Frederick Von Kohler's First Entry

August 3, 1914

General

German Third Army

Dear Frederick,

I am writing because my rise through the ranks of the German military finally is seeming to be rewarded. I have been promoted to the rank of general, the highest military position possible, in the German Third Army. But before I get ahead of myself I’ll retrace my roots. I was born in Prussia in 1851 to an aristocratic family. For a long time I envied the bourgeoisie and their educated liberal views, but recently the times have favored us Prussian aristocrats. I got my big break because German officers were impressed with my maturity and leadership skills in the Franco-Prussian war. Many other factors contributed to my swift rise in the German military. Conservatives and aristocrats’ social and political status have increased greatly, as have the status of Prussian “dashing lieutenants.” And probably most importantly, Germany’s strong sense of militaristic nationalism has contributed to my rise, too.

The Fatherland is on the verge of an enormously important military maneuver. Tomorrow the German army will implement the Schlieffen Plan, a lightning quick strike that will negate the fact that Germany and Austria-Hungary are surrounded on two sides by the French and the Russians. We are all confident that the Schlieffen Plan will have this war over in no time. I was talking with Kaiser Wilhelm II himself the other day and he said that Germany would have “Paris for lunch, St. Petersburg for dinner.” I was instrumental in developing this fine-tuned and precise strategy. The German army shall take Paris in exactly 42 days, forcing the French to surrender, then rush to the Eastern front and concentrate our forces against the Russians before their massive army can mobilize.

In my limited encounters with Kaiser Wilhelm he has masterfully romanticized the idea of war to unify the German people. Since the Franco-Prussian war in 1870-1 the emperor has used his own personal passion for war and got the people excited about it. Now our country exemplifies, simply put, nationalism by kicking other countries’ butts. And I must say, this nation’s militaristic fervor has swept me up and convinced me that war is a necessity.

Sincerely yours,

Frederick Von Kohler

Germany Military Officer

My character will be a senior military officer in the German army during World War I. He will have fought admirably in the Franco-Prussian War and received multiple promotions since then. My guy will have benefitted from the intense nationalism that militaristic Germany went through and the elevated social and political status of aristocrats during this time. He will be overseeing the German "war plans," the very precise military plans of the German army at the start of the war. He will have a large plan in shaping and executing the Schlieffen plan. News will trickle back to him about the horrors of the war, especially the horrors of German poison gas at Ypres against the French. He will begin to question Germany's ideals during the time, the futility of war and the realistic chances Germany has.

Meet My Alter Ego

The character I'll be creating for my historical fiction about nationalism in the time period was originally going to be a protester who witnessed Bloody Sunday and is appalled that their own tsar, Nicolas II, who he trusted would allow this sort of terror to exist within his country when the tsar is supposed to be one with the people. However, Bloody Sunday, while an important event in terms of stages of nationalism in Russia, does not cover enough of the Great War, so my character will continue to write journal entries that provide an idea of the public's perception of Nicolas II. He will witness Nicolas II's failure in battle, and inability to deal with the declining nation by writing about how the negative effects of the nation affected his life, personally. Lack of food and the declining nation push him and those around him to stage rebellion. By this time, around mid/late 1910's, he and the public began to see him as, more or less, what he actually was: a shallow, incapable leader of such a big country.

Meet Luka Schneider

Begin RESEARCH on your chosen nationalism topic. WRITE a brief blog post in which you introduce your character, referencing at least TWO HISTORICAL SOURCES.

Meet Luka Schneider. Luka is a soldier on the German lines who got drafted from his small home in the town, Monkowarsk. Luka is a kind person who wants peace and dislikes violence. He never wanted to go to the war and finds it terrible that all the men around him enjoy killing the other men on the battlefield. Luka is one of the many men on the front lines who are constantly risking their lives to fight for their country. He will be writing in his diary/ journal about what has happened since his last entry. There might be a time spand of days or weeks where he doesn't write anything in his journal because he doesn't have time and is too busy worrying about staying alive than writing about his life. Over time, seeing men die from numerous shots, poison gas, disease, and other gruesome ways, his perspective of the enemy and war change with the different experiences he will encounter. Nationalism plays a role in Luka's life during the war when he has to make life-saving decisions and when he has to change his attitude of the war to survive on the battlefield.

http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa042699.htm

http://www.firstworldwar.com/origins/causes.htm

http://genealogy.about.com/cs/surname/a/german_surnames.htm

Vladmir Ovechkin

Vladmir Ovechkin is a 24 year old government worker from St. Petersburg, and is married to Svetlana Sharapova. He is very loyal to Czar Nicholas II. He is against the Bolshevik uprising and any attempt at a revolution. He despises Lenin and his Marxist views, but more than anyone he can not stand Rasputin for destroying the monarchy and he has a plot to kill both of them, although they have no affiliation with each other. Clearly he has strong conservative political views. Although he fails to kill them and the revolution eventually succeeds, he puts up a great fight which is described in his letters to his friend Igor who immigrated to the United States with hope for a better life. He had amazing foresight and sensed the problems in Russia before most people did.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/nicholas_ii.shtml
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/commandingheights/shared/minitext/prof_vladimirlenin.html
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/rasputin.htm

The Alldeutscher Verband

Meet Dieter Wagner, a member of the Alldeutscher Verband, which is a German group that supported pan-germanism and imperialism. He promotes the “German idea in the world” and justifies the imperialist movements of Germany as the rightful claim for world power. He is also a journalist of the Die Grenzboten, and his letters to the chief editor Georg Cleinow are of encouraging the war and discussing the news that must be put on the paper to persuade more people to join.

