New Diary, Trimmed

On June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo occurred the murder of the successor to the throne Erzherzog Franz Ferdinand von Este and her consort Princess Sophie Hohenberg.

This world shattering event changed with lightening speed the position in which our monarchy and with it our ally Germany existed. Serbia has faithfully accomplished the political mission it war accorded, by organizing the assassination and by the political propaganda which proceeded this infamous action. Russia immediately declared it could not let anything happen to Serbia and officially ordered the mobilization that had been going on in secret all along.

France thinking the moment of retribution had come, followed the call of its confederate and the intrigues of England and opened the hostilities by bombing open German cities.

England, which hard stimulated the assault strategy of Russia and France and also had pulled Belgium into the war, now openly joined the enemies of Germany to whom it had already belonged for a long time and entered the war to destroy Germany trade and to dislodge this dangerous rival completely from the world’s oceans.

On the night of July 15, 1914 the partial mobilization was ordered. On July 28,1914 after our ultimatum on Serbia was turned down, war was declared on Serbia and on July 31,1914 the complete mobilization was announced. The 4^th of August counted as the general Mob. 1 Mobday. The

6//8 preparations of my Regiment BHY in Triest were already far ahead, the rank and file completely warlike dressed and equipped that on the 6^th at 1.36 AM the trip to Karlstadt (supply and supplementary station for the advanced nighthour all Triest was on the go, it hailed the columns; the caries of “viva” and “zywro” were constantly heard. The station was solidly packed by people, the parting and warning never ended until the train left the station.

But it also did not miss the tears of the ones directly involved, mostly women and children and I was glad that I spared my family the trip to the station.

http://digital.cjh.org:1801/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=329136

Jack and translation of his letter to his mother

Just back from the leave. We got to Paris at noon. I invaded the coiffeur's. He was on permission too. Then lunch and shopping. A French lady helped me out in the post office and I thereby made her delightful acquaintance. Such things, though, are only a matter of daily event in this Parisian swimming pool.

I had an early dinner at the Café des Lilas where by chance I sat next to a charming girl I had met last night in Paris. She is the beautiful "amie" of an ambulanceer and a very good camarade. Then I walked through the grand Luxembourg Gardens; its terraces where the artists' models and young family girls just learning to pose stroll carelessly in its caressing atmosphere. I had a "Fraise" at a café just to watch the types walk the "Boul. Miche." ...

We took the evening-train at eight o'clock with high spirits, but low hearts. Then from ten to one o'clock at night we had a truck ride. That, of course, is like riding on artillery wagon seats at full gallop, in the dust of a whole army through the cold of the North Pole. The rest of the night I slept in my bunk without bothering to undo my shoe laces, having been going since four in the morning before, to one that morning, and "some going."

To-day, Friday, we are taking our last day of rest (it's the only one too) before packing bags for a trip unknown. The sun in coming out, brought out the mandolins, and between the two, vague thoughts of yesterday's Paris and a month ago's home, filter through our weariness as the souvenir notes of a song from out the past.

I received quite a love letter from my little unknown girl way down along the twining Doubs river. But hélas! such other things call me with such other forces that my idle, magnetized soul cannot hypnotize myself to going down to see her --- though I easily could....

By the way, an adjutant of chasseurs whom I was talking with two days ago is now being buried. You see some hand-grenades went off too soon during practise work and --- well, a number of other soldier friends had their faces wiped off at the same time.

I will write you more whenever I get time. You will learn much more, though, of my trip from my diary when I get back, than from the little side notes of those hasty careless letters. With much love,

Your affectionate son

In this letter, Jack, a son, is writing to his mother from Paris. He just arrived to Paris and was getting settled making acquaintances, eating, a little shopping. That night he had dinner next to a pretty girl who he secretly has a love for. He then explore all that Paris had to offer and the interesting history to learn about including all the art. He then got on the train with the rest of the troops and then got onto a car to go back into his army. It was his last night of rest before he had to go fight in WWI. The next day is the final day until he would be shipped of to a battle in god knows where. He is thinking about his rest in Paris and how he was at home a month ago and know he is at war. He received a love letter from a mystery girl. He is telling his mother how he was talking to a soldier the other day and now he is going six feet under, how soldiers drop like flies and its scary out there. He sends his love and will write when he can.

Thomas Edward Shirley (Analysis)

Thomas Edward Shirley, and other Darthmouth undergraduates, were men recruited to join the French Ambulance Corps. Which are basically men who would pick up the wounded men in war and bring then to the medical stations on war ground. However once there they were split into different assignments. Thomas E. Shirley wrote these diary entries because the letters that he had initially written to his loved ones did not make it to them. Besides being somewhat home sick like probably all other soldiers, the conditions in the war were not the best.

At the beginning of his entry on July 2nd Thomas wrote that he needed a shower because he had not bathed in 3 weeks. He was able to wash up that day, and by wash up I mean hands and face, and this was the 1st washing in 2 weeks. As you can see, it seems that the soldiers were kept on tight leash. Also that the day the men were able to go into a town and he had a slice of apricot pie, to me it seemed that when he spoke of it he felt as if it was one of very few comforts in the time he was able to get. Same goes for the meal that day which were string beans and meat which were not the best, but according to him it was the best meal so far. Even though he wasn't able to bathe that day, he was able to take a shower at night which was freezing but his exact words after was, "I nearly froze but I felt like a king afterwards." A soldiers life is not an easy one but in my opinion after reading the entry that this day was one of the best for Thomas E. Shirley. To us this day might seem like a simple day but this probably felt like luxury to other soldiers.

Citation:
Thomas E. Shirley
http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/57/tes00.htm

Thomas Edward Shirley: Background and Analysis

All this morning prepared for our all night trip. We were awakened about 4:30 by the rain which came through the roof like a sieve. The chief got us up at 6:00 and after breakfast and peeling spuds we went up to the farm and got our cars ready for the afternoon. We left at 1:30 being lead by Bug. who soon lost his way in about three places. Finally we got started and went over to Pierrefonds Castle which was the 1st real beautiful building I have seen in the country out here. We were given 1/2 hours leave of absence, and we immediately beat it for the castle. I took some pictures which I hope will come out good. A bunch of us got a guard to take us through and he showed us all around. We saw secret staircases, places Napolean had sat, and some of the most wonderful brick-a-brack made of stone I have ever seen. It soon began to get dark and we blew into a town which the Germans had practically destroyed with incenduary bombs and shot the mayor burying him head downwards. Soon it grew pitch dark, and we all had our thrills keeping on the road, but finally arrived home at Dommiers at 3 o'clock after going 125 miles. We were all wet, cross, and tired to death, but satisfied that we had done a good job and satisfied our chief. It impressed me more of what all the destruction meant was when I saw an old man driving by what was evidently his home with the tears streaming down his cheeks. 

Thomas Shirley's son, Robert Shirley found his father's diary which he had written in 1917 when a number of Dartmouth undergraduates were forced to join the French Ambulance Corps. They gave medical aid to the soldiers that were fighting in the war.  After they reached their designated spot, they were split into groups to complete different assignments. Robert Shirley tells us that his father was not allowed to write diaries or maybe he just did not know about it. As I researched the information given about the diary, Thomas Shirley continuously wrote in his diary every day of the week until February 12, 1918 which was the day he received his acceptance to a commission. As a cut out some important sections of the diary entries, the tone of Thomas Shirley's writing is quite quick and understandable. He seemed to talk very straight-forward. You can tell after reading it, that he gives many examples of the situations their, which gives us a clear picture of what his lifestyle was like in France. 

