Remembering Maj. (ret) J.H.G. Corrigan MBE, FRHistS, FRAS: Soldier, Historian, TV Star, Lecturer, and Battlefield Tour Leader

By James Patton

I've just learned that Gordon Corrigan passed away 26 February. Although we were personally acquainted, as I was with him on one of his tours, I was neither a friend nor a colleague. However, for convenience’s sake, I am going to take the liberty of herein calling him Gordon. 

Born in 1942, Gordon was educated first at the Royal School, Armagh, in Northern Ireland, and commissioned from Sandhurst in 1962. He then served in the British Army until 1998; most of his field service was with the 6th (Queen Elizabeth's Own) Gurkha Rifles. The Gurkhas took him to Hong Kong, Borneo, Berlin, Cyprus, Belize, and Belfast. Not an academically trained historian, he nevertheless published 11 excellent books about historical subjects, ranging from the years 1337 to 1945. 

The Soldier

Later, with his droll wit apparent, he wrote about how he became a historical writer. “I was well aware that working for a civilian would get me sacked in the first week, probably for telling the boss that he was incompetent or corrupt or both, so whatever I did I had to be self-employed. As there is not a great call for the skills of killing people and blowing things up in civilian life, at least not if one wishes to stay inside the law, I calculated that the only things that I knew a great deal about, and which might earn me a living, were horses and history. As working with horses is a recipe for going bust [he had been involved in horse racing in Hong Kong] … it had to be history. I thought I could write … and while I was still serving I sat down each evening and bashed out what became my first published book, Sepoys in the Trenches, about the Indian Corps on the Western Front…  It sold well for a niche market work, but there was no advance and it made me little money…” Sepoys did make some ripples in the pond of WWI literature, and he was able to sell his next work Wellington: A Military Life (2001), about Sir Arthur Wellesley, which began Gordon’s life-long interest in the duke. His big splash came next with Mud, Blood and Poppycock – Britain and the First World War (2003), which became a UK non-fiction  best seller, with 10,000 hard back sales and  90,000 in  paperback, still in print and also available in audio books and Kindle. Other works followed: Loos 1915: The Unwanted Battle (2005), Blood, Sweat and Arrogance (2006), The Second World War: A Military History (2010), A Great and Glorious Adventure: The Hundred Years War (2013), Waterloo: A New History (2014), Haig: Defeat into Victory (2015), England Expects: The Battle of Sluys (2016) and The Battle of Stalingrad (2022). 

Gordon's Bestseller, Still Available HERE

Quoting Gordon again: “I got into television purely by accident, when David Chandler, Britain’s leading Napoleonic scholar, had a stroke and recommended me as his replacement–have a dinner party and you can bore ten people, write a book and bore ten thousand, get on telly and bore millions. . . I enjoy TV and I do not find it difficult, and nor would anyone who has been a soldier and spent most of his life speaking on the hoof [one of his outstanding traits was his ability to go off-script], but fortunately the makers of TV films do think it is difficult and pay accordingly.” His television appearances included The Gurkhas (BBC 1995), Battlefield Detectives (History Channel 2003-6), Tanks! (PBS 2004), Great British Commanders (Syndicated—The Conqueror’s Series 2005 ) and Napoleon’s Waterloo (BBC 2015). He has 14 lectures available online, including a series on the current Russia-Ukraine War. Also in the online world, he ran a blog. He also delivered hundreds of in-person or Zoom lectures, in both the UK and the USA, as well as on Silver Sea Cruises and Golden Eagle Rail Journeys. 

The Battlefield Guide

Although over the years  I have reconnected with Gordon through his lectures for the Western Front Association and by following his blog, Foremost though, I will remember him because of my aforementioned tour. About tour leading, Gordon wrote “My  books have … earned me respectable amounts—but still not enough to keep a hunter [horse], a decent wine cellar and a wife, so other sources of income had to be found. Shortly after leaving the army I began to conduct battlefield tours: fairly modest ones at first, to the Western Front, Normandy, Waterloo and the like, but which repertoire expanded to include Slovenia (Lt Rommel’s hunt for the Pour Le Mérite), India (the Mutiny, the Mahratta and Mysore Wars), Pakistan, Nepal, North Africa, Tunisia and, of course, Spain and Portugal for the Peninsular War. Battlefield tours are hard work. There is not just the requirement to carry huge amounts of information in one’s head (I try to avoid using notes) but the constant questions and the need to be sociable in the evenings.” Among other operators, he was a stalwart tour leader for Holts and later The Cultural Experience. He led dozens of tours in France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Holland, Spain, Portugal, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, and even the USA. As a tour leader, he was energetic, fascinating, and fun.