A Woman and a Soldier

Darya Vladyevna Mihailov is one of the first female soldiers of the Russian army. She chose this for numerous reasons: her family, once proud and wealthy was made poor by Russian industrialization, necessitating another source of income; her brother was conscripted although a cripple, making it such that another of his family must go in his stead; lastly, as a child she was something of a tomboy and had always dreamt of the valor in arms, so she jumps at this chance to experience it. In a letter written home to her brother, she describes her experience in the trenches. After a short trainging period (where she notes that many of the men are little better in war than she), her regiment is sent out as one of the many heading towards Austria-Hungary. The campaign is successful and they push well into the A-H region named Galicia. Still, she observes that their numbers are greatyl reduced and that in defense they are more likely to crumble. Nonetheless, they hold their position and continue forward march, but are headed of in the Battle of Tannenburg. In this time she begins to recount the horrors of modern warfare, and her anger towards the monarchs that they are not better prepared as a force. For this she blames the monarchy. She now wishes that she hadn't joined the army, not necessarily because she is afraid (which they all are), but because she recognizes that in the modern world, a victory cannot be won through valor, but only through strategic use of death machines. Her place, she now feels, is Petrograd. In the ranks she hears news of Lenin from his supporters and begins to see what he has to say as the hope of a better future. At the termination of her letter she encourages her family to go out to protest the monarchy and fight for revolutionary ideals.
Nationalism evidently plays an important role in her life as it pushes her to become a soldier, despite prejudices of the time. Furthermore, this experience completely changes her perspective on government, changing her from nuetral to strongly opposed to the monarchy which she believes has brought them down.

Meet Andjela From Serbia

Andjela Svetozar is a 17-year-old feminist whose life is changed for the better by the Great War. She lives in a very small village in Serbia with her father and two sisters. Her father is very strict and traditional. He hates the Black Hand and considers them terrorists that only want to cause more chaos and unnecessary change. Andjela’s father refuses to allow her to receive an education or to even desire one. Andjela dreams big: of being a writer, a doctor, or even a government official, but instead she is forced to cook, clean, and care for her two younger sisters, Senka and Natasa. Andjela’s mother died of childbirth and Andjela must take her mother’s place as the housewife of the family, a position that she absolutely despises. Although she loves her sisters dearly, she cannot help but imagine her life had she been a man and able to work real jobs.

Fortunately for Andjela, her father is forced to fight in the war, leaving Andjela with the freedom she has always desired. She writes in her diary about the jobs that are now becoming available to her as more and more men are drafted into the army. However, she still must care for her sisters and this proves to be a great challenge. She loves her sisters both, but she wants desperately to achieve her dreams.

Sources:

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Wfirst.htm

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/womenww1_six.htm

http://www.firstworldwar.com/features/haverfield_07.htm

Meet Igor the Angered Russian

For my Nationalism/Great War I have decided to write a diary of a disgruntled Russian citizen named Igor. Igor is inherently grumpy, but becomes especially steamed when the Russian Government fails to satisfy him. He is not very fond of the Tsar, often mocking his "divine right". Igor hailed from Pokrovskoye, the same Russian village that Rasputin had lived in before he was adopted by the royal family. Igor rejoices in the assassination of Rasputin because he believed that Rasputin was a fraud and his rise to power only led him to lose faith in the Tsar. He recognized that Russia was instrumental in starting World War One because of its religious ties to Serbia. He was ecstatic when the Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the bolshevik party and actually fought in a militia for the Bolshevik party in the Bolshevik Revolution

Meet Emilie Rocher

Bon soir. My name is Emilie Rocher. I'm 17 years old and I live in a small town just outside of Paris thats too small to even be recognized by most maps. Everyone in town knows each other. All my life I've lived next to Luc Aldridge and we've been best friends since we were little. Everyone said we were going to be married, but that was before the war. Luc got sent away just after the Germans invaded...there wasn't even time to say goodbye. I don't know where he is or how he's doing but I like to write him letters just so he knows that I love him. I write him once a week. I haven't gotten a response yet, but I know he's ok....isn't he?

Serbia During World War 1

Meet Lina! Lina is a 6 year old girl living in Serbia with her mother, grandmother and two older brothers. Her father was a part of the Black Hand, the movement that assassinated Franz Ferdinand, but was killed a month before the event actually took place. In my project, Lina will write a series of letters to her father telling him what's going on in their every day family life. Her oldest brother has gone off to war and her whole famliy is scrambling to try and help the war effort. Lina's mother, Annalise, volunteers for a Women's Hospital and spends most of her time away from home. Because of this, Lina is left with a lot of time alone to miss her father and worry about her brother's involvement in the Serbian army. Her other brother is desperate to prove himself and proceeds to get involved with some less than honorable friends, which adds to her concern. This is the story of a young girl trying to deal with the many traumas inflicted by war.

Historical Fiction

Meet Hannah Holden, age 12 in 1918. Her story is set in the "home front" of England, where she, her two sisters ages 8 and 15, her brother, age 14, and her mother struggle to make it through the outbreak of the "Spanish influenza." Her father is fighting in the trenches in France, where the pandemic is also taking countless lives. Hannah's story is told through a compilation of her own diary entries and her father's letters home.
Hannah's father, Jonathon, leaves his family to fight in late spring 1819, just after the spread of the three-day fever, a version of what was later called Spanish influenza that was only slightly less benign as a bad cold. Jonathon , along with several of Hannah's other family members, had caught the three-day fever and recovered. However, not long after Jonathon goes to war, the strain of flu mutates into a far more dangerous form that ends up infecting 1/5 of the world and killing more than world war one itself.
Jonathon blames the war and all countries involved, England included, for the wide-spread devastation of the influenza. Meanwhile, back home, Hannah tries to push past the struggles within and outside the family created by the flu, in order to aid her country on the "home front."

