Berglund, Bruce R. - “We Stand on the Threshold of a New Age”: Alice Masaryková, the Czechoslovak Red Cross, and the Building of a New Europe Keywords: Alice Garrigue Masaryková | Czechoslovakia; Europe | Red Cross ISFWWS-Keywords: Legacy | Society | Gender | Austria-Hungary | The United States of America | Religion | Politics Abstract: Alice Garrigue Masaryková has long been left in the historical shadow of her father, who served seventeen years as Czechoslovakia's first president, and her brother Jan, the diplomat whose mysterious…

Haase, Hugo (September 29, 1863, Allenstein – November 7, 1919, Berlin [murdered]), German politician. One of the two chairmen of the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD; Social Democratic Party of Germany) from 1911 onward, Haase opposed the Burgfrieden (Fortress Truce) policy that had been adopted by the majority of his party. He nonetheless bowed to party discipline. Speaking before the Reichstag on August 4, 1914, he read out the declaration in which the SPD approved the war credits – against his own conviction. Until…

Keene, Jennifer D. - Protest and Disability: A New Look at African American Soldiers during the First World War Keywords: The United States of America | Soldiers and Combat | Society | Legacy | Western Front | Home fronts ‛Warfare and Belligerence’ Pierre Purseigle, Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2005 e-ISBN: 9789047407362 DOI: 10.1163/9789047407362.009 © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Keene, Jennifer D.

Epidemics None of the classic war plagues struck with their former severity during the First World War. With the exception of the great influenza epidemic of the final year of the war, the series of significant epidemic diseases that arose occurred in the form of concentrated outbreaks of infectious diseases in the various theaters of war, limited in terms of place and time. The following absolute figures convey at least an impression of the rates of infection in the German field armies and occup…

Social Democracy A political movement in the German Imperial Reich seeking social and political emancipation of the workers. In the First World War, it suffered its greatest crisis, culminating in 1917 in a permanent split. On the eve of the war, with about a million members, the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) was the largest party in Germany, and with 110 members the strongest group in Parliament, but it split on the question of the “fortress truce” ( Burgfrieden) policy. Although shortly before the outbreak of war the party leadership called its membership to demo…

Film, The First World War in ISFWWS-Keywords: Australia | Britain | Canada | Culture | France | Germany | Italy | Russia | The United States of America First published in: Brill's Encyclopedia of the First World War, Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich, Irina Renz, Markus Pöhlmann and James S. Corum, Leiden (2012) Documentaries and feature films, 1914–1943 (a selection) 1914–1918 England Expects (G.L. Tucker, Great Britain, 1914) The German Spy Peril (W. Barker, Great Britain, 1914) The Great European War (G. Pearson & G.B. Samuelson, Great Britain, 1914) It’s a Long Way to Tipperary…

Kuhlman, Erika - The Rhineland Horror Campaign and the Aftermath of War Keywords: Germany | Rhineland Horror campaign ISFWWS-Keywords: Germany | French Army and its combattants | Africa | Violence against civilians | Gender | Politics | Culture | The United States of America Abstract: Beginning in April 1920, various German citizens' organisations, encouraged by their government, launched a campaign against France's stationing of colonial African soldiers in its zone of the German Rhineland. The goal of the drive - known as…

Bavarian Soviet Republic A soviet republic is a state in which all executive, legislate, and jurisdictional power is in the hands of elected spokesmen for workers and soldiers, excluding parliament. For a short time in early 1919 there existed in Germany Soviet republics in Cuxhaven, Mannheim, Braunschweig, Bremen, and Munich. Of these, the ones which lasted longest were those in Bremen (25 days) and Munich (24 days). In the first months after the revolution, Bremen was a stronghold of the Spartakus movement. Together with t…

Fraternizing Spontaneous and unauthorized ending of fighting and leaving one’s own position with a view to making direct contact with enemy soldiers. Precise details of the extent of fraternizing are, of course, not available. The available sources, however, show clearly that the center of these events is to be found in those sectors of the Western Front in which German and British soldiers faced one another. Individual acts of camaraderie at Christmas, and informal truces, were also reported from German-French sectors and from the Eastern Front. The most spectacular case of frat…

Meehan, John D. - From Alliance to Conference: The British Empire, Japan and Pacific Multilateralism, 1911–1921 ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | The French and British Empires | Naval Warfare | International Relations during the War | Australia | New Zealand | Canada | The United States of America The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_004 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Meehan, John D.