My most memorable Gordon Corrigan story is from my tour with him. Since he was a former jungle soldier, he was comfortable with topo maps. He found a track that would cut driving  time off of our trip, but after we had gone a few miles it started to narrow. Gordon was urging the driver onward, even appealing to his national pride, but after a few miles he refused to go farther. There was nothing for it; the bus would have to back out, and instead of saving time it was going to cost time—a lot of it. Gordon proposed continuing on foot. He  again consulted his map and sussed out a course that most of us could hike. The tour manager was tasked with calming the hysterical Italian bus driver, and it was set for the two groups to reunite at the CWGC Granezza cemetery. 

A Discovery on One of Gordon's Tours

So off we went, at a brisk pace, as befitting Gordon. Two events on that trek stand out. First, we found what appeared to be an un-detonated artillery shell that was mostly buried in the ground. We decided to leave it in situ. Then we saw a man-made depression that Gordon told us to avoid, as it was not a trench, but a “waste pit” (not his exact wording). We got a quick, off-the-cuff lecture on battlefront “waste” management. We rejoined the bus group as planned, and by accident found a monument to Lieut. Col. James M. Knox DSO(2) (1878–1918) and his 143rd (Warwicks) Brigade. It turned out, as it often seems on British tours, that said Lt. Col. Knox was a relative of a tour member, who had not known that this monument existed. 

Gordon rose to a respected position in the historian ranks: a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, an Honorary Research Fellow of the Universities of Birmingham and Kent, and a Member of the British Commission for Military History. And, of course, there is his MBE.  I’ve  known only two MBEs in my lifetime.

The Historian

This is my favorite Gordon Corrigan quote, taken from his autobiographic statement: “Someone once said that he who fails to study history is doomed to repeat it. I prefer to compare history to map reading—how do you know where you are if you don’t know where you’ve been, and how do you know where you are going if you don’t know where you are?”

  Requiescat in pace, Gordon 

• Source of Quotes: https://gordoncorrigan.substack.com/p/ramblings-of-a-military-historian 
• Read about his funeral here: https://everesttimes.net/archives/63156  (pay no attention to the Gurkhali)

Living Off the Land or Looting?

Lt. Balck, Just After the War

During the First World War, Lt. Hermann Balck, who would later become a notable Panzer commander in the Second World War, saw action on nearly every front.  In October 1918, he found himself leading a company of Alpenkorps troops in the Battle of Caporetto. As is  wellknown, the combined Austrian-German attacking force achieved a tremendous breakthrough against the demoralized Italian Second Army. In his outstanding 1981 memoir about his experiences in both World Wars, Order in Chaos,  Balck matter-of-factly includes a description of the plundering and pillaging carried out by his soldiers as they went charging into northern Italy after the successful opening attack. I can't remember reading such a candid description of such events, so I thought I should share it with our readers. 

Along the whole front line white sheets popped up and three hundred men came running and jumping toward us. “Eviva Germania, la Guerra finite, la Guerra finite! A Milano, a Milano!”  Laughing, they slapped us on the shoulders. The only one real danger was being trampled to death by them. “Mort a te Cadorna” was written in large letters in countless spots in the Italian trenches. The Italians were completely demoralized. They fled toward the rear, leaving everything behind—artillery piece next to artillery piece, supply wagon next to supply wagon, and as many rations as we could have wanted. Prisoners by the thousands marched toward us, constantly yelling “Eviva Germani! Eviva Germania!” 

We descended the steep hillsides and into the plains. The situation remained one of total collapse, with fleeing automobile convoys and at one position a battery firing off its last rounds. We could see the crews servicing the guns, and then it was every man for himself. White flares were being fired off to the right and to the left as far as one could see. They marked the forward line of our troops, aggressively advancing along a wide front. . . There was no stopping us now. The morale was fabulous. Everything had the aura of an event of world historical significance. Added to that, our losses had been minimal—only 224 dead, wounded, or sick in the entire Alpenkorps. The bag for the first day alone was forty howitzers and thirteen thousand POWs.

We reached the plains. Italy was supposed to be the best supplied front line of the Allies, and it certainly was. After a few days there were no more skinny horses in the company. My company became unrecognizable, with everyone decked out in the newest, best-quality Italian trousers, boots, and clothing. Our quarters were excellent, often in substantial castles.

The Conquering Invaders Arrive in Udine

 

[At first] the weather conditions  meant a few days of rest for us. I took advantage to make a small detour to Udine, which had been cut off by a German brigade. Actually, no one was allowed to enter the town, but I finally got permission. It was the most maddening sight I had ever seen. Every window was broken; all the stores were looted; and there were heaps of broken glass everywhere. You could not even identify the original purpose of any of the stores. Everything was a black, tamped-down mass, covered with the stench of vomit and red wine.

