1914-18 : The Great Slaughter - Challenging A Year Of Myth Making.

[Pickman's model]

Well the German regime of WW1 was pretty crap and has been described as proto fascist if the uk had been defeated it would be pretty crap for the uk.

who has so described it? and do you think they're right? pls give grounds for your opinion.

 

[Bakunin]

If I remember correctly, the 10,000 figure was quoted in a BBC documentary. I think it was this one:

 

[Pickman's model]

If I remember correctly, the 10,000 figure was quoted in a BBC documentary. I think it was this one:

ta

 

[ViolentPanda]

Only by people who don't understand the meaning of 'fascist' and 'proto-'.

And were unacquainted with the fact that Germany was somewhere between a constitutional and an absolute monarchy, with lande govts and the federal government generally prostrating themselves to the desires of the emperor.

I think I've already said on this thread that all the belligerents in 1914 really were as bad as each other and it's important to keep that fact firmly at the centre of your attention.

Yup, they were all more or less motivated by imperialism.

 

[ViolentPanda]

though the Germans get obvious bonus points with going with their plan that apparently started as a thought exercise to show the whole knocking France out with a swift attack wouldn't work
makes the dodgy dossier and 45 mins like look like a light hearted joke

The von Schlieffen plan was also already a decade or so old when adopted in 1905 by Germany's High Command. Some of the premises behind it were 20 years out of date when it was deployed.

 

[butchersapron]

Nottingham Radical History Group:

103 Foresters
Mutinies and death sentences in the local regiment – 1914-18 - Pamphlet launch with talks, discussions.

Sat 7th February, 2015, 2-4pm

Since the start of 2014, we have been working on an extensive research project, looking into the cases of the 103 Sherwood Foresters who were sentenced to death or sentenced on mutiny charges during World War One.

We will launch the first two issues in a series of pamphlets, the first introducing and contextualising the project, the second looking into the case of a soldier sentenced to death on the Western Front on February 5th, 1915.

Room A18/19, Department of History
Lenton Grove (building number 5 on the University Park Campus map)
University of Nottingham
University Park Campus (West/Beeston entrance)
Beeston Lane
Nottingham
NG7 2RD

More info here

Pamphlets #1 and #2 now available for free here.

 

[Pickman's model]

The von Schlieffen plan was also already a decade or so old when adopted in 1905 by Germany's High Command. Some of the premises behind it were 20 years out of date when it was deployed.

it was tho updated every year

 

[likesfish]

Unfortunatly it was bollocks to start with so updating was just polishing a turd

The idea that russia would stay out was obviously false that meant the forces to invade france had to be halved then smashing through belgium though mlitarily brilliant would bring the british into the war so making the 42 day lighting victory impossible which was highly unlikely anyway given the state of roads and railways
The geramns could arrive on time or with enough force not both

 

[likesfish]

Unfortunatly it was bollocks to start with so updating was just polishing a turd

The idea that russia would stay out was obviously false that meant the forces to invade france had to be halved then smashing through belgium though mlitarily brilliant would bring the british into the war so making the 42 day lighting victory impossible which was highly unlikely anyway given the state of roads and railways
The germans could arrive on time or with enough force not both

Still gallopili was crap
As was the easter rising sure the german high sea fleet is going to come to your aid it just has to fight through the royal navy

 

[ViolentPanda]

it was tho updated every year

Which didn't mean the updating was meaningful. IIRC when deployed, they found the logistics resources available in Belgium for transit through were entirely different to what The Plan stated (IIRC the Habsburgs made a similar cock-up with regard to calculating the resources available to reinforce their eastern troop concentraations).

 

[redsquirrel]

Pamphlets #1 and #2 now available for free here.

Ta

 

[phildwyer]

Still gallopili was crap
As was the easter rising sure the german high sea fleet is going to come to your aid it just has to fight through the royal navy

The Easter Rising was never meant to succeed. Connolly said as much on the way to the PO. It was pure sacrificial martyrdom.

I'm with you on Gallipoli though. Churchill should have been executed.

