THE UNGREAT WAR
WHY AND HOW JIM RISWOLD STARTED WORLD WAR I (DESPITE THE FACT HE WAS BORN 39 YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE WAR)
In 2011, I spent more than my fair share of days in the ICU at OHSU.
I cheered myself up by reading about the carnage of World War One, The War to End All Wars.
I learned militarism, alliances, imperialism and nationalism are particularly good bedfellows for war. In the case of World War I, these bedfellows led to 8,528,831 dead men, 21,189,154 wounded men and 7,750,919 missing men. Many of these bodies were never found, forever entombed in collapsed trenches and shell holes, left to decompose on the battlefield or piled into mass graves.
I learned these dead men were young men. In Britain and France, men who were between 19 and 22 when the war broke out were reduced by 37%. In Germany, 16 million boys were born between 1870 and 1899 and most fought in WWI; 13% were killed. This is what the world talks about when it talks about a “lost generation.”
I learned July 1, 1916 was the first day of the Battle of the Somme. That day is the bloodiest day in Britain’s history. The British Army suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,420 dead. Most of those casualties came in the first hour of the battle. This is what happens when old generals and old tactics send young men charging unprotected into modern weapons, such as entrenched machine guns and relentless artillery fire.
I learned 20,000,000 horses died during World War One. So did a whole bunch of cows, camels, chickens, pigs and sheep. Apparently, animals fare just as badly, if not worse, as young men against machine guns.
THE KINDERMORD
At the outbreak of World War One, over 35,000 German university and technical college students all hopped up on nationalism volunteered for the army.
They received just eight weeks’ training.
They received that training from elderly officers of the reserve, whose military ideas were still rooted in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871.
In other words, these officers had scant knowledge of the killing power of modern artillery and machine guns.
Worse yet, instead of dividing these student volunteers up amongst more experienced units, the German High Command used them to hastily re-form the Fourth Army.
They did not fare well against the killing power of modern artillery and machine guns.
They particularly didn’t fare well in the First Battle of the Ypres: 25,000 of these student volunteers were killed.
It became known as Kindermord bei Ypern.
That’s German for the “Massacre of the Innocents at Ypres”.
One German survivor of the battle said, “The men were too young and the officers too old.”
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
L’QUEST RIEN DE NOUVEAU (ADRIAN HELMET)
French military mobilized: 8,410,000
French military deaths: 1,397,800
French military wounded: 4,266,000
Percentage of French military casualties of total mobilized: 76.3%
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
IM WESTEN NICHTS NUESE (PICKLEHAUB)
Erich Käster was the last surviving German World War One veteran.
Käster died on January 1, 2008. He was 107 years old.
Claude Stanley Choules, an Australian serving in the British Royal Navy, was the last surviving combatant to pass away.
Choules died on May 5, 2011.
He was 110 years old.
Florence Beatrice Green, a woman serving as a waitress in the Woman’s Royal Air Force, was the longest living noncombatant.
Green died 15 days shy of her 111th birthday on February 4, 2012.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (BRODIE HELMET)
British military mobilized: 5,397,000
British military deaths: 703,000
British military wounded: 1,663,435
Total percentage of British military casualties of total mobilized: 44%
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (AUSTRALIAN LIGHT HORSE)
Australian military mobilized: 330,000
Australian military deaths: 61,966
Australian military wounded: 152,171
Total percentage of Australian military casualties of total mobilized: 64%
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (THE CANADIANS)
Canadian military mobilized: 620,000
Canadian military killed: 67,000
Canadian military wounded: 173,000
Percentage of Canadian military casualties of total mobilized: 39%
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (GRANDPA’S HELMET)
United States military mobilized: 4,355,000
United States military deaths: 116,708
United States military wounded: 205,690
Percentage of United States military casualties to total mobilized: 8.2%
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (BRITISH LANCASTERS)
57,000 men joined the York and Lancaster Regiment during World War One.
The Regiment suffered 48,650 casualties, including 8,814 killed.
That’s 72 out of every 100 men in the regiment who were either wounded or killed.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (THE YANKS)
O-ver there, o-ver there, send the word, send the word, o-ver there, That the Yanks are com-ing, the Yanks are com-ing, The drums rum-tum-ming ev’-ry where
So pre-pare, say a prayer, send the word, send the word to be- ware
We'll be o-ver, we're com-ing o-ver,
And we won’t come back 'til it’s o-ver O-ver There!
116,708 Yanks didn’t come back from over there.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
DEAD EMPIRES (RUSSIAN EMPIRE 1721 - 1917)
The Russian Empire was founded in 1721.
The Russian Empire entered World War One on the side of the Triple Entente on August 1, 1914.
The Russian Empire mobilized 12,000,000 men and suffered 9,150,00 casualties, a casualty rate of 76.3%.
The Russian Empire ceased to exist on March 15, 1917 because of World War One.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
DEAD EMPIRES (OTTOMAN 1299 - 1920)
The Ottoman Empire was founded in 1299.
