I've just discovered your substack — and think I'm going to enjoy it very very much indeed. You write beautifullyabout topics that are challenging to put into words. Thank you!
Thank you Lucy, this means a lot to me to hear! I've just followed your substack too and looking forward to learning more about the art scene in Istanbul.
Thanks Victoria, I haven't watched the film but it put me in mind of my recent MA dissertation, which was based around the WW1 nursing memoirs of Mary Borden and the way she wrote about the mutilation of male soldiers. Shocking enough to research; not sure if I can brave a film.
Look forward to checking out your new podcast! Good luck with it : )
Thanks - it was fascinating to research. I would love to look at publishing it at some point, as well as possibly working on more research in the same area.
Let me know if you do, I’d love to read it. I’m currently reading Lucy Worsley’s biog of Agatha Christie, who was a nurse in England during WWI - she was dealing with the injured soldiers who had to be returned home to convalesce.
I saw this film on Netflix last week too. I could barely get through it but I forced myself to. It's interesting that it's from the perspective of the Germans, who in Western historiography have been painted as the baddies in WWI. They invaded Belgium in 1914 so they were the aggressors, just like Russia is now. This film moves away from who's to blame though, which I think is really interesting. It's just simply about the dehumanising impact of war on those who are in it. Thanks for the intro to Don McCullin, I didn't know his photography. I've just clicked on his website. Amazing work.
The country that started the War in 1914 was Serbia; not Imperial Germany; Serbian terrorists murdered HIRH the Archduke Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este and his wife Sophie Duchess von Hohenberg. Even the Russian military attaché was involved in the plot for this assassination. The German Emperor Wilhelm II was on vacations near Sweden in board of his yacht Hohenzollern. The Russians and French were allies since 1891, later the Triple Entente was completed by the British. As Pyotr Durnovo warned in his famous memorandum to his Sovereign Nicholas II, a general war in Europe and a no natural alliance between the Russian Empire, the Masonic French Republic deeply anti Christian and anti Monarchist was going to end in the destruction of the European balance of power and revolutions from Russia to Vienna and Berlin, which it was the result of the war. Even he went further Durnovo prevent that a general war means the destruction of the Century of European and International peace organized by Metternich, Talleyrand, the Emperor Alexander I, Lord Castlereagh and the rest of the European powers after the defeat of Bonaparte in Waterloo. The German Empire was not the aggressor, were the Pan Slavic Russians that used Serbia as a vassal state plus the French Republican government, especially people like Georges Clemenceau, Raymond Poincaré and the rest of the new Jacobin mob from Paris
Yes it's an interesting perspective. There are so many parallels with the Russia-Ukraine war. I read recently that Russian conscripts are finding objects in the pockets of their uniforms from soldiers who have previously worn them.
Je ne suis pas d’accord avec vous Madame Powell; avant écrire des bêtises, vous doit lire et etudier plus de l’histoire de cette épouvantable guerre de 1914/18. C’est claire comme l’eau que vous ne connais rien de rien
Thanks for your thoughts. My article was about the horrors of war and how the news media nowadays does not present the realities in a way that we can’t ignore. And how important politics is in preventing such meaningless carnage. It wasn’t about who was to blame for starting WWI.
Understood. Nevertheless your comment blaming the German Empire and obviously the Habsburg Dual Monarchy doesn’t have a real historic fundament. The invasion of Belgium was not premeditated at all. Brussels had secret agreement with Paris and London allowing troops of both countries to attack Germany from the South West. The English government in London wanted a quick and successful war, smashing the German army and navy. Even Sir George Buchanan the Foreign Office Ambassador in St Petersburg with his French colleague Maurice Paléologue, did the best efforts to neutralize de pro German and pro Austrian lobbies in Russia, like Count Serge Witte, Prince Aleksandr Vassyltchikov, Prince Pyotr Durnovo who were completely opposed to a War with the central monarchies, their natural allies until 1889 and very much opposed to an alliance with a Socialist republic in Paris and a well known anti Russian or Russia’s Monarchy all masons government in London. The Russian pan Slavic movement (the same that supports Vladimir Putin, hated Germany and the Habsburg monarchy, funny the Russian liberals had the same position against the Germans and the Habsburgs. In spite that both empires were constitutional monarchies; there was a balance of power in Berlin, Vienna and Budapest. The problem was with Berlin were the military had a tremendous influence in all fields, including foreign policy. The German Ambassador to St Petersburg the Count Alfred de Pourtalés was from the liberal faction of the Wilhelmstrasse (the seat of the Minister of Foreign Affaires). The brutal assassination of the Austrian Heir to the Thrones Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Czech wife Sophia Duchess of Hohenberg, née Countess Chotek von Chotkva und Wognin, killed by Serbian nationalist was organized in St Petersburg and Paris. The Russian nationalist and Pan Slavics plus the French left both were in the same plot; to provoke a general war in Europe and the destruction of the Central Empires their enemies (you must read Professor Sir Edward Crankshaw “The Fall of the House of Habsburg”, which U studied when I was in Leeds for me master degree in Modern European History after my graduation from Fletcher and Harvard in the USA. What I find that many people give an opinion ignoring completely the background of the events that allowed Europe to fall in two wars just in the XX Century
The book was assigned reading when I was in high school (in the 60s) and I vaguely recall seeing a film of that name too. Is the film a remake of a previous All Quiet?