In Thomas's first few days in the new lifestyle, he says, "Finally we got started and went over to Pierrefonds Castle which was the 1st real beautiful building I have seen in the country out here. We were given 1/2 hours leave of absence, and we immediately beat it for the castle. I took some pictures which I hope will come out good." This quote shows how Thomas Shirley was living quite a boring life in France. Even looking at some random castle was a little bit excitement and he was able to take pictures for fun. Even though the diary seems to be very direct, you can observe that Thomas missed the homely moments he had. Here, he could not do anything freely or even a little entertaining. 

Citations: 

http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/57/tes00.htm

Trimmed down passage/2 paragraphs

He said roughly the following: It was his duty to tell us that our military condition was terribly serious. Any day now, our Western Front could be breached. He had had to report this to His Majesty the Kaiser recently....It was thus foreseeable, he went on to say, that the enemy in the near future, with the help of American troops anxious to fight, would succeed in a great victory, a breakthrough in grand fashion. As a result, the West Army would lose its last hold and retreat in full disbandment across the Rhein and carry the revolution back to Germany....This catastrophe, he said, must be avoided by all means. For the cited reasons we could no longer allow ourselves to be beaten. Therefore, the Supreme Army Command demanded of His Majesty the Kaiser and of the Chancellor that a proposal for the bringing about of peace be made to President Wilson of America without delay, for bringing about an armistice on the basis of his 14 Points. He said he had never shied away from demanding the utmost from his troops. However, after clearly realizing that the continuation of the war was useless, he was of the opinion that an end needed to be found as quickly as possible in order not to unnecessarily sacrifice the most valiant people who were still loyal and able to fight....It had been a terrible moment for him and for the Field Marshall to have to report this to the His Majesty the Kaiser and the Chancellor. The latter, Count Hertling, then informed His Majesty the Kaiser in a noble manner that he would then have to resign his office. After so many honorable years, as an old man, he could not and would not close out his life by tendering a petition for ceasefire. The Kaiser had accepted his petition for resignation.

This passage which is out of a diary is about the Germans no longer being able to keep the enemy off of them. A German hero comes to give them a message explaining how the military conditions were terribly serious, and that they would have to ceasefire. The Americans according to this German hero are a real threat to them, and a devastating defeat awaits them. Of course they have to tell the Kaiser what is going on, and he unwillingly accepts to stop their attack.

This situation must have been very difficult for Germany in one big way, and that is that they didn't want to look bad. They were very nationalist, and refused for a while to give up so easily. “ he could not and would not close out his life by tendering a petition for ceasefire.” This shows how much the Kaiser cared about his image, he didn't want to seem like a weak person. If he was seen as weak by another nation, his whole country would also be seen as weak.

Fred Garrett: Background and Close Analysis

Fred Garrett wrote his war diaries over the course of 2 years and updated it almost daily. He wrote over 650,000 words in this diary and it contains information varying from talking about going to church to fighting in battle and watch his ally be captured by the enemy. His official title was Sergeant F. Garett and was part of the 3rd Australian Light Horse Regiment. It was fascinating to read through his diaries because of the fact that he often traveled numerous miles in one day and as a class we are used to reading about the trench wars and a soldier not moving for months. However, Fred's war experience was almost the complete opposite never staying in one base for more then a week or two. Also because of the fact that Calvary use has been outdated for years and this was one of the last wars where armies effectively used cavalry. This reading from the diary talks about a trip through the deserts of Egypt while their unit aides the Allies in a attack on the Turks.

Left for the scrap at about 10.00 a.m. and watered at SALMANA about 7 miles east. From SALMANA to MAZA is waterless. At about 8.00 a.m. we halted in a rather deep gully, for these parts. The track clearly defined running below. Halted fed up and had brekker, boiled billy. The last hour of this part of the journey was specially a snorter, horses pouring sweat, hot sun and no wind. The Brigade Field Ambulance rigged up a marque hospital and a couple of bell tents. A scouting Taube came over, circled around once or twice and made off. We are supports to the 2nd and 3rd Brigades and the Camel Corps (Imperial?). Who attacked 2,300 Turks, strongly entrenched at MAZA.
At about midday these Brigades passed us going back. They made no serious attack and from what I can see of the stunt it was only a reconnaissance in force. Their horses had not been watered since the previous day and were feeling it. Brought back between 20 and 30 prisoners, regulars and Bedouins.. Regulars are dressing in a light yellowish cloth, red sash and Bedouin style head gear, good puttees. Rifles are Martini-Peabody (U.S.A.) a little wallar on a donkey and two young cow camels, several camels, and 1 Turk Officer. We had several casualties, one officer killed, 5 killed and 20 wounded, I heard, but perhaps wrong, that two batteries, RHA, supported our chaps.
Colonel COX is in charge of our Brigade. We started back at about 2.00 p.m. SALMARA at 6.00 p.m., watered, salty water. BIR EL ABD at 8.30 p.m., drew rations and water and slept. The other Brigades operating from HOD ES AMARA not ROMANI.

This passage from his diary is just one of the many like it. Because of the fact that the Australians were not a primary country involved in war but a territory that came in to help their home nation, there are multiple accounts of his brigade coming in and helping another army. There are only a couple passages where his brigade gets into a fight that they spark themselves. One interesting thing was the fact that the used and took weapons and equipment from dead enemy soldiers. The most fascinating thing about Garrett's war diaries is the fact that his brigade is never called in or requested from another army in distress. They regiment rolls around getting orders from their superiors and if they see another Ally army in battle or in need of aide, they help them. They dont seem to have a firm sense of what to do but just ride their horses all throughout Europe fighting any Central Powers that they encounter. This example is seen in this passage. Also, it but it into perspective how many causalities there were in WWI reading a diary because of the fact that in just one battle, we read about 30 people dying for the enemy and having 5 wounded on their side. In this passage, we see various nations fighting for one cause. It is interesting to see how people from all over the world will unite and come together to accomplish one goal and after this goal is accomplished, go back to their regular lives. Despite all the friends and allies from around the world Fred meets, after he is sent back, he never hears from them again.

Source: http://www.grantsmilitaria.com/garrett/

George Ludovic Alexander (New Diary Entry)

I thought that this diary entry was interesting because he talks about how he goes on this trip to visit back home and many of his entries are about wanting to go home and how much he misses home. Many soldiers fighting at the time all wanted to go home because it was scary with all of the trenches and the bombs and not knowing when and where you were going to die. As we saw in the video people began to injure themselves so that they could go home. The captains or leaders caught on to this and then started killing the people who did this. All of the soldiers wanted to go back home where they felt safe and where they could enjoy being with their family and the people they loved. It was comfortable for them at home and at war is was the direct opposite of comfortable.

In this entry he mentions "Reba and Steve" and Reba was his sister. From the site with information about his family, I could not find someone with the name of Steve but there were last names like Stevenson which could possibly be connected?

This is what he wrote on December 23, 1917.

12/23 1917
As result of much head work and policy I arrived in Little Rock this date. Sorry Reba and Steve could not be there - but this trip home was a real Christmas present to me. A fellow surely appreciates home after a few months knocking around. I went flying around night and day and couldn't have enjoyed anything more than I did this trip.

Citations:

Diary Entry Found At:

http://www.webmousepublications.com/itow/gla/gla-1917.html

"Floyd Gibbons at Belleau Wood"

On June 6, 1918, Floyd Gibbons, war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune, and Lieutenant Oscar Hartzel of the Intelligence Division entered Belleau Wood. There they met Major Benjamin S. Berry, battalion commander of the Fifth Marine Corps. Berry advised them to go back, as it was "hotter than hell" just ahead, but relented with the admonition that they were coming at their own risk. Gibbons and Hartzel found themselves in the midst of one of the roughest and toughest battles of the entire war. The French were so impressed with the heroic fighting abilities of the Marines, and the nullifying of the German threat to actually march on and capture Paris, that they renamed the area Bois de la Brigade des Marines - "the Woods of the Brigade of Marines".

