Two Different Faces of God at War in the Caucasus. Turkey Unprepared for Winter War; Not So Russia. Special to The Great War Project (29-30-31 December) The German plot to ignite a holy war against the British and Russians in the Middle East and Central Asia is so far a failure. But in the rugged…
Monthly Archives: December 2014
ALLIED COMMANDERS RESORT TO TRICKERY TO KEEP THEIR MEN FIGHTING.
by Mike Shuster
‘What Do They Fear? Mutiny Perhaps?’ Special to The Great War Project (26-27-28 December) As 1914 comes to a close, a new attitude toward the war becomes ever more apparent. Whereas the first days of the war, in August, saw an outpouring of patriotic support for the war on all sides and in all belligerent…
GUNS FALL SILENT IN SPONTANEOUS TRUCE ON WESTERN FRONT
by Mike Shuster
Widespread Fraternization of German and Allied Troops. Spontaneous Outpouring of Anti-War Sentiment. Special to The Great War Project (24-25 December) And now something unexpected happens – something that will echo powerfully down through these one hundred years. Something that historians call “a spontaneous outburst of pacific feeling” in the war zones, according to historian Martin…
DEVASTATION FROM FLANDERS TO SERBIA.
by Mike Shuster
Nothing but Cruelty and Suffering. Kill them: the White Flag Be Damned. Special to The Great War Project (22-23 December) It keeps getting crueler and crueler. On December 22 a century ago, Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty, lets it be known that orders now require… …British soldiers to bring “instant fire” to…
OTTOMAN CALLS FOR ‘JIHAD’ A FLOP.
by Mike Shuster
Holy War Finds Little Support Among Ottoman Muslims; New Front Opening in the Caucasus. Special to The Great War Project. (19-20-21 December) Turkey’s holy war against the Allied nations, especially Britain, is a flop. That’s the conclusion of war historian John Keegan. The Muslim Caliphate in the person of Sultan Mehmed V declares “holy war”…
GERMAN BATTLEFIELD DIARY CITES SAVAGERY OF OWN TROOPS
by Mike Shuster
Soldier Calls German Behavior ‘Bestiality.’ Special to The Great War Project (17-18 December) The German treatment of wounded prisoners is sparking outrage in Britain and France. More and more stories emerge of the killing of the wounded. “The savagery of the conflict,” writes historian Martin Gilbert “was to arouse great indignation when details of German…
GERMAN NAVY SHELLS BRITISH SEASIDE RESORT
by Mike Shuster
British Allow Bombardment in Bid to Sink German Ships Special to The Great War Project (15-16 December) German warships are bombarding the British coast this day a century ago at the Yorkshire seaside resort of Scarborough, in the first German naval bombardment of civilian targets. Many of the residents and visitors to Scarborough are “elderly…
MUD – THE SILENT KILLER
by Mike Shuster
The Trenches Fill with Water; They are Sinking, Along with the Soldiers in Them. ‘More Cruel, Relentless, Pitiless: Sigmund Freud. Special to The Great War Project (12-13-14 December) Conditions on the Western Front are horrible, and getting worse. One great factor is mud, making fighting almost impossible. Visiting the front line, French General Philippe Petain…
U.S. IN STATE OF ‘NEAR CRISIS’ WITH BRITAIN.
by Mike Shuster
American Ships Seized; Believed Carrying Copper for Germany. Special to The Great War Project (10-11 December) Trouble breaks out between Britain and the United States in the late fall of 1914 – “a state of near crisis,” according to Arthur Link, biographer of the American president Woodrow Wilson. The issue is neutrality – what the…
IN JIHAD, OTTOMANS USE BLACKMAIL, CAPTIVES AS HUMAN SHIELDS
by Mike Shuster
Threat to Kill Hostages; Suez Canal the Target. Britannia Still Rules the Waves. Special to The Great War Project (8-9 December) The Turks are now taking action against allied citizens, among them diplomatic personnel, living in outposts of the Ottoman Empire. By this time a century ago, writes historian Sean McMeekin… …hundreds of English, French, and…