The Ottoman Empire entered World War One and joined the Central Powers to form the Triple Alliance on October 28, 1914.
The Ottoman Empire mobilized 2,850,000 men and suffered 975,000 casualties, a casualty rate of 34.2%.
The Ottoman Empire ceased to exist on August 10, 1920 because of World War One.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
DEAD EMPIRES (RUSSIAN EMPIRE 1721 - 1917)
The Russian Empire was founded in 1721.
The Russian Empire entered World War One on the side of the Triple Entente on August 1, 1914.
The Russian Empire mobilized 12,000,000 men and suffered 9,150,00 casualties, a casualty rate of 76.3%.
The Russian Empire ceased to exist on March 15, 1917 because of World War One.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
DEAD EMPIRES (AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN 1867 - 1918)
The Austro-Hungarian Empire was founded in 1867.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire entered World War One as part of the Central Powers on July 28, 1914.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire mobilized 7,800,000 men and suffered 7,020,000 losses, a casualty rate of 90%.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire ceased to exist on October 31, 1918, because of World War One.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
VERDUN (AS TOLD BY CASSOULET)
The Battle of Verdun lasted from February 21 to December 16, 1916. The French suffered 371,000 casualties.
The Germans suffered 337,000 casualties.
On February 24, 9,000 horses were killed.
Albert Joubaire, a French soldier, wrote in his diary, “What a bloodbath, what horrid images, what a slaughter. I cannot find the words to express my feelings. Hell cannot be this dreadful."
Joubaire died at Verdun.
Johannes Haas, a 24-year-old theology student from Leipzig, wrote to his parents:
My dear, good, old parents,
Here we have war, war in its most appalling form, and in our distress we realize the nearness of God. Things are becoming very serious, but I am inwardly unalarmed and happy ...I do not fear the Judgment. I am indeed a poor sinful creature, but how great is God's mercy and the Saviour’s love! So, without fear or dismay I do my duty to the Fatherland and to my dear German people. I thank you, dear Parents, for having led me to the Saviour, that was the best thing he ever did. I love you tenderly. God be with you.
Three weeks later, Haas wrote again:
Dear Parents,
I am lying on the battle-field, wounded in the body. I think I am dying. I am glad to have time to prepare for the heavenly homecoming. Thank you dear parents. God be with you.
Hass died at Verdun.
Henri Desagneaux, a French soldier, wrote, “We are no longer in a civilized world.”
Desagneaux survived Verdun. He was one of the lucky ones.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
SOMME (AS TOLD BY BRITISH FOOD)
On June 30, 1916, the evening before the British attack at Somme, Private AV Person of the Leeds Pals, wrote, “As we staggered up to the trenches we passed our divisional commander with some of this staff. His words of cheer to us were, ‘Good luck, men. There is not a German left in their trenches, our guns have blown them all to Hell.’ Then, I suppose, he got into his car and went home to his HQ to wine and dine, while we poor benighted blighters tottered on our way to glory."
The divisional commander was wrong.
On July 1, 1916, the first day of the attack, Private L. Ramage of the Glasgow Boys’ Brigade wrote, “As I approached the German trenches, I could see a wall of German soldiers standing shoulder-to-shoulder right along the parapet of their front-line trench, waving us to come on."
On that first day, the British Army suffered 57,470 casualties, including 19,420 dead. Most of these casualties came in the first hour of the battle.
It is the bloodiest day in Britain’s history.
Captain Alfred Brundy of the 2nd Middlesex, 8th Division, wrote, “I have never seen such desolation. Mud thin, deep and black, shell holes full of water, corpses all around in every stage of decomposition, some fresh, lying as if in slumber. Our trenches are little more than joined-up shell holes, mostly with twelve inches of water above twelve inches of mud."
The Battle of the Somme slogged on through knee-deep mud until November 20, 1916.
127,751 British soldiers were killed, a daily average of 893.
For this cost, on the Somme front, they moved the Germans back approximately seven miles.
In other words, 18,250 British soldiers died per mile gained.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
FRENCH PASTRY JOFFRE
Joseph Joffre was nicknamed Papa Joffre.
Papa Joffre was commander in chief of the French Army from the outbreak of the war on July 28, 1914.
By the end of 1914, four months after the start of the war, 300,000 Frenchmen had been killed, and 600,000 wounded under Joffre’s command.
Papa Joffre was replaced by General Robert Nivelle two and a half years later on December 13, 1916.
Despite his utter failure as a military leader, there are several big streets in France named after him, as well as a town in Pennsylvania, a mountain in Canada and a cake.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
GERMAN SNIPER CHOCOLATE CAKE
The word sniper was first used in World War One. The German word for sniper is heckenshütze.