Belleau Wood, west of the town of Lucy-le-Bocage, was not one solid mass of forest, but made up of many one- to five-acre patches of woods with oat and wheat fields in between. The advance of the Marines was so rapid and over such rough terrain that the men had only machine guns, their carbines with bayonets attached, hand grenades, and side arms for the officers. Although the heavy artillary in the rear was within range of the front, the speed with which the Marines were rolling forward prohibited the use of heavy shelling. The Fifth Marine Corps was poised on the edge of a V shaped oatfield, bordered on all sides by thick woodland. According to the international rules of war, Floyd Gibbons, a noncombatant, could carry no arms. He was armed with his notebook and pencil.

Berry gave the order to advance, stepping out first himself, with each man following at ten to fifteen yard intervals. Floyd was next in line to Berry, with Hartzell next to Floyd. As they reached the middle of the field German machine-gunners a hundred yards on their left, opened up. Berry ordered everybody down, and they flattened themselves in the young oats as best they could. Floyd looked up to see Major Berry, his right hand holding the stump of what had been his left hand, still standing.

Floyd yelled to him to get down, and started inching towards him. Trying to hide his movement from the German machine-gunners, Floyd crawled along, his left cheek hugging the ground and his helmut pushed over the right, partly covering his face on that side. Floyd had gotten but a few feet when a bullet hit him in the left arm, just above the elbow, going in one side and out the other. He continued to push himself forward. A few moments later another bullet hit him in the left shoulder blade, still he inched on. Another five feet along, a third bullet hit him, it ricocheted off a rock in the ground, and with an upward course ripped out his left eye, continued on, making a compound fracture of the skull, and finally coming out on the right side of his helmet where it blew a hole three inches long.

Remarkabley Floyd did not lose consciousness, he was dazed, and experienced a sensation of a lot of glass crashing around him, everything turning white in his mind's eye. His eyeball was lying on his cheek split in half. His left hand and arm were numb and out of commission. He wondered if he was dead, and pinching himself for reassurance, concluded he was still alive.

Citation:

Diary Record of Trench Warfare

http://www.worldwar1.com/sffgbw.htm

Thomas Edward Shirley

Thomas Edward fought in World War One and he had a diary from 1917-1918.

July 2nd, 1917

This morning we were routed out of bed about 7:00 after a good deal of crabbing by Robbie, and finally the chief. Frank Grady is officer of the day, and he put me to work building road. We did this until about ten than I got shaved and washed up. I really got some hot water and got my face and hands clean for the first time in two weeks. I have got to get a bath somewhere pretty quick as I haven't had one for 3 weeks. I had been waiting to get it in Paris. Now I get one the 1st town I go into.

I have been thinking of the people at the Hill all day, and while I'm not home sick, I wish like Hell that I was there. I can't yet realize that it really is summer and that I am missing all those wonderful times that I have had all my life at the Hill. As yet only my one letter from Elisabeth. I have begun to give up hope of ever getting another letter from Frances. The meal to-day was the best we have had yet. String beans and the meat was fairly good. At roll call this afternoon we were told we could go to the Villa Cotteres to make what purchases we could. We went there and bought about everything possible. I bought an apprecot pie. The 1st pie since I left home. The chief who wanted to go worst of all was-*-- left behind through a mixup in the cars. I got his shoes fixed for him as he left them in one of the cars. A few of the boys were pretty happy coming home. I didn't get my bath which I wanted most of all. I took a cold shower last night at which I nearly froze but felt like a king afterwards.

Citation:
Thomas Edward Shirley <>

Poison Gas

Through out the war, nations developed various weapons to increase their chances at winning the war. Some of these advancements failed and turned out not to be useful on the battlefield, but one of the most successful weapons that was developed during World War 1 was poison gas. Although they had produced poison gas before WWI nations soon began to see how it could be extremely beneficial in the War. The Germans were the first to use poison gas and they used to both kill the enemies and also to try and get the enemies to flee out of the trenches and run right into the their machine guns that were waiting as they jumped out of the trenches. The British and French soon began to use poison gas and by the end of the war, it became one of the most feared weapons in history. Armies would drop multiple gas bombs right on their enemies and hundreds of victims would be infected. Although the death to poison gas number is not very high, there were still a vast number of victims to poison gas. Eventually, they developed a gas mask but even then they were not 100% functional and if there was any sort of crack in these flawed masks, the soldier would be exposed.
source: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/poison_gas_and_world_war_one.htm and handout

One key aspect leading up to WWI is the many alliances that were created. France, England and Russia had an alliance. Germany, Austria-HUngry, and Italy also had an aliance. Because of these aliances, if one country attacked another, through the various treaties all of the other countries would be dragged in. WIth modern warfare being added into this, WWI was a very deadly war. Since almost all countries were involved, all of Europe became the battlefield. Europe had no seen a continent wide war since Napoleon about 100 years earlier.

key aspect leading up to wwI

Before the World War I, all nations were self-absorbed in improving their own country and what it had to offer. Imperialism also was a key factor before the WWI started and imperialism was taking place is some area of the world. While the countries were building up their power they made alliances with other nations so that they would not have to worry about battling them. Also almost every country’s army was building and growing stronger due to the technological advancements. All this commotion of each country building stronger and stronger to strive to become the strongest nation in the world led to the killing of Ferdinand which was one of the key aspects leading to world war one.

Extra Credit: Investigate one factor in one country that helped start World War I

The key event that sparked World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914. However, most historians only consider this to be the 'immediate' cause. There are many other long term explanations to the cause of WWI, such as imperialism. Many European nations were already fighting each other in Africa and the Americas over various territories. As empires and nations began to grow, they had to import massive amounts of resources to support their people and army. Most of these resources didn't come from Europe, as it is a fairly resource dry area, so the nations had to go abroad to find cheap/free labor and resources. Because of this competition for resources, tension began to build amongst European nations, eventually leading up to World War 1.

John Bruce Cairnie

John Bruce Cairnie, born of September 22, 1889 in Thurso, Caithness, was the son of David Dandie Cairnie, and Mary Bruce Wilson. He attended the Miller Institute in Thurso, and later to Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A. in 1911 and B.Sc. in 1912. He then attended teacher' college.
In October 1917 he sailed to join the 3/4 King's Arican Rifles as a lieutenant. He kept a diary from then on until January 1919 as he sailed for home.


JANUARY 1915


Company drill from 9:30 to 1 p.m. It would get rather feding up if we had much of it. An hour of 'cross-tig' relieved the monotony. In the afternoon, bayonet fighting for NCOs, and then a lecture by Sergt-Major. Very busy all evening and got up to orderly room by 11:30.


26 Jan 15

Platoon drill and bayonet fighting this morning with pack and ammunition. Two of 'C' Company with about 20 others left this afternoon with ammunition and blankets for unknown destination. Everybody much excited and much speculation as to where they are going to and what it may mean for the battalion. Rumours of Edinburgh Castle or Inverness.

After afternoon parade I found myself and 2 of 'C' detailed to go on similar duty. Russell was picked and Jim Matheson. We paraded in 15 minutes, expecting great things and feeling very big. It turned out to be picket duty at Herring Green crossroads with orders to stop all cars and take number, etc. This result of last Zeppelin raid as the airships are thought to have been guided by cars with powerful headlights.

We barricaded the road with carts and took turns - 2hours on and 4 hours off. Not very exciting and very cold, but more exciting than platoon drill. My first experience at sleeping out and none too pleasant, but I think it wouldn't kill me.