 

[brogdale]

Saw this in the latest 'Verso' catalogue...comes out in the next few months I think. Could be interesting...anyone know of Newton?

http://www.versobooks.com/books/1591-the-darkest-days

In paperback now.

 

[butchersapron]

Article/event/pamphlet:

Very good article in the utterly shitty Bristol Evening Post by good friend of BRHG Eugene Byrne (only problem is that it makes it sound like he was an MP when jailed):

The Bristol MP jailed for refusing to go to war

This weekend a blue plaque will be unveiled to mark the life of one of Bristol's most extraordinary political figures of the 20th century. A serving city councillor, jailed after refusing on principle to take any part in the war effort during First World War, Walter Ayles went on to become an MP less than five years after his release from prison. This is the story of Bristol's most prominent conscientious objector, 100 years after he took his stand.

The event:
Unveiling of a Blue Plaque to Walter Ayles

Venue: 12 Station Road, Ashley Down, Bristol, BS7 9LA

A blue plaque for Walter Ayles will be unveiled on Sunday April 17th – the centenary of the date that Ayles was first arrested. Please put this date in your diary. The unveiling will take place from 3.30pm at the house where lived with his wife Bertha in Station Road, Ashley Down. Generous donations have enabled us to raise over £600 to pay for the plaque. Come along and help us honour all those in Bristol who bravely opposed the war. Tell your friends.

Pamphlet:
Slaughter No Remedy The life and times of Walter Ayles, Bristol Conscientious Objector

Available at the unveiling and then from the site.

 

[extra dry]

5 parts may have been put up earlier but I am in a rush to get home so no time to look sorry.

 

[Sasaferrato]

A brief note about the JCS #NeitherKingNorKaiser campaign. Any support from people here would be greatly appreciated.

We're trying to provide an alternative, pro-working class, anti-war message as an antidote to the type of state-sponsored 'celebrations' of the carnage of WW1 that are taking place today in Glasgow and Folkestone, with politicians of all shades and royalty at the forefront of the revisionism.

Your 'selfies' with the hashtag #NeitherKingNorKaiser represent a small but important statement that the revolutionary anti-war tradition lives on... We've already got support from "Casuals" author, blogger, community activist and general troublemaker, Phil Thornton, plus Mensi of the Angelic Upstarts, socialist activist and former SSP MSP Rosie Kane, folk singer David Rovics and Steve Hedley, candidate for general secretary of the RMT, but we'd like as many people as possible to join us in making this statement against capitalist wars.

Send your pics with the NKNK slogan to: neitherkingnorkaiser@gmail.com

More info about the campaign on the website:
Neither King Nor Kaiser

MacLean, a puppet of the Russian barbarians, Connolly, an army deserter, Marxist executed for treason. Wonderful role models.

To be fair, soldiers are trained to kill, and paid for it..... So by literal definition they are a hired killer regardless of whether they've joined due to poverty or not.

You would be surprised, that even in time of war, the vast majority of soldiers kill no one. For every one at the sharp end, there are about four supporting him.

Cooks
Medics: Nurses, doctors, lab techs, dentists, blood technicians, combat medics, radiographers, physios et al.
Drivers
Signallers
Engineers, both Civil and Mechanical.
Clerks
Train drivers
Quartermaster staff
Pay staff
etc.

 

[butchersapron]

I wonder how many will line the streets when you die - and what their reasons for doing so may be.

 

[mk12]

Article/event/pamphlet:

Very good article in the utterly shitty Bristol Evening Post by good friend of BRHG Eugene Byrne (only problem is that it makes it sound like he was an MP when jailed):

The Bristol MP jailed for refusing to go to war



The event:
Unveiling of a Blue Plaque to Walter Ayles

Venue: 12 Station Road, Ashley Down, Bristol, BS7 9LA

A blue plaque for Walter Ayles will be unveiled on Sunday April 17th – the centenary of the date that Ayles was first arrested. Please put this date in your diary. The unveiling will take place from 3.30pm at the house where lived with his wife Bertha in Station Road, Ashley Down. Generous donations have enabled us to raise over £600 to pay for the plaque. Come along and help us honour all those in Bristol who bravely opposed the war. Tell your friends.