I will most likely have to scale this back some.

Sources I have used so far: (for general research)

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/flu-how-britain-coped-in-the-1918-epidemic-511987.html

http://www.vlib.us/medical/parsons.htm

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/influenza/introduction

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWinfluenzia.htm

Meet Vladimir Ivanov: Russian Bartender

Meet Vladimir Ivanov, a Russian bartender who works and lives in Moscow. He is very tough in appearance, yet worrisome and somewhat emotionally destructed from the war, considering he was a soldier on the Eastern Front until he became injured and was sent back to Moscow. Therefore, through his bar interactions and his observations of the happenings in the Tsarist monarchy, he elaborates on the war and the Russian revolution, his position in society, the struggles he faces due to the war, and reflects on his experience in the battlefield. He is somewhat conservative, such that he generally supports the Tsar and royal rule. As the Tsar regime starts to deteriorate, he shares his sadness and loss of faith in the Russian population as new powers and political philosophies begin to skyrocket.

Warfare in the Eastern Front was brutal for Russian soldiers due to lack of advancement in military technology and infrastructure. Russia also had to balance its own revolution with the conflict of WWI, making the battle on the Eastern front a very tough fight. Eventually, Russian troops withdrew from the battle to attend to their own revolution. Therefore, the Russians' role on the Eastern Front resulted as incomplete, not to mention losing tens of thousands of troops in the chaotic violence. Germany's weaponry was extremely advanced, causing devastating losses to Russia. Tear/chlorine gas and the "stalemate" of the Eastern Front will forever haunt our narrator Vladimir.

Being an ex-soldier and a moderate believer in preservation of the traditional monarchy, Vladimir will also comment on the circumstances of Tsar Nicholas II's status, power, popularity, and safety. However, the presence of Rasputin in Russia's monarchy disturbs Vladimir, especially alleged interactions between Rasputin and the queen. Nicholas II's popularity the Russian Revolution slowly fell as generals and advisors plotted to remove him from power due to lack in leadership skills. Although Nicholas II had good intentions, he simply did not own the skills to be a great Tsar. This principle disturbs our friend Vladimir - the Tsar is a nice person and means well, yet people continue to wish violence against him. HOwever, Vladimir will start to see the effects of the absence leadership on the Russian population, complicating his views and provoking deep thought as to whether he supports the Tsar or not. It remains, however, that his morals are powerful in his mind, sometimes exceeding that of his logical thinking.

My Character

My name is Hans Kaiser. I am a german soldier, who is constantly demanded in a new region. In the past two months, Germany has declared war on so many countries, we cannot even keep track of where we must have our troops, and when we must have them there. I only have recently become a member of the army. The military experience so far is nothing like what I've heard. I have yet to see any trauma, as I am constantly dealing with the chaos and disorganization through my country. Being a quiet man, I have not developed any relationships with other people serving in the military with me. Because I left my parents when I was only 14, the only true relationship that I am a part of is my friend Gerald Meyer, who is at home right now not serving anything. I know that he is not being effected by the war, and I doubt he even remembers that I am gone.

Bogdana Demidov

Hello. My name is Bogdana Demidov, and I am 28 years old. I have two children, Valeriya, age 5, and Vladislav, age 3. My husband, Gennady, is also 28, and is in the Russian army. I live in Puchezh, Russia. I am against the tzar, and am a socialist. I am very close to my sister Antonina, who is a prostitute. My husband is currently fighting in the Great War. I write him letters telling him news of the children and myself, rumors I've heard about the war, and other events. I have only gotten one responding letter from him, but I assume he's so busy in battle that he does not have the time to write home. Or that it is not safe to send letters in his current position. I hope to hear back from him soon.

Suffragettes

I first heard of the suffragettes when I was very little, from the movie Mary Poppins. At the time, I had no idea how violent the protest actually was, but I remember the imagery of a woman being carried of to prison striking me as an odd thing for Mrs. Banks to seem so happy about.
As we saw in the documentary, the Suffragettes were originally peaceful, but resorted to more violent means when ignored, such as breaking windows, and, more drastically, arson and bombing buildings of politicians.
As we saw in the video, imprisoned women on hunger strikes were force-fed, so as not to help their cause by creating pity when they died. However, we did not see the solution to this problem, which, while slightly conniving, was a very effective strategy against the protesters.
When the imprisoned Suffragettes went on hunger strike, the government did not attempt to feed them. Instead, they held them until they were very weak, when they would release them. If the women died after being released, it wasn't at the hands of the government, and if they survived, they were very weakened and unable to put up a large protest for a while. when they fully recovered and protested again, they would be returned to jail, and be weakened once more. While a little brutal, this method was very effective.
When the Great War started, the leaders of the Suffragettes asked the women to turn their attention to war efforts, because their country needed them. After the war, women were rewarded with some voting rights, because their leaders knew that all the women made obsolete byt he end of the war and thus their work would be more likely to join the Suffragettes, and the problem would spiral out of control. So, voting rights were given to women over thirty, with numerous other constrictions, to pacify the feminists. While it took a very long time, eventually the Suffragettes got what they asked for.

Suffragettes

Originally named from a Daily Mail newspaper, the Suffragettes were a militant group that stood for Women's rights and their suffrage in the United Kingdom. Although the name was meant to be a labeling of negative content, the name stuck and meant something positive for women around. Their efforts came from the lack of rights that were given to them, such as voting. Men around that time thought that the women's brain was too small to make such important decisions. Not only was it the common man on the streets but even scholars made arrogant remarks to women's livelihood.