08 Mar 15

Running drill at 7:15. Very cold, and snowing slightly. George not on duty yet as he was inoculated on Saturday. Company drill was cancelled and battalion went out for a route march - Milton Ernest, Filimousham, Pavenham, Stevington and Oakley. A splendid day for marching - cold and bracing and blinks of warm sun between the showers of small snow. The buds are on the hedges. The Company marched well today, and with a little care on the part of some NCOs - especially Laurie and M'Adie we would have a good marching coy.

Dinner at 3 p.m.: afternoon tea in the park and then again in 21. 'M' arrived this morning to Ian's discomfiture who was in Gwyneth’s bedroom at the time. He has come from China to join. It will be interesting to watch developments.

31 Dec 15

Was in the orderly room in the forenoon and afternoon. It commenced raining after tea. The battalion came out of the trenches tonight and therefore we are back to the big mess opposite the Church. Col. Land ? of the 2/4 D.o.W. is with the battalion on a 4 days tour. He was at dinner. The Dukes are reported to be going to the 32nd Division and are very fed up.

Nobody seemed to intend to sit up till 12 so I retired to my bed in the little room above the Post Office where I am now sitting writing this up. Twelve o'clock has just struck and a feeble bell is ringing: There has been some cheering and singing of Auld Land Syne up by the Church and the artillery have just blazed away their New Years greeting as had been pre-arranged.

Last year we were masquerading in the High St Bedford. Where will we be the next?

Thomas Frederick Littler

June 9th 1916

We fell in at 8-30p.m and entered "Wood Street communication trench" and passed the old fire trench and went up "New Wood Street" which was only about 2 ft deep, then got on the top, passed our front line which was being held by "The Rifle Rangers", through a gap in the barbed wire, we were paced out so many paces per man as a digging task, and told to dig ourselves in as quickly as possible.

 

We worked hard for about 2 an hour when the Germans opened heavy machine gun fire on us and swept us like a blanket, and being only 100 yds from the enemy lines it proved very trying, we carried on, off and on, for : of an hour when, when he got more machine guns sweeping that sector, by this time my part of the trench was about 18" deep so I could lie in it.

 

The machine guns keep on sweeping and the enemy opened out a "miniweffer" (trench mortar) barrage, four of our rifles were laying on the ground about 4 ft away and these got a direct hit, that was the last I saw of my rifle, also blew the trench away and left us as it were on the open ground.

 

The man in front of me called for help and on going to him I found he had a piece of shrapnel in the left shoulder blade, this was Private Joe (Hurnival of Runcorn), also he was hit on the lower middle part of the back, many men at this time were calling for help, out of our Platoon we had three casualties L/Cpl Fineflow who was hit in the back and the pieces had pierced the lungs he was vomiting a lot of blood, and Pte Edward Coalthorpe (of Chester) who was hit in ribs and left arm, one man in No10 Platoon was also hit, Stretcher Bearer Mostan, he was serious as he was hit in the lower part of the stomach and between the legs, after we had got the wounded away we returned to billets, it was 6a.m.

 

Thomas Fredrick Littler joined the Cheshire regiment at the early age of 17. He trained in Aberystwyth in 1914 before beginning work at Siddley Deasy in Coventry. When he turned 18, he signed for Foreign Service and left England for Rouen in March 1916. His diary explains his experience of WWI in northern France for 11 months however he sustained a leg injury which led to him returning to England. He returned to France in 1918 until the end of the war.

Extra Credit: Poisonous Gas

"They used liquid fire on us that day, and to tell you the truth, Mother, I cannot tell you how I get away from it." In our handout we learn about a deadly situation that can occur when trenches were built during wars. From the passage above, we can conclude that the soldiers really had no choice whether they wanted to stay down in the dirty trenches where food was limited and no space to sleep. Whatever their orders were, they must follow. In the diary, written by a British soldier to his mother, he tells us an action filled scene that happens during a battle and what he sees as he climbs his way up the trench to the battlefield. They had already been suffocated in the trenches with numerous poisonous gases, but once the bombardment started, the fumes got worse and intoxicating. During wars, the soldiers wore masks that were tightly woven aorund their nose and mouth. According to this British soldier, the most scariest thought of "life and death" is whether the mask is on properly or not. What if it isnt? 

http://www.whale.to/b/germansoldierdog.jpg

http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/45/65945-050-BF92FDCE.jpg

Diary of a War Nurse: Enlisting

This passage comes from the diary of a war nurse, and tells of her experience enrolling and becoming a was nurse. 

WHEN war was declared August 1st, 1914, the great upheaval sent its waves of excitement beating against every shore till it touched the whole world.

Away in the Northern-Midlands of England there is a county-hospital. Enrolled among its nurses were several who belonged to the Territorials. Scarcely had war been declared when their marching orders came. Proudly they went away, clad in military uniform, whilst those left behind envied them with an almost bitter envy.

Speaking for myself, to want a thing badly means to get it---if possible. When the Servians started I went to the Matron and asked permission to he released to offer my services. Her answer was, "Wait a little. Your own Country may need you." meanwhile she got permission for me to go. But permission to go and a zeal to serve one's country are but the preliminaries to active service at the front. Not only women but men constantly meet with bitter disappointment and many obstacles put by a wise government as tests to temper, discipline, or some inscrutable reason which like another great Power "moves in a mysterious way its wonders to perform." To make a long story short, after having filled up many forms, stating whether there was any insanity in or near the family, and what the victim's great grandmother died of, and how many foreign languages she could speak, &c., &c., &c., 1 was told by the Red Cross, St. John's Ambulance, the Military Nursing Reserve, and Auxiliary Bodies of many varieties, that my services were not required, as they had about thirty thousand nurses on their lists, in fact about one nurse to each soldier!

Two weeks dragged by when the post brought a correspondence card from one of our doctors with this simple legend pasted thereon;---"Ten nurses wanted at once for Antwerp; must be voluntary." Quickly I sent a wire offering my services, then waited two more interminable weeks. Having given up hope, one evening a wire was handed me, "Be ready to start to-morrow."

A lawyer came that night and helped me make a will---in case of accidents! Meanwhile my friend got two days' leave to come up with me, and next morning we were off to London.

The lady who was the organizer of our hospital had not, 1 should judge, any previous experience of hospitals or their management. We all felt this, and therefore were quite prepared, at an early date, to fall into the hands of the Germans, so, as a precaution, we nurses each provided ourselves with a tube of morphia tablets to take in any emergency. (They came in useful after for others, as you will see, given in smaller doses than we contemplated taking!) We were to live in tents and nurse the wounded therein. But, whatever may have been lacking in the medical arrangements, our Directress had certainly secured the names of some of the most prominent and influential people in Europe.

Our Patroness was no less a personage than Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians, and the Duchess de Vendôme was associated with her. Our chairman for some time was Lord Northcliffe. and afterwards Lord Sydenham, whilst many great names figured on the Committee. Our head-surgeon for some months was Mr. Souttar, F. R. C. S., one of the surgeons of the London Hospital, whilst after he returned to his work other men from the same hospital of equal repute and skill took his place.

Arriving in London we found our Directress much distressed because some of the nurses had backed out---they felt it too dangerous, I expect. Quickly I urged my friend to accept a vacancy and accompany me. She saw the Committee, was approved, and we sent the following seductive wire to her parents, "Lord------ and the Committee have accepted G------ as nurse. Please wire consent." Later on came the answer "Cannot refuse. God bless you."

I got all the information from the diary of war nurse here: http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/memoir/warnurse/wn1.html#ch1 

Nearly Buried Alive on the Battlefield

We then went after the rest of our attackers who were in full flight. The machine guns kept them under fire. Some two hundred might have escaped; they fled in all directions. The artillery thereupon began again to fire, whilst we set about to care for our wounded enemies. It was no easy job, for we had to draw the wounded from beneath the horses some of which were still alive. The animals kicked wildly about them, and whenever they succeeded in getting free they rushed off like demented however severely they had been hurt. Many a wounded man who otherwise might have recovered was thus killed by the hoofs of the horses.