In March 1918, I [would later sit] on a court-martial board in Mörchingen in Lorraine. A supply NCO from the logistics command of the Alpenkorps had brought goods back to Germany from Udine valued at 50,000 marks. He was caught in Munich. When he had arrived in Udine, tens of thousands of people were looting, half of them Italians and the other half Austrians. The NCO bought a truck full of fabrics worth 20,000 marks by paying 20 kronen 42 and one hundred cigarettes. Truck drivers were earning between 20,000 and 30,000 kronen on the road from Udine to Bled. Along the railroad lines commercial companies had sprung up that were making incredible profits—thankfully all without German participation. [Note: This does not exclude Austrian involvement, and label me skeptical about zero German participation. MH] But because the trucks were being used for other things, ammunition did not get forward.

German Troops in Udine, Apparently After Discipline Had Been Restored

 

[Back to the court martial:] Reaching a verdict proved difficult. The defense argued that when the man reached Udine, he saw tens of thousands of people looting and breaking into the stores. How could this one man stop anything? We finally acquitted the NCO, because in Udine the principle of “unclaimed merchandise” could be applied, and because the defendant had not acted with criminal intent. He just had a different perspective on business matters. It was a somewhat convoluted rationale, because war booty technically belongs to the state. But the verdict was just. The judges. . . concurred.

[Heavy rains during the post-Caporetto breakthrough did not hinder the looting] We would slosh ahead for three minutes, then stop for a half an hour, then move ahead for another minute, and then stop for an hour. This went on for three days and the rain just kept pouring down. But soldiers are inventive. After a little while everybody had a chair and an umbrella and sat down happily during longer halt periods under the cover of the umbrella. When it came time to march on, they moved the couple of steps that the column would actually move, taking their chairs and umbrellas with them. This was the famous “night chair march” of the Alpenkorps across the Tagliamento River. 

Spoils of War at the Tagliamento River Bank Left by Retreating
Italian and Pursuing Central Powers Forces

 

In his memoir, besides a brief segment on looting and drinking during Operation Michael in 1918, Balck also included a related strong endorsement of military-operated brothels:

We did have our own abuses that were the signs of a long war. There was pillaging and a number of rapes. Bordellos were established only very late. Wherever that had been done early on, no problems existed. As St. Augustine wrote a long time ago, “Whoever chases the whores out of town drives everything into a morass of passion.”

ORDER IN CHAOS: The Memoirs of General of Panzer Troops Hermann Balck can be ordered HERE.

As War Broke Out in Europe, America Lost a First Lady

 

A Soon-to-Be First Family
Helen Wilson, Center

U.S. First Lady Ellen Axson Wilson died of Bright's Disease on 6 August 1914. She had been born on 15 May 1860, in Savannah, Georgia. She was the first of four children born to Presbyterian minister Samuel Axson and Margaret “Janie” Hoyt Axson. Ellen spent most of her childhood in Rome, Georgia, and attended Rome Female College from 1871 to 1876.  Although she studied numerous subjects, her favorite was art. Following graduation, Ellen continued to study art and later began selling her portrait drawings. 

In April 1883, Ellen attended First Presbyterian Church, where her father preached, and caught the eye of a young lawyer, Woodrow Wilson. Her father, who suffered from severe depression died in 1884 by suicide. After his death, Ellen enrolled at the Art Students League in New York City where she continued her arts education. 

Ellen and Woodrow’s engagement lasted nearly two years, and on 23 June 1885 they married in Rome, Georgia. As her husband took teaching positions at various universities, Ellen gave birth to three daughters: Margaret (1886), Jessie (1887), and Eleanor (1889). She also brought her younger brother, Eddie, to live with her family in 1886 and later her sister, Madge, during the summers.

As the wife of a professor and later president of Princeton, Ellen kept a busy social schedule, despite her preference for privacy. Ellen gradually returned to her role as a professional artist and spent several summers at an artists colony in Old Lyme, Connecticut. She exhibited her artwork in several shows, including at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Herron Art Institute, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and Philadelphia’s Arts and Crafts Guild.  

Prospect Garden, Helen Axson Wilson, 1910

When her husband became the governor of New Jersey in 1911, Ellen supported his political career by hosting events and advising her husband. The following year, Woodrow won the presidential election and Ellen moved into the White House with her family in March 1913. 

As first lady, Ellen focused her attention on several projects, including the West Garden, the forerunner to the modern Rose Garden. She worked with landscape architect George Burnap to redesign the space, adding a “President’s Walk” between the West Wing and the White House, and planting an assortment of rosebushes, narcissus, pansies, and boxwood hedges.

She also planned two weddings at the White House. Her daughter Jessie married Francis Bowes Sayre in the East Room on 25 November 1913. Just a few months later, on 7 May 1914, daughter Eleanor married Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo in the Blue Room. Ellen also continued painting and in 1913 installed a skylight at the White House for her art studio on the third floor. Today, one of her paintings, Princeton Landscape, is part of the White House Collection. 