The reason I picked this topic out of the ones that we looked at in class, was because it was something that was going on before World War 1. This topic might be overlooked constantly because in some eyes it may not seem as important. It was something different from the others thus raising my interest of the historic women's suffrage.

Kaiser Willhelm

After watching the video, I was interested in the early life of Kaiser Wilhelm's. I researched his early life to see why he might have been such a big part of starting World War I. As we learned in the video, Wilhelm was born with a damaged left arm. I think this was a large part of his behavior later in his life toward the great war. He was also brought up with a military like discipline. Wilhelm's mother, the daughter of queen Victoria, had an even bigger effect on him though. She instilled many disciplinary values into him. Although the relationship between them was bitter, she influenced him a lot for his future. He ruled with the same liberal values that his mother taught him.

Big 5 Alliances

What I found interesting in the video was how five nations, Germany, Russia, Britain, Austria-Hungary and France, all came to be known as the "Big Five" or the "Central Powers" I was curious how this happened and what it took for these countries to get this title. I was also interested in the different alliances these countries formed with others.

Watching the movie, it was obvious that the reason these countries got so much recognition and why they were so feared was simply because, as the name Central Powers implies, their wealth, economy and population was so large and also very stable before the war started that they were the most powerful. During the war, this meant that they were able to have a bigger, more powerful army. As Freddie's chart shows, these were the countries who had the most casualties, but also the most people in the war. They had large armies and unfortunately this meant more casualties, but not necessarily less power.

As for alliances, we learned in class today that Germany was aligned with Austria-Hungary, partly because they shared a border and the same language, but mostly because all the other countries in Europe rejected Germany because Germany was so power-hungry and violent. Because the "rule of alliances" is to form alliances with three, Germany and Austria-Hungary both sided with Italy, who was not very powerful or of major importance in the Great War, but made it so Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy could form the Triple Alliance.

England, France and Russia all banded together against the Triple Alliance as the Triple Entente. Although England and France had a history of disagreement, during this time period they were relatively on the same page. They both shared an Industrial Revolution, they liked to colonize, and they were also close to each other in geography. They sided with Russia because they all shared ideas in the Enlightenment and had gotten along relatively well. Also, all three nations agreed that Germany was too power-hungry and out of control to side with.

Based on this, we can see that alliances that formed shortly before the Great War were based off of geography and past-shared experiences. Once the Great War started, the fragile alliances were subject to change.

The Epsom Derby

The video we watched mentioned the Emily Davison and her death at the Epsom Derby. I thought this was an interesting bit of information, so I decided to look into it more. Emily Davidson was a very active and one of the more violent members of the Suffragettes. She'd had several arrests within the few years leading up to her death. This particular public statement was not meant to be a suicide mission. She'd been planning on raising the Suffragette flag on the King's horse so it would finish the race with the Suffragette colors. About a year or so before this happened she did try to commit suicide, but most people believe that this was not an attempt to kill herself because she'd had a train ticket and tickets for a Suffragette event later that day. Her actions not only killed her, but also permanantly injured the jockey that was riding the horse. Many people speculate that the jockey's suicide 40 years later was somehow caused by Emily Davidson's death. Davidson's death was highly publicized and used as a tool for the Suffragette's cause.

Great Britain's Navy's Influence

(picture from the movie "Master and Commander")

• Britain's lack of naval supremacy exposed b/c of imperialism, France and Russia involved
• Fighting over colonies in the Mediterranean between Britain, France and Russia (France and Russia = allies, worries Britain)
• French more innovative in naval guns technology, more important than #s
• Public support/propaganda for strengthening Britain's naval program leads to passing of Naval Defense Act in 1889
• Britain bolsters naval program, once again becomes world's most powerful navy
• Unwittingly causes endless naval race between Britain, France and Russia, which sours relations and helps cause WWI

I chose to research the power of Great Britain's navy during the 19th and early 20th century because I had always heard about the power of the famed and intimidating British navy, but didn't know much about it. Also, I'm not even sure if this was the British navy, but I was reminded of the cool movie "Master and Commander," which has a bunch of cool naval battles and is about the same time period.

I learned from Gale (search "Great Britain's navy" on a basic search on Gale's World Resource Center if the link doesn't work) that Britain's legendary navy wasn't as powerful as I thought they were. France was in serious competition with Britain for naval supremacy, and Britain's edge in number of ships was rendered useless by France's more advanced war ships.

Great Britain's lack of naval supremacy was exposed by the wave of imperialism that struck Europe. GB, France and Russia all wanted to colonize areas in the Mediterranean and Britain's lack of success not only made obvious their naval weakness, but unofficially made France and Russia allies. This was troublesome for GB because France was their greatest competitor.

Britain realized their fall from naval power, and drawing heavily on the propaganda of major naval figures and the general public's support, the British government passed the Naval Defense Act of 1889. This program once again made GB the world's naval superpower, but at what cost (besides fiscal, of course)? They unwittingly set into motion a never ending race between France, Russia and themselves for naval supremacy that no country could win. Britain's initial naval program also soured relations between the countries and each country's individual programs led to the Great War.

Wilfred Owen

After watching the documentary today in class, I decided to do research on who Wilfred Owen was. He was briefly mentioned in the beginning of the documentary and he was portrayed as an important figure which left me curious as to why he was recognized.What I found was interesting. Most importantly I found that he was a famous war poet who was known for the solemn tone in his poetry. He joined the army at a young age and experienced two traumatizing events. In an explosion he was blown high in the air and landed in the guts of his fellow officers, the second traumatizing experience was being trapped in a German dugout for 8 straight days. After the explosion incident, he was sent to a hospital were he befriended a poet by the name of Siegfied Sassoon who inspired him to write poetry. After a quick stint as a teacher, he reenlisted in the army and led many successful assaults. During his second time in the army he wrote most of his famous poetry. Unfortunately he died in the last week of World War 1.

