tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27698707388471546282024-03-18T16:11:49.174-07:00Roads to the Great WarRoads to the Great War: There are many roads to follow to gain an understanding of the events of 1914-1918. In our blog we host knowledgeable commentators and contributors on every aspect of the war, especially its literature (both new and classic works)and the performing and fine arts. Roads also includes remarkable images from the past and present.snielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10631473280484584330noreply@blogger.comBlogger3977125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-30216241163656861482024-03-18T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-18T02:00:00.137-07:00Remembering a Veteran: Corporal John H. Pruitt, 6th Marines, 2nd Division (KIA), Medal of HonorCorporal PruittJohn Henry Pruitt was born on 4 October 1896 in Fallsville, Arkansas. He entered military service from Phoenix, Arizona, in May 1917. At a very early age, Pruitt, along with his family, moved to Jerome, Arizona, where his older brother was a blacksmith in the local mines. Little is known of Pruitt’s early years. It is believed that he attended school in Jerome before the family Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-74094622281110489512024-03-17T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-17T02:00:00.134-07:00St. Paddy's Day Special: Irish-Americans and World War I MusicThe Stirring Marching Song of the AEF by Irish-American George M. Cohan (PLAY)By Sharon Mckinley, at the Library of Congress WebsiteWWI was a time of conflicting loyalties for Irish-Americans. Many still felt strong ties to the old country, and their feelings reflected the sentiments of friends and relatives back in Ireland. Still chafing under British rule, Irishmen from the South as well Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-50570347654053221802024-03-16T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-16T02:00:00.350-07:00The Wartime Rats of Lucien LaforgeScheduled for publication in 1917, The Rat Wins [Ronge-maille vainquer in French], written by Lucien Descaves and illustrated by Lucien Laforge was banned in France for its antiwar and anti-military—(dare we say pro-rat)—stance. Thus, Descaves’ incendiary little work did not appear until 1920, when the censors finally waved their white flag and surrendered to reality. Lucien Laforge (1889–Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-53259062426457385272024-03-15T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-15T02:00:00.137-07:0013 Memorable Quotes from Ernst Jünger's Storm of Steel[Editor's Note: I have drawn on Ernst Jünger's biography and writings a number of times over the years. Click HERE to see a selection of those articles. MH]1. We had come from lecture halls, school desks and factory workbenches, and over the brief weeks of training, we had bonded together into one large and enthusiastic group. Grown up in an age of security, we shared a yearning for Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-74637309368243902132024-03-14T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-14T02:00:00.135-07:00The Great War Triggers an International Strike Wave9 November 1918: Call for a Berlin General StrikeBy Jay WinterFrom: "The Second Great War, 1917-1923," Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar, Vol. 7. 2018My argument is that there was a fundamental difference in the way war was waged in 1914–17 compared to 1917–24. What separates these two phases is that prior to 1917, war mobilization entailed the forced unification of social classes Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-24372374711272923992024-03-13T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-13T02:00:00.252-07:00The U.S. Secret Service Goes to WarOn May 14, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson directed the secretary of the treasury to have the Secret Service investigate espionage in this country in regard to alleged violations of the president’s Neutrality Proclamation, which noted in part that, “No person within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States shall take part, directly or indirectly, in the said war, but shall remain at Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-17605180107488985372024-03-12T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-12T08:37:13.666-07:00Haig's Intelligence: GHQ and the German Army 1916-1918Purchase a Copy of the Title HEREBy Jim BeachCambridge University Press 2013Reviewed by Dr. Jack SheldonOriginally presented in the British Journal for Military History, Volume 1, October 2014Just occasionally a book appears which explores a genuinely new topic in great detail and adds substantially to our knowledge. Haig's Intelligence is one such. The fruit of meticulous research and Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-41745940165103711592024-03-11T02:00:00.000-07:002024-03-11T07:24:54.824-07:00The