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Italy's armed forces at the ready in a 1915 postcard. In the foreground the artillery, infantry, an Alpine soldier (in feathered hat), and a Bersaglieri (in plumed headgear). Behind them are a bugler and lancer; in the distance marines and colonial troops. The Italian navy is off shore, an airship and planes overhead. On the reverse are the lyrics of a patriotic Italian March by Angelo Balladori, lyrics by Enrico Mercatali. It ends with a call to the brothers of Trento and Trieste, Austro-Hungarian territory with large ethnic Italian populations.
Imperial Russian field artillery in combat training in the snow at Camp B.K.
The Allied advance in the Anglo-French Somme Offensive of 1916. As French forces were transferred to the defense of Verdun, British forces took on more of the burden.
Western Ottoman Empire showing the travels of Rafael De Nogales, Inspector-General of the Turkish Forces in Armenia and Military Governor of Egyptian Sinai during the World War, from his book Four Years Beneath the Crescent.
Postcard celebrating the ceasefire on the Eastern Front. The troops are Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and German. The flags are Austrian and Russian; the coat of arms and bunting German. Russia declared a ceasefire on December 15, 1917. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war, was signed on March 3, 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers.
"'Can I count on [your company] if I give them orders to act against the mutineers?'This conversation between the colonel and me took place in front of everyone. We were almost in the middle of the company, which was drawn up in two ranks, in such a way that I could see half the men from in front. These men were fixedly watching my face, and my face only.'I don't think so, sir.''Answer yes or no.''No, sir.'The colonel went out. In the street the noise continued." ((1), more)
"This Oath of Allegiance has been sent to the armies along the Galician Front. We were told that the soldiers were assembled into groups and, after hearing the text, the men repeated it word for word, holding up their arm the while. Russians, Jews, Moslems, all pledged their loyalty to the Provisional Government; then they cried a loud 'Ura'. A new era has begun for them. In the background, there is still a WAR to be waged, and a formidable foe is still lurking in the vanquished territory of their own land." ((2), more)
"The great event is the German withdrawal to the new front line, Arras—St. Quentin—Laon. The Allies see in this the consummation of the Battle of the Somme. I myself prefer to regard it as a very bold large-scale manœuvre, intended to draw the French forces far from Paris in order later, south of Verdun, to attempt a powerful offensive movement westwards to turn their flank or encircle the French troops in actions further to the north.The Chief of the French Mission tells me that General Nivelle is determined to press on with his offensive in the region originally fixed, Rheims—Soissons, while the British will operate to the north of Arras.It is very dangerous to move in the north and expose their flank and rear to an enemy offensive!" ((3), more)
"Colonel von Kress called me to one side and asked me if I was disposed to dynamite the chief pumping station of the English pipe line, supposed to be situated in the vicinity of the enemy trenches and headquarters at Sheik-Zowaiid. Naturally, in spite of a complete ignorance as to the whereabouts of Sheik-Zowaiid, I expressed myself as being in complete accord with his wishes. Insofar as the date of the sally was concerned, however, instead of starting out in five or six days accompanied by a squadron, as the Colonel had suggested, I left the next morning with a half-dozen picked lancers and my orderlies, Mustapha and Tasim Chavush.The first stage of our journey was across some thirty kilometers of desert to Beer-Shenek, the last well in the desert. The remaining forty-five kilometers, across a waterless waste with which we were totally unacquainted, we were to cross by night with no other guide than the pole-star." ((4), more)
". . . the Central Committee of the Soviet adopted the following motions:1. Negotiations with the working-men of the enemy countries to be opened at once;2. 'Systematic fraternization' between Russian and enemy soldiers at the front;3. Democratization of the army;4. All schemes of conquest to be abandoned." ((5), more)
(1) Captain Emilio Lussu of Italy's Sardinian Brigade writing of a mutiny in his regiment in early 1917. Lussu orders his men to get their rifles and calls the roll. None have mutinied, and they do not turn on their captain, as happened in mutinous companies. The mutineers called for an end to the war, for going on leave, and for an end to lies about the war. The mutiny ends peacefully, with seven men eventually punished.
Sardinian Brigade by Emilio Lussu, pp. 224–225, copyright © 1939 by Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., publisher: Knopf, publication date: 1939
(2) Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, writing about the Oath of Allegiance to the Provisional Government of Russia, ratified by its Council of Ministers on March 20 (March 7 Old Style), 1917. What Farmborough refers to as 'another interesting document [that] has been sent to me' was entitled, 'Text of Oath for Orthodox and Catholics.' The oath was signed by Prince Lvov, head of the Provisional Government formed in the first days of the Russian Revolution. Galicia was the northeastern region of Austria-Hungary, and a major battleground between Russia and Austria-Hungary.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 261, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(3) Diary entry by Albert, King of the Belgians, for March 21, 1917. The 'German withdrawal' was Operation Alberich, a retreat to a shorter line and stronger defensive position, the Siegfried Zone. The British and French preferred to think of the retreat as a successful result of their offensive on the Somme. At the end of 1916 in the last stages of the Battle of Verdun, French General Robert Nivelle had retaken some of the territory lost in the course of the Battle. His success was rewarded with command of the French armies in France, replacing Joseph Joffre. He immediately began preparing what would become the disastrous Nivelle Offensive, and changed little in his plan despite the German retreat.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 160, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(4) Rafael de Nogales was a Venezuelan mercenary and officer in the Ottoman Army who had been Inspector-General of the Turkish Forces in Armenia. In 1916 he served under German General von der Goltz in Mesopotamia. In January, 1917 he was in Palestine where he heard the news that the British had advanced 'beyond El-Arrisch and were at the gates of the city of Gaza.' While helping to prepare for the defense of Gaza, de Nogales a Catholic, found time to visit the ruins of Herod's Palace, the Convent of the Prophet Elias, and other sites. The author's timeline of his mission is off by several days, as he returns in time for the beginning of the Battle of Gaza on March 26 having, by his own account, set out the previous morning.
Four Years Beneath the Crescent by Rafael De Nogales, page 318, copyright © 1926, by Charles Scribner's Sons, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1926
(5) Excerpt from the entry for Saturday, March 24, 1917, from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. The February revolution established two centers of power in Petrograd: the Russian Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, the former strongly supportive of continuing the war, the latter not. The Soviets were much more representative of workers and soldiers.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. III by Maurice Paléologue, page 268, publisher: George H. Doran Company
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