"The Great War:" Casualties

According to the documentary "The Great War," 9 million people were killed in total during the war. After researching this statistic even further, I discovered which countries suffered the most casualties and which lost minimal amounts. Casualty statistics are shown on the table at the bottom.

I chose to research this simple piece of information because it reveals which countries were mot involved in the the war - the key players. Evidently, the key players in The Great War were Russia, England, France, Germany, and Austria-Hungary. The countries who invest the most soldiers in a war are generally the powers who are most involved. Therefore, this statistic enhances our understanding of the main powers during WWI.

Country	Total Mobilized Forces	Killed	Wounded	Prisoners and Missing	Total Casualties	Casualties as % of Forces
ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
Russia	12,000,000	1,700,000	4,950,000	2,500,000	9,150,000	76.3
British Empire	8,904,467	908,371	2,090,212	191,652	3,190,235	35.8
France	8,410,000	1,357,800	4,266,000	537,000	6,160,800	73.3
Italy	5,615,000	650,000	947,000	600,000	2,197,000	39.1
United States	4,355,000	116,516	204,002	4,500	323,018	7.1
Japan	800,000	300	907	3	1,210	0.2
Romania	750,000	335,706	120,000	80,000	535,706	71.4
Serbia	707,343	45,000	133,148	152,958	331,106	46.8
Belgium	267,000	13,716	44,686	34,659	93,061	34.9
Greece	230,000	5,000	21,000	1,000	27,000	11.7
Portugal	100,000	7,222	13,751	12,318	33,291	33.3
Montenegro	50,000	3,000	10,000	7,000	20,000	40.0
TOTAL	42,188,810	5,142,631	12,800,706	4,121,090	22,062,427	52.3
ALLIED AND ASSOCIATED POWERS
Germany	11,000,000	1,773,700	4,216,058	1,152,800	7,142,558	64.9
Austria-Hungary	7,800,000	1,200,000	3,620,000	2,200,000	7,020,000	90.0
Turkey	2,850,000	325,000	400,000	250,000	975,000	34.2
Bulgaria	1,200,000	87,500	152,390	27,029	266,919	22.2
TOTAL	22,850,000	3,386,200	8,388,448	3,629,829	15,404,477	67.4
GRAND TOTAL	65,038,810	8,528,831	21,189,154	7,750,919	37,466,904	57.5

Wilfred Owen

The beginning of the documentary featured a brief discussion and a quotation from Wilfred Owen. The reason Wilfred Owen was mentioned in the documentary is because he was a famous poet during World War I. He wrote many poems about the war and war itself. He wrote his poetry from his experiences in battle. He served in the army for many years and had many significant experiences to write about. After an injury after his first time serving in the army, he met a man named Siegfield Sassoon, who ended up inspiring his poetry. Upon his recovery, he went back into the army and during his time serving, he wrote many noteworthy poems. He was a hero because of his performance in battle as well as his elegant writing that he left behind.

Kaiser Wilhelm's Childhood

I was really interested in Kaiser Wilhelm's life as a child because it seemed like he had his share of hardships, and you have to wonder how much of an effect these events affected his mind as the leader of a country.

From birth Kaiser Wilhelm was forced to live with a debilitated left arm in a time when physical appearance was extremely important. His mother would never hesitate in expressing her disappointment with her son's unnatural arm. Because he felt like his mother despised him, they grew separate. As we saw in the video, his strict tutor forced him to continue to learn to ride horseback for himself, even as he saw him fall off every time. Eventually, his mother's dominance over his father caused Wilhelm to reject bother of them and remain distant once he left for college. There, he was much happier. "I found my family, friends, interests - everything in my life that I had been deprived of." This illustrates Wilhelm's satisfaction with his adult life but also the bitterness he felt towards his childhood. His days at his grandmother's representation of a battlefield led into his desire to join the army as a young man, in spite of (or possibly because of) his left arm. However, he was described as rude, unstable, insensitive, and self-centered, determined to have his own way. In addition, many noted his belligerence and violent attitude.

Looking at his childhood, many trends can be found, and his tendencies carried over into his political life. His political actions were often viewed as extremely shallow and his policies just as inconsistent. Wilhelm's playing "war," his time in the army, and his naturally violent disposition shone through in his leadership. He wanted to build a navy to rival that of the British, and he antagonized neighboring powers with his bellicose decisions. Wilhelm constantly felt unappreciated as a child, so he needed to assert himself, and he was forced to learn the hard way, through trial and error. This proved to foster a somewhat incompetent leader whose militaristic decisions may have set the country back.

Wilfred Owen

Greater Love Red lips are not so red As the stained stones kissed by the English dead. Kindness of wooed and wooer Seems shame to their love pure. O Love, your eyes lose lure When I behold eyes blinded in my stead! Your slender attitude Trembles not exquisite like limbs knife-skewed, Rolling and rolling there Where God seems not to care: Till the fierce love they bear Cramps them in death’s extreme decrepitude. Your voice sings not so soft,— Though even as wind murmuring through raftered loft,— Your dear voice is not dear, Gentle, and evening clear, As theirs whom none now hear, Now earth has stopped their piteous mouths that coughed. Heart, you were never hot Nor large, nor full like hearts made great with shot; And though your hand be pale, Paler are all which trail Your cross through flame and hail: Weep, you may weep, for you may touch them not. Wilfred Owen

I honestly chose to research Wilfred Owen because I liked his name. I remember from the film that he was a poet, so I was interested in reading some of his works. The first one I read was called "Greater Love." Usually, I'm not that interested in poetry. However, I was blown away by this poem. It contains such power and strength that I was immediately absorbed. As I looked among his other poems, I was surprised that all of his poems contain the same energy and strength as "Greater Love." I am amazed at how he masters such a commanding presence of power in his writing.