With the little packet of bandaging material which we all had on us we bandaged the men, who were mostly severely wounded, but a good many died in our hands while we were trying to put on a temporary dressing. As far as they were still able to speak they talked to us with extreme vivacity. Though we did not understand their language we knew what they wanted to express, for their gestures and facial expressions were very eloquent. They desired to express their gratitude for the charitable service we were rendering them, and like ourselves they did not seem to be able to understand how men could first kill each other, could inflict pain on each other, and then assist each other to the utmost of their ability. To them as well as to us this world seemed to stand on its head; it was a world in which they were mere marionettes, guided and controlled by a superior power. How often were we not made aware in that manner of the uselessness of all this human slaughter!

We common soldiers were here handling the dead and wounded as if we had never done anything else, and yet in our civilian lives most of us had an abhorrence and fear of the dead and the horribly mangled. War is a hard school-master who bends and reshapes his pupils.

One section was busy with digging a common grave for the dead. We took away the papers and valuables of the dead, took possession of the eatable and drinkable stores to be found in the saddle bags attached to the horses and, when the grave was ready, we began to place the dead bodies in it. They were laid close together in order to utilize fully the available space. I, too, had been ordered to "bring in" the dead. The bottom of the grave was large enough for twenty-three bodies if the space was well utilized. When two layers of twenty-three had already been buried a sergeant of the artillery, who was standing near, observed that one of the "dead" was still alive. He had seen the "corpse" move the fingers of his right hand. On closer examination it turned out that we came near burying a living man, for after an attempt lasting two hours we succeeded in restoring him to consciousness. The officer of the infantry who supervised the work now turned to the two soldiers charged with getting the corpses ready and asked them whether they were sure that all the men buried were really dead. "Yes," the two replied, "we suppose they are all dead." That seemed to be quite sufficient for that humane officer, for he ordered the interments to proceed. Nobody doubted that there were several more among the 138 men whom we alone buried in one grave (two other, still bigger, graves had been dug by different burial parties) from whose bodies life had not entirely flown. To be buried alive is just one of those horrors of the battlefield which your bar-room patriot at home (or in America) does not even dream of in his philosophy.

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/VIII_NEARLY_BURIED_ALIVE_ON_THE_BATTLEFIELD

A German Deserter's War Experience: VIII

NEARLY BURIED ALIVE ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Stapelton Tench Eachus

I chose a diary entry from Stapelton Tench Eachus.

26/12/18

I here once more take up my pen, to jot down the objects and scenes with which I may come into contact during the closing days of the titanic upheaval, which has rocked and badly shaken the whole framework of civilisation and indeed the very world itself. Many months have elapsed since last I made any notes and now as I am penning these I find myself sitting at one of the dining tables at the Salvation Army rest for soldiers in London, Blighty. Am on my way back to France after 14 days furlough and seven days extension which was granted to me by the Royal Engineer Records Chatham. In spite of many thing I have spent a really pleasant and enjoyable time, at the old home in Stafford, in the company of my father, Sister Doris and my little treasure boy Derrick. I left Stafford this morning with my little boy at 11.37 am and went first to Warwick where I left Derrick in the care of Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick at 48 Avon Street. I think that these forced partings from the little chap, who is so dear to me, have caused me deeper and more cruel pain, than all other pains that I have known. If there is such a thing as love in this world, it must be surely just like that, how little Dux is loved by me. Left Warwick at 5.58 pm and arrived at Paddington at 9.10 pm. Took a bus to Victoria station and passed by the Marble Arch and Saint James Park, which was profusely decorated with flags and bunting in honour I suppose of the visit of the American president, who arrived today. At Victoria station went into the free buffet, and had a sandwich and cup of tea. Wreaths in the evergreen and other laurel decorations were hanging up everywhere and welcome greetings to the soldiers were emblazoned in large letters upon the walls, one inscription ran something like this “We pray for all who have died and we thank all for bringing us victory and peace” another ran “Welcome home the nation thanks you”. Was directed by a gentleman to board a small motor lorry, which had two seats down the centre and a roof, something after the style of the well known Irish “stage coach”. This vehicle took a party of us to the pace where I am now and where I have engaged a bed no 182 for the night for the price of half a shilling.

I got the diary entry here.

Garret War Diaries

My war diaries are known as the Garrett War Diaries and he was part of the Austrian Militaria. It will be very interesting to read about a person who is part of a nation that is directly involved in the war, as in not part of the French or British who joined because of a treaty. Also to read about how he feels this war has played out and how he feels about fighting for his homeland knowing that if he loses this war, his home will be taken over by the hungarians.

Our patrols sighted a body this morning supposed to be enemy scouts.
Had charge of the same signalling station this morning. Two fine days for helio work. We can communicate to Indian Bikaner Camel Corps piquet situated at Paps, to our observation post to the northeast or to Bir Hooker Bde HQ in the south. Bir Hooker is about 7 miles away the Paps about 5 or 6 ahead of us and are two conical shaped hills rising abruptly from the desert at the furthest end of the wadi.
The piquet goes out every morning and takes a Tommy telephone Officer with it. A cable runs the whole distance from Bir Hooker. Leaving there it runs along the line as far as the aerodrome (the aeroplane to occupy it, is on its way though, ground is marked out with white lines and brown canvas hanger is erected). Then it runs in and out among the reeds until the camp is reached. Then across the camp area under the sand until tents are reached, along the tops until it gets to orderly room, the whole distance is on the ground.
Last night volunteer was wanted to run wire with CHERRY into Bir Hooker to find break .

source: http://www.grantsmilitaria.com/garrett/html/jan1916.htm

Oberst von Thaer

Terrible and appalling! It is so! Indeed! As we were gathered together, Ludendorff stood up in our presence, his face was pale and filled with deep worry, but his head was still held high. A truly handsome Germanic hero figure. I had to think of Siegfried with the mortal wound in his back from Hagen's spear.

He said roughly the following: It was his duty to tell us that our military condition was terribly serious. Any day now, our Western Front could be breached. He had had to report this to His Majesty the Kaiser recently. For the first time the question had been posed to the Supreme Army Command--by His Majesty the Kaiser and the Reichs Chancellor--what the officers and troops were still capable of accomplishing. Together with the General Field Marshal, he [Ludendorff] had answered that the Supreme Army Command and the German Army were at an end; the war could no longer be won, but rather an unavoidable and conclusive defeat awaited. Bulgaria had already been lost. Austria and Turkey, both at the end of their powers, would also soon fall. Our own Army had unfortunately also been heavily contaminated with the poison of Spartacus-socialist ideas, and the troops were, he said, no longer reliable. Since the 8th of August the situation had rapidly gotten worse. As a result, some troops had proven themselves so unreliable that they had had to be quickly pulled from the front. If they were replaced with other troops willing to fight, they would be received with the label "Strike breakers" and challenged not to fight anymore. He said he could not operate with divisions that were no longer reliable.

It was thus foreseeable, he went on to say, that the enemy in the near future, with the help of American troops anxious to fight, would succeed in a great victory, a breakthrough in grand fashion. As a result, the West Army would lose its last hold and retreat in full disbandment across the Rhein and carry the revolution back to Germany.

This catastrophe, he said, must be avoided by all means. For the cited reasons we could no longer allow ourselves to be beaten. Therefore, the Supreme Army Command demanded of His Majesty the Kaiser and of the Chancellor that a proposal for the bringing about of peace be made to President Wilson of America without delay, for bringing about an armistice on the basis of his 14 Points. He said he had never shied away from demanding the utmost from his troops. However, after clearly realizing that the continuation of the war was useless, he was of the opinion that an end needed to be found as quickly as possible in order not to unnecessarily sacrifice the most valiant people who were still loyal and able to fight.

