-German; Prime Minister Venizelos favoring the Entente Allies. Sir Edward Grey was the British Foreign Secretary.
The World Crisis 1911-1918 by Winston Churchill, page 379, copyright © by Charles Scribner's Sons 1931, renewed by Winston S. Churchill 1959, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1931, 2007
(2) An excerpt from Winston Churchill's history of the war. In early 1915 Italy was the greatest prize among the neutral European nations. The third member, with Germany and Austria-Hungary, of the Triple Alliance, it had declared neutrality on August 3, 1914 after concluding that Austria-Hungary's war on Serbia was not defensive, and therefore did not meet the terms of the alliance. The warring sides offered Italy territory for dropping its neutral stance, proposing Trentino and Trieste in Austria-Hungary, Piedmont in France, and Turkey's holdings including its Mediterranean islands. Romania was the largest of the neutral Balkan countries, and enjoyed close ties with Italy.
The World Crisis 1911-1918 by Winston Churchill, pp. 378, 379, copyright © by Charles Scribner's Sons 1931, renewed by Winston S. Churchill 1959, publisher: Penguin Books, publication date: 1931, 2007
(3) Excerpt from the memoir of German General Liman von Sanders who had been in Turkey since December, 1913. He had advised Turkish War Minister Enver Pasha against his disastrous winter campaign against Russia in December and January, a campaign that ended in a Russian victory in the Battle of Sarikamish. Enver wanted von Sanders out of Constantinople, the capital, and tried to send him to the eastern frontier to take command of the remains of the Turkish Third Army whose commander had died of spotted typhus on February 12. Trebizond (Trabzon) is a city in eastern Turkey on the Black Sea. Ersindjan (Erzincan) is due south, in the interior. In the winter of 1914-15, typhus took a terrible toll including in Serbia as well as Turkey.
Five Years in Turkey by Liman von Sanders, page 49, publisher: The Battery Press with War and Peace Books, publication date: 1928 (originally)
(4) Zeppelins had been used in the sieges of the Belgian fortress cities of Liège and Antwerp in 1914, and against cities in France and Russia. The first raids on Great Britain took place the night of January 19-20, 1915, striking the cities of Sheringham, Snettisham, King's Lynn, and Yarmouth. The prevailing winds over the North Sea worked against the German airships which were vulnerable to bad weather. Two were wrecked over neutral Denmark on February 17.
The Zeppelin Fighters by Arch Whitehouse, page 72, copyright © 1966 by Arch Whitehouse, publisher: New English Library, publication date: 1978
(5) An excerpt from Winston Churchill's history of the war. During the July 1914 Crisis, Italy concluded that Austria-Hungary's attack on Serbia was not defensive and neither met the terms of the Triple Alliance, nor compelled Italy's support. Italy declared neutrality on August 3, 1914, 'leaving an alliance' in Churchill's term. Both sides tried to entice Italy and its standing army of over a million men into war, offering Italy territory for dropping its neutral stance, proposing Trentino and Trieste in Austria-Hungary, Piedmont in France, parts of Turkey, and other spoils.
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