This is a German film; the previous one was British or English with some French actors. You should remember that the great writer Erich Maria Remarque was a German from Alsace, with lots of French ancestors. Through his mother was related to the Ambassador at the Russian court the Count de Pourtalés. Whose Protestant ancestors left France, when King Louis XIV, decided to revoke the Edict de Nantes, which allowed the French Lutherans and Calvinist to stay in France. Was an edict from the King Sun grandfather Henri IV formerly a Protestant converted to Catholicism, which allowed him to be the Very Christian King of France and Navarre
I don't know how they do either. With great difficulty I imagine. I've heard Don McCullin talk about how he assisted people who needed help even though he wasn't here to do that, and how that eased his conscience. Sometimes he felt like a voyeur, it's a very fine moral line you tread as a war photographer taking shots of people who are dying or in desperate circumstances. The mental toll must be huge. The war photographer Jan Grarup has also talked about it in this really interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6cvF7-JHls
I remember reading about the photojournalist Lee Miller who reported on WW2 and apparently was so traumatised by the photographs she took that she hid many of them away in her attic to be found by her son after her death.
I've just discovered your substack — and think I'm going to enjoy it very very much indeed. You write beautifullyabout topics that are challenging to put into words. Thank you!
Thank you Lucy, this means a lot to me to hear! I've just followed your substack too and looking forward to learning more about the art scene in Istanbul.
Thanks Victoria, I haven't watched the film but it put me in mind of my recent MA dissertation, which was based around the WW1 nursing memoirs of Mary Borden and the way she wrote about the mutilation of male soldiers. Shocking enough to research; not sure if I can brave a film.
Look forward to checking out your new podcast! Good luck with it : )
Your MA dissertation sounds fascinating. Are you going to publish it?
Thanks - it was fascinating to research. I would love to look at publishing it at some point, as well as possibly working on more research in the same area.
Let me know if you do, I’d love to read it. I’m currently reading Lucy Worsley’s biog of Agatha Christie, who was a nurse in England during WWI - she was dealing with the injured soldiers who had to be returned home to convalesce.
Thanks Victoria, I will! I hadn't realised that about Agatha Christie, I will definitely check that out, thanks : )
I saw this film on Netflix last week too. I could barely get through it but I forced myself to. It's interesting that it's from the perspective of the Germans, who in Western historiography have been painted as the baddies in WWI. They invaded Belgium in 1914 so they were the aggressors, just like Russia is now. This film moves away from who's to blame though, which I think is really interesting. It's just simply about the dehumanising impact of war on those who are in it. Thanks for the intro to Don McCullin, I didn't know his photography. I've just clicked on his website. Amazing work.
The country that started the War in 1914 was Serbia; not Imperial Germany; Serbian terrorists murdered HIRH the Archduke Franz Ferdinand von Österreich-Este and his wife Sophie Duchess von Hohenberg. Even the Russian military attaché was involved in the plot for this assassination. The German Emperor Wilhelm II was on vacations near Sweden in board of his yacht Hohenzollern. The Russians and French were allies since 1891, later the Triple Entente was completed by the British. As Pyotr Durnovo warned in his famous memorandum to his Sovereign Nicholas II, a general war in Europe and a no natural alliance between the Russian Empire, the Masonic French Republic deeply anti Christian and anti Monarchist was going to end in the destruction of the European balance of power and revolutions from Russia to Vienna and Berlin, which it was the result of the war. Even he went further Durnovo prevent that a general war means the destruction of the Century of European and International peace organized by Metternich, Talleyrand, the Emperor Alexander I, Lord Castlereagh and the rest of the European powers after the defeat of Bonaparte in Waterloo. The German Empire was not the aggressor, were the Pan Slavic Russians that used Serbia as a vassal state plus the French Republican government, especially people like Georges Clemenceau, Raymond Poincaré and the rest of the new Jacobin mob from Paris
Yes it's an interesting perspective. There are so many parallels with the Russia-Ukraine war. I read recently that Russian conscripts are finding objects in the pockets of their uniforms from soldiers who have previously worn them.
