A Letter from the Freshly Dug Trenches (New York Times, 1915)This World War I letter makes for a wonderful read and it gives such a vivid picture of what the war must have been like once both sides had resigned themselves to trench warfare. The letter was dated October 8, 1914 and the British officer who composed it makes clear his sense that no war had ever been fought in this queer manner before. Ten Weeks in the German Cavalry (Leslie's Weekly, 1915)Fritz Arno Wagner (1894 - 1958) is best remembered as a pioneering cinematographer from the earliest days of the German film industry, however before he could gain the experiences necessary to become the director of photography for such films as "Nosferatu", and "Westfront" he had to first fulfill his obligations to the Kaiser. This article is an account of his brief stint in the Hussars (ie. lancers) that he gave to the editor's of LESLIE'S ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY NEWSPAPER.
Although the article only covers his training period, it does give the reader a sense of what life was like for an enlisted man serving in one of the highly prized regiments in the Imperial German Army. Rea Irvin and the New York Home Front (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)This cartoon pokes fun at the high cost of being charitable. Throughout much of World War One there was always the problem of what to do with the growing number of refugees and orphans -and the answer was never cheap. This drawing reveals a different Rea Irvin, but the drawing style for which he would be remembered is clearly emerging. ''Some Italian Futurists with a Past'' (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)VANITY FAIR critic James Huneker(1860 - 1921) had a few words regarding the Italian Futurist painters. Huneker stated that he had been following their progress since he first attended a 1912 Futurist exhibit, and in the subsequent years had gained a familiarity with their 1910 manifesto, which he summed up for this articleVanity Fair critic James Huneker(1860 - 1921) had a few words regarding the Italian Futurist painters. Huneker stated that he had been following their progress since he first attended a 1912 Futurist exhibit, and in the subsequent years had gained a familiarity with their 1910 manifesto, which he summed up for this article. The Ground Taken by the German Armies (NY Times, 1915)Here is a numeric account, estimated by the Germans, indicating how much of Europe was conquered and occupied by their army on the first anniversary of World War One. The report also accounts for the amount of land being occupied by the Entente powers, and the number of Allied prisoners, machine guns and artillery pieces taken by the central powers within this same time frame. The report was interpreted by the Berlin-based American Association of Commerce before being filed in its entirety by the Associated Press.
A Letter from the Trenches (New York Times, 1915)An interesting letter written during the opening weeks of the war by a Canadian officer stationed with a British Guard regiment. The letter is filled with earnest enthusiasm: "We are all one in aim, in spirit and in that indefinable quality of loyal co-operation which holds together the British Army fighting against enormous odds in France, as it binds together the British Empire by bonds not less strong because they are invisible." The British Rage Against Pacifism (The Literary Digest, 1915)While Western Europe was all ablaze during the Spring of 1915, many Americans were tapping their toes to a catchy tune titled, "I Didn't Raise my Boy to be a Soldier" (by Alfred Bryan and Al Piantadosi). This really irked the editors at THE SPECTATOR who let their fingers trip across the typewriter keyboard at a tremendous speed spewing-out all sorts of unflattering adjectives; they even went so far as to rewrite a few verses.
A Drawing of a German Trench Latrine (Royal Engineers, 1915)Attached, you will find a mechanical drawing made by the industrious souls assigned to the Royal Engineers in order to placate those busy-body brass-hats situated so far in the rear and having little better to do than wonder aloud as to how the Hun tended to deal with his bowel movements. The author of
The Western Front Companion is very informative on the topic of trench latrines and tells us that as the war progressed, latrines evolved into loitering centers for those wishing to read or enjoy some solitude. In order to remedy the situation officers decided to position their front-line trench latrines at the end of short saps, closer to the enemy; the reason being that a man was less likely to tarry and would return to duty that much quicker. 1914: The Close of an Epoch (The New Republic, 1915)World War I had only been raging for six months when this article first appeared. As the journalist makes clear, one did not have to have an advanced degree in history to recognize that this war was unique; it involved almost every wealthy, industrialized European nation and their far-flung colonies; thousands of men were killed daily and many more thousands stepped forward to take their places. The writer recognized that this long anticipated war was an epic event and that, like the French Revolution, it would be seen by future generations as a marker which indicated that all changes began at that point:
"Those who were but a few months ago assuring us that there never could be another general war are most vociferously informing the same audience that this will be the last."
Click here to read about the W.W. I efforts of Prince Edward, the future Duke of Windsor.
The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914
Lusitania Torpedoed (NY Times, 1915)A short column from the front page of The New York Times dated May 6, 1915 in which one of the Lusitania survivors recalled that famous submarine attack and it's immediate aftermath:
"...Immediately we both saw the track of a torpedo followed almost instantly by an explosion. Portions of splintered hull were sent flying into the air, and then another torpedo struck. The ship began to list to starboard." In 2008 Mr. Gregg Bemis, the American who is the owner of Lusitania, and sole possessor of all salvaging rights, examined the remains of the great ship where it rested some eight miles off Ireland's South-West coast and provided proof-positive that the ship was indeed hauling armaments.