It had been a terrible moment for him and for the Field Marshall to have to report this to the His Majesty the Kaiser and the Chancellor. The latter, Count Hertling, then informed His Majesty the Kaiser in a noble manner that he would then have to resign his office. After so many honorable years, as an old man, he could not and would not close out his life by tendering a petition for ceasefire. The Kaiser had accepted his petition for resignation.

Excellency Ludendorff added: "At present, then, we have no Chancellor. Who will fill this position is yet to be determined. I have, however, asked His Majesty the Kaiser to bring those circles into the government whom we can mainly thank that we have come to this. We will now see these gentlemen brought into the Ministries. They should make the peace that must now be made. They made their bed, now they must lie in it!"

The effect of these words on the listeners was undescribable! As L. spoke, quiet sobbing and moaning was audible. Many, probably most all, had involuntary tears run down their cheeks. I stood to the left of General Director Gen. von Eisenhart. We instinctively grasped one another by the hand. I almost pressed his flat.

After his last words, L. lowered his head slowly, turned and went to his adjoining room.

Since I had an appointment to report to him afterwards, I followed him and -- since I'd known him so long -- grabbed his right arm with both hands, something I never would have done under other circumstances, and said: "Your Excellency, is that the truth? Is that the last word? Am I awake or dreaming? That really is too terrible! What will happen now?"

I was completely beside myself. He remained calm and gentle and said to me with a deeply sorrowful smile: "Unfortunately, that is how it is, and I see no other way out."

This was written in a Diary by Colonel Von Thaer, in October 1, 1918.

George Ludovic Alexander

I clicked on the link for George Ludovic Alexander. In his diary he wrote some poetry and there was this one poem that I really liked. It didn't really say when these poems were written but i believe they were written when he was in the war. He could have written them at home because he went home often to escape the war and to hide for protection. I am not quite sure.

Mingled rain and sunshine,
Mingled smile and tear,
Mingled rose and lily
Clustered on his bier.

Rain-drops gently beck'ning
Flowers to lift their heads
In humble recognition
Of our beloved dead.

Shine-wondrous sunshine
Breaking through the gloom
To cast away the shadows
Reflected from the tomb.

Smiles shone that day somehow
Like sunshine through the rain
They cast away the shadows
And helped conceal pain.

Tear drops were in evidence
And those who loved him best
Wept silently within them
As they bore him to his rest.

Roses - lovely roses
That spoke as roses do
Of all that's good and noble
In a friend so tried and true.

Lilies - fragrant lilies
Above all so pure and white
Cause us to remember,

After darkness, comes the light.

Citation:

written by George Ludovic Alexander

Poem found at

Thomas Frederick LIttler

T.f. Littler was born in 1897 and fought in France. His diary is from 1914-1919. He trainer in Norwich and Northampton before going to England where he then went to France. He met his wife in England. The following is from July 1st 1916.

After having had our rum issue we stood to till 7-25a.m when we put up a smoke screen and went over the top at 7-30 with the London Scottish and Queens Westminster Rifles, we took four lines of trenches from the Germans, but were driven back by midday to our original position, our losses were very heavy although we took many prisoners, I could not attempt to write all that happened this day, so I'll leave a cutting from the paper here. The casualties from my Battalion were A Company 112, B Company 62, C Company 91, D Company 25, in my platoon we lost the following men Lieutenant Leigh, who had taken over from Lieut. Larne, was wounded the left arm blown off, Private Harry Wakefield, Private Wilfred Carter, killed, Private Jack White, Private Frank Walker, missing, and Private Harry Frodsham, Private Sam Mellor, and Private George Parker wounded, L-Cpl R Eaton, and L-Cpl Harry Carveley wounded, the following men died of wounds during the following week Sgt Piers, L-Cpl J Kinsey, and Private Albert Clarke, Private Jack Perrin, and Private Sidney Jones, we left the line this night being too weak in numbers to hold it, and got back to Souastre about 12-30 p.m.

World War I diary-Thomas Edward Shirley

Thomas Edward Shirley '18
World War I Diary

Wed June 27, 1917

We stayed in camp and worked around all morning. I helped dig a trench. I saw Captain Mallet for 1st time to-day. Everybody is crabbing food. The meat sure is rotton.

All this morning prepared for our all night trip. We were awakened about 4:30 by the rain which came through the roof like a sieve. The chief got us up at 6:00 and after breakfast and peeling spuds we went up to the farm and got our cars ready for the afternoon. We left at 1:30 being lead by Bug. who soon lost his way in about three places. Finally we got started and went over to Pierrefonds Castle which was the 1st real beautiful building I have seen in the country out here. We were given 1/2 hours leave of absence, and we immediately beat it for the castle. I took some pictures which I hope will come out good. A bunch of us got a guard to take us through and he showed us all around. We saw secret staircases, places Napolean had sat, and some of the most wonderful brick-a-brack made of stone I have ever seen. It soon began to get dark and we blew into a town which the Germans had practically destroyed with incenduary bombs and shot the mayor burying him head downwards. Soon it grew pitch dark, and we all had our thrills keeping on the road, but finally arrived home at Dommiers at 3 o'clock after going 125 miles. We were all wet, cross, and tired to death, but satisfied that we had done a good job and satisfied our chief. It impressed me more of what all the destruction meant was when I saw an old man driving by what was evidently his home with the tears streaming down his cheeks. 

http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/57/tes00.htm

Inside front cover:

Thomas E. Shirley
R.F.D. #2
Manchester N.H.
U.S.A.

Please send this home if any accident should happen.

convais auto

Section Group T.M.184
Groupement Perisse'
Par B.C.M. Paris

The Military Hospital

A very interesting and necessary branch of our work was the X-Ray Department. We had possessed an X-Ray room ever since we had been at Hoogestadt, but it now sprang suddenly into fame, being reorganized by no less a person than the renowned Madame Curie, who discovered radium! For two or three weeks she lived with us, sharing our daily life, sitting next to us at meals, the most unassuming and gentlest of women. Her daughter was with us too, and stayed there all that summer after her mother left to aid other hospitals. They brought their own motor-ambulance which held the dynamo which worked the X-Ray apparatus. Madame Curie used to rise about five A. M., and have an early breakfast. As I was on night duty, it was my delight to set a table out in the garden and serve her breakfast myself. Often as we sat drinking a cup of coffee she would chat with me, taking a keen interest in all our work.

Website Citation: "Chapter XV a Military Hospital." A War Nurse's Diary. Sketches from a Belgian
Field Hospital. (1918) Part Three. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010.
.

Picture Citation: We were now in the Belgian Military Hospital. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010.
.

Extra Credit Blog

Europe's industrialized militarism was one of the major factors in the cause of World War I. The vast new advancement in warfare made Europe's soldiers hungry for a higher reputation in their community. They even wore their uniforms in public to show the people in their city who shows the most pride and have people look at them with high importance. Each countries military become more and more advanced and each country planned when they were going to attack. As all of them were so incentive to attack first because of their brilliant surprises, more than 10 million soldiers died in World War I. Over 20 million wounded. The reason for these horrible numbers is because of the new military technology that both sides of the war so gladly used. Some brutal weapons that were used were submarines, tanks, airplanes, poison gas, machine guns, and barbed wire. All of these weapons had never been seen or used before in any type of war before this. Because these weapons were so massive and destructing, there was an extremely abundant amount of them. Furthermore, the anticipation of wanting to attack on other countries made a huge impact on the reason World War I started.