In addition to her role hosting White House receptions and dinners, Ellen also advocated for the local community in Washington, DC. As first lady, she began touring the city’s alleyways, where many of the capital’s Black residents lived in slum-like dwellings. She became the honorary chairman of the Women’s Committee of the National Civic Foundation and devoted herself to improving alley life in Washington, advocating for sanitary conditions, visiting residents, and even touring members of Congress through these alleyways. Her efforts eventually resulted in a push for legislation to remove these alleyways in the hopes of replacing them with public parks. 

Mourners at the Burial of Helen Wilson, Rome, Georgia

While Congress debated this legislation, Ellen’s health significantly deteriorated, and she was diagnosed with a chronic kidney inflammation called Bright’s Disease. Ellen Wilson died on 6 August 1914. One of her dying wishes was for the alley legislation to pass. Congress adjourned in honor of her death and ultimately passed the bill. She was buried in Rome, Georgia, at Myrtle Hill Cemetery. 

Preferring not to be a news maker, herself, she is somewhat overshadowed in the history books by her husband's second wife, Edith Wilson. She is, nevertheless, considered one of the more underrated, intelligent, and influential First Ladies of the early 20th century.

Source: The White House Historical Association

Remembering the Landings at Anzac on Anzac Day

The Beach at Anzac, Frank Crozier

"Without a sign, his sword the brave man draws, and asks no omen,
but his country's cause." Homer

The Landing

On 25 April 1915, some 16,000 Australians and New Zealanders, together
with British, French, and Indian troops, landed on the Gallipoli Peninsula. 

"2 men to every oar we rowed like ---- for the shore"   Private John Adams

“Boats missed their bearings in dark inclined about 2 [miles, or just over
3 kilometers] to [the] North getting us under the very difficult country there.”
General William Birdwood

"It was a great fight while we were getting out of the boats and a good many got shot but a bayonet charge soon shifted the Turks and things got pretty lively. Towards 12 noon they were knocking us over pretty often and I stopped a bullet in my pocket book after it had been through my arm."   
Private John Croft,

Anzac by George Lambert

"Confronting the fugitives [retreating Turkish Soldiers], I shouted to them, 'What is the matter? Why are you running away?'. . . 'They come, they come sir, the enemy'. . . 'You cannot run away from the enemy,' I shouted. 'We have no ammunition, they said.'  'If you have no ammunition you still have your bayonets." 
 Lt. Colonel Mustafa Kemal

The Fallen of That First Day

Three of the Fallen

Pvt. Stirling Barnett (Aus), Pvt. Thomas Ellefsen (Aus),  Lt. Harold Allen (NZ)

Stirling Barnett

Barnett went ashore at ANZAC with Lieutenant Balfe of A Company, 6th Battalion. He advanced with a group of men from Shrapnel Gully until they were forced to take cover from Turkish machine gun fire. Barnett was among those killed at this time. His brother served in the AIF for three years but died of illness before returning to Australia.

Thomas Ellefsen

A 25-year-old farm laborer before joining the 7th Battalion, Ellefsen was reported missing on the first day of the landing. Only hours before going ashore he had written a letter to his father. "He stated that they had just received word … to be ready to land anytime." That would be the last word he received from his son.

Harold Allen

Son of a family that had immigrated from Liverpool, England, 2nd Lieutenant Allen of the Auckland Infantry Battalion was only 21 when he was killed during the fighting around Plugge's Plateau.  His body was later found, identified, and buried in the Baby 700 Cemetery,

Shrapnel Gully Cemetery
On 25 April 1915, approximately 2,000 Australian and
New Zealand (ANZAC) soldiers were killed or wounded. 
Included are 650 Australian Deaths and 147 New Zealanders.

Remembrance 

First Anzac Day

Brisbane, Australia, 25 April 1916

Memorabilia

Before the Yanks Arrived: The St. Mihiel Salient Was a Major Battlefield in 1915

French Trench Bois Brulé, St. Mihiel Sector, 1915

By Terrence Finnegan 

The town of St. Mihiel on the Meuse River fell to the Germans on 24 September 1914, the beginning of a four-year occupation. American commentary four years later assessing the front line stated, "The German possession of St-Mihiel cuts both canal and railroad at that place and greatly embarrasses the French transportation system." The consequences of this German attack at St. Mihiel were serious. It placed the main rail, road, and canal supplying Verdun in enemy hands and brought the main lines of communication into Verdun within range of German guns. Verdun was supplied by a single railway the Petit Meusin, a narrow gauge line running from Bar-le-Duc. The danger presented by such conditions became evident when the battle of Verdun started in February 1916. Verdun was effectively neutralized as a base from which the French could conduct sustained and meaningful offensive operations in the region. To France, the German occupation of St. Mihiel became a visible and lasting hernie (hernia).