Grotelueschen, Mark E. - The Junior Partner: Anglo-American Military Cooperation in World War I Keywords: AEF operations | American Military operations | British leaders | war | Wilson's stature ISFWWS-Keywords: Military organisation of combat | Experience of combat | The United States of America | International Relations during the War | Peacemaking and Continued Conflict | Politics | Soldiers and Combat | Britain Abstract: This essay examines the connection between American military operations on the Western Front and the impact of those operati…

China The largest state by population and area in eastern Asia; a republic from 1911 to 1949. Although China was scarcely involved militarily in the First World War, the war nevertheless represented an important turning point for the country. The consequences of the war fundamentally changed both China’s status in international politics and its internal political and social circumstances. China’s involvement in the First World War was a long-term result of the expansion of European imperialism. Increased rivalry between the Great Powers, in their strugg…

Ginsburger, Nicolas - An American Geographer between Science and Diplomacy: The Mission of Douglas W. Johnson in Europe, May–November 1918 Keywords: The United States of America | Intellectuals and the War | Culture | Peacemaking and Continued Conflict | Britain | Politics | France | Legacy ‛Warfare and Belligerence’ Pierre Purseigle, Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2005 e-ISBN: 9789047407362 DOI: 10.1163/9789047407362.011 © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Ginsburger, Nicolas

Neiberg, Michael S. - Cromwell on the Bed Stand: Allied Civil-Military Relations in World War I Keywords: Politics | Britain | France | The United States of America | International Relations during the War ‛Uncovered Fields’ Jenny Macleod and Pierre Purseigle, Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2004 e-ISBN: 9789047402596 DOI: 10.1163/9789047402596.005 © 2004 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Neiberg, Michael S.

Spartakus League The most important radical left group in the SPD, so called from its Politische Briefe (“Political Letters”), signed “Spartakus,” illegally distributed from 1916. These decisively rejected the Burgfrieden policy adopted by the majority of the Social Democratic Party. Leading figures in the Spartakus Group (later League) were Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, Franz Mehring, Clara Zetkin, Julian Marschlewski, and Käte and Hermann Duncker. The group’s support came predominantly from the existing intellectual …

Nakatani, Tadashi - What Peace Meant to Japan: The Changeover at Paris in 1919 ISFWWS-Keywords: Peacemaking and Continued Conflict | Asia | Legacy | The United States of America | Politics The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_010 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Nakatani, Tadashi

Scheidemann, Philipp ( July 26, 1865, Kassel – November 29, 1939, Copenhagen), German politician. From 1911 he was a member of the governing body of the SPD, and from 1913 one of the three chairmen of the SPD parliamentary party. During World War I, he was one of the best known Social Democrats in German public life. A brilliant speaker, he defended the Burgfrieden policy, but at the same time worked for a settlement with forces in the party opposed to war. In countless interventions he called for “peace by rapprochement” without reparations or annexations.…

Djebabla, Mourad - “Fight the Huns with Food”: Mobilizing Canadian Civilians for the Food War Effort during the Great War, 1914–1918 ISFWWS-Keywords: Canada | Naval Warfare | Economy | Home fronts | Society | The United States of America | Visual Arts | Children and War | Women and War World War I and Propaganda Troy R.E. Paddock , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004264571 DOI: 10.1163/9789004264571_005 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Djebabla, Mourad

Shinohara, Chika - Gender and the Great War: Tsuda Umeko’s Role in Institutionalizing Women’s Education in Japan ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | Gender | Society | The United States of America | Economy | Legacy The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_017 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Shinohara, Chika

Stibbe, Matthew - Elsa Brändström and the Reintegration of Returning Prisoners of War and their Families in Post-War Germany and Austria Keywords: Austrian society | Elsa Brändström | First World War | Germany | prisoners of war | women's activism ISFWWS-Keywords: Prisoners of War | Germany | Austria-Hungary | Russia | Scandinavia | Switzerland | The United States of America | Literature Abstract: Less is known about Elsa Brändström's contribution to the reintegration of returning POWs and their families in post-war German and Austrian society,…

