1916 – Old Magazine Articles

Israel Zangwill and the Great War
(The North American Review, 1916)

Israel Zangwill (1864 – 1926) was a member of the Jewish literary society in Britain; he was an prominent lecturer, journalist, novelist and playwright. Today, however, he is mostly remembered for his efforts on behalf of the Zionist movement to establish a Jewish homeland. The following is a luke-warm book review from 1916 covering his collection of essays about World War I, The War for the World.

Winston Churchill Steps Down as First Lord of the Admiralty
(Vanity Fair, 1916)

After the British withdrawal from Gallipoli it was time for the architect of the disaster, Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, to resign his office. Wishing to still play a part in the Great War, Churchill assumed the rank of Major with his old regiment, the Oxfordshire Hussars:

To have been ruler of the King’s Navy, and then to take a subordinate place in a trench in Flanders, involved a considerable change even for one whose life had been full of startling and dramatic moments.

Click here to read a review of Churchill’s remembrance of World War I .

W.W. I and French Women
(Vanity Fair, 1916)

Here are five quick sketches by the French artist Rabajoi depicting the women of France fulfilling their various obligations as Mariannes, as sweethearts and as family members.

W.W. I and British Women
(Collier’s Magazine, 1916)

Woman’s hour has come! One of the splendid things that have come out of the bloody carnage of war to challenge the admiration of the world is the heroic exhibition of physical strength and courage shown by the women of the belligerent countries. They are doing more than merely substituting at men’s work. In England they are winning their struggle for equality with men.

Click here to read about the lot of French women during the First World War.

The British Aristocracy and the Great War
(Vanity Fair, 1916)

The 1914 social register for London did not go to press until 1915, so great was the task of assessing the butcher’s bill paid by that tribe. The letters written from camp and the front by those privileged young men all seemed to give thanks that their youth had been matched with this hour and that they might be able to show to one and all that they were worthy.

…For not even in the Great Rebellion against Charles I did the nobility lose so many of its members as the list of casualties of the present war displays. In the first sixteen months of operations no less than eight hundred men of title were killed in action, or died of their wounds, and over a thousand more were serving with the land or sea forces.

A similar article can be read here…

Click here to read about the W.W. I efforts of Prince Edward, the future Duke of Windsor.

Click here to read another article about the old European order.

Charlie Chaplin’s Salary and Other Concerns
(Motion Picture Magazine, 1916)

This short column appeared in 1916 answering the question for so many concerning the salary of Charlie Chaplin who served as his own inspiration for his famous character, the Little Tramp.

World War I Fashions in the Spring of 1916
(Strauss Magazine, 1916)

Assorted dry observations regarding what the women of Gotham were sporting that last American Spring of peace (Congress would declare war on Germany during the April of 1917).

W.W. I and the Advancement of Prohibition
(Literary Digest, 1916)

Since the earliest days of World War I, the European combatant nations made some adjustments in regard to the sale of alcohol and the hours in which pubs could operate. When the U.S. entered the war in April of 1917, Congress decided that they had better do the same – but they were far more harsh on the topic – closing bars entirely and outlawing all wines and spirits – except for their use in religious sacraments. In the attached article journalist gathered data from various newspapers that were located in states that were already dry in order to study how the experiment was proceeding.

Reprimand from the Trenches
(Cambridge Magazine, 1916)

This letter was clipped from a German newspaper and subsequently appeared in a British magazine some months later; it was written in response to a letter from a 13 year-old German girl who wrote to her brother at the front. She encouraged him in his sad, murderous work in her letter that was positively dripping with an affected air of trench-swagger. Outraged that his school-age sister should make such a vulgar suggestion, the soldier’s response was admirable and seemed much like the prose of Erich Maria Remarque.

The German Occupation of Manhattan
(Vanity Fair Magazine, 1916)

The famed Conde Nast illustrator from days of old, Ann Fish, assumed the nom de guerre, Hello in order to impart to her well-fed audience the terror of German Prussianism. In this cartoon, she illustrated what a German invasion of Manhattan would look like.

Five French Cartoons
(La Baionnette, 1916)

Five remarkable color cartoons from France. Modern Satirical art at this time was exceptional. KEY WORDS: La Baionette 1914-1918,Cartoons 1916,French Cartoon 1916,Modern Satirical Art 1914-1918,Satiric Art 1916,Crown-Prince Wilhelm Cartoon 1916.

Click here to see how weird the first car radios looked.

Soldier Poets
(from ‘Songs of the Fighting Men’: 1916)

The attached essay by Galloway Kyle (b.1871) concerns World War I poetry and served as the preface for his 1916 anthology titled Soldier Poets: Songs of the Fighting Men.

Trench French
(Soldier’s French Course, 1916)

Here is a collection of French phrases and military vocabulary terms uttered in the combat zones of W.W. I. Translated expressions include the standard commands as well as such bon mots as shell the fort, the walls are shattered, the place is evacuated and for all those World War Two re-enactors, Retreat!.

Click here to read about a case of French Friendly-Fire…

Woodrow Wilson on Lincoln
(Collier’s Magazine, 1916)

Here is a paragraph that was pulled from an interview with President Wilson in 1916 in which the bookish president remarked upon the various interesting aspects of President Lincoln:

He was not fit to be president until he was president.

A Very Short English French Dictionary of Shopping Terms
(Soldier’s French Course, 1916)

Here is a seventeen word offering of English to French fashion terms for those wishing to improve their early Twentieth Century Paris shopping abilities; accompanied by a terribly charming illustration.

With the Germans on the Somme
(The Cambridge Magazine, 1916)

Throughout much of World War I, the German-American war correspondent Karl Von Wiegand (1874 – 1961) reported on the goings-on within the Kaiser’s Army for an American new syndicate. As luck would have it, he happened to be in a front line German trench when the British Army launched their enormous attack on July 1, 1916. Here is one of his earlier dispatches from the German side:

We stood awe-stricken. Mankind, like Frankenstein, was being devoured by the monster it had created.

‘Let’s Go to the Moving Photograph Show!”
(Motion Picture Magazine, 1915)

Attached is the reminiscence of a movie-goer named Homer Dunne who recalled his feelings upon first attending a moving photograph show during the closing days of the Nineteenth Century. He described well the appearance of the rented shop-front, the swanky ticket-taker, the unimpressed audience and has a laugh on himself for failing to understand the significance of the medium.

Equestrian Attire
(Vanity Fair Magazine 1916)

1916 was a poor year if you happened to be a German sailor off the coast of Denmark; it was a terrible year if you were in the infantry on the Somme or near Verdun but if you were an American man fond of horseback riding and you happened to have been shopping for the perfect riding suit on Madison Avenue, then OldMagazineArticles.com is quite certain that 1916 was a great year for you!

If you would like to read another article about men’s equestrian attire, please click here.