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Relief map of Great Britain and Ireland, the North Sea, English Channel, and Atlantic Ocean, with northwestern Europe: France, Belgium, Holland, and Scandinavia. The war-zone outlined on the map was declared on February 4, 1915. On May 7, the Lusitania entered the war zone southwest of Ireland.
An Italian postcard of the Industry of War. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany squeezes gold from France and Belgium, filling sacks of money he provides to his ally Emperor Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary who feeds his guns to fire at Tsar Nicholas of Russia who vomits up troops. On the bottom right, Serbia, Montenegro, and Japan join the battle against Germany and Austria-Hungary. To the left, Great Britain flees to its ships. King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy surveys it all, serenely neutral until May 1915. Germany taxed Belgium and occupied France heavily during its occupation, in money, in food and other necessities, and in human life and labor. Austria-Hungary borrowed heavily from Germany to support its war effort. The enormous manpower of Russia was a source of consolation for its allies, and of trepidation to its enemies. Some suspected Great Britain would take its small army and return to its ships, home, and empire.
German pencil sketch of a devastated Church in Fresnoy, likely Fresnoy-le-Grand, dated, February 6, 1915 by K. Marx (?), addressed to Paul Marx.
Winter on the Masurian Lakes of East Prussia. German forces launched the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes in a blinding snowstorm.
City street scene with German and Austro-Hungarian Hapsburg flags — the Dual Alliance — and a group clustered around a kiosk, likely reading war news and casualty lists. By RS (BS?) 1915. Postmarked October 9, 1916.
"The waters round Great Britain and Ireland, including the English Channel, are hereby proclaimed a war region.On and after February 18th every enemy merchant ship found in this region will be destroyed, without it always being possible to warn the crews or passengers of the dangers threatening.Neutral ships will also incur danger in the war region, where in view of the misuse of neutral flags ordered by the British Government, and incidents inevitable in sea warfare, attacks intended for hostile ships may affect neutral ships also.The sea passage to the north of the Shetland Islands, and the eastern region of the North Sea in a zone of at least 30 miles along the Netherlands coast, are not menaced by any danger.Berlin, February 4th [1915] von Pohl, Chief of Marine Staff" ((1), more)
"I haven't the slightest doubt about the victory of our armies, on one condition — that there's the closest co-operation between the Government and public opinion. That co-operation was perfect at the beginning of the war : I must admit, unfortunately, that it is threatened now. . . . You're uneasy about the abuses and anachronisms of Tsarism. You're right. But can any substantial reform be ventured upon during the war? Certainly not! . . . It is Tsarism alone that constitutes our national unity. Cast away that life-giving principle and you'll see Russia at once fall apart and dissolve." ((2), more)
"February 6th. — Yesterday quiet, lovely this morning. The enemy used his minenwerfer against the Scottish H.Q. At night the German searchlight caused a lot of annoyance. It had been seen first from the Houplines front when experiments with it were being made, and it seemed to be behind Wez Macquart. It was most disturbing to parties working on the wire, or on the new breastwork, or to reliefs going in over the top. If it was turned on to a patrol in Nomansland it did not really show up anyone who lay flat and still, but it made one feel rather naked and exposed, like the common dream of walking down Bond Street without any trousers. The men called it Willy's Eye." ((3), more)
"Despite intense blizzards and subzero temperatures that covered the area with over five feet of snow, Ludendorff refused to delay the main attacks. Roads and railroads lay hidden under giant snowbanks. Guns and munition and ration wagons required double and even treble the usual number of horses. The opening attacks nevertheless succeeded remarkably well considering the conditions, and they achieved almost total surprise." ((4), more)
"You must imagine a building like the Post Office in New York, for instance, or the Auditorium Hotel in Chicago, with a band of white paper, like newspapers, spread out and pasted end to end, running along one side, round the corner, and down the other. Not inches, but yards, rods, two city blocks almost, of microscopic type; columns of names, arranged in the systematic German way — lightly wounded, badly wounded — schwer verwundet — gefallen. Some have died of wounds — tot — some dead in the enemy's country — in Feindesland gefallen. Rank on rank, blurring off into nothingness, endless files of type, pale as if the souls of the dead were crowding here." ((5), more)
(1) On November 5, 1914, Great Britain declared the North Sea a war area, and extended its blockade of Germany. Although this angered neutral nations — most importantly the United States — it increasingly deprived Germany of needed materials and supplies. Fearing loss of its surface ships to superior British ships, Germany relied on its submarines to enforce its own war region.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. III, 1915, p. 56, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(2) Entry from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, for Friday, February 5, 1915 about a discussion he had with Krivoshein, the Russian Minister of Agriculture, and, in Paléologue's estimation, with the Foreign Minister, one of the 'most Liberal' cabinet members, and 'most devoted to the Alliance' with France and Great Britain. Earlier in the conversation he reported that Grand Duke Nicholas, commander of the Russian armies, was confident, and would continue his offensive against Berlin when he had adequate ammunition.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, pp. 272, 273, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(3) Entry for February 6, 1915 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, The Royal Welch Fusiliers. The minenwerfer was a German short-range mortar. Houplines, France lies on the River Lys and the Franco-Belgian border immediately east of Armentières. Wez Macquart is about six miles to the south.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 115, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
(4) After a defeat and retreat back to Russia in the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, the Russians had again advanced into East Prussia with their Tenth Army. The Second, or Winter, Battle of the Masurian Lakes was an attempt by Generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff, German commanders on the Russian front, to sever the lines of communications between Vilna and Warsaw, and envelop the Russian Tenth Army using the German Eighth Army attacking from the west on February 7, and the new Tenth Army from the north the next day. The Russians did not know the German Tenth Army existed.
The German High Command at War: Hindenburg and Ludendorff and the First World War by Robert B. Asprey, page 163, copyright © 1991 by Robert B. Asprey, publisher: Warner Books, publication date: 1991
(5) Excerpt from 'The Great Days' in Antwerp to Gallipoli by Arthur Ruhl, a journalist from the neutral United States. In February, 1915 Ruhl wrote from Berlin of the Great Days — die große Zeit — 'days of achievement, of utter sacrifice, and flinging all into the common cause.' The German capital is 'an all day's express journey from either front', and, despite the casualty lists, Ruhl finds Berliners strong in their conviction they are fighting a defensive fight, and will prevail. He also points out that the German papers, unlike the British or American, publish little 'news', but are 'working all the time to create a definite public opinion.'
Antwerp to Gallipoli by Arthur Ruhl, pp. 95, 96, copyright © 1916 by Charles Scribner's Sons, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1916
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