Little, Branden - Humanitarian Relief in Europe and the Analogue of War, 1914–1918 Keywords: American Red Cross (ARC) | Belgium | First World War | Humanitarian relief | Rockefeller Foundation (RF) | war in Europe ISFWWS-Keywords: The United States of America | Economy | Belgium | Medicine | Violence against civilians | International Relations during the War | Politics | Naval Warfare | Women and War Abstract: Foremost among the scores of Great War-era American organizations mobilized to deliver life-sustaining aid to Europe in the form of food, clot…

Tato, María Inés - Luring Neutrals: Allied and German Propaganda in Argentina during the First World War ISFWWS-Keywords: South America | Economy | Literature | Culture | Britain | The United States of America | France | Germany | Naval Warfare World War I and Propaganda Troy R.E. Paddock , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004264571 DOI: 10.1163/9789004264571_016 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Tato, María Inés

Kimura, Masato - Securing the Maritime Trade: Triangular Frictions between the Merchant Marines of the US, UK and Japan ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | Economy | Britain | The United States of America | International Relations during the War The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_007 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Kimura, Masato

Daniels, Josephus (May 18, 1862, Washington NC – January 15, 1948, Raleigh NC), American Secretary of the Navy during World War I, his appointment to the post in 1913 seemed straight from the plot of HMS Pinafore. A journalist from North Carolina, Daniels had no background or interest in naval affairs. His primary qualification was his contribution to Woodrow Wilson’s election. Daniels disliked naval officers as a class. He was indifferent to naval traditions. His banning of alcohol from shipboard messes did nothing to improve his…

Caucasian Front Between 1914 and 1918 the Ottoman Empire fought on more than half a dozen fronts that were spread out over a vast geographical area, but the Caucasian Front was given high priority in the plans of the Minister of War Enver Pasha – as indicated by the fact that he increased the number of troops in the region at the beginning of the war and placed himself in command of the Ottoman Third Army in eastern Anatolia. Contrary to the original plan, the Third Army received reinforcements fr…

Fordham, Elizabeth - The Great War and Modern Scholarship: Academic Responses to War in Paris and London Keywords: Intellectuals and the War | Politics | Britain | France | Austria-Hungary | Culture | Legacy | The Balkans and Eastern Europe | The United States of America ‛Warfare and Belligerence’ Pierre Purseigle, Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2005 e-ISBN: 9789047407362 DOI: 10.1163/9789047407362.012 © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Fordham, Elizabeth

Alvah, Donna - U.S. Military Wives in the Philippines, from the Philippine War to World War II Keywords: The United States of America | Women and War | Published memoirs and biographies A Companion to Women’s Military History Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining , (2012) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2012 e-ISBN: 9789004206823 DOI: 10.1163/9789004206823_015 © 2012 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Alvah, Donna

Steel Helmet Metal head covering worn by soldiers as a protection against blows, shrapnel, and small-caliber bullets. From 1915 onward, the high proportion of head injuries in positional warfare led the European armies to develop the steel helmet. In 1915, the French Army equipped its soldiers with a steel helmet made of light sheet steel, the so-called Adrian, which afforded only a little protection. The British Army followed suit shortly thereafter with the Mark I helmet. The typical flat design…

Zetkin, Clara ( July 5, 1857, Wiederau [Saxony] – June 20, 1933, Arkhangelskoye, Russia), German politician and feminist. Zetkin was an active leading representative of both the international workers’ movement and the socialist women’s movement in Germany, and their leading theorist. She had led the editorial offices of the socialist women’s newspaper Die Gleichheit (Equality) since 1892. Zetkin belonged to the left, antimilitary wing of the Social-Democratic Party (SPD). Right up to August 1914, she agitated against rearmament and war. Unlike the…

Armed Forces (United States) During the First World War the armed forces of the United States were crafted by national politics. The Russian Provisional Government of 1917 had promised resolutely to continue the war in the East. On the Western Front, the Germans were unequivocally on the defensive. In no way was America itself directly threatened. Nevertheless, the pattern developed in the World War would guide the United States in 20th century warfare. Politics would determine the strategy, the org…

