Now Largely a Defensive War. Casualties High, War Aims Hardening. Special to The Great War Project (16-17 January) Although the Western Front is mired in stalemate, there are still attempts, on both sides to break out of it. They are all futile. The mood is shifting in Allied capitals. A negotiated peace is now out…
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NO END IN SIGHT;
by Mike Shuster
‘Life in These Days Too Hideous to Write’ Special to The Great War Project (13, 14, 15 January) Many in Britain and France are still hoping the war will end soon. Many believe Germany is faltering, facing a debilitating stalemate on the Western Front, and a tightening naval embargo that is slowly strangling the German…
AWFUL — THE STATE OF THE WOUNDED
by Mike Shuster
On the Battlefield, Conditions for the Wounded Are Appalling. Little Doctors Can Do. Special to The Great War Project (8-12 January) A warning — this report contains disturbing information and may be too graphic for some readers. A soldier lies wounded on the battlefield. Conditions are bad enough for the unwounded man. But “those who…
THE BIG PICTURE IN THE NEW YEAR
by Mike Shuster
Stalemate in the Trenches; Enormous Ottoman Losses. A Prototype of the Tank. Special to The Great War Project (5-6-7) January) “The year 1915 opened with blood being poured out without respite.” That’s the way historian Martin Gilbert assessed the situation in the war at the start of the New Year. Typhus strikes both Austrian and…
A BRITISH PLAN TO DEFEAT THE TURKS
by Mike Shuster
Proposed British Naval Action in the Dardanelles; ‘Knock the Props Out’ From Under Turkey and Germany Special to The Great War Project (1-4 January) The terrible stalemate on the Western Front has the allies struggling to find another way to stop what now seems to be endless slaughter and force an end to the war.…
ENVER PASHA DREAMS OF HOLY WAR
by Mike Shuster
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…
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”…