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Men's Summer Clothing for 1915 (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)A look back at men's jackets, both for the garden party as well as other antiquated leisure activities. The War and the Royal Families (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)A five paragraph account regarding the royal families of Europe; how close they were prior to the war and the important roll played by Queen Victoria in maintaining the strong bond between them. One particular line of note: "Queen Victoria was the only human being whom the Kaiser feared." Click here to read another article about the war and the royal families. Tamaki Miura (Vanity Fair, 1915)Tamaki Miura (1884 - 1946) was a Japanese opera singer most often remembered for having performed in over 2,000 stagings of "Madame Butterfly". At the time this short notice appeared she was only one year into her opera career, yet the Vanity Fair music critic recognized talent when he saw it and nominated her for the "Vanity Fair Hall of Fame". It was her inclusion in that august body that serves as the the subject for this short paragraph, which is accompanied by a photograph.
Two Color Photographs of French Military Aircraft (1915)Two color pictures of French World War I aircraft said to have played a part during the Battle of the Marne. At this point in the war, aircraft was primarily used for observation, which explains why the planes are unarmed. The Revolver-Canon (Sur Le Vif, 1915)The French made "Revolver Canon" must have had some difficulties... Immigrant Literacy Tests Passed (NY Times, 1915)In 1915, some newspaper readers might have preferred to interpret the passage of the Smith-Burnett Immigration bill as a legal measure that would insure a higher standard for immigrants to meet in order to guarantee citizenship; while others tended to interpret the legislation as a restrictive law that was intended only to exclude from citizenship Italians and Eastern-European Jews. This article reported on a massive New York protest decrying the Smith-Burnett bill that was attended by Louis D. Brandeis (1856 – 1941; appointed to the Supreme Court a year later), Episcopal Bishop David Hummel Greer (1844 - 1919) and former president of Columbia University Seth Low (1850 - 1916).
Green Card holders are to this day still required to show fluency in the English language, although the swearing-in ceremony and their voting ballots are often in their native language. Go figure.
In this article Vladimir Lenin speaks of his fondness for The New York Times. Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (Literary Digest, 1915) Trench Medicine (Harper's Weekly, 1915)An informative article from World War I concerning the doctors of all the combatant nations and how they dealt with the filthy conditions of stagnant warfare and all the different sorts of wounds that were created as a result of this very different war: "This is a dirty war. Gaseous, gangrene, lockjaw, blood poisoning, all dirt diseases... Colonel G.H. Makins of the Royal Army Medical Corps longs for the clean dust of the Veldt, which the British soldier cursed in the Boer War." The Effects of War on Character (NY Times, 1915)The attached W.W. I letter is a reflection on the effects of war upon character written by a British officer on the western front to his wife. "You need not fear for a 'disgraceful peace' coming from fatigue on the part of the fighting men. It is the resolution of the talking men you will need to look to."
No truer words... Anticipating Multiculturalism (The Nation, 1915)Horace M. Kallen (1888 - 1974) was a deep thinker who questioned the practice of "Americanization" (ie. assimilation). In this 1915 article, Kallen contended that although immigrants to American shores are required to develop allegiances to certain self-evident beliefs that are embraced throughout our republic - but outside of that, there is no reason that immigrants should not be able to maintain their own ethnic and cultural identities. In the Eighties, those who embraced this line of thinking preferred to call America a "salad bowl" as opposed to a "melting pot".
''W. B. Yeats and Those He Has Influenced'' (Vanity Fair,1915)With the publishing of the first part of his autobiography, "Reveries Over Childhood and Youth", W.B. Yeats (1865 - 1939) got some attention in the American press. This small column first appeared in VANITY FAIR magazine praising his ability as a genuine artist. *Listen to the Voice of W.B. Yeats as he Reads His Poetry* A British Drawing of a German Trench Latrine (Royal Engineers, 1915)Attached, you will find a mechanical drawing made by the industrious souls assigned to the Royal Engineers in order to placate those busy-body brass-hats situated so far in the rear and having little better to do than wonder aloud as to how the Hun tended to deal with his bowel movements.
The author of
The Western Front Companion is very informative on the topic of trench latrines and tells us that as the war progressed, latrines evolved into loitering centers for those wishing to read or enjoy some solitude. In order to remedy the situation officers decided to position their front-line trench latrines at the end of short saps, closer to the enemy; the reason being that a man was less likely to tarry and would return to duty that much quicker. An Early Gas Mask (Magazine Ad, 1915)At the time when the Entente powers were first exposed to poisonous gas in the spring of 1915, their respective quartermasters scrambled to secure suitable antidotes and precautionary measures that would save the men in the front line trenches. One of the earliest improvisations was a gauze face mask that covered both mouth and nose, drenched in urine. The attached commercial illustration is from the margins of the French news magazine, L'ILLUSTRATION which depicts one of these earlier attempts.
