Commemorating the First World War Centennial in Kansas
This weekend’s World War I viewing on C-SPAN3. As usual, all times listed here are Central. Not responsible for schedule changes.
–American Artifacts: German World War I Soldiers. Airs at 9:00 a.m. Saturday, August 4th.
–The Presidency: Woodrow Wilson’s Life & Politics. Airs at 11:00 a.m Saturday, August 4th.
As a little extra to Jim’s previous post about the new WWI stamp, the First Day of Issue ceremony was recorded and can be seen on the YouTube channel of the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, where the ceremony took place.
The WW1 stamp is available for use. You can read more about this here.
In July 1918, four years after the July Crisis that started it all, the tide of war begins to turn in favor of the Allies. Germany’s last major offensive effort falls short and is followed by a French and American counterattack that forces the German Army to surrender much of the ground it has gained since Russia left the war. Russia is in chaos as a civil war gains momentum: opponents of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk assassinate the German ambassador, anti-Bolshevik forces take control of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, and the Bolsheviks murder the former Tsar and his family. In the United States President Wilson observes the Fourth of July at Mount Vernon, where he declares that there can be no compromise peace. Americans celebrate Bastille Day as well as the Fourth of July. John Purroy Mitchel, the former mayor of New York City who joined the Army’s Air Service after his defeat for reelection, dies when he falls from his aircraft during a training flight in Louisiana. Quentin Roosevelt, the youngest son of former President Theodore Roosevelt, is shot down and killed in an aerial battle in France.
No, not a law firm. Hiram P. Maxim (1840 – 1916), Benjamin B. Hotchkiss (1826 – 1885), Col. Isaac N. Lewis (1858 – 1931) and John M. Browning (1855 – 1926) have at least two things in common. First, they all designed machine guns that were used in the time frame of 1890 – 1920. Second, they were all Americans.
100 years ago in Kansas, August, 1918:
August 6, 1918
This Sunday on C-SPAN3–as usual, all times are Central:
–American Artifacts: German World War I Soldiers. Airs at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, July 29th. Repeats at 9:00 p.m. that evening.
–Reel America: The St. Mihiel Drive – 1918 U.S. Army Silent Film. Airs at 6:48 p.m. Sunday, July 29th. Repeats at 10:48 p.m. that evening.
When this condition first became apparent to British doctors in 1915 it was thought that the cause was concussive force from being too near the explosions of artillery. Soon, however, this didn’t seem to be a comprehensive explanation, and in 1916 two conditions were described: Shell Shock (Wounded) and Shell Shock (Sick).
Devil Dog Spring
On May 4th, 1918 the Germans launched Operation Blücher (also called Blücher-Yorck), the third of their five planned offensives on the Western Front called the Kaiserschlacht. The previous attacks, called Michael and Georgette, had been successful in the sense that the British were reeling, their line bent but not quite broken. Blücher was directed at the French, British and Italian forces in the vicinity of the Aisne River, occupying a line that was established in the Nivelle Offensive a year before.
With this approval granted on July 19th, the proposed national memorial at Pershing Park in DC seems on track to a 2020 completion. To date a little over half of the estimated $42 million needed has been raised, as more foundation and corporate partners have joined the effort, which now includes Pritzker Military Museum & Library, the Starr Foundation, the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation, The Richard Lounsbery Foundation, General Motors, Huntington Ingalls Industries, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, The Veterans of Foreign Wars, and The American Legion.
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