Occupation (East) In 1915, the German Reich and Austria-Hungary conquered enormous areas of Eastern Europe, and subjected them to an occupation regime. Among the areas in question were Russian Poland and Lithuania, and parts of the Baltic provinces (now Estonia and Latvia), Belarus (White Russia), the Ukraine, Russia, and Serbia. These conquests were joined by Romania in 1916. As there was no detailed prewar planning for such an event, the occupation was initially characterized by improvisation and ad hoc policies with various different plans being proposed for the future…

Hudson, David - “Having Seen Enough”: Eleanor Franklin Egan and the Journalism of Great War Displacement Keywords: American journalist | Eleanor Franklin Egan | Great War | journalism ISFWWS-Keywords: The United States of America | Legacy | Literature | Women and War | Politics | The Balkans and Eastern Europe | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East Abstract: The Great War presented American journalist Eleanor Franklin Egan with an unmatched tableau, and by the time of the armistice she had cemented her reputation as one of the foremost inte…

Minohara, Tosh - The Clash of Pride and Prejudice: The Immigration Issue and US-Japan Relations in the 1910s ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | The United States of America | Politics | Economy | Pre-war period The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_003 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Minohara, Tosh

Liddington, Jill - Britain in the Balkans: The Response of the Scottish Women’s Hospital Units Keywords: Balkans | Scottish Women's Hospitals (SWH) | Serbia ISFWWS-Keywords: Britain | Women and War | Medicine | The Balkans and Eastern Europe | Russia | The United States of America | Legacy | Politics Abstract: This chapter assesses the significance of the contribution of one selected Scottish Women's Hospitals (SWH) relief initiative during aftermath of war, that of the American Unit. It has been selected because of its close rel…

Sailors’ Revolt (Kiel Mutiny) Beginning in late October 1918, the Sailors’ Revolt ushered in the end of Imperial Germany. Within only just a few days the mutiny spread from Kiel to the entire German Reich. Mutinous sailors, soldiers stationed in the homeland, and industrial workers joined forces to overthrow the antiquated old order. The High Seas Fleet had already been shaken by commotions in the summer of 1917. These had been caused by monotonous on-board duties as well as by poor and unequal foods rations. Another cause of unrest was the latent…

Musaj, Fatmira; Nicholson, Beryl - Women Activists in Albania following Independence and World War I Keywords: Albania | women's organisations | World War I ISFWWS-Keywords: The Balkans and Eastern Europe | Women and War | Society | Politics | Pre-war period | The Ottoman Empire and the Middle East | Greece | General | The United States of America Abstract: Albania declared its independence on 28 November 1912, and a provisional government was formed. Independence was seen by the Qiriazi sisters as creating the opportunity for educated women to con…

Ebert, Friedrich (February 4, 1871, Heidelberg – February 28, 1925, Berlin), German politician and eventually Reichspräsident. From 1913 one of the two SPD (German Social-Democratic Party) chairmen alongside Hugo Haase, Ebert defended his party’s policy of Burgfriede (political truce for the duration of the war) against growing internal party opposition, while at the same time attempting to preserve party unity. He accordingly rejected premature right-wing pressure to exclude the dissidents. When, however, the latter showed public…

Gates, Rustin B. - Out with the New and in with the Old: Uchida Yasuya and the Great War as a Turning Point in Japanese Foreign Affairs ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | International Relations during the War | The French and British Empires | The United States of America The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_005 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Gates, Rustin B.

January Strikes Between January 28 and February 2, 1918, there arose in Berlin and other industrial and economic centers (Kiel, Hamburg, and the Rhine-Westphalia industrial area) mass protests and strike actions, in which between 200,000 and 500,000 workers took part. In contrast with the 1917 strikes, which may be understood primarily as social protest, the January Strikes had to a great extent a direct political motive. In light of the Soviet government’s offer of peace, and the brutally extreme claims for annexation of the German S…

Brockdorff-Rantzau, Count Ulrich von (May 29, 1869, Schleswig – September, 8, 1928, Berlin), German diplomat. The first foreign minister of the Weimar Republic was descended from the ancient nobility of Holstein. After obtaining his doctorate in law Brockdorff-Rantzau chose to pursue a diplomatic career which took him from Brussels via Saint Petersburg to Vienna, where in 1901 he became embassy secretary, and the influential German ambassador Count Carl von Wedel was his mentor. It was also thanks t…

