The Great War 19141918

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The Great War (1914-1918)

• Trench Photos
• War Paintings
• Propaganda Posters
• Text (historical background) taken from
  www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone and
  www.firstworldwar.com

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Total War

• A new kind of war
• World War One was like no other war before in
  history. The main theatre of war, the Western
  Front, was deadlocked from a few months after the
  war's start in 1914 until a few months before its
  end in 1918, stretching in a continuous line of
  trenches from the English Channel to the Swiss
  frontier. By 1916 the forces of Germany, France
  and the British Empire, armies millions of men
  strong, measured advances in terms of a few miles
  (or kilometers) gained over several months.
  Casualties for each big attack or 'push' ran into
  hundreds of thousands on both sides, with
  calculations for victory based on national
  birth-rates to replace the losses. This was not
  the kind of war that anyone, including the
  politicians and generals who directed it, wanted
  to fight.
• What made World War One so different was the
  long-term impact of the Industrial Revolution,
  with its accompanying political and social
  changes. This was the first mass global war of
  the industrialized age, a demonstration of the
  prodigious strength, resilience and killing power
  of modern states. The war was also fought at a
  high point of patriotism and belief in the
  existing social hierarchy beliefs that the war
  itself helped destroy, and that the modern world
  finds very hard to understand.

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The Trenches

• The First World War was typified however by its
  lack of movement, the years of stalemate
  exemplified on the Western Front from autumn 1914
  until spring 1918. Once the trenches were dug,
  they were fought over, captured, abandoned, and
  retaken multiple times.
• In addition to worrying about being shot by a
  sniper or shelled, there were other, more
  immediate concerns for the soldiers, including
  rats, lice, frogs, Trench Fever, Trench Foot
  (serious fungal outbreaks), etc.
• Trenches were built/constructed differently
  depending on the landscape and available
  materials.
• The following photos are a very small sample of
  the massive visual data available on
  http//www.firstworldwar.com.

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French Grenadiers/ Trench Camouflage
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Trench Clearing/ Captured German Trench
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Barbed Wire Defenses/French Troops Firing Over
Their Own Casualties
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German trench in Africa/Early French Trenches
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Antwerp guns/Bombproof shelter
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French first-aid/Trench building
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German Trench/Royal Irish Fusiliers
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Argonne Dead and Wounded/French gunners
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Captured German troops/Trench View
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Van defense
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War dog!
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Painting

• The Great War, although well documented
  photographically, also inspired painters from
  across the world to represent the horrors they
  personally witnessed while serving their
  countries.

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Alfred Kubin Die Kriegsfackel (The Torch) 1914
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Max Beckmann Der Kriegsaubruch (Declaration of
War) 1914
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C.R.W. Nevinson A Bursting Shell 1915
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C.R.W. Nevinson The Harvest of Battle 1919
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Edward Alexander Wadsworth Dazzled-Ships in
Drydock in Liverpool 1919
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Erik Heckel Zwei Verwundete (Two Wounded
Soldiers) 1915
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Eric Kennington Gassed and Wounded 1919
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Felix Vallotton Le cimetiere de
Chalons-sur-Marne 1917
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Felix Vallotton Le plateau de Bolante 1917
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George Grosz Explosion 1917
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George Leroux LEnfer (Hell) 1917-18
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John Lavery The Cemetery, Etaples 1919
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John Nash Oppy Wood 1917
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John Singer Sargent A Street in Arras 1918
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John Singer Sargent Gassed 1918-19
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Marcel Gromaire Le guerre (War) 1925
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Max Beckmann Die Granate (Shell) 1915
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Max Beckmann Die Operation 1914
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Max Edler von Poosch Kaupstaffel D3 uber der
Brent-Gappe (Squadron over the Brent-Gappe) 1917
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Oskar Kokoschka Isonzo-Front (The front at
Isonzo) 1916
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Ossip Zadkine Loude 1916
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Otto Dix Lichtsignale (The Flare) 1917
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Pablo Picasso Appollinaire blesse (Appollinaire
wounded) 1916
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Pablo Picasso Guillaume de Kostrowitzky 1914
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Paul Nash A Howitzer Firing
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Paul Nash Night Bombardment 1918-19
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Paul Nash The Ypres Salient at Night 1917-18
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Percy Wyndham Lewis A Battery Shelled 1919
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Pierre Bonnard Un village en ruines pres du Ham
1917
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William Orpen Thiepval 1917
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William Orpen To the Unknown British Soldier
killed in France 1922-27
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Propaganda Posters

• Each of the nations which participated in World
  War One from 1914-18 used propaganda posters not
  only as a means of justifying involvement to
  their own populace, but also as a means of
  procuring men, money and resources to sustain the
  military campaign.
• However wartime posters were not solely used to
  recruit men to the military cause.  Posters
  commonly urged wartime thrift, and were vocal in
  seeking funds from the general public via
  subscription to various war bond schemes (usually
  with great success).
• Interestingly, for all that the U.S.A. joined the
  war relatively late - April 1917 - she produced
  many more propaganda posters than any other
  single nation.

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• France

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Deutschland
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Italia
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The Russian Empire
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Great Britain
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The United States
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