Monday, February 1, 1915. Suez Canal Beseiged.

An Ottoman force numbering 13,000 troops laid siege to the Suez Canal.

William Fox established Fox Film.

Wilhelm Fried Fuchs was born in Tolcsva, Hungary and was a Hungarian Jew.  His family immigrated to the US when he was a boy.  His movie company still exists in an evolved form.

Last edition:

Sunday, January 31, 1915. Gas!

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Battle of Bolimów, Catholic, Christianity, German Army, Imperial Russian Army, Raid on the Suez Canal, religion, Suez Canal, technology, Technology is ruining everything, Weapons, World War One

Sunday, January 31, 1915. Gas!

The Germans used poison gas in warfare for the first time, firing shells loaded with xylyl bromide, tear gas, against the Russians at the Battle of Bolimów.

Cold weather prevented it from being effective.

The day saw huge casualties as the German attacks failed, and the Russians countered, which also failed.

The British, alerted to the presence of the Ottomans, prepared defenses for the canal.

Thomas Merton OCSO, whom I frankly have mixed feelings about, was born in France on this day.

Last edition:

Wednesday, January 27,1915. Ottoman Suez raid, First US nautical loss of World War One.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, boats and ships, Egypt, German Kriegsmarine, Ottoman Army, Raid on the Suez Canal, Suez Canal, World War One

Wednesday, January 27,1915. Ottoman Suez raid, First US nautical loss of World War One.

The Ottomans took the main coastal road between Qantara at the Suez Canal and El Arish that bordered Ottoman Palestine.

The US barque William P. Frye was detaomed by the German cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich off of the coast of Brazil.  She was carrying  189,950 US bushels (1,768,300 US gal) of wheat, bound for Queenstown, Falmouth, or Plymouth in the United Kingdom.

The Germans scuttled her the following day after the captain refused to thrown the cargo overboard. The crew and passengers, including women and children, were released when the German ship put in at Newport News on March 11 due to engine trouble, at which time the US learned of the event, sparking outrage.

She was the first US ship sunk during World War One.

Last edition:

Tuesday, January 26, 1915. Suez and the Rockies.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, British Empire, Colorado, Egypt, National Park Service, Ottoman Army, Suez Canal, World War One

Tuesday, January 26, 1915. Suez and the Rockies.

Ottoman forces attacked January 26, 1915 El Qantara, Egypt on the Suez Canal.

Chilembwe rebels raided a Catholic mission at Nguludi, Nyasaland.

Rocky Mountain National Park was established.

Last edition:

Monday, January 25, 1915. The telephone menace spreads.

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Africa, British Empire, Egypt, German Kriegsmarine, Imperial Russian Navy, law, Lighter than air aircraft, Ottoman Empire, Satire, Sinai, technology, telephone

Tuesday, December 16, 1924. Looking back.

The Spanish confiscation (Desamortización española) law, authorizing the government of Spain to steal the property and lands of the Catholic Church, a popular enlightenment and Reformation despoliation that happened in many places, was repealed. 

The barbarity had been in place since 1766.

Amongst other things, the law resulted in millions of acres of forest falling into private hands, being deforested, with the cost of reforestation exceeding the value of their sales.  The confiscations of the 19th Century were one of the biggest environmental disasters in Iberian history.

The Supreme Court of Hungary confiscated the property of former president Mihály Károlyi for high treason. He had been convicted of negotiating with Italy in 1915 to keep the Italians out of World War One in exchange for Austrian territory, and for allowing a communist revolution to happen in 1919 by deserting his position.

Last edition:

Saturday, December 13, 1924. Albanian invasion.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, Albania, Art, Yugoslavia

Wednesday, December 13, 1899. British victory in the Cape Colony.

 General French routed Boer troops advancing into the Cape Colony toward Noupoort.

French would go on to be the commander of the BEF in 1914 and 1915.  He died of bladder cancer at age 72 in 1925.

Last edition:

Monday, December 11, 1899. The Battle of Magersfontein.

Labels: 1890s, 1899, Boer War, Philippine Insurrection

Thursday, July 6, 1899 Ordered home.

Today In Wyoming's History: July 6: 1899  The Wyoming Battalion received its orders in the Philippines to return to the U.S. Attribution:  On This Day.

Kansas state infantry, February 1899.

They were undoubtedly mighty glad to receive them as well.

The Philippine Insurrection is all but forgotten by 99% of Americans. Those who do remember it have some particular connection with it or are students of history.

They Wyoming Battalion was a battalion of infantry augmented by a battery of artillery.  The infantry was drawn from volunteers from Buffalo, Douglas, Sheridan and Evanston, commanded by Maj. Frank M. Foote of Evanston.  The artillery came from Cheyenne.  They had volunteered for action in Cuba, not the Philippines, but the U.S. Army was so small, there was no way to exploit the Navy's defeat of the Spanish Navy in the Far East other than through using volunteer troops who had not been committed to Cuba.  During their service the unit suffered high causalities, losing 3 men in combat, 12 died of disease, and 75 men became unfit for service due to wounds, illnesses and injuries. As with the remainder of the U.S. Army during the Spanish American War, many more soldiers from Wyoming died of disease and illness caused by poor sanitation and diet and inadequate medical care, and from numerous tropical diseases, than were ever felled by a foe’s bullet.

Coming before the Dick Act, these units fit into an odd category between the Regular Army, which they were not part of, and existing state militia units, which they were also not part of.  State raised, they are regarded as National Guard units today, which makes sense in that their history more closely aligns with the National Guard, and the Guard found itself doing recruiting to fill out its ranks for the Punitive Expedition, World War One, and even in the lead up to World War Two.

The Philippine Insurrection, indeed the US presence in the Philippines in general, was controversial from the onset. A strong anti-colonial impulse in the US, natural for a nation which had once been a foreign colony, had operated against going to war with Spain in the first place, as members of Congress feared that Cuba would be annexed to the US as a colony.  Preventing that from occurring had been a condition of the declaration of war, but other Spanish possessions had been omitted as they were completely out of mind.  To naval strategists, including the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt, striking at Spanish possession is the Pacific and Far East made perfect sense, but to most Americans it simply wasn't something that was likely to occur. As a result of this, nothing had addressed Spain's Far Eastern territories.

Given this, the war was not universally popular from the start. The use of state troops contributed to that, as the troops had not enlisted for service in a colonial enterprise.  To address some of this, the Army, now freed of combat in Cuba, began to replace state units with regular troops.  This did not address all the problems, however, particularly as the Army began to increasingly resort to harsh measures, giving rise to atrocities.  The war was officially declared over on July 4, 1902, although in reality it continued on at least until 1915.

A good argument can be made that the Spanish American War as the US's first modern war.  It came about rapidly and haphazardly, like many wars following it did.  The long range implications of the war were not foreseen, including that the war would give rise to a long, unexpected war following it.  The initial war was popular, but as the implications of it lingered on, the war succeeding it was not.

Last edition:

Saturday, July 1, 1899. "Birth" of Indiana Jones.

Labels: 1890s, 1899, Movies, Movies In History

June 16, 1924. The end of the Lone Scouts.

 

The Lone Scouts of America, which had been formed in 1915, merged with the Boy Scouts of America.

Founded as a Scouting organization, the LSA was formed by W. D. Boyce, publisher of the Chicago Ledger and the Saturday Blade.  Bryce was of the view that the BSA didn't help rural boys as the BSA wasn't attracting enough young males to the organization, backing up something that I said here