Early Development of the St. Mihiel Salient
9 September 1914

Minor skirmishes became the norm for the most part. A French attack against St. Baussant on 12 December met with catastrophic losses, including several hundred prisoners taken by German forces. In December 1914 General Joffre placed the 32e corps d'armée at the disposal of General Sarrail. The simultaneous advance of the Germans on the heights of the Meuse and in the Argonne alerted Joffre to place more effective fighting units at the Woëvre. He personally considered the 32e corps d'armée to be one of the best

The new year saw General Joffre focusing on St. Mihiel. He issued a series of instructions on 21 January, ordering an attack against General der Infanterie von Strantz's detachment presently holding St. Mihiel on the east bank of the Meuse. The following months did not achieve the goal Joffre sought. On 18 March he informed General Dubail that he wanted IVe d'armée to undertake the operation to reduce the St. Mihiel salient as soon as possible, employing all means at his disposal in this attack. General Dubail had four corps d'armée and a corps de cavalerie to work with. GQG [French General Headquarters] planned an offensive for 5 April on the southern Woëvre plain to relieve Verdun. 

The plan comprised two simultaneous attacks on either arm of the salient, one in the direction of Verdun to La-Chaussée and the other centered on Toul-Thiaucourt. On 30 March the French 73e division d'infanterie attacked along the Moselle River capturing over 500 metres of enemy trenches west of Bois-le-Prêtre in the Quart-en-Réserve. The 1re corps d'armée and 2e corps d'armée, which were to operate east of Verdun and against the northern arm of the St. Mihiel salient, were moving up the line with the intent of establishing themselves within assaulting distance, where they were to remain until the artillery bombardment commenced. The 31e corps d'armée established itself at several points only 100 meters from the edge of Bois de Mort-Mare (Death Pond).

German Trench in the Eastern Part of the Sector

Other offensive thrusts were made in early April. But things bogged down. Surprise was essential but the most difficult element to bring about. Orders were issued for absolute secrecy but, in spite of this, it was disconcerting to Maréchal Joffre how rapidly news spread. He discovered to his chagrin that the date and location of the attack was becoming common knowledge in Paris. With the advantage of surprise lost, the Germans responded by beefing up their forces.

[Also] Unfortunately for the French, the April weather turned to rain. At first sight, it seemed to Maréchal Joffre that the weather supported the French thanks to the lack of effective German aerial reconnaissance. The Woëvre became a quagmire and the trenches within flooded. The artillery found it difficult to take up position, observation of fire was almost impossible, and the shells buried themselves in the spongy ground. A feeling of uneasiness spread to both troops and staffs. Joffre thought a postponement prudent but French soldiers could not be kept for long in the misery that came with flooded trenches. General Dubail gave the order for the attack to commence. French forces bogged down and German artillery annihilated those stuck in the clay. For four days, half of the existing stock of French heavy guns attempted to cut the wire obstacles in front of the French infantry.

French Observation Post, Eparges Spur

In an attempt to salvage the failing offensive, General Dubail ordered his armée to change its tactics of intense assault to "methodical progression." The new directive did not include the old advantage of surprise. The result of the campaign was disastrous. From 26 March to 30 April 1915, the French lost 65,200 officers and men. In comparison, German losses suffered in the same period throughout the entire Western Front were slightly over 80,000 officers and men. Dubail's failed offensive was the last major operation in the south Woëvre front. Fighting continued through June 1915, but the St. Mihiel hernia remained. Henceforth, names like Seicheprey and Bois-Brulé indicated minor skirmishes until the Americans occupied the south Woëvre front in February 1918.

Source: A Delicate Affair on the Western Front: America Learns How to Fight a Modern War in the Woëvre Trenches by  Terrence Finnegan 

Don't Blame World War One for the Sexual Revolution (Guest Opinion Piece)

Editor's Note:  As usual, I don't necessarily endorse the ideas expressed herein, but I do find them interesting. MH

A 1916 Flapper!

Peter Frost

The First World War casts a dark shadow over the 20th century. It shattered the relative peace that had reigned since the Napoleonic Wars, killing some nine million combatants and seven million civilians. It is also blamed for causing the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the postwar decline of traditional morality—the flapper era, and the rise of fascism. In short, if WWI had never happened, the world would today be very different … and perhaps much better.

[Recently], I argued against the first charge of this indictment. Russia was already pre-revolutionary in 1914; the war merely helped the process along.  . . [Now], I will turn to the second charge: the First World War paved the way for a decline of traditional sexual morality that is still ongoing. As historian James R. McGovern pointed out, this charge suffers from two defects:

– In its earlier stages at least, the change in morality seems to have been stronger in the United States, which had entered WWI halfway through and would escape its ravages.

– The United States was already experiencing this change before the war.