My Primary Document from WWI Diaries and Letters

June 6th 1916
We had to pack our kits, and proceed up the line, we passed through Bayencourt, and then in artillery formation to Sailly-au-bois, and from here we marched in single file along a very muddy road, where in places men sank knee deep in mud, at last we reached the ruined town of Hebuterne, 400yds from our front line, there are no civilians here as the place is subject to heavy fire every day, we were billeted in the cellars of an old farm house which was minus a wall and the roof.
I took a stroll round the place after tea and found it absolutely ruined a church at one end had been badly battered and the walls all smashed and the roof gone, one side of the tower standing only, but a noticeable fact was that a crufic [crucifix?] in a most conspicuous place remained untouched.

Source:

Littler, Chris. "First world war diaries, by TF Littler." First world war diaries: TF Littler. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. http://www.first-world-war.co.uk/thediary.htm#06061916.

This entry was the first entry (Dated: June 6th 1916).

WWI Diary

Thomas Edward Shirley

June 29th 1917

This is a diary entry from a young man who was recruited to join the French Ambulance Corps.

We got up at 8:30 and was supposed to work around camp but I sneaked off with Roy and Adnoids and took my laundry down town. At dinner time we were told that we were going to be taken to some trenches the Germans occupied last April. Well were got started in two trucks about an hour after we were supposed to. We went thru Soissons and had a chance to see for the 1st time how badly the city was hit. The north end of town sure is a mess- all the house blown down, a couple of big factories all to pieces, and all the bridges down. The bridges are being replaced by negro soldiers as fast as they can. Out side of Soissons we met a great many horse convoys the largest I have seen yet. It sure was a sight mules, donkey, and horses and men of every description. We went through a town completely distroyed and populated only with troops. Finally we got to the top of the hill after winding our way up pass German dugout after dugout now occupied by french soldiers. These were very comfortable looking dugouts probably old officers dugouts. The top of the hill was just one mess of trench, barbwire entanglements, shell holes, and here and there a grave. We went over to the other side of the hill where we could look down into a village completely destroyed. Not a house was left. It impressed me more of what all the destruction meant was when I saw an old man driving by what was evidently his home with the tears streaming down his cheeks. After collecting some some souveniers from a German graveyard we started home. Coming home the water boiled so in our car that we had to be towed home. After supper and writing a letter I went to bed and slept the best I have yet. Although they bombarded Soissons during the night for the 1st time in a long while and we were there at six last night.

http://www.dartmouth.org/classes/57/tes00.htm

WWI Aviation in Paris

Just back from the leave. We got to Paris at noon. I invaded the coiffeur's. He was on permission too. Then lunch and shopping. A French lady helped me out in the post office and I thereby made her delightful acquaintance. Such things, though, are only a matter of daily event in this Parisian swimming pool.

I had an early dinner at the Café des Lilas where by chance I sat next to a charming girl I had met last night in Paris. She is the beautiful "amie" of an ambulanceer and a very good camarade. Then I walked through the grand Luxembourg Gardens; its terraces where the artists' models and young family girls just learning to pose stroll carelessly in its caressing atmosphere. I had a "Fraise" at a café just to watch the types walk the "Boul. Miche." ...

We took the evening-train at eight o'clock with high spirits, but low hearts. Then from ten to one o'clock at night we had a truck ride. That, of course, is like riding on artillery wagon seats at full gallop, in the dust of a whole army through the cold of the North Pole. The rest of the night I slept in my bunk without bothering to undo my shoe laces, having been going since four in the morning before, to one that morning, and "some going."

To-day, Friday, we are taking our last day of rest (it's the only one too) before packing bags for a trip unknown. The sun in coming out, brought out the mandolins, and between the two, vague thoughts of yesterday's Paris and a month ago's home, filter through our weariness as the souvenir notes of a song from out the past.

I received quite a love letter from my little unknown girl way down along the twining Doubs river. But hélas! such other things call me with such other forces that my idle, magnetized soul cannot hypnotize myself to going down to see her --- though I easily could....

By the way, an adjutant of chasseurs whom I was talking with two days ago is now being buried. You see some hand-grenades went off too soon during practise work and --- well, a number of other soldier friends had their faces wiped off at the same time.

I will write you more whenever I get time. You will learn much more, though, of my trip from my diary when I get back, than from the little side notes of those hasty careless letters. With much love,

Your affectionate son

JACK
APRIL, 1917-JANUARY, 1918
JACK MORRIS WRIGHT
Aviation in Paris 

Einstein

Albert Einstein brought upon change in both the world of science and the world of today. He mentioned many controversial ideas, that at his time, were thought you be ridiculous. In my opinion, one of his best theories was about Space Time and the laws that the universe relies on. Einstein was able to prove that time was relative. Meaning that time doesn't operate the same way all over the universe. This of course was shocking to anyone who lived in his time. The idea that time was changing was very farfetched when we witness time moving at the same speed every day. But Einstein was in fact correct. Time could be beat. Time could almost literally be ignored. And if you were to do this, you would have to move faster than the speed of light. To better explain this, I'll use the most common form of explanation for this concept. Say that you have a twin brother or sister. An astronaut takes you onto a space ship, leaving your sibling behind. You then proceed to fly around the earth for 30 years as your twin sits around back on earth. When you land, something significant can be seen. Not only is your twin 30 years older but you have not aged. This concept was truly crazy, because not only would that make the trip seem instantaneous, but we ask the question: "What happens on the spaceship?" But of course we cannot achieve such a feat. We can barely fathom how much energy it would take to move the speed of light, mostly because light itself has no mass. So when you try to move mass that speed, you find yourself with a problem. Einstein not only determined the factors of light speed but also came up with an explanation for space. Picture the universe as a large trampoline. If you were to place a bowling ball (let's use this as the sun) in the center the trampoline, it would form an indentation. This indentation is what represents gravity. When you roll a small marble (let's use this as earth or some planet) across the trampoline, you'll find that it will roll towards the bowling ball. The proximity of the marble to the bowling ball is also taken into account, because the depth of the indentation is much deeper near the bowling ball than it is near the outskirts of the trampoline. It's this method that keeps our planets in orbit. It's this continuous falling that stops our planets from falling into the sun. But you still have adapt the trampoline model to the 3rd dimension, because we all realize that the universe isn't some flat piece of fabric. You must picture it like a sponge the pinches inward when a object has a large mass. And the sponge itself is just a force and not an object. These two theories that Einstein came up with are not only hugely important to where we are in science, but were the most horrific sounding things to the common people of his time.


For more on the twins and spaceship demonstration, go here.

Eugenics

Eugenics is the practice of selective breeding towards humans. It has a lot to do with the theory of natural selection. Society aims to protect the weak and underprivileged, and help keep them alive. Natural selection says that only the strongest and best survive, so by protecting the week, society is essentially going against the natural process, and keeping mankind from becoming stronger. Eugenics does the opposite, it aims to improve the gene pool by any means necessary. One example of eugenics in the 1900s was the holocaust. The Nazi felt that mankind must continue moving forward. The Nazi Germans wanted to be the strongest of the human race, and they wanted to rid the human race of any weakness. They began to identify any races that they felt were inferior, and exterminate them. They decided that the Jewish must be eliminated, so they began mercilessly murdering Jewish people. it was a ruthless genocide. They also began trying to breed perfect humans to enroll in their army. Strong healthy males would breed with strong healthy females in am attempt to create the ideal human being.

