Monthly Archives: April 2016

AFTER 145 DAYS, TURKISH SIEGE AT KUT ENDS

Scale of British Surrender Unprecedented. Soldiers Starving; Locals Hanged; ‘The Trees Dangling With Corpses’ Special to The Great War Project (27-30 April) On this day, April 27th a century ago the British garrison at Kut, on the Tigris River in Iraq, opens negotiations with the Ottoman forces to surrender. Three British officers, including Captain T.E.…

REBELLION ON BRITAIN’S DOORSTEP

Irish Uprising Crushed but Anti-War Sentiment Spreading; Even in Germany, Support for War Weakens Special to The Great War Project (23-26 April) Support for the war in Europe, even in Germany, is beginning to crack. A century ago in April, there is turmoil in the Reichstag, the German parliament. Karl Liebknecht, the leader of the…

“We will remember.”

 ANZAC Day in New Zealand By John Felton PAIHIA, NEW ZEALAND — It was still pitch black at 5:30 this morning when more than 500 people gathered at the waterfront of this small town in northern New Zealand for the annual sunrise service commemorating Anzac Day — April 25. On this day in 1915,  the…

CARVING UP THE GLOBE

Small States Around the World Especially Vulnerable; Endgame at Kut in Iraq, A Humiliation for the British Special to The Great War Project (19-22 April) The war has unleashed deep ethnic hatreds all across Europe, the Middle East and even in the far Pacific. By now, the Ottoman Turks have slaughtered nearly one million ethnic…

WILSON PONDERS REELECTION AND WAR

German U-boat Attacks Spread; An Ultimatum from the American President Special to The Great War Project (15-18 April) The American President, Woodrow Wilson is running for reelection, and the war is concerning him greatly. Since the war began, Wilson pursues a policy of neutrality. There is pressure in the United States to join the Allies…

THE BULLETS FLY FROM ALL DIRECTIONS

Soldiers Die in Trenches; Civilians Perish in Air Attacks The Poetry of the War. Special to The Great War Project (11-14 April) The German airship attacks on Britain are intensifying. According to historian Martin Gilbert, in April 1916 there are at least seven night-time Zeppelin airship raids on England, including five attacks on London. “The…

CRISIS ON ALL FRONTS

Both Sides Desperate to End War Enormous Preparations at Somme; Russian Front Collapsing; Starvation in Mesopotamia Special to The Great War Project (7-10 April) All the armies locked in battle are exhausted and desperate to end the war. So plans are underway on both the Eastern and Western Fronts, and in the Middle East, for…

MURDEROUS STALEMATE PERSISTS

Vast Bloodletting at Verdun in France, Naroch in Russia. The Most Mismanaged Battle of the War; Russian Defeat Threatens Mutiny. Special to The Great War Project (3-6 April) Significant news from the battlefields on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. In the West, the main battle is still at Verdun – which begins in February…

GERMANS EXECUTE BELGIAN WOMAN FOR ESPIONAGE

Gabrielle Petit is 23; Worked with British Intelligence Now Remembered as a National Hero Special to The Great War Project (1 April) At dawn on this day a century ago, the German occupation forces in Belgium execute Gabrielle Petit. Petit is a Belgian woman working for the British Secret Service in Brussels and other parts…