In the final chapter of All Quiet on the Western Front, a French heckenshütze kills the book’s disillusioned hero, Paul Bäumer.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
FRENCH BREAD ARTILLERY
The majority of the 35,000,000 military and civilian casualties inflicted during World War One were the result of artillery fire.
Many soldiers said no one could capture the sound of a massive artillery bombardment.
The German poet August Stramm, in his poem, “Shells”, tried:
Deafness deafens terror wounds
Banging tapping churning screeching . . .
Stramm was killed in hand-to-hand combat on September 1, 1915.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
OVER THE TOP (OF BANGERS AND MASH)
At Redan Ridge, during the first day of the Battle of the Somme, Private J. S. Reid of the 2nd Seaforth Highlanders wrote, “I could see that our leading waves had got caught by their kilts. They were killed, hanging on the wire, riddled with bullets, like crows shot on a dyke.”
“Gott strafe England” was a common slogan of the German Army during World War One.
It means “May God punish England.”
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
I SEE BELGIUM, I SEE FRANCE, I SEE THE 1ST, 2ND, 3RD, 4TH AND 5TH GERMAN ARMIES ADVANCE (THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN)
The Schlieffen plan was Germany’s big plan for winning World War One.
It was concocted by the German chief of staff, Count Alfred von Schlieffen, in 1904, as an overall plan for victory should Germany ever find itself fighting a war on two fronts: France to the west and Russia to the east.
World War One became that war.
It planned for German troops to quickly advance through Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Belgium with disregard of these countries’ neutrality, and then advance through northern France around the rear of the main French armies. Having won a quick and great battle of encirclement, German forces would then be rushed off by rail to the east to defeat the Russians.
It failed.
Wars seldom go according to plan.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
DON'T SHOOT, I'M A COW
Farmers in France lost over 1,500,000 head of livestock during World War One.
That’s a lot of dead cows.
A whole bunch of horses, camels, pigs, chickens, goats, pigeons, sheep, dogs, cats and other animals also died in World War One.
One dog that didn’t die in World War One was Rin Tin Tin. He was born in a trench and went on to star in over 40 films.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
BRITAIN 1 GERMANY NIL
20,000,000 horses died in World War One.
A monument at St. Jude on the Hill in Hampstead, England, bears the inscription: “Most obediently and often most painfully they died—faithful unto death."
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
PIG VS. STRUMPANZERWAGEN
A pig is no match for a tank, even a ridiculous-looking tank.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
KAISER KARPET
Kaiser Wilhelm’s official title was His Imperial and Royal Majesty William the Second, by the Grace of God, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg, Burgrave of Nuremberg, Count of Hohenzollern, Duke of Silesia and of the County of Glatz, Grand Duke of the Lower Rhine and of Posen, Duke in Saxony, of Angria, of Westphalia, of Pomerania and of Lunenburg, Duke of Schleswig, of Holstein and of Crossen, Duke of Magdeburg, of Bremen, of Guelderland and of Jülich, Cleves and Berg, Duke of the Wends and the Kashubians, of Lauenburg and of Mecklenburg, Landgrave of Hesse and in Thuringia, Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia, Prince of Orange, of Rugen, of East Friesland, of Paderborn and of Pyrmont, Prince of Halberstadt, of Münster, of Minden, of Osnabrück, of Hildesheim, of Verden, of Kammin, of Fulda, of Nassau and of Moers, Princely Count of Henneberg, Count of the Mark, of Ravensberg, of Hohenstein, of Tecklenburg and of Lingen, Count of Mansfeld, of Sigmaringen and of Veringen, Lord of Frankfurt.
He was also a douchebag.
2012
Carpet | Big
Edition of 4 in 4 different Kaiser colors
FRENCH TOY SOLDIER
On September 3, 1914, on the eve of the First Battle of the Marne, French commander in chief, Joseph Joffre, issued the order to the French Army: “Every effort must be made to attack and drive back the enemy. A soldier who can no longer advance must guard the territory already held at any cost. He must be killed where he stands rather than draw back."
80,000 Frenchmen died in the First Battle of the Marne, an average of 10,000 a day.
2012
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40" x 53"
Edition of 5
RED BARON
The Red Baron’s real name was Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen.
The Red Baron shot down 80 Allied aircraft.
The Red Baron was shot down and killed April 21, 1918.
The Red Baron is the only World War One combatant immortalized by a hot rod and a frozen pizza company.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5
IF HE CAN FIGHT LIKE HE CAN LOVE, GOOD NIGHT GERMANY
My grandfather fought in World War One.
He carried a songbook in his knapsack called Songs The Soldiers And Sailors Sing.
It featured such ditties as “If He Can Fight Like He Can Love, Good Night Germany”; “Keep Your Head Down Fritzie Boy”; “Hang The Kaiser On a Sour Apple Tree”; and “We Stopped Them At The Marne (It’s Up The Pole With Germany)”.
The Army charged him 15 cents for the songbook and the chance to sing along with World War One.
2012
Digital Print | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag
40" x 53"
Edition of 5