Click here to see an illustration of the German gas shells.
Clicke here to read more articles about W.W. I gas warfare. Four Photgraphs of the Extended Royal Family (Vanity Fair, 1915)Assorted photographs of the assembled German, Spanish, Belgian, Russian, Norwegian and British royal families, posed as they gathered to attend the the 1894 and 1896 Royal weddings at Coburg; also pictured is the group photo snapped at the 1898 shooting party at Sandingham. Queen Victoria appears in two of the pictures, while Kaiser Wilhelm II can be seen in all of them.
W.W. I and Immigration (Harper's Weekly, 1915)William B. Wilson (1862 - 1834) was the first to be appointed Secretary of Labor, and in this article he weighs the needs of Europe for fighting men and the needs of the United States for laborers. It is a very dry article and difficult to get through, but, happily, the most interesting factoids can be found in the opening paragraphs when he explains how many new immigrants chose to leave the United States in order to fight for their old countries in Europe. Custom Made Tunic and Mack for British Officers (L'Illustration, 1915) The British 1912 Officer Jacket (West End Gazette, 1915)The January, 1915, issue of THE WEST END GAZETTE devoted three pages of tailoring instructions for British officer's Khaki Service Jacket. The uniform was first issued in 1912: "The latest development in connection with military tailoring is the introduction of a new style of Service Dress for field wear. Its principal distinction from the styles that has superseded is the abolition of the time-honored stand collar in favor of the open step collar style as generally adopted for mufti garments." •• A Great Film Clip by the WW I Historians at the BBC About the British Soldier's Kit •• W.W. I Trench Fighting (The New Republic, 1915)The seasoned war correspondent from THE NEW REPUBLIC filed this essay some five months into the war in order to clarify for his American readers the exact nature of trench warfare. His observations are based upon the trench fighting that he witnessed both in France and during the Russo-Japanese War, some nine years earlier:
"There is an illusion that the range and effectiveness of modern arms tend to keep armies far apart. On the contrary, there is more hand-to-hand fighting today than at any time since gunpowder was invented... at this rate the French will not drive out the Germans in months, but on the other hand a frontal attack, and every attack must now be frontal, even if successful would cost several hundred thousand men."
The article was written by Gerald Morgan; by war's end he would serve as General Pershing's press chief (ie.censor).
Baseball as a metaphor for war...
''The German Concrete Trenches'' (NY Times, 1915)"Some of the trenches have two stories, and at the back of many of them are subterranean rest houses built of concrete and connected with the trenches by passages. The rooms are about seven feet high and ten feet square, and above the ground all evidence of the work is concealed by green boughs and shrubbery." Jules Romains and THE DEATH OF NOBODY (Vanity Fair, 1915)This very brief column appeared in Vanity Fair Magazine during the winter of 1915 as one element in the publicity campaign supporting the distribution of The Death of Nobody, Jules Romains' (1885 - 1972) 1911 novel.
Prior to the First World War Romains was primarily known as a poet and founder (along with fellow poet Georges Chennevière) of Unanimisme, a movement that combined concept of international brotherhood with the psychological ideal involving a shared group consciousness. At the time of this printing, the novelist was serving in the French Army. Lusitania and the Laws of the Sea (Harper's Weekly, 1915)Attached is a two column article pertaining to neutral states and the international laws of war as agreed upon at the Hague Convention of 1899.
This piece appeared three months prior to the infamous submarine attack on the ship and alludes to a little known matter involving Lusitania and the masquerade of flying the flags of non-combatant nations while crossing the Atlantic.
"The ruse by which the Lusitania escaped the possible danger of submarines, the use of the American flag, has been resorted to over and over again in modern naval wars." Submarine Warfare: The First Seven Months (NY Times, 1915)Information released from the British Admiralty concerning the number of British merchant and fishing vessels lost to German U-boat attacks during the first seven months of the war. The article names eight non-military ships sunk during March 1915. In addition, the Admiralty also stated the total number of British merchant and fishing vessels lost through German naval attacks from the start of the war through March 10, 1915.
Click here to read about the new rules for warfare that were written as a result of the First World War - none of them pertain to the use of poison gas or submarines.
The 1914 Lynchings (Harper's Weekly, 1915)A short, uncredited article written in response to a report by Booker T. Washington (1856-1915) concerning a series of lynchings in 1914. There is a minute breakdown, by state, showing where each of the murders took place.
Elihu Root Profiled (Vanity Fair, 1915)A photograph of Elihu Root (1845 – 1937) accompanies these two short paragraphs from the 1915 VANITY FAIR "Hall of Fame", in which Root was praised as "the ablest lawyer and diplomatic expert" in the nation at that time. He is remembered today as the one U.S. Secretary of War (1899 to 1904) who was most instrumental in modernizing the American military in such ways that allowed it to meet the demands that would be meted out during the course of the bloody Twentieth Century.
