Looking back at this month 100 years ago…
War – What War?
January 1, 1914
In January 1914 the idea that war might be around the corner would have been rejected as absurd. The colonial mindset was still evident when British governor Sir Frederick Lugard successfully completed amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates of Nigeria to form one country. The newly united colony and…
Read moreThe speed of events in August
August 1, 1914
From the safety of 100 years later we tend to look only at the battles and mourn the horrendous loss of life. Were you in the UK in May, June, July, 1914 your perception would be that the war will not happen. As June progressed the feeling around was this…
Read moreYour Country Needs You
September 1, 1914
Now and again as we trace the war years month by month I may go out of time to suggest an event that had impact not only on the war but reverberates to this day. For example we all know that Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in June 1914. Only 15…
Read moreGloucester Preparations
October 1, 1914
Incredible as it may seem in 1915 Gloucester had two ice rinks. Why do I mention them? Because one moved from India Road to Brunswick Square (along by St Michael’s church). In October 1910 it was a drill hall training volunteers for the war. It stayed in commission in that…
Read moreThe Rise of Facism and Taxes
November 1, 1914
Events of a future war were foreshadowed when on 15 November Benito Mussolini founded his fascist newspaper “Il Populo d’Italia”. We tend to forget that Mussolini was way ahead of Hitler in founding the movement. Fascist comes from the term Fasci used in Sicily to describe groups banding together for…
Read moreNo Time for Peace
December 1, 1914
Christmas 1914 was remarkable for one event in particular. German troops put candles on the edge of their trenches and sang carols and songs of home. British and allied troops responded in kind. They approached each other cautiously across no mans land and a number of impromptu football games ensued….
Read moreWho Knew What and When
January 1, 1915
Looking back at how the war was conducted the most common view is the politicians and the generals did not understand its nature. However it is clear from cabinet papers that Lloyd George, at least, was well aware of what the future might bring. As early as January 1915 he…
Read moreIt is a World War
February 1, 1915
Given the food shortages of the later war years, the Admiralty, in what might be seen as a self defeating move, banned neutral fishing vessels from using British ports. In an interesting counterpoint the German High Command prepared for a blockade of these islands. On 02 February the war spilled…
Read moreDays – Dark Deeds
April 1, 1915
I cheat, just a little with the date. These words were written on 03 May 1915 by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a physician with the Canadian forces. The poem “In Flanders Fields” surely stands alongside “Dulce et Decorum est” and “The Soldier” as the greatest war poems in the way…
Read moreCasualty upon Casualty
May 1, 1915
At the start of WW1 there were some 53,000 German nationals resident in the UK. For over a year attitudes appeared surprisingly relaxed. Many being helped to repatriate via neutral Holland. However, that mood hardened in early 1915 culminating in serious anti German (and Jewish) riots in Liverpool, Manchester and…
Read moreBits from around the world
July 2, 1915
The great war ground on, men still dying in their thousands but they were gripped to the front. With no great changes to report I’ve taken June and July together and looked at events from around the world. The Mexican revolution was in full swing and on 03 June Obregon’s…
Read moreConscription is in the air
August 1, 1915
On 15 July the order that all citizens (men and women) aged 18 to 40 had to be registered came into force. Looking back we can see, even though conscription did not come in until a year later, that the government knew that the war would drag on and casualties…
Read moreThe aftermath is not all bad – plus unintended consequences
October 1, 1915
How often as we look back on those dark days do we see echoes that reverberate down to the present day. Two events in that October immediately come to mind. Bulgaria entered the war and its reason for doing so was the perceived threat from Serbia. In similar vein Masaryk…
Read moreThe Angel of Mons. Myths, Morale & Misinformation
November 1, 1915
This story is not directly founded in November 1915 but its ripples did. On 29th September 1914 Arthur Machen published a ghost story, titled “The Bowman”. The story is based on the retreat from Mons. It tells how a British soldier suddenly remembers dinner plates used in a London restaurant…
Read moreNo More Football
December 1, 1915
Unlike Christmas day 1914 there were no impromtu football matches. Can you imagine the worry in high command. Fraternising could so easily lead from minor rule breaking to outright rebellion. No, the whole propaganda machine at home and at the front was geared to making the “Hun” a monster. No…
Read moreMomentous Events with Lasting Consquences
February 1, 1916
The significance of WW1 tends to blind us to what else was going on at that time. This month we are staying away from the war – almost – and looking at a wider horizon. I also have to confess to being creative with the month. This is because last…
Read moreThe Irish Question – Again
April 2, 1916
The advent of war brought a halt to the moves towards home rule for Ireland. Indeed there was considerable unease that the rise of the republicans would slow or even stop volunteers from that country. Feelings ran high and a number of events mark this as the most significant month…
Read moreRum Coke Business and Disastrous Diplomacy
May 1, 1916
We may be divorced from the war years by 100 years but like it or not our lives are still affected by those distant events. On 15 May 1916 Jesse Washington, a black labourer from Robinson, Texas, was lynched by a mob from the town. His alleged crime, the murder…
Read moreWritten by John O’Keefe
2014-18