Freud- Id, Ego, Superego

In the video we learned about Freud and his ideas about our unconscious mind. He talked about how people wanted to kill their father because they were jealous of them because they really liked their mother. That is kind of gross to think about. Many people of that time agreed and were very disturbed by the thought of his ideas. He came up with the terms id, ego, and superego. Id is the "pleasure" part of our minds and is what we want. Ego is the "reality" part which thinks of the real world and takes into consideration the id perception and tries to figure out if it works. When thinking of reality, it considers the fact that other people have wants too and so you can't be selfish because that hurts others.. Finally, superego is the part that tries to balance the two and considers the moral parts of situations. In the movie, id was sort of seen as the red, and "evil" figure or part of your mind. It was thinking of the person's wants and would set everything else aside to achieve those wants. ID being red could be seen as a devil sort of figure. Ego was seen as the white, angelic character, considers the reality situation and it talks about what the person can do and what will hurt others. Id is selfish while ego is considerate of other and how the person's actions will effect his or hers surroundings. Superego tries to balance both of those. People sometimes think of the superego as your conscience. It tells you what is right or wrong. Consciences tend to hold onto the bad things that you do and they bug you until you fix them. The superego is what tries to balance what you want so you are satisfied but also at the same time making sure that other people are content. These were very obscure and unsettling ideas at the time, and given the father mother situation, still today they may upset people. Here is the video from Youtube that we watched in class if you would live to watch it.

Video

Sites:

http://allpsych.com/psychology101/ego.html

Class on Friday

Kodak Camera vs Paintings

"You press the button, we do the rest." Creator of Kodak cameras, George Eastman said this in 1888. Cameras were only available to professional photographers, but Eastman created a kodak film roll that can take about 100 exposures. This way, even regular people can take advantage of the camera and carry it around in their hands. The customer uses the kodak camera and returns it to the company to receive clear prints. 

If a camera can capture images perfectly, then what is the point of art? When new technology and advancements were made, there was a talk about how photography might take over the beauty of art. A photograph gives you an image of the real world, while art is all about color and interpretation in one artists mind. In the image above, you can see how the photograph is very dull but realistic. The painting seems to have a unique creativity that the artist chose himself. It has color and idea to it by changing its style. 

http://lcni.uoregon.edu/~mark/Marks_photos/stereo_pairs/Apollo_moon/as12-49-7318_AstroOptiMax_comparison.jpg

Monet, the Impressionists

Monet was an impressionist in the mid-late 1800s. HIs paintings include Sunrise, Water Lillies, The poppies, and many others. Unlike other painters of his time, the impressionists would paint what they saw around them instead of copying from old paintings at the Louvre. Monet charmed his way into getting food and clothing while living in Paris and he eventually moved to Giverny. There he lived with all of his children and his 2nd wifes children, making it so that about 10 kids were running around. Monet created a remarkable garden for himself. This is wear he painted Water LIllies which to this day remains one of his most famous paintings, and an extremely well known picture in itself. He has rows of flower with sunflowers next to hibiscus, making a very diverse and beautiful garden. The most beautiful part of the garden in my opinion is the Water LIllies. He has Japanese bridges and a stream runs around all of it. The famous boat in his pictures is still there as well. (picture from http://www.allmonet.com/1%20Water-Lily_Pond__1897-1899.jpg) Most people hated Monet's pictures because they thought they looked so sloppy. Monet did find various customers in France who bought his work and kept him afloat. Clearly with such a nice in Giverny his work was somewhat appreciated, but most of the other impressionists never got to that point in their life-time. During the begining of MOnet's career, after attending well-renown painting schools the majority of France rejected all of Monet's paintings and he was not chosen to display paintings in the major auctions, museums, and collection locations in France.

Ishmabahu

Description of Our Nation's Flag:

Our flag consists of four quadrants. Each quadrant represents one aspect of our empire that is important to us.

Wheat and Grapes: The top left quadrant is golden-brown, representing wheat. The bottom left quadrant is colored purple, representing grapes. These two sources of food represent key parts of our diet. We use the wheat to feed our livestock. Addictionally, we can turn the wheat into flour through a process known as milling. This flour can be used for a number of staple foods such as bread, cookies, cake, and pasta. We often ferment the wheat as well as grapes (another one of our staple foods) in order to make alcoholic beverages. We also use olive trees, coral, and grapes in order to make a product that can be used to expand our island. Lastly, fish is another key part of our diet, and represents the final quadrant of our flag. Food is very important to us, and this is apparent in the way we designed our flag quadrants.

National Anthem

volo canere
nolo videre
nolo vicere
tu amabant nostro
omnes sunt sub nostro
(i want to eat, i dont want to see, i dont want to conquer, you will love us, everyone is below us)

Alliances and Connections

Ishmabahu does not have many alliances with other nations.  This is one, due to our inhospitable nature, and two, the fact that we have plenty of resources and power as a single nation.  Our small alliances lie with Italy, Egypt, and Greece.  This is mainly because they are out surrounding countries. Also, like us, they are rich in resources.  When we do trade, it is mostly with Egypt.  Our main imports from them are cotton and silk.  These products are very valuable and desirable around the world.  We can buy these cheap because of how close Egypt is, and sell them very high to foreigners and far away nations such as the U.S. and Mexico.

We often have trouble with negotiations because most nations consider us "hostile" or "savage."  However, this is only because we are very protective of our land, resources and people.  The people of Ishmabahu believe that involvement with other countries only creates more opportunities for conflicts and wars.  This is why we choose to isolate ourselves and trade very rarely.

National History
The province of Ishmabahu is located in the central Mediterranean. It is south of Sicily and is a small island. In the ancient word it played a major part in the connection between the Phonecians, Greeks, and Romans. After the destruction of Carthage at the end of the 3^rd Punic War, Ishmabahu officially became part of the Roman Empire. For the next 700 years, the Ishmabahu’s were under the rule of the Romans. They were given some rights, such as being able to go to Rome to vote as a recognized tribe and helped elect the Tribunes. Once the switch was made to Christianity by Constantine, tension began rising between Ishmabahu’s polytheistic ways and the new found Roman religion. After many bloody rebellions, they finally regained their independence and continued their polytheistic ways. An interesting aspect of their history is that after about 300 BC, the Ishmabahu’s remained isolated and participated in no trading. It was almost as if the Ishmabahu’s had been covered by a volcano, no one tried to take over the rebellious polytheistic island. Until 1575, all of the ports on this island were closed. They rellied heavily on wheat and fish, a main aspect of their diet even today. ON this day, curious French explorers went to the island.
The island by that point had hacked away at the edges of the island, creating sharp cliffs. This remains to be an amazing feat since the cliffs literally go straight into the ocean. There is one beach where the islanders perform sacred ceremonies to their gods on the night of a new moon. The French men attempted to make contact with the people, but the islanders savagely attacked the explorers torchering them for months before finally throwing them off the jagged cliffs. The French were so outraged that they arrived with guns and broke into the island. They saw absolute order.
ON the island the people dutifully farmed, switching their crops every season, maintaining the volcanic soil’s minerals. The island has an island a radius of about 20 miles so it is very important to save land. To quote from a solider’s journal
      “The houses are each no more than 3 rooms. Every family has only 4 children. ON the harvest moon, each family will send the oldest child to vote for the family on who will be the new leader. This is usually based of off the crop yield that that family has produced. While one family produces wheat, another will produce grapes and a tally is kept on which family has produced the most food. The eldest child in this family usually becomes the next ruler. The people speak in Latin. They have no idea of the outside world, it is like walking into an ancient village.”
Over the next 400 years, Ishmabahu caught up with the rest of the world. The 1700s was its golden age. While the rest of Europe was caught up with civil war, revolutions, and imperialism, Ishmabahu  created ingenious technology. They expanded their island using a product made from the bark of olive trees, coral, and the skin of grapes. Today Ishmabahu has increased its radius by 3 times since they were first visited by the French. They continue to grow every year. Although they have adopted many modern ways, their religion stays the same as well as their language and government. Who knows where Ishmabahu will go?