This small notice is interesting primarily because it lets it be known that the United States was jockying for a spot in the European peace negotiations two years prior to even having troops in the field.Business ethics articles
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Etiquette in the Movies (Vanity Fair, 1915)No doubt, this is one of the funniest pieces you are likely to find on the topic of acting and costuming in silent movies. It was written by Frederick Lewis Allen (1890 - 1954) and Frank Tuttle (1892 - 1963); both men approached the movies with the low expectations that were probably all too typical of theater lovers at that time. German Defense Accessories (L'Illustration, 1915)A collection of black and white drawings that illustrate the variety of items used along the Western Front to defend the German trench lines.
This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L'Illustration. Drawings of the Soissons Trenches (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)French war artist Charles Huard (1875 - 1965) produced theses seven illustrations of French Poilus as they once stood guard in the frozen misery of the Soisson trenches during the first winter of the war.
Huard's experiences as a war artist can be read in his memoir: My Home In The Field Of Honor (1916) Good and Bad Writing About World War I (Vanity Fair, 1915)A small column from a 1915 issue of Vanity Fair in which the correspondent praised the virtues of Howard Copeland (an American psychologist and ambulance volunteer working in Frabce), Gertrude Aldrich (author of an Atlantic Magazine essay titled, "Little House on the Marne"), Cardinal Mercier (author of the Great Belgian Pastoral) and W.F. Bailey (authored a paper concerning the war in Northeastern Europe). These writers are preferred to the usually celebrated ink-slingers like Hellaire Belloc, Rudyard Kipling, Anatole France, and Arnold Bennett who are all compared to amateur recruiting sergeants in support of the War.
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''Playing the Game'' (The English Review, 1915)Sporting terms used as a metaphors for war are very common and come naturally to those who tend to think about matters military on a regular basis; yet this article uses the expression, "playing the game" more as a character trait that was unique to the British. The author, Austin Harrison, writing in 1915 (the year of "grim determination") believed that the English have always "played the game" as a matter of course; they have always maintained "good form", and yet: "Playing the game is only half the battle in war [and]...it will be the finest game we ever have played."
A German Taube Monoplane (The Nations at War, 1915)A hand tinted colour photograph depicting a French biplane in pursuit of a German Taube.
*Watch Colored Film Clips of the 1914 - 1918 Air War* British Officer's Full Dress Caps (New York Times, 1915)Color illustrations of six full dress British Army service caps. Pictured are the dark blue caps worn by those who held such ranks as Aide-de-Camp to the King, Equerry to the King, Staff Officer, British Army Pay Officer and Army Medical Officer. *A Film Clip About British WW I Posters* W.B. Yeats and Those He Has Influenced (Vanity Fair,1915)With the publishing of the first part of his autobiography, "Reveries Over Childhood and Youth", W.B. Yeats (1865 - 1939) got some attention in the American press. Here is a small notice from an American society magazine which praises his ability as an artist to influence other writers, such as George Bernard Shaw, John M. Synge, George Moore and Dr. Douglas Hyde. *Listen to the Voice of W.B. Yeats as he Reads His Poetry* The Deep German Dugouts (L'Illustration, 1915)A French photograph showing the entry to one of the many subterranean shelters that dotted the Western front during the First World War - also included is a diagram of what one of the smaller German dugouts with a similar entry-way.
This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L'Illustration.
Click here to see a 1915 ad for British Army military camp furniture. George Bernard Shaw: An Anti-Militarist on the British Home Front (NY Times, 1915)A letter written by the celebrated playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1957) to an Austrian friend that appeared in the "Munichener Neueste Nachrichten" as well as the "Frankfurter Zeitung" in April, 1915: "At that time scarcely one of the leading newspapers took heed of my insistence that this war was an imperialistic war and popular only in so far as all wars are for a time popular."
Click here to read Shaw on the Titanic disaster...
Trench Warfare and the Wounds That Were Inflicted (Harper's Weekly, 1915)An informative article from World War I concerning the doctors of all the combatant nations and how they dealt with the filthy conditions of stagnant warfare and all the different sorts of wounds that were created as a result of this very different war. Giacomo Puccini (Vanity Fair, 1915)A two page profile of the fifty seven year-old opera composer, Giacomo Puccini (1858 - 1924). Published at a time when his most popular work was behind him, the article centers on the composer's career; from Puccini's first opera, La Ville (1884) to his most recent, The Little Wooden Shoes. German Dugouts (L'Illustration, 1915)A 1915 diagram from a French news magazine depicting the depth of a German front-line dugout.
This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L'Illustration.
Click here to see a 1915 ad for British Army military camp furniture.
Click here to read an article about life in a W.W. I German listening post...
Helmets Along the Western Front (Literary Digest, 1915)The tremendous advances in artillery that took place during the years leading up to the war helped to reintroduce an old, time-tested element to the uniforms of the 20th Century soldier: the helmet.