Wilfred Owen was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, England in 1893. He attended the Birkenhead Institute, then the University of London. After graduation, he lived in France, and began writing simple poems. He enlisted in the British army in 1915. His experiences in trench warfare caused him to write poems about deeper and more mature material, mainly about the war. He was injured and sent home to a hospital in 1917, where he met a fellow poet named Siegfried Sassoon. Sassoon confided his feelings about to war to Owen, and discussed Owen's poetry with him, making a huge change in Owen's style. In 1918, Owen returned to France as a company commander. He was killed on November 4, 1918, one week before Armistice Day and the end of the war. His poems were later published by Sassoon.

Understanding Otto and the German Empire

During the documentary we heard a small section on former leaders who had influenced Germany, none of whom I had heard of; I realized that I don't really know a whole lot about German history in general. So, for tonight's research, I looked into German history through Otto von Bismarck.
Otto von Bismarck was born in 1815 and died in 1898. In his early career, he was sent as an ambassador to France where he worked for some eleven years. Through the Parisian lifestyle he gained new ideas on government, changing him from a conservative member of the elite to a slightly more liberal nobleman who acknowledged the importance and usefulness of a burgeoning middle class. In 1862, Bismarck was called back to Prussia where he was named Prime Minister by the conservative King William I. The king acted desperately, for he needed support in the expansion of the military to which the parliamentary houses were strongly opposed. Bismarck assisted his King in this case, later saying that "blood and iron" would resolve Prussia's future disputes. As it was, this was more of a liberal statement, showing that Bismarck intended the army for national unification and battle against an enemy, as opposed to the suppression of the German people. Nonetheless, Parliament officially rejected Otto in 1863, voting not to deal any longer with the chosen prime minister. Little did they know that his decisions in the next ten years would mark him as a national hero.
When trouble brewed in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein between the Danes and the Germans, Bismarck allied Prussia with Austria in a war with Denmark. The pair won in 1865 and split the winnings - Prussia took Schleswig and Austria took Holstein. Otto then turned on his allies in 1866, marching the Prussian army on Austria. Within six weeks the Austrians were reduced to a secondary power within Germany. Prussia now had dominance. In the treaty to end continued conflict, Prussia annexed all cities that had participated in the effort to stop the Prussian troops.
These two wars had brought the separate states of Germany closer together, nationalism rising somewhat when the country was given a common goal. Bismarck attempted to use this advantage to bring all of Germany together under a single emperor and parliament. His endeavors to bring about unification failed, however, and he was left to think of how to further bring together the German people. A third war was in order. When, in 1869, the Spanish throne was offered to the king's cousin, he was given an opportunity to create one. Napoleon III took the Spanish offer badly, as an attempt to surround France and decrease its power. He sent an ambassador to kindly request that the king's cousin refuse the offer, an appeal that the latter agreed too. When the ambassador was sent a second time, asking that such an offer never be accepted in future, the king's cousin was not so cooperative. Bismarck took his chance, obtaining an account of the exchange and altering it slightly such that both Germany and France could take offense. The conversation was then made public. Furious at Germany's impudence, France declared war in 1870. A year later, the German Empire (including only as many states as could be allowed while maintaining an authoritarian government) was created. France was defeated and the new empire annexed the French provinces of Lorraine and Alsace, both of which were home to a considerable number of German speakers. Bismarck had achieved his prize of German unification, along with the added benefits of being the prime minister of Prussia and the first chancellor of the German empire.
The documentary stated that Otto von Bismark was the creator of a 20-year-long peace in Germany. Evidently, this referred only to the years following the creation of the German Empire by his hands.

World War One Technology

I became interested in technology during the first world war because of the huge effects it had on society. I wanted to investigate further into the new inventions of the time to understand more fully:

1. Why world war 1 was a time of such great technological improvements and 

2. What were some of these changes and why were they so important? 

World War One saw many huge "improvements" in weapons and technology. New inventions and discoveries such as gas, planes, machine guns and tanks took the concept of war to a whole new level. Wars had been traditionally fought on foot by soldiers armed with swords or guns. But with the invention and development of planes and advanced battle ships, fights took place on air, land and sea. Airplanes especially broke the concept of being bound to the Earth, and changed the way many people viewed possibility. They saw that the opportunities associated with technology were enormous, and traditional boundaries had to be changed or eliminated completely. With the discovery of poisonous gas came another new battle strategy. Doctors could not find a cure for the slow, painful death associated with these toxins and so many soldiers died without ever seeing any fighting. Another new innovation was a more effective rifle, and a gun that would shoot through the rotating propeller blades of a plane.  These changes and inventions all took place very quickly, and so new war strategies were constantly being developed and adapted, along with the general need for social change they initiated. 

