Monthly Archives: September 2015

DISASTER AT LOOS

British Ranks Devastated; Victims of Own Gas. A Blatant, Needless Massacre. Special to The Great War Project (26-28 September) Day by day, the terrible scale of the British losses in the Battle of Loos in northern France is beginning to sink in. On September 25th a century ago 10,000 British troops are ordered to walk…

MAJOR BATTLES ERUPT ON WESTERN FRONT

Despite Extensive Use of Poison Gas, British and French Offensives Fail. At Loos, A Field of Corpses Special to The Great War Project (25 September) On this day one hundred years ago on the Western Front, British and French forces unleash a major offensive at the northern French towns of Loos and Champagne. For the…

DISCONTENT IN RUSSIA GROWING

Soldiers Attack Russian Police; Protests Far from Front. Wounded Soldiers Riot. Special to The Great War Project (22-24 September) There is growing trouble in Russia, and it threatens to undermine Russia’s continued ability to hold the line on the Eastern Front. “In Russia,” writes historian Martin Gilbert, “discontent in the army found an outlet in…

ACTION ON BOTH EASTERN AND WESTERN FRONTS

More Defeats for the Russians; British and French Plan New Offensive Special to The Great War Project (18-21 September) This is a moment in the war a century ago when fighting picks up on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. In the east, the Russian army continues to suffer defeat after defeat. On September 18th…

THE ‘GREAT LOOT’

Warring Nations Seek Carve Up of Middle East. Despite Losses, Britain Plots Desert War in Arabia, Iraq, Syria. Special to The Great War Project (15-17 September) By this moment a century ago, after more than a year of hideous slaughter in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, and in the seas of the North Atlantic,…

MORE AMERICANS DIE IN U-BOAT ATTACK

Germany Insists on Unrestricted Submarine Warfare. Wilson Struggles to Stay Out of the War. Special to The Great War Project (11-14 September) For most of 1915, the United States and Imperial Germany go head to head on the submarine war that Germany is engaged in. At times, especially after the sinking of the Lusitania in…

NO END TO ARMENIAN SLAUGHTER

A Priest’s Witness to Genocide; Ottoman Officer With Bloody Hands Tells the Story. Special to The Great War  Project (8-10 September) The massacre of Turkey’s Armenian population continues relentlessly, beginning in February 1915, and grinding on through the terrible spring and summer of that year a century ago. Several first-person accounts of the carnage surface.…

PEACE ACTIVISTS CALL FOR END TO  WAR

Lenin, Trotsky, Einstein Among Voices Opposing War. Famed Physicist Sees No Quick End to It. Special to The Great War Project. (5-7 September) The anti-war movement in Europe is growing. In the face of all the slaughter, death, and destruction, finally a movement – small to be sure – is beginning to have its voice…

BRITISH PROBE DEEPER INTO IRAQ

An “Effortless” Campaign? Now Supply Lines Over Stretched, Reinforcements Needed. Special to The Great War Project (2-4 September) The British campaign in Mesopotamia (today’s Iraq) is proving, so far, to be one of the few bright spots for the British, at this moment in the war, a century ago. With little resistance, the British steam…

A NEW LOW IN U.S. – GERMAN RELATIONS

Fallout From Lusitania Disaster, German Spy Rings; Sabotage of American Munitions Plants Special to The Great War Project (31 August – 1 September) In the United States in the summer of 1915 a century ago, the debate over the war sharpens. The fallout after the May 7th sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania by a…