So numerous were head injuries from high-explosive shells during the first year of the war that it compelled the doctors on both sides to beg their respective generals to issue some measure of cranium protection in order to reduce the casualty figures. As you will read in the attached article, the French began to wear helmets in the fall of 1915; the British and Germans a year later.
Ruth St. Denis in California (Vanity Fair, 1915)Three photos and a few well-chosen words concerning Ruth St. Denis' dance school in the wilds of California. A Covered Golf Caddy Bag (Vanity Fair, 1915)A few words, accompanied by a photograph, concerning the 'traveler's covered caddy bag' -- another attempt at thwarting the efforts of 'the golf thief' as well as just plain lousy whether. Paris Fashions: Nine Months into W.W. I (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)By the Spring of 1915, the women of Paris, having seen that the Great War was not going away anytime soon, decided that it was time to add some gaiety into their wardrobe. Steadily - since the August of the previous year, there had been such bad news and although the rationing of fabric continued, there was still much available for the asking. Click to read about the U.S. fabric rationing during W.W. II. The British Officer's Trench Cap of W.W. I (Tatler Magazine, 1915)Attached is a 1915 magazine ad from a British society magazine that illustrates the profile of the British Service Hat ("trench cap"). This wool headgear was worn by all British and Commonwealth forces prior to the 1916 introduction of the Brody Helmet ("tin hat"), which was issued in order to reduce the high number of head injuries. Paul Cezanne Gets His American Viewing (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)This is a VANITY FAIR art review that was reverently torn from the brittle, yellowing pages of a 1915 issue of VANITY FAIR covering the first Paul Cezanne (1839 - 1906) exhibit on American shores. German Cavalry Memoir (Leslie's Weekly, 1915)Fritz Arno Wagner (1894 - 1958) is best remembered as a pioneering cinematographer from the earliest days of the German film industry, however before he could gain the experiences necessary to become the director of photography for such films as "Nosferatu", and "Westfront" he had to first fulfill his obligations to the Kaiser. This article is an account of his brief stint in the Hussars (ie. lancers) that he gave to the editor's of "Leslie's Illustrated Weekly Newspaper". Although the article only covers his training period, it does give the reader a sense of what life was like for an enlisted man serving in one of highly prized regiments in the Imperial German Army. It is believed that this magazine article was written during his days with Pathe News in New York. Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad artillery of W.W. I. Isadora Duncan in Rye (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)Here is a paragraph about the school of dance that was maintained by Isadora Duncan in Rye, New York; the notice is illustrated by three stunning photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864 – 1952) depicting thirteen young girls in Grecian attire. •Watch This Rare Film Footage of Isadora Duncan• Jacob Epstein: Firebrand of Art (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)"Jacob Epstein was brought up in the city of New York, being one of a group of young men from the other side of the Bowery, some of whom have since become well known in the arts." Attached is a photograph of the American expatriot sculptor Jacob Epstein and three of his pieces. This is a short notice heralding the great splash that the artist was making in the London art world of 1915. Although his work can be found in many of the world's finest museums, Epstein is best remembered today for his creation of the monumental sculpture that marks the grave of Oscar Wilde. A Look for the Autumn Golfer (Magazine Ad, 1915)A fine look for the golfing man, not likely to be seen on the green any time soon: a two piece, tweed golf suit with leather buttons, tweed cap, knit tie and wool knee socks. Kultur (The New York Times, 1915)During the course of the Great War, few German terms delighted English speaking cartoonists more than the word "kultur" -which is the Teutonic word for "civilization" or "cultural progress". Prior to being picked up by the New York Times, this cartoon originally appeared in a London magazine called, "The Sketch", and was drawn by W. Heath Robinson (dates?).
Franz Joseph: Geezer Emperor (La Baionnette, 1915)There was once a time when magazine editors would not endeavor to encourage their cartoonists to pursue punchlines that were insensitive to the aged members of the world community, but that was a long time ago; in the attached WW I cartoon, a French satirical artist indulged his pettiness - daring the Politically Correct generations yet un-born to label him an "ageist".
British Military Campaign Furniture (Mappin and Webb, 1915)The furniture made available for private purchase to British officers during World War One was a far cry from that which their Victorian father's enjoyed; however, the thought of going off to war without camp furniture at all was foreign to them. The page illustrates the simple, collapsible furniture that was approved by the British War Office for use in the field. ''My First Visit to the Flickers'' (Motion Picture Magazine, 1915)Attached is the reminiscence of a movie-goer named Homer Dunne who recalled his feelings upon first attending a "moving photograph show" during the closing days of the Nineteenth Century. He described well the appearance of the rented shop-front, the swanky ticket-taker, the unimpressed audience and has a laugh on himself for failing to understand the significance of the medium. Gas Attack Horrors (NY Times, 1915)French novelist Pierre Loti (né Julien Viaud: 1850 - 1923) filed this dispatch from a forward aid station in the the French sector where he witnessed the suffering of the earliest gas attack casualties:
"A place of horror which one would think Dante had imagined. The air is heavy, stifling; two or three little night lamps, which look as if they were afraid of giving too much light, hardly pierce the hot, smoky darkness which smells of fever and sweat. Busy people are whispering anxiously. But you hear, more than all, agonized gasping. These gaspings escape from a number of little beds drawn up close together on which are distinguished human forms, above all, chests, chests that are heaving too strongly, too rapidly, and that raise the sheets as if the hour of the death rattle had already come."