Suffragettes

I chose to research suffragettes because they believed in the equality of the common person. It is only appropriate that I write about people wanting equality during the week of remembering Martin Luther King. The suffragettes wanted equal rights and to be able to do the basic things that all men could do politically, such as vote. They were thought to not have the brain capacity to vote and would make bad decisions that will affect the country in a negative way. "Suffrage" means the right to vote, which is what women wanted. They first believed in peaceful protest and felt that any violence would persuade men that women couldn't be trusted to have the common rights. Millicent Fawcett, the woman who founded the National Union of Women's Suffrage, argued for the rights of women. She planned to have patient and logical arguments saying that women could hold responsible posts in society such as teaching children the proper education, but couldn't be trusted to vote. Since women had to pay taxes just like men, they should have the same rights as men. One of her most powerful arguments was that wealthy mistresses of large manors employed gardeners, workmen, and labourers who could vote, but the women who did the employing could not. Regardless of their wealth, they still couldn't vote. Her process was very slow and most men in the Parliament believed that women would not understand how the Parliament worked, so they should not take part in the elections. The suffragettes started very peacefully, but in 1905 two women interrupted a political meeting to ask two politicians if they believed women should have the right to vote. Both politicians didn't reply and both women were thrown out fo the meeting and arrested. They were arrested for causing an obstructon and a technical assault on a police officer. Some women were eventually thrown into jail for burning down churches and for breaking all the windows on a street. Suffragettes refused to eat when they were thrown in prison and went on a hunger strike. The government didn't want the women to die in prison the government would be responsible for their deaths. The prison governors force fed Suffragettes, which caused even more contreversy. The government decided to use the Cat and Mouse Act, where they would let the women go on a hunger strike and when they were extremely weak, they would release them from prison. If they died from hunger out of prison, the government would not be blamed for it and if they survived, they were too weak to protest. If some of them started eating again, then the officials would arrest them again using the most trivial of reason and the whole process would start over again. This process was a very simple but effective weapon against the Suffragettes because they would slowly wear out the Suffragettes. The result was the Suffragettes becoming more extreme. The most memorable act was when a woman threw herself in front of the King's horse during a race. She was killed and the Suffragettes had their first martyr. But when Britain and Europe started World War One, the Suffragettes stopped the violence and supported the government and its war effort. Four years after the World War started, 1918, the Parliament passed the Representation of the People Act, which let women vote. They decided to let them vote because the work done by women in the war was vital for the Britain's war effort. Because of the World War, the women received their right to vote in Britain.

Nationalism Defined

Nationalism is not a definition that is set in stone. It molds itself to fit the circumstances of the times. Nationalism can be a force for positive change and can also be a tool for destruction. There were countries that were helped by nationalism, and empires that eroded because of it. Perspective matters a lot in nationalism, where one country is helped another is hindered.

That being said nationalism is nothing more and nothing less than unification in a new type of government, technology, ethnicity, religion, it could be anything. Nationalism is just a bunch of people in a country/state/empire that share a common goal.

Whether or not that goal is beneficial or detrimental to the country is different, and some people may have different opinions on nationalism's effects.

The Ottoman and Chinese empires are examples of where the disadvantages of nationalism were shown. The nationalist idea was the Young Turks banding together to form a new state based upon Turkish ethnicity. There were also many other burgeoning nationalist movements taking place as small countries began to be formed in the Mediterranean part of Europe. Along with financial dependence on Europe and Islam holding back progression nationalism caused the Ottoman empire to split.

In the case of Japan, the general population's unification behind the government's efforts of modernization helped Japan to become an economic powerhouse. The people realized without the technology Europe had Japan would quickly become an obsolete country.

Nationalism is only successful when the majority of the population of a country/empire is united. When there are multiple nationalist movements, or when not everyone is unified, nationalism brings down a country.

Nationalism: a Definintion

Nationalism:

the force that binds a group of people together in a nation. It happens when a group of people within a nation have an overwhelming sense of pride in themselves, what the believe in, and or their country. It can sometimes be a positive force for change, as in Japan when the Japanese sense of nationalism helped them become a strong power in the world. When a country believes that they are the best, they will do everything in their power to show this. Most of the time this need to prove themselves put countries on the right track to making themselves better or maybe even taking over other countries, as we saw with imperialism. Nationalism can also be a destructive force, as with the Ottoman empire. Nationalism only works when the entire country bands together as one, and not just a group of people coming together to separate themselves. When the Turks came together in the Ottoman empire, it helped take down the rest of the empire eventually because they no longer identified themselves as an Islamic state as they had for so long. Though nationalism can be used to take over other countries through making them believe that your ideas are better, it should be pure sense of pride to begin with.

Nationalism

Nationalism is the sense of union, pride, and capability that is experienced between people with a shared background or experience, and empowers them to act.
This was very clear in the French Revolution, when many soldiers were sent out to battle, only knowing they were fighting for their country, and that was enough. One of our primary documents was a letter from a soldier to his mother how proud he was to be a part of France. He was perfectly willing to die for France, simply because of the sense of unification and purpose that nationalism provided for him.
In our unit on colonization, leaders of Europeans manipulated nationalism to create more faith in their own countries. By conquering lesser countries, the leaders were able to convince their citizens of the legitimacy of their power, which united the countries within and prompted them to conquer even more countries, benefiting their homeland.
During the Qing dynasty, restrictions on dress would have hidden the differences between conquered and conquerors, making it more difficult for unhappy citizens used to the old regime to acknowledge their shared past and organize as a group. The more similar the conquered were to the conquerors, the harder it was for them to have a sense of nationalism separate from that of the invaders, and the less trouble they could cause.
In short, nationalism is the force behind the actions of a nation. If that logic isn't to circular, that is

What Is Nationalism?

Nationalism: Is a man made effort to create a sense of pride and unity for a group of people related to each other.
Nationalism is both good and bad depending on who you ask. Throughout history, the development of nationalism by one country has always ended in another countries misfortune. For example, after Egypt brewed a strong sense of nationalism after being invaded by European countries, it decided to revolt against the ottoman empire. The sense of nationalism inspired Egypt to revolt against their former leaders. Nationalism can only be successful in small amounts. Nationalism cannot be stretched thin across an empire, it can only be retained in concentrated areas. The ottoman empires demise is evidence that nationalism cannot exist across such a vast territory. Our risk game also illustrates nationalism's boundaries; if you stretch your empire too thin, you will lose nationalism.