McGovern argued for an alternate view of history: the new morality was “much more the result of earlier intrinsic social changes than either the sudden, supposedly traumatic experiences of the war or unique developments in the Twenties”:

Even a casual exploration of the popular literature of the Progressive era reveals that Americans then described and understood themselves to be undergoing significant changes in morals. “Sex o’clock in America” struck in 1913, about the same time as “The Repeal of Reticence.” One contemporary writer saw Americans as liberated from the strictures of “Victorianism,” now an epithet deserving criticism, and exulted, “Heaven defend us from a return to the prudery of the Victorian regime!” (McGovern, 1968)

Bustling New York City, 1903

Yes, this sexual revolution was facilitated by single women moving to the city and taking the jobs of enlisted men who had gone overseas. But a similar influx was already under way before the war:

A significant deterioration of external controls over morality had occurred before 1920. One of the consequences of working and living conditions in the cities, especially as these affected women, was that Americans of the period 1900-1920 had experienced a vast dissolution of moral authority, which formerly had centered in the family and the small community. The traditional “straight and narrow” could not serve the choices and opportunities of city life. As against primary controls and contacts based on face-to-face association where the norms of family, church, and small community, usually reinforcing each other, could be internalized, the city made for a type of “individualization” through its distant, casual, specialized, and transient clusters of secondary associations. The individual came to determine his own behavioral norms. (McGovern, 1968)

It wasn’t just urban life that weakened traditional moral authority. Some inventions, like the car and the telephone, were likewise helping young people to evade parental and community surveillance. Before the war, advice columnist Dorothy Dix had dubbed the car the “devil’s wagon” and observed that “the average father does not know, by name or sight, the young man who visits his daughter and who takes her out to places of amusement.” Meanwhile, moving pictures were breaking the silence on sex and showing forms of sexual expression that had previously been poorly known among teenagers and even many adults:

According to one critic the “sex drama” using “plain, blunt language” had become “a commonplace” of the theater after 1910 and gave the “tender passion rather the worst for it in recent years.” Vice films packed them in every night, especially after the smashing success of Traffic in Souls, which reportedly grossed $450,000. (McGovern, 1968)

As a result, the youth subculture diverged more and more from the adult subculture, as a female college student confessed to her diary just before the First World War:

We were healthy animals and we were demanding our right to spring’s awakening. […] I played square with the men. I always told them I was not out to pin them down to marriage, but that this intimacy was pleasant and I wanted it as much as they did. We indulged in sex talk, birth control…. We thought too much about it. (McGovern, 1968)

Female College Students, 1910

Women’s dress reflected this evolution, exposing arms and legs and becoming deeply cut in front and back. In 1915, an American editor declared: “At no time and place under Christianity […] certainly never before in America, has woman’s form been so freely displayed in society and on the street” (McGovern, 1968).

American men were going through parallel changes:

Between 1910 and 1930, Victorian definitions of manliness declined in favor of recognizably modern forms of manliness that developed as a concomitant of the heterosocial youth culture. The key to understanding the change in the cultural ideal of masculinity in these years is the shift from a culture of “character,” in which men were expected to be good Christian Gentlemen and in which the keywords to describe manhood were “morals, manners, integrity, duty, work,” to a culture of personality, in which men were expected to cultivate the “performing self.” The culture of personality placed greater sexual demands and expectations on men. (White, 1993, 180)

This shift in values could be seen in the popularity of muscle magazines like Physical Culture and in the growing concern among young men over flaws in their sexual attractiveness: blackheads, off-white teeth, dandruff, and bad breath (White, 1993, 22-23).

Conclusion:

The sexual revolution wasn’t caused by the First World War. It was a culmination of trends that had begun earlier, circa 1910, specifically the growing ability of young men and women to evade external controls over morality, partly by using new channels for communication and culture-creation and partly by opening up new spaces for private interaction.

It’s questionable whether WWI played any role in this process. The notion that it did is largely due to our use of wars as a way to divide up the passage of time. We speak readily of the “postwar era” and the “interwar years,” not to mention “wartime.” This is understandable because both world wars marked the beginning and end of many regimes and even some countries. Unfortunately, by using these events as convenient bookends for periods of history, we may simplify and even distort our understanding of the past.

The culture of the interwar years, and the flapper era in particular, actually took shape on the eve of WWI. Similarly, the postwar era’s look and feel owed a lot to the late 1930s: the first comic books; the invention of TV; the rise of suburban living; and the showcasing of how science and technology would transform the future—a good example being the 1939 New York World’s Fair and its “world of tomorrow” theme. The trajectories of history often follow separate paths and cannot be easily tied together into prewar and postwar bundles.

Source: The Unz Review, 28 February 2015. The author draws extensively on McGovern, J.R. (1968). "The American Woman’s Pre-World War I Freedom in Manners and Morals", The Journal of American History, 55, 315-333.  Canadian Peter Frost holds a PhD in Anthropology from Université Laval and currently publishes on Substack.

A Primer on Iran's (Persia's) Rather Unpleasant World War I Experience

The Teheran Gate, Persia

Originally Presented on AwayFromTheWesternFront.org

Persia (now Iran) is little known as a theatre of the First World War, but events there influenced global politics in the years following the war. Although Persia declared its neutrality in 1914, it was too important strategically for Britain, Russia, the Ottoman Empire and Germany to leave it alone and as a British diplomat wrote, "Persia, during the war, had been exposed to violations and sufferings not endured by any other neutral country."  Persia and Iran are use interchangeably in this article.