Click here to read about the new rules for warfare that were written as a result of the First World War - none of them pertain to poison gas.
The Western Front Elephant (Der Welt Spiegel, 1915)Animals have played important rolls in war from the beginning and World War One was no exception. Throughout the war the widespread use of dogs, horses mules and pigeons are all well documented and there have been some very interesting books written on the topic. Not so well documented is the presence of this one elephant who, being loyal to the Kaiser, is pictured in the attached photograph from 1915.
From Amazon: War Elephants
•• Watch This Film Clip of Elephants in the First World War •• The Lusitania Attack and the Violation of Naval Traditions (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)Attached is a Vanity Fair article printed a few months after the Lusitania sinking in which the journalist listed the many and myriad explanations as to why this event was such a departure from the traditions of naval warfare set in place by John Paul Jones, Admirals Nelson and Dewey.
Click here to read read a 1919 German condemnation of Admiral Von Tirpitz. Stage Productions Must Compete With Movies (Harper's Weekly, 1915)A thoughtful look at all that stage productions have had to learn while competing for audiences with the early (and exciting) Hollywood film industry:
"There is no doubt that the moving picture was responsible for the disappearance of the second-class theatre devoted to traveling companies, giving lurid melodramas and plays of obvious sentiment [but] instead of taking a lesson from the history of this form of amusement, which it helped to kill, the moving picture theatre imitated one of it's very worst features."
Living the Trench War (NY Times, 1915)This World War One correspondence makes for a wonderful read and it gives a very lucid picture of what the war must have been like once both sides had resigned themselves to trench warfare. The letter was dated October 8, 1914 and the British officer who composed it makes clear his sense that no modern war had ever been fought in this queer manner before. Slacker's Holiday (Leslie's Magazine, 1915)An interesting article by photojournalist James Hare (1856 – 1946) who told us his impressions as to how patriots and recruiting officers prowl about Hampstead Heath in search of volunteers. He was dumbstruck by the high number of men who simply shrugged when reminded of the national emergency. British Offcer's Boots (Magazine Ad, 1915)An illustrated magazine advertisement from 1915 which displays the variety of private purchase footwear available to British and Commonwealth officers during World War I. The Popularity of War Movies (Literary Digest, 1915)Not surprisingly, special effects were an important box office draw during the Silent Era. This article reports on the popularity of war movies in 1915 and explains how some of the effects were created. • Watch a Clip that Explains How 1917 was Filmed • Charles Huard: War Artist in the 1914 Trenches (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)Seven sketches from Soissons by the war artist Charles Huard (1875 - 1965) as they first appeared in a fashionable American society magazine. Click here to read additional article about the World War I artists. Paris Fashion: Spring, 1915 (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)During the Spring of 1915 "Mme. Parisienne" had decided that it was time to add some gaiety into her wardrobe. Since August of the previous summer there had been such bad news and although the rationing of fabric continued, there was still much available for the asking. Click to read about the U.S. fabric rationing during W.W. II. W.W. I and the Royal Families of Europe (Vanity Fair, 1915)In five short paragraphs, this writer (Ard Choille), nicely sums up the chumminess that made up the royal families of old Europe and the vital role Queen Victoria played in the creation and maintenance of that bond:
"Until the outbreak of the war the royal families of the various nations made up a wonderful club, the like of which had never been known before. Judging from the society papers, most of Europe existed for their convenience, and even the variety of military uniforms was kept up in order that royalty, while at home or abroad, might have the opportunity to change its clothes as often as possible" ==Watch a Film Clip Showing Czar Nicholas Declaring War Against Germany== A Letter from One Who Saw the First German Prisoners (NY Times, 1915)This W.W. I letter was written by a French infantryman who had participated in one the earliest battles of 1914. In this letter, that managed to make it into the French, British and American papers, the Frenchman took a good deal of time to describe his impressions of the first German prisoners to be taken in the war:
"Their appetite is so great that, though in [the] presence of a French officer they will click their heels together properly, they never cease at the same time to munch noisily and to fill out their hollow cheeks." Tales of the Mounted German Corpse (New York Times, 1915)A ghastly story from a 1914 front is told in this letter written by British trooper S. Cargill as he recalled a skirmish between German Lancers and British cavalry. One Tailor's Encounter with the Trench Coat (West End Gazette, 1915)An excerpt from a British tailoring journal which explains what the garment is and is not. The illustrations show a long forgotten pattern with billows pockets and excessively long cuffs, which were intended to be gathered by wrist straps. You will also note that the trench coat is bereft of "D rings" and "gas flaps" and other fantasy elements of military-tailoring.