Nationalism

Nationalism is a unifying movement in which a group of people identify with each other under a common culture, sense of pride, or set of beliefs. While not a definitive standard of nationalism, in the majority of the cases we've studied, nationalism has come about as a response to a threat that the people of a nation collectively unite against.

In the French Revolution, the indigent French population was severely underrepresented in government, and the higher classes could dictate their own conditions of life. The belief that all men should be treated equally - which came about as a result of the high class' abuse - spread through the population of the third estate. This idea united them and brought them to sign their own constitution and create a new France. In Meiji-era Japan, the Japanese were threatened by the rise of western, industrial power. Because they didn't want to be swallowed up by the West like other nations had, the Japanese depended on their nationalistic pride to reform the government. In the Meiji Restoration, Japan's belief that it could catch up with the Western world pushed them to do just that, industrializing themselves and assimilation Western custom in a fraction of the time it took Europe. In China, a movement against the culture of the Manchu prompted the Taiping Rebellion. People were convinced that the Manchu were enemies and invaders, and this idea joined them under a purpose.

Nationalism

Nationalism is a concious attempt to create a unified sense of pride in a country and/or group of people. It can bring small, insignificant countries to power as with Japan or bring large empires down, as with the Ottomans. It may be tempting to say that the success of nationalism is based solely on the size of area it covers, bit it is not. It's success is based off it's unification. If a country is has a lot of nationalism, but it's not for the country as a whole, it will inevitably be brought down and nationalism would be it's destroying force. It is similar to what happened in France during the French Revolution. The Third Estate became nationalistic and unified. France as a whole was ripped apart and it's social structure remade, but the Third Estate remained strong until it fell to corruption. The provincial leaders of the Ottomans were very similar. The Ottoman Empire as a whole died out because it was not unified, but the provincial leaders remained strong because they had an easier time of keeping their smaller territories together and tightly knit.

What is Nationalism

Nationalism is when a politically separated land mass has people who has pride in each other and is united instead of governed by an almighty ruler. Our studies throughout the year showed that nationalism has many similarities and differences compared to Imperialism. A nation or country that has nationalism is more of a democracy and united country rather than an empire. Two countries that are examples of a nationalized country compared to a country that was imperialized is France and the Ottoman Empire. The French had more nationalism than the Ottomans because they governed themselves after the French Revolution occurred and the Ottomans were ruled by a sultan, a single person in control of the entire empire. Some people say that nationalism is a tool for conflict and destruction. Some people say that nationalism is a force for positive change. It mostly depends on the person's examples of countries that has experienced "nationalism". People who look at nationalism as a tool for destruction may relate it to imperialism and how "nationalism" is just a lighter term for imperialism. When the people of a country want to make their nation stronger than all the others, they want to conquer more land and govern over a larger amount of people. This makes their nation stronger, but at the same time the leaders of the country are ruling people who disagree with their values and ways of ruling. With people in a nation who have rebellious feelings, there are chances of rebellion that will ruin the country from the inside out. An example of nationalism being a force for positive change is when the French had their Revolution and turned France into more of a democracy other than a monarchy. Since France was being ruled by unfair monarchs, the people of France couldn't take being unfairly treated, so they rebelled and were eventually able to take over the government. This resulted in a democracy and a better life for the people of France in the future. In closing, nationalism aids to unite the people of a country and makes the nation a better place to live for its people.

What is Nationalism?!

Nationalism is the conscious effort to unify a group of people who all share a common goal of achieving positive change and national pride. If these things are true in a country, a country with a lot of nationalism will be more or less successful.

The key terms in this definition are "conscious effort" and a "common goal." Many instances of what could have been a successful nationalistic country did not have one or both of these things. China, for example, had a lot of national pride and consciously tried to unify people, but they did not have a common goal. The common goal of Europe was to spread their culture and what they considered to be the best ideas. Europe was a successful nationalistic country because they tried to unify their people under one goal. Their goal of colonialism helped them succeed in creating a positive change.

The Ottomans are another example of what could have been a successful country, but wasn't because there was no conscious effort to unify it's people. In a successful country, there is one main group in power and all the people are followers of that one leader. In the Ottoman empire however, there were many different groups all trying to lead at the same time, such as the Young Ottomans, Abd a-Hamid, and the Young Turks. This did not make for a very unified empire because nobody knew exactly who to follow.

Coming Together

Nationalism - (n.)
1. a feeling of pride in the nation of which one is a part, often leading to competition and conflict: Budding nationalism in England and France caused a rivalry between the two countries that resulted in a game of land-grabbing where each attempted to colonize as many "savage" lands as possible - the people of each country desired to feel superior to the other through highest amount of amassed land.
2. a unifying force that brings people of varying history and ethnicity together under a common purpose: Nationalism in the United States is supported by the idea of independence and freedom from discrimination - this idea allows people from all walks of life to find a connection. OR Nationalism during the French Revolution brought together members of the first and third estate; together they created a representative government ruled by the people rather than by a monarch.
3. the arrogant waving around of a flag (or one's own pride) to exhibit unity or superiority in unity: Nationalism in China can be seen in Qian Long's letter to George III of Britain where he describes the distinctions between the "Celestial Empire" and "the lonely remoteness of your island" - China obviously felt itself to be the best and most important country in the world.
4. an impetus for changes that are perceived to be positive by those that enact them: The Haitian Revolution, pushed forward by Nationalism, united the slaves in their desire to be free of the french (even though it left them in the end with an unstable economy).
5. the destruction of an empire: Nationalism restricted by land boundaries caused the downfall of the Ottoman Empire - there was no longer pride in the whole Islamic Nation, but rather only in the land nations themselves (Turkey, Egypt, etc.)