Cairo Conference That Determined the Future of the Middle EastThe Paris Peace Conference ensured there was no peace in the Middle East. Five years after the Sykes-Picot Agreement, uprisings in Iraq and Syria were ruthlessly crushed by the occupying powers. Britain's military, overstretched in the postwar period, was particularly concerned about the deteriorating situation in Iraq. Winston Churchill, colonial secretary, saw an opportunity to develop a new Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-88010734499232114432024-03-10T03:00:00.000-07:002024-03-10T03:00:00.243-07:00The Irish Guards Are Called On to Save Hazebrouck by Rudyard KiplingAn Irish Guardsman Somewhere on the Western FrontEditor's Note: The sacrifice by the Irish Guards during the First World War was immense. The two battalions of Irish Guards had suffered 2,349 officers and men killed and well over 5,000 wounded. The regiment was awarded 406 medals, including four Victoria Crosses, during the Great War. Its 2nd Battalion was resting from its ordeal in the first Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-76782248632093547302024-03-09T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-09T02:00:00.141-08:00Lonesome Memorials #5: Audenarde, Belgium, American MonumentClick on Image to EnlargeThis relatively small monument to the AEF's effort in the last days of the war in helping King Albert's army push the occupying forces out of his country with the interesting address of 6 General Pershing Straat was among the hardest for me to locate during my very first visit to the European battlefields. Worse, it was the only one where I had difficulty finding a Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-91446683724639425202024-03-08T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-08T02:00:00.242-08:00The Postwar Egyptian Revolution of 1919Nationalist Politician Saad Zaghlul Attempts to Free Mother Egypt from the Chains of the British LionBy John Slight, Principal Author (with additions from other sources)The first Egyptian revolution came in the immediate aftermath of WWI. When war broke out in Europe in 1914, Egypt had been under British occupation since 1882. Britain had occupied the country mainly in order to secure the Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-14699953175886365942024-03-07T06:39:00.000-08:002024-03-07T07:03:05.983-08:00HMS Zulu + HMS Nubian = HMS Zubian HMS Zubian at SeaBy James PattonOn the night of 26-27 October 1916, the 6th Flotilla destroyer HMS Nubian had her bow severely damaged by a German torpedo that struck just forward of the bridge during the action later called the Battle of the Dover Strait. Three crewmen died, but she remained afloat and was taken in tow but broke loose in heavy seas to drift aground near Dover.On 8 November 1916,Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-64065458135796470982024-03-06T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-06T02:00:00.249-08:00 A Baker's Dozen Images of Ike's Home, Camp Colt, and GettysburgOur regular contributor Steve Miller of Virginia recently visited Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, which, in addition to being the site of the largest battle ever fought on American soil, has served a number of military functions through the years. In World War I, it was the site of Camp Colt, America's training center for tanks. The commander of that operation was an army officer named Dwight David Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-48352696509864141992024-03-05T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-05T07:32:06.472-08:00Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War: The Supreme War Council and War Planning, 1917–1918Order This Title HEREOpen Review HERE.Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-61132205972661587692024-03-04T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-04T02:00:00.137-08:00Remembering Dennis Skupinski—A Leader of the WWI Centennial Commemoration Dennis Sharing Some of His Deep Knowledge About the War and Michigan's Role in ItBy David HamonOriginally Presented at the Doughboy Foundation Website“Fueled by Boundless Enthusiasm” Many of us who have worked with the World War One Centennial Commission and the Doughboy Foundation were saddened with the news that Dennis Skupinski (1956–2023), the Michigan State Commission Chair WWI Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-5391749277351032422024-03-03T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-03T02:00:00.132-08:00Iowa, USA, and the Great WarClick on Image to EnlargeGrant Wood Memorial Window, Veterans Memorial Building, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, 1927In the early 20th century, Iowa was an even more distinctly rural state that it is today. In the 1910 census out of a population of 2.2 million over 70 percent of Iowans lived on farms. Tellingly, the entire state only had about 300 miles of paved roads. When the United States declared Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-88547062008402738552024-03-02T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-02T02:00:00.163-08:00Under Bombardment — A Roads Classic