Je ne suis pas d’accord avec vous Madame Powell; avant écrire des bêtises, vous doit lire et etudier plus de l’histoire de cette épouvantable guerre de 1914/18. C’est claire comme l’eau que vous ne connais rien de rien
Thanks for your thoughts. My article was about the horrors of war and how the news media nowadays does not present the realities in a way that we can’t ignore. And how important politics is in preventing such meaningless carnage. It wasn’t about who was to blame for starting WWI.
Understood. Nevertheless your comment blaming the German Empire and obviously the Habsburg Dual Monarchy doesn’t have a real historic fundament. The invasion of Belgium was not premeditated at all. Brussels had secret agreement with Paris and London allowing troops of both countries to attack Germany from the South West. The English government in London wanted a quick and successful war, smashing the German army and navy. Even Sir George Buchanan the Foreign Office Ambassador in St Petersburg with his French colleague Maurice Paléologue, did the best efforts to neutralize de pro German and pro Austrian lobbies in Russia, like Count Serge Witte, Prince Aleksandr Vassyltchikov, Prince Pyotr Durnovo who were completely opposed to a War with the central monarchies, their natural allies until 1889 and very much opposed to an alliance with a Socialist republic in Paris and a well known anti Russian or Russia’s Monarchy all masons government in London. The Russian pan Slavic movement (the same that supports Vladimir Putin, hated Germany and the Habsburg monarchy, funny the Russian liberals had the same position against the Germans and the Habsburgs. In spite that both empires were constitutional monarchies; there was a balance of power in Berlin, Vienna and Budapest. The problem was with Berlin were the military had a tremendous influence in all fields, including foreign policy. The German Ambassador to St Petersburg the Count Alfred de Pourtalés was from the liberal faction of the Wilhelmstrasse (the seat of the Minister of Foreign Affaires). The brutal assassination of the Austrian Heir to the Thrones Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his Czech wife Sophia Duchess of Hohenberg, née Countess Chotek von Chotkva und Wognin, killed by Serbian nationalist was organized in St Petersburg and Paris. The Russian nationalist and Pan Slavics plus the French left both were in the same plot; to provoke a general war in Europe and the destruction of the Central Empires their enemies (you must read Professor Sir Edward Crankshaw “The Fall of the House of Habsburg”, which U studied when I was in Leeds for me master degree in Modern European History after my graduation from Fletcher and Harvard in the USA. What I find that many people give an opinion ignoring completely the background of the events that allowed Europe to fall in two wars just in the XX Century
Let’s say that to the former KGB and CP assassin Vladimir Putin who already killed 80,000 Ukrainian civilians
The book was assigned reading when I was in high school (in the 60s) and I vaguely recall seeing a film of that name too. Is the film a remake of a previous All Quiet?
Yes I think there has been another film. I haven't seen it although now I'm intrigued to watch it to see how different it is.
This is a German film; the previous one was British or English with some French actors. You should remember that the great writer Erich Maria Remarque was a German from Alsace, with lots of French ancestors. Through his mother was related to the Ambassador at the Russian court the Count de Pourtalés. Whose Protestant ancestors left France, when King Louis XIV, decided to revoke the Edict de Nantes, which allowed the French Lutherans and Calvinist to stay in France. Was an edict from the King Sun grandfather Henri IV formerly a Protestant converted to Catholicism, which allowed him to be the Very Christian King of France and Navarre
I don't know how they do either. With great difficulty I imagine. I've heard Don McCullin talk about how he assisted people who needed help even though he wasn't here to do that, and how that eased his conscience. Sometimes he felt like a voyeur, it's a very fine moral line you tread as a war photographer taking shots of people who are dying or in desperate circumstances. The mental toll must be huge. The war photographer Jan Grarup has also talked about it in this really interesting video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6cvF7-JHls
I remember reading about the photojournalist Lee Miller who reported on WW2 and apparently was so traumatised by the photographs she took that she hid many of them away in her attic to be found by her son after her death.