The British Home Front Observed (Harper's Weekly, 1915)Attached is one American journalist's view of the Great War as it is waged on the home-front by the British people. He was impressed with the resolve of the population to win the war and he found that everyone, regardless of age or infirmity, was pursuing war work with a surprising earnestness.
"The outward evidences of a nation at war are plentiful in London. Soldiers are everywhere. Columns of armed men and columns of recruits still in civilian clothes march through the streets. Drilling goes on in the parks and other places all day and every day."
Read about how the First World War effected life on the campus of Eton College. An Assortment of Golf Shoes (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)Golf shoes were the topic of this segment from a VANITY FAIR fashion review for men, as it appeared in the June issue of 1915. William Orpen and the Portrait of Mrs. Oscar Lewisohn (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)Here is a petite notice that appeared in a 1915 issue of VANITY FAIR heralding a new portrait by the British painter William Orpen (1878 - 1931), which depicted the likeness of a popular American stage actress Mrs. Oscar Lewisohn (Edna May Pettie 1878 - 1948). The anonymous reviewer compared the portrait styles of Orpen with that of London's reigning portrait painter, John Singer Sargent: "Sargent had a way of showing his sitters as they didn't think they looked. On the other hand, Orpen has a trick of making his sitters look like what they would like to be." A Profile of Isadora Duncan (Vanity Fair, 1915)Isadora Duncan (1878-1927), said to be the birth mother of Modern Dance, is profiled in the attached VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE article written by Arthur Hazlitt Perry:
"She is truly a remarkable woman. She never dances, acts, dresses, or thinks like anybody else. She is essentially the child of another age, a Twentieth Century exponent of a by-gone civilization. She missed her cue to come on, by twenty-three hundred years." Birth of a Nation Reviewed (Vanity Fair, 1915)One of Conde Nast's most popular magazines reviewed D.W. Griffith's film, The Birth of a Nation and gave a somewhat balanced account of the production. The journalist clearly recognized that the movie was "unfair to the Negro" yet "remarkable for it's photography".
Serge De Diaghilev's Balet Russe (Vanity Fair, 1915)A one page review by Edward Louis Bernays (1891 – 1995) writing under the nom du flak "Ayhern Edwards" in order to remove all suspicion that he was in reality the P.R. man who had been hired by Serge De Diaghilev (1872 – 1929) to smooth the way for his troupe as they toured the fruited plain throughout 1915. Strangely, he had nothing terribly critical to point out.
London Society, 1915 (Vanity Fair, 1915)Five months into the "general unpleasantness" going on across the Channel had transformed London into a very different city, and sadly, it was the leisured classes that had to shoulder most of the burden: "London is well worth living in these troubled days if only for its contrasts...The gloom of the streets, the sinister play of the searchlights, the abnormal hour at which the theatres open and and the public houses close, the fact that half the male population is in khaki and the other half would like to be, that Society is wearing Noah's Ark clothes and that to buy a new hat is a crime, that there are no dances, no dinners, no suppers, no premieres, no shooting, no no posing, no frivolity, nor idling, it's rather quickening, you know. But the searchlights have absolutely killed all practical romance." Charles Baudelaire (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)British poet and literary critic Arthur Symons (1865 - 1945) wrote about the Nineteenth Century French poet Charles Baudelaire (1821 - 1867) more as a subject of art rather than an influential wordsmith:
"Few modern poets have been more frequently drawn, and few have better repaid drawing, than Charles Baudelaire."
Among the list of artists who created likenesses of the poet were his fellow dandy Edouard Manet (1832 - 1883), the photographer Etienne Carjat (1828 - 1906) and an obscure sculptor named Zachari Astrue, who created the poet's death mask.
Francis Picabia (Vanity Fair, 1915)In 1915, the year before Dada was created, one of the movement's followers, Francis Picabia (1879 – 1953), was spotted in New York City by the editors of VANITY FAIR who quickly put him through the works. Brough Called Out for Racial Parity (New York Times, 1915) One year prior to being elected as the 25th governor of Arkansas, Charles Hillman Brough (1876 - 1935), while serving as the chairman of the University Commission on the Southern Race Question, submitted his opinion regarding racial segregation in the Annual Report that he had written for that organization. Dr. Brough, who at the time was a professor of Economics and Sociology at the University of Arkansas, condemned the Jim Crow laws that had separated Whites from Blacks, believing that no good could ever spring from it:
"In my humble opinion, it is better to admit the negro to all the stimulus and the inspiration of the white's social heritage, so far as it applies to economic equality of opportunity given through industrial education, in so far as it does not endanger the integrity of the social heritage itself, than to encourage an ignorant and debased citizenship by his neglect and repression." Officer's British Warm (Thresher & Glenny Catalog, 1915) Entry to a German Dugout (L'Illustration, 1915)A French photograph showing the entry way to one of the many subterranean shelters that dotted the Western front during the First World War; also included is another diagram of what one of the smaller German dugouts resembled that had such an entry.
