World War One

Find old World War 1 articles here. Find information on uniforms, women, gas warfare, prisoners of war and more.

One German’s Opinion (The Nation, 1922)

A few choice words concerning the Treaty of Versailles by the German anti-socialist author S. Miles Bouton (born 1876):

Such a treaty could not bring real peace to the world even if the conditions were less critical and complex. As they are, it will hasten and aggravate what the world will soon discover to be the most serious, vital, and revolutionary consequences of the war.


The quote above is an excerpt from THE NATION’s review of Bouton’s 1922 book, And The Kaiser Abdicates: The German Revolution, November, 1918.

One German’s Opinion (The Nation, 1922) Read More »

German Post-War Thinking (American Legion Weekly, 1922)

Thus any traveler in Germany feels that the future grows darker and darker for both Germany and Europe. There is no doubt that the German people have learned little from their war experiences and that it would require only a spark to set them off in another wild rush down through Europe behind Russian guns. It is a dismal prospect, and it is a terrible one, for it would mean, in the final analysis, the utter destruction of European civilization.

German Post-War Thinking (American Legion Weekly, 1922) Read More »

The American Springfield ’03 Rifle (U.S. Infantry Drill Manual, 1911)

A black and white diagram depicting the breach of the 1903 Springfield riflestyle=border:none, with all parts named. This rifle was the primary weapon for American troops during World War One and was in use by that army up until 1936. At the time of America’s entry into the W.W. I, in April of 1917, there were roughly 843,239 Springfield ’03 rifles issued; seeing that this was not nearly enough for such an adventure, the Springfield Armory manufactured 265,620 additional rifles. In some photographs from the war, American soldiers and Marines are pictured shouldering the British Enfield rifle, which had been modified to fit the ammunition of the Springfield ’03. Subsequent modifications produced the Springfield 1903A3 and A4 which were issued to American snipers up until the earlier years of the Vietnam War.

Throughout the course of the war the U.S. Army was paying $19.50 for each rifle.

The American Springfield ’03 Rifle (U.S. Infantry Drill Manual, 1911) Read More »

The American Springfield ’03 Rifle (U.S. Infantry Drill Manual, 1911)

A black and white diagram depicting the breach of the 1903 Springfield riflestyle=border:none, with all parts named. This rifle was the primary weapon for American troops during World War One and was in use by that army up until 1936. At the time of America’s entry into the W.W. I, in April of 1917, there were roughly 843,239 Springfield ’03 rifles issued; seeing that this was not nearly enough for such an adventure, the Springfield Armory manufactured 265,620 additional rifles. In some photographs from the war, American soldiers and Marines are pictured shouldering the British Enfield rifle, which had been modified to fit the ammunition of the Springfield ’03. Subsequent modifications produced the Springfield 1903A3 and A4 which were issued to American snipers up until the earlier years of the Vietnam War.

Throughout the course of the war the U.S. Army was paying $19.50 for each rifle.

The American Springfield ’03 Rifle (U.S. Infantry Drill Manual, 1911) Read More »

A Post-War Study of British Conscientious Objectors (The Spectator, 1922)

Conscription and Consciencestyle=border:none by John W. Graham is very briefly reviewed here; the summation provides some fast facts on the history of British conscientious objectors during World War One, yet tactfully fails to mention that during the course of the war, the British Army ordered 306 conscientious objectors be shot at dawn. In 2006 the British government pardoned them; just in time.

A Post-War Study of British Conscientious Objectors (The Spectator, 1922) Read More »

Franco-American Relations After W.W. I (Literary Digest, 1927)

Ten years after America entered the First World War, thrice elected French Prime-Minister André Tardieu (1876 – 1945) put pen to paper and came up with a book about the complicated relations between France and the United States Devant l’Obstacle (1927):

They go on repeating the words ‘American friendship’ without realizing that America as a nation does not want friendships, and separates herself from her political associates the moment she can do so, as unceremoniously as she did in 1919, when she signed a separate peace with Germany. Few French students know or remember that less than twenty years after Lafayette left the American shores, America was at war with the country to which she virtually owed her freedom…


Click here to read another article in which André Tardieu slanders the Americans.
Click here should you wish to read good thoughts by a Frenchman concerning America’s entry into W.W. I.

Franco-American Relations After W.W. I (Literary Digest, 1927) Read More »