Monger, David - Transcending the Nation: Domestic Propaganda and Supranational Patriotism in Britain, 1917–18 ISFWWS-Keywords: Britain | Home fronts | Politics | Society | The French and British Empires | The United States of America | Legacy World War I and Propaganda Troy R.E. Paddock , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004264571 DOI: 10.1163/9789004264571_003 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Monger, David

Takahara, Shusuke - The Wilson Administration and the Mandate Question in the Pacific: Struggle among the Powers over the Disposition of Former German Colonies ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | The United States of America | Peacemaking and Continued Conflict | Politics | Germany | International Relations during the War | Naval Warfare | Britain The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_009 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Takahara, Shu…

Duraković, Indira - Serbia as a Health Threat to Europe: The Wartime Typhus Epidemic, 1914–1915 ISFWWS-Keywords: The Balkans and Eastern Europe | Medicine | Balkans | Austria-Hungary | The United States of America Other Fronts, Other Wars? Joachim Bürgschwentner, Matthias Egger and Gunda Barth-Scalmani , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004279513 DOI: 10.1163/9789004279513_013 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Duraković, Indira

Dusinberre, Martin - Of World History and Great Men: A Japanese Village and Its Worlds ISFWWS-Keywords: Asia | Society | Economy | The United States of America | Politics | International Relations during the War The Decade of the Great War Tosh Minohara , Tze-ki Hon and Evan Dawley , (2014) Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2014 e-ISBN: 9789004274273 DOI: 10.1163/9789004274273_019 © 2014 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Dusinberre, Martin

Mitchell, William Lendrum (December 29, 1879, Nice – February 19, 1936, New York), United States general. Mitchell recognized the potential of the air weapon early on and in the postwar era became an outspoken advocate for making the Air Service an independent branch of the armed forces. After the entry of the United States into the First World War in 1917 Mitchell, a Signal Corps major who had recently learned to fly, was lucky enough to already be in France as an observer with the Allied forces. …

“Stab-in-the-Back” Legend ( Dolchstosslegende) The claim that Germany’s military defeat in 1918 was not, or not primarily, to be ascribed to the failure of the military leadership, or the exhaustion of the soldiers, but to failure or betrayal on the part of particular persons or groups on the home front. There were a number of quite different variants of the legend. Thus, for example, the inadequacy of supply in the battles for Verdun in 1916 was already referred to in military circles as a Dolchstoss. As early as July 1917, General von Seeckt gave voice to the typical accusati…

Second International International federation of national Socialist parties; founded in 1889 in succession to the First International (1864–1876), collapsed during the First World War. The attitude of the Second International to war was constantly debated at its congresses before the First World War. Although a resolution passed at the Stuttgart Congress in 1907 had called on the sections in the various countries to take countermeasures if war threatened, it had left the choice of means to the aff…

Mulvey, Paul - From Liberalism to Labour: Josiah C. Wedgwood and English Liberalism during the First World War Keywords: Britain | Politics | Society | Experience of combat | The United States of America ‛Warfare and Belligerence’ Pierre Purseigle, Publication Editor: Brill, The Netherlands, 2005 e-ISBN: 9789047407362 DOI: 10.1163/9789047407362.008 © 2005 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands Mulvey, Paul

Meuse-Argonne Offensive As part of the final Allied offensive on the Western Front the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) had been charged in September of 1918 with launching an assault against the sector of the front held by the German Fifth Army (Georg von der Marwitz) between the Argonne Forest and the River Meuse, and to advance in the general direction of Mézières. Heading the AEF was General John Pershing, who also took command of the newly formed United States First Army. After completing t…

German Revolution With the German Revolution of 1918/1919, the German Empire became a German Republic. The deep roots of this upheaval lay in the war-weariness of the exhausted and malnourished civilian population and the overburdened soldiery. The German Revolution was more a collapse of the traditional order than a militant mass rebellion. In this, it resembled the Russian February Revolution of 1917 rather than the revolutions of 1848. The Russian October Revolution, with Lenin’s proclamation o…