1905–1909 Constitutional Revolution

The Persian constitutional revolution sought to replace arbitrary power with law, parliamentary democracy and justice. When Naṣer-e-Din Shah Qajar was assassinated in 1896, the crown passed to his son Moẓaffar-e-Din Shah Qajar, who reigned until 1907. He was forced in 1906 to grant a constitution that called for some curtailment of monarchical power. He was succeeded by his son Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar, who with the aid of Russia, attempted to rescind the constitution and abolish parliamentary government. He aroused opposition and was deposed in 1909, the throne being taken by his son, Aḥmad Shah Qajar, who reigned until 1925. The occupation of Iran during the First World War by Russian, British, and Ottoman troops was a blow from which Aḥmad Shah Qajar never effectively recovered.

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Map of southwest Asia, showing British and Russian areas of rule or influence. 

1907 The Anglo-Russian Convention

This convention was signed on 31 August 1907. It made a neutral buffer of Tibet, recognized Britain’s interest in Afghanistan and partitioned Persia into spheres of influence: a Russian zone in the north, a British zone in the south and a neutral “buffer” zone in the rest of the country, in which both the British and the Russians shared power. [Read our article on how this resulted in the expansion of the Entente Cordiale to the Triple Entente, HERE.]

First oil drilling Masjed Soleyman, 1908

1908 Discovery of oil in Persia

The Anglo-Persian oil company struck oil at Masjid-e-Suleiman in the southwest of modern-day Iran. The British Navy started to switch to oil combustion in 1910, thereby increasing its operating distance and speed.

1911 Occupation of Iran by Russia

A rebellion had broken out in Tabriz in north-western Iran on 23 June 1908, and in response to the siege situation there, Britain and Russia agreed that a Russian force should be sent to occupy the city. The Russians occupied Tabriz on 30 April 1909. Negotiations for its withdrawal soon began but dragged on into 1911. On 29 November 1911, the Russian government presented the Persian government with an ultimatum. There were several demands, but the most significant was to fire an American lawyer Morgan Shuster, who had been hired by the Majlis (parliament) to organize the country’s financial affairs. Upon the Persian parliament’s refusal, the Shah dissolved parliament and agreed to the Russian ultimatum. The ultimatum created unrest in Tabriz and on 21 December 1911, militants attacked the Russian troops, inflicting high casualties. In response, a brigade of the Russian Imperial Army was dispatched to Tabriz. Its aim was to occupy three major cities – Tabriz, Anzali and Rasht. The fiercest battle of the Russian invasion occurred in Tabriz, where the constitutionalists resisted. After about three days, the defense of the city broke, the Russians shelled Tabriz with artillery and entered the city on 31 December 1911. The Russians executed the constitutional revolutionaries of Tabriz, their families and many civilians of Tabriz as well. The Russians also destroyed part of the Arg of Tabriz by shelling, and a fire broke out there while it was held by Russian troops. The Russian forces remained in the city until 1917.

Tabriz defenders in the days before the fall of Tabriz

1914 Declaration of Iran’s neutrality

The Iranian government’s early reaction to the outbreak of the war was to declare Iran’s strict neutrality by royal decree on 1 November 1914. In 1914, the British Indian Army had several units located in the southern influence zone.

Ahmad Shāh Qājār, Shah of Iran, 1897–1925

1914 Provisional National Government in Exile

In the absence of a powerful central government in Iran to resist Anglo-Russian dominance, some Iranians concluded that aligning with Germany was the best option to guarantee national sovereignty and territorial integrity. Britain and Russia viewed the activities of some members of the parliament with mistrust and dismay. The situation became so tense that Russian troops began marching to the capital, Tehran. The cabinet of Mostowfi al‑Mamalek considered moving the capital from Tehran to Isfahan. Unable to reach Isfahan, they established themselves in Kermanshah. In 1916, Kermanshah fell to Russian forces, and the Provisional National Government collapsed.

The Ottoman Army in Urmia, 1916

1915 Ottoman invasion

The city of Tabriz in Iranian Azerbaijan suffered from multiple occupation and re-occupation by the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire during the First World War. Tabriz had been held by Russian forces since the Russian invasion of 1911. On 2 January 1915, at the Battle of Sarikamish in the Caucasus, Ottoman forces started their campaign inside Iran and forced the Russian forces to retreat to Jolfa. During this campaign, Ottoman forces occupied Tabriz. With fresh forces, the Russians defeated Ottoman forces south of Jolfa and regained control of Tabriz in early February 1915. The Russians proceeded on toward the west, invaded Urmia and went up to Van Lake. At the same time the Russians entered central Iran and occupied Qazvin, Karaj, and Tehran.

