Our Journal: First World War Studies

In this article, we propose an initial comparative approach to the cultural and political impact of the First World War on Spain and Argentina, considering the common denominators and the singularities of both social experiences of the conflict. The relevance of the proposed comparison lies in several factors. In the first place, deep historical, cultural and demographic ties bound both nations. In second place, during the First World War, Spain and Argentina adopted a neutralist foreign policy, unaltered despite several diplomatic incidents with the warring nations, and of internal and external pressures. In both cases, civil society displayed a high level of political and cultural polarisation, and undertook an active mobilisation. Finally, there was a remarkable circulation of ideas and intellectuals through both margins of the Atlantic Ocean, which nourished the public controversies on the Great War. Nevertheless, beyond these similarities and confluences, there were also significant differences between Argentina and Spain, which exerted an influence on the countries position towards the conflict. The national cases analysed in this article demonstrate that diplomatic neutrality did not imply necessarily the indifference or passivity of civil society. Rediscovering neutrality within the war dynamics is one of the most stimulating paths for research.

Key Words: First World War, neutrality, comparative history, Spain, Argentina, nationalism

Until recently, studies of how Wales entered the First World War have generally been overlooked. Often, the British narrative has been assumed for the Welsh experience, with the once popular topos of war enthusiasm being recently displaced by a more nuanced approach. This paper revisits the July Crisis of 1914 as presented in the Welsh press and argues that on the whole, a complicated picture existed in Welsh newspapers where narratives of race and civilization formed the roots of war culture, yet justification for war was often submerged beneath feelings of opposition and indifference. Eventually, despite some strong feelings of opposition, the Welsh press succumbed to the inevitability of a general European war.

Key Words: Wales, First World War, press, newspapers, July Crisis

A century after the outbreak of the First World War, the authors re-evaluate the infrastructure and military logistics of the Ottoman Army in Palestine before and during the war as it affected its ability to successfully wage the military campaign in the Sinai and Palestine. Using primary sources in Ottoman Turkish, Turkish, Arabic, English, German and Hebrew, as well as official war literature, memoirs of commanders and soldiers, general military historical scholarly literature, and material specific to Palestine, coming from both adversaries, the authors show how infrastructure and logistics shaped and limited the Ottoman Army’s operational plans and their execution.

Key Words: Palestine, Ottomans, First World War, logistics, infrastructure

The Portuguese Expeditionary Corps [C.E.P.] was the centrepiece of Portugal’s intervention in the First World War. It was despatched to France in order to secure international plaudits for Portugal and its young republican regime, in place since October 1910. This political objective required the C.E.P. to be as independent a force as possible. Unfortunately, the C.E.P. failed to impress its senior partner, the British Army, whose High Command soon lost faith in it, applying pressure to the British Government either to remove the C.E.P. altogether or to limit, as far as possible, the Portuguese presence in the trenches. Despite this, in November of 1917 a ‘Portuguese Sector’ was constituted in Flanders, with the two Portuguese divisions fighting side by side. This article investigates the nature of the misgivings between the two armies and considers why, in such a charged atmosphere, the British High Command was forced to give way.

Key Words: Portugal, Great Britain, Western Front, command, shipping

The winter of 1917–1918 was a difficult time for the men and officers of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps [C.E.P.]. Its two divisions were now fighting side by side in Flanders, but were no longer receiving regular reinforcements from Portugal, where a coup d’état had replaced the committed interventionist leadership of Afonso Costa and Norton de Matos with Sidónio Pais’ ‘New Republic’, which prioritized domestic concerns. Despite this change and an ensuing Anglo-Portuguese agreement to lessen the C.E.P.’s front, allowing only one division to remain in the trenches, the Portuguese corps in its entirety remained in situ until early April 1918 when, in the face of a looming German offensive, it began to be withdrawn. Serious questions remain regarding the timing of this withdrawal and its link to the Battle of the Lys, on 9 April, which saw the Portuguese Second Division wiped out in the course of a single morning’s fighting.

Key Words: Portuguese Expeditionary Corps, Western Front, command, combat, Battle of the Lys

During the Great War, ammunition had been used on an unprecedented scale in the canton of Spincourt, near Verdun. From 1919, two huge chemical ammunition dumps were created there. The French army started their destruction. From 1920, civilian companies took over this work. New methods for safely breaking down chemical shells were then developed in France. The firm Clere & Schwander operated two factories in Spincourt using open-burning and washout methods to destroy ammunition. A third site was used for open-detonation. Later, 200,000 arsenical shells were burned in the forest of Spincourt by a second firm. To this day, no vegetation grows at this location. Severe pollution was also identified at Clere & Schwander sites resulting in crop destruction. Spincourt is an example of the ignorance of soil contamination left behind by WWI in land-use planning. Furthermore, a perchlorate contamination of drinking water is observed at regional scale along or near the former front in France. It is probably linked with perchlorate high explosives left on battlefields and / or on ammunition destruction sites. But an agricultural origin is also possible. Further research is needed to assess the risks and to restore the memory of the forgotten sites and contaminations.

Key Words: Verdun, ammunition, destruction, Clere & Schwander, F.N. Pickett & Fils