Our Journal: First World War Studies

This article discusses the widening of the First World War from a European war to a global war and what that meant for the participants. Today\‘s politicians, who talk (albeit tautologically) of an ‘increasingly globalized world’, forget how already ‘globalized’ the world seemed in 1914, especially if you happened to live in London. The fact that the First World War was a global war was itself the product of a global order, shaped by the European great powers and held together by an embryonic economic system. The title ‘the world war’ was a statement about its importance, not a statement about its geographical scale. And yet the French and British official histories, unlike the German, did not use ‘world war’ in their titles, any more than they had used the phrase during the war itself. They preferred the title ‘the Great War’, and in English the war only became widely known as the First World War after 1945, in other words after there had been a Second World War. The article explores the implications of the title ‘the Great War’ and the idea that the war of 1914–1918 was a great European war (a name also used in Britain, especially during the war itself).

 The article also examines the role of finances in the widening of the war and the global economy during a worldwide conflict. It also discusses the role of empires in the expanding war. However, the financial situation of participants, including those who entered the war at a later date, and the desire for empire were not the only factors in the creation of a global conflict. Decisions made in the interest of individual nations also had an effect on the widening of the war from a regional dispute.

 The corollary of the article\‘s argument, that the First World War was in some respects an aggregation of regional conflicts, was that the war would not simply end when the European war ended. All that was agreed on 11 November 1918 was the surrender of Germany, largely on terms which reflected the situation within Europe and specifically on the western front. Only here did the guns fell silent at 11am on that day. However, so imperative were the immediate demands of the conflict that there was scant consideration of their long-term effects. Some of the consequences of the fact that the First World War was waged as a global war remained with Europe throughout the Cold War, and others remain in the Middle East to this day.

Key Words: global war, economics, empire, neutrality

This article investigates the issue of ‘war culture’ in the United States. It focuses on the American poet-soldier, Alan Seeger, who fought with the French Foreign Legion from 1914 until his death in 1916, and wrote various articles to newspapers in the United States in addition to his posthumous Poems (1916) and Letters and Diary (1917). Focusing on these documents, the article discusses how elite figures like Seeger, who were in favour of intervention, influenced the politicised discourses about ‘civilisation’ and ‘kultur’ with their own gentle propaganda. The article also discusses the issue of how the United States barrowed from the practices of its European counterparts, for example by invoking the image of the already successful Rupert Brooke as a model for Seeger. Finally, the article takes as a case study the New York Times and its attempts to cast Seeger as the American soldier-poet, useful for channelling sentimentality and patriotism prior to and after the United States\’ declaration of war in April 1917.

Key Words: poet-soldier, culture, civilisation, propaganda, Alan Seeger, war poetry

Britain and the Government of India embarked on the campaign in Mesopotamia for several reasons. The discovery of oil in south Persia in 1901 resulted in the formation of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. The oil produced from this company was supplied to the Royal Navy. Germany\‘s plan to construct a railway from Constantinople to Baghdad and Basra send tremors at London and Delhi. Germany\‘s attempt to operate behind the façade of Turkish and Persian intrigues threatened the Anglo-Persian Oil Company\‘s pipeline at the island of Abadan, the oilfields and the refineries. Britain was afraid that the Germans might instigate the Arab tribes to revolt. Further, capture of Basra by a hostile power would threaten Britain\‘s sea lines of communication between Egypt and India. Logistics to a great extent had determined the texture of campaign in Mesopotamia. The logistical aspect of the Mesopotamia campaign during the Great War is yet to be studied thoroughly. The issue of supplying the British and Indian units in Mesopotamia proved crucial in shaping the course of the campaign. The first half of the paper shows how the problems of maintaining the units accelerated the disaster at Kut in April 1916. And the next section highlights the organizational restructuring of the logistical affairs which enabled the British and the Indian authorities to maintain larger number of troops with greater effectiveness from late 1916 onwards.

Key Words: Army in India, Mesopotamia, Australia, logistics, India, Kut, railways