Pamphlet:
Slaughter No Remedy The life and times of Walter Ayles, Bristol Conscientious Objector

Available at the unveiling and then from the site.

He got a lot of shit from other leaders in the Bristol labour movement at the time, including Frank Sheppard (who become Mayor of Bristol) and even some of Ayles' colleagues in the ILP.

Ayles also caused a bit of a commotion at the Labour party conference in 1916 (which was held in Bristol) when he started airing his views about the war.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Cooks
Medics: Nurses, doctors, lab techs, dentists, blood technicians, combat medics, radiographers, physios et al.
Drivers
Signallers
Engineers, both Civil and Mechanical.

And I understand equations, both simple and qudratical.

 

[Sasaferrato]

And I understand equations, both simple and qudratical.

It generally comes as a bit of a surprise, how many people it takes to support the Teeth Arms.

 

[CNT36]

A bit of vaguely relevant local news.
Council blocks request for conscientious objector's tree in Penzance park

 

[Pickman's model]

MacLean, a puppet of the Russian barbarians, Connolly, an army deserter, Marxist executed for treason. Wonderful role models.


You would be surprised, that even in time of war, the vast majority of soldiers kill no one. For every one at the sharp end, there are about four supporting him.

Cooks
Medics: Nurses, doctors, lab techs, dentists, blood technicians, combat medics, radiographers, physios et al.
Drivers
Signallers
Engineers, both Civil and Mechanical.
Clerks
Train drivers
Quartermaster staff
Pay staff
etc.

not to mention military intelligence

 

[Pickman's model]

MacLean, a puppet of the Russian barbarians, Connolly, an army deserter, Marxist executed for treason. Wonderful role models.

by contrast, you: a willing tool of the bourgeoisie.

 

[Sasaferrato]

by contrast, you: a willing tool of the bourgeoisie.

Your usual bollocks. How surprising.

 

[sim667]

Long time bump here, but thought some of you may be interested in this.

This chap is posting diary entries from his grandfathers WW1 diary, on the day they were written, 100 years ago.

They're only short 1 liners. But still quite interesting.

1917 WW1 Diary of Gunner Lawrence Enderson Grimshaw (A/Cpl) 112573 Royal Garrison Artillery

 

[butchersapron]

For those in bristol Colin Thomas is doing is talk on local oppostion to WW1 again this coming monday at UWE - Colin directed the fantastic The Dragon has Two Tongues btw so you know where he is coming from:

SLAUGHTER NO REMEDY For the present government the centenary of the First World War is seen as an opportunity to commemorate victorious patriotism. The reality is that a War that cost millions of lives encountered strong religious and political opposition. Over 6000 conscientious objectors were sent to prison, 40 of them from Bristol. Colin Thomas from the Bristol Radical History Group will talk about local opposition to the war at 7pm on Jan.16th in the Students Union on UWE's Frenchay campus, using extracts from programmes he has made. He is an award winning television director.

 

[butchersapron]

The First World War and It's Legacy: Commemoration, Conflict & Conscience Festival

Commemoration, Conflict & Conscience is a national festival which looks at hidden or lesser known stories of the First World War, legacies of the conflict, peace-building and alternatives to officially sponsored commemoration. Topics considered include: the Shot at Dawn campaign; conscientious objection to military service; strikes; mutinies, desertion and absenteeism; colonial experiences and impacts; women’s peace activism; treatment of veterans; a century of opposition to war; alienation from commemoration.

At Bristol’s M Shed museum, the weekend festival (27th-28th April) will bring together community groups, local historians, academics, campaigners, activists and performers from across the country. The festival includes exhibitions, performances, printing workshops, talks, films, song and music, community projects, a puppet walk and puppet show.

collected them all though.Annoyingly there is no single page with links to all the programs, that link above has

I am particularly looking forward to Paul MacGann talking about the Monocled Mutineer (mentioned earlier in thread).

 

[butchersapron]

Let's give the above a bump as the day approacheth. A more pulled together program is now here.

 

[Riklet]

Im gonna try and drop by on Sunday at least, looks great! Might be able to catch Paul Mcgann too actually.