View of a Bombardment
[Editor's Note: This is one of the best descriptions I've ever read of what it was like to be the target of a pre-attack bombardment from the enemy. It's from the novel Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison (1898–1954), who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was wounded in August 1918 in the Battle of Amiens Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-2087637523985065102024-03-01T02:00:00.000-08:002024-03-01T02:00:00.133-08:00 Thank You World War One for the Sun lampBerlin Children Suffering from Rickets, Around 1918In the winter of 1918, it's estimated that half of all children in Berlin were suffering from rickets—a condition whereby bones become soft and deformed. At the time, the exact cause was not known, although it was associated with poverty.A pediatrician in the city, a former medic in German Army – Kurt Huldschinsky – noticed that his patients wereMike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-28247091724214499892024-02-29T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-29T02:00:00.238-08:00Three Great Readings of Siegfried Sassoon's World War One Poems
"Dreamers" read by Tom O'Bedlam
"Aftermath" read by Charles Dance
"Everyone Sang" read by Sir John Gielgud
Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-53602308317351490202024-02-28T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-28T02:00:00.141-08:00A Baker's Dozen Images of Britain's World War I Arms IndustryIn 2015, Historic England conducted a retrospective survey of the nation's First World War National Factories. These factories were directly controlled by the Ministry of Munitions to produce vital war material, everything from wooden boxes, respirators, shells, and explosives to optical glass and vehicle radiators. Many were adapted from existing works, while others were located in specially Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-89766745790950712912024-02-27T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-27T02:00:00.139-08:00American Midnight: The Great War, A Violent Peace and Democracy’s Forgotten Crisis Order This Title HEREBy Adam HochschildMariner Books, 2023Reviewed by Jim GallenAmerican Midnight is the tale of an era during and in the wake of the Great War in which popular sentiment and law focused on anyone deemed disloyal, un-American, or just different. It was a time in which labor unrest and war combined to foment a perfect storm that swept away rights normally accepted as the Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-32047093975039183302024-02-26T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-26T02:00:00.363-08:00Video Overview of the Salonika Front from the Western Front AssociationMike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-12876791553180645252024-02-25T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-25T02:00:00.124-08:00How an American College Supported the War Effort #2: Clemson CollegeClemson's Corps of Cadets Before the WarWhat is now known as Clemson University in South Carolina was founded in 1889 through a bequest from Thomas Green Clemson, a Philadelphia-born, European-educated engineer, musician and artist who married John C. Calhoun’s daughter, Anna Maria, and eventually settled at her family plantation in South Carolina. A longtime advocate for an agricultural college Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-78723130361097660502024-02-24T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-24T02:00:00.125-08:00Remembering a Veteran: Ace in Both World Wars: Oberst (later Generalleutnant) Theo OsterkampOsterkamp During World War IThe best-known dual-World War ace was Oberleutnant zur See and (later Generalleutnant) Theo Osterkamp (1892–1975). He is also a rare example of the recipient of his nation's highest military honor in two separate wars. He would shoot down both a Camel and a Spitfire in his dramatic career. At the beginning of the war, the Prussian Army rejected him for health reasons, Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2769870738847154628.post-25514846056331864862024-02-23T02:00:00.000-08:002024-02-23T02:00:00.135-08:00Barking, East London, Remembers Its Victoria Cross Recipient: Sgt. Job DrainThe town of Barking in east Greater London has created a wonderful monument to its fallen in the Great War. It features a sculpture of Barking's WWI Victoria Cross recipient, Job Henry Charles Drain, and a smashing panel depicting the action in which Drain risked his life.He and his officer, Captain Douglas Reynolds, and his fellow driver Frederick Luke, all received the VC for the Mike Hanlonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02582949131010625505noreply@blogger.com0