This article appears on this site by way of a special agreement with L'Illustration. German Anti-Semitism in 1915 (Harper's Weekly, 1915)A two column item on anti-Semitism as it existed in Germany during World War I: "In the calamity of war we act now as if we were one heart and one soul with the Jews. However, and I am pained to say it, I must declare that the Jewish question remains and will perhaps, just because of the war, become still more acute. The Jews are a foreign people and are our opponents in France, Russia and England, together with the enormous means at their disposal." Click here to read an article about the Warsaw Ghetto. A Color Photograph of German Prisoners (1915)A color photograph from the earlier part of the war, remarkable for it's clarity and mood. It depicts ten German prisoners wearing their 1910 tunics, staring in a dazed stupor at eight truly bored Poilus struggling through their potato pealing detail.
*Watch a WW I Slide Show of Color Photographs* Henri Matisse Viewing in New York (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)This article will give you a good look at how the seeds were sewn as early as 1915 to ensure the rise of New York City as one of the great art centers of the world. For the first time since the 1913 Armory Show, New York was again to host an important exhibition of the European modernists. Much of the article concerns Henri Matisse (1869 - 1954) and is illustrated with a portrait of the artist by the photographer Edward Steichen.
Things were changing - not long after New York was proclaimed as the commercial capital of the art world, America was recognized as the preeminent world power, click here to read about it... Ivan Turgenev vs George Gissing (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)"A Russian and an English Novelist... Ivan Turgenev (1818 - 1883) the Russian, ceased his activities in 1883. George Gissing (1857 - 1903), the Englishman, began his in 1882". W.W. I Zeppelin Raids on London (NY Times, 1915)Printed during the seventh month of the First World War, this is a collection of assorted musings that first appeared in The London Times involving what was known for sure regarding the subject of German zeppelins. In an attempt to understand the true speed, range and fuel capacity of a zeppelin, the author refers to a number of previous voyages that the airships were known to have made during the pre-war years. Concerns regarding the amount of ammunition that could have been carried is also mentioned. *A Newsreel About the Destruction of Zeppelin L31 and the Burial of It's Crew* Golf Accessories (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1915)If you intend to tarry on the links dressed in knickers, or plus fours, you will be needing a sturdy pair of 'Scotch wool' stockings in which to pull the look off; and should the assembled golf ruffians jeer at you from the comfort of the nineteenth hole, you can bludgeon them with your very smart, pleated golf gloves, circa 1915. The View from the German Trenches (NY Times, 1915)Originally appearing in the Berlin Tageblatt, this dispatch, written by Bernhard Kellerman (1879 - 1951), was later translated and printed in the The N.Y. Times magazine, Current History. It reported on the hardships and morale of German infantry serving in Flanders during the second year of the war.
Pianists and Piano Playing (Vanity Fair, 1915)William James Henderson (1855 - 1937) was believed by many to be the greatest music critic of his day, and in this VANITY FAIR article he turns his nib in the direction of the pianists Ignace Paderewski (1860 - 1941), Harold Bauer (1873 - 1951), Ferruccio Busoni (1866 – 1924) and Josef Hofmann (1876 - 1957).
A 1938 article about Paderewski can be read HERE...
Marcel Duchamp Returns to New York City (Vanity Fair, 1915)Exempted from serving with the French military in World War I, the artist Marcel Duchamp returned to New York City where he triumphed during the Armory Show of 1913 - together he and his two brothers, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and Jacques Villon, all showed their groundbreaking art. Marcel was the toast of New York and his modern painting, "Nude Descending a Staircase" was regarded as a masterwork.
In the attached VANITY FAIR article, Duchamp let's it be known that he crossed the submarine-infested waters of the Atlantic to see American art. A Briton Writes From Ypres (Harper's Weekly, 1915)In a letter to his family, a soldier from one of the Scottish territorial regiments gives an account of his experiences fighting in Belgium. "He was in the thick of the fighting that came as a result of the Kaiser's desperate attempt to take Ypres, yet he indulges in no heroics. He writes as though reporting a cricket game or a boat race." A French Armored Car (Sur Le Vif, 1915)Two "action photographs" show a French armored car getting the job done in Northern France.
Read about the Patton tank in Korea...
The Slaughter of the Aristocrats (NY Times, 1915)This 1915 article goes into great length listing the names of all the assorted European noblemen and plutocrats who fell during the first year and a half of the First World War.
"The great world conflict which broke out soon after [the murder of Archduke Ferdinand] has placed the pall of mourning over every third home in the belligerent countries of Europe... The dreadful slaughter has fallen with especial heaviness on the upper and wealthy classes..."
The writer, Charles Stolberg, also included the names of the most admired European athletes who gave their lives for king and country. | 