1915 Constantinople Agreement

The Anglo-Russian part of the agreement stipulated the division of the whole of Iran into two zones of influence between Russia and Britain. The neutral zone that the Anglo-Russian Entente of 1907 had established in the center of Iran was to be added to the British zone of influence, except for the city of Isfahan, which was to be allocated to the Russian zone.

Rais Ali Delvari and other Tangestani fighters

1915–1918 Resistance to the Occupation of Persia

The Iranian tribes, including Qashqais and Tangestanis, resisted the British occupation in Southern Iran. On 12 July 1915, the Tangestani tribes of southern Iran attacked the British forces near Bushehr. The British dispatched a force from Basra to Bushehr and inflicted a heavy defeat on the Tangestanis. Between 1915 and 1921, in the forests of the Caspian coastal province of Gilan, the ‘Jangalis’ nationalist movement, combined domestic objectives with anti-colonial and anti-imperialist agenda.

1916 South Persia Rifles

Towards the end of 1915, Sir Percy Sykes established a force, the South Persia Rifles, using local tribesmen. His mission was to counter the German influence in most of South Persia. After establishing headquarters at Shiraz, Sykes tried to restore order in the south; he paid subsidies to tribes who remained loyal and rounded up enemy agents and their Persian allies. The South Persia Rifles’ first action was at Bocaqci on 28 September 1916, where it defeated tribesmen who were being assisted by 25 escaped German prisoners. For the next two years, it was involved in similar actions, but its existence increased the hostility of local tribal leaders, who saw it as a potential threat to their interests and independence. In July 1918, the Abadeh garrison of the Rifles mutinied. Sir Percy Sykes left Persia in October 1918 and the Rifles were finally disbanded in July 1921.

1917 Russian Revolution

The Soviets renounced their 1907 Anglo-Russian treaty rights in Persia at Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, and Lenin sent a formal message to the government of Persia "repudiating all Tsarist privileges and agreements that are contrary to the sovereignty of Persia." After the February Revolution in 1917, frontline Russian forces dissolved and started to retreat from Iran. Ottoman forces quickly took action and occupied northwestern Iran and Tabriz. They stayed in Tabriz up until 23 August 1918, despite two British efforts to dislodge them.

1917–1918 Famine

Successive seasonal droughts caused widespread famine during 1917–1918. The requisition and confiscation of foodstuffs by the occupying armies to feed their soldiers added to the famine.

Resht, Persia, local police, being inspected by British soldiers from
the Dunsterforce, July 1918

1918 Dunsterforce in Persia

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, pro-German tribesmen under Mirza Kuchik Khan rebelled against the Russian forces in the north of the country. Britain sent Major-General Lionel Dunsterville and an elite group of British, Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand soldiers from Mesopotamia. They became known as the Dunsterforce. Its mission was to safeguard the immense oil installations at Baku from the Ottomans and the Germans, while organizing local groups of Armenians, Georgians, and anti-Bolsheviks to safeguard the strategically important trans-Caucasus railway and approaches to Afghanistan and India.

Azeri and Turkish Artillery Firing at Baku, 1918

The Battle of Baku, which began on 26 August 1918 ended with the evacuation of Dunsterforce on 14 September. They fought a determined and well-orchestrated action but were vastly outnumbered and under-equipped and were forced to concede Baku and its prized petroleum resources to the Ottomans. They also struggled to mobilize the residents of Baku, who were too preoccupied with infighting to mount a united defense. Despite this, Britain’s wartime prime minister, David Lloyd George, believed the Dunsterforce had succeeded in keeping the Ottomans and Germans from acquiring much-needed oil for six crucial weeks of the war in August and September 1918.

Once the Ottomans capitulated in late October 2018 and the war in the Middle East was officially over, British troops poured into Northern Iran to complement their control over the South.

1919 Anglo-Persian Agreement

The British government showed no sign of following the Russians and declaring the 1907 and 1915 conventions null and void. With the collapse of the tsarist and Ottoman Empires, Britain now not only dominated Persia itself, but had extended control to most of the surrounding regions. The Iranian prime minister was replaced by the pro-British Hassan (Vosough) Vossug ed Dowleh, who played a leading role in the negotiations with the British Ambassador. After six months of secret negotiations, the Anglo-Persian Agreement was declared on 9 August 1919. This agreement was widely viewed as establishing a British protectorate over Iran. However, it aroused considerable opposition, and the Majlis (parliament) refused to approve it.

Reza Khan (later Reza Shah) in his time as war minister

1921 Termination of Qājār Dynasty

With a coup d’état in February 1921, Reza Khan, who ruled as Reza Shah Pahlavi, 1925–1941, became the preeminent political personality in Iran. Aḥmad Shah was formally deposed by the Majlis, the national consultative assembly in October 1925 while he was away in Europe. The assembly declared the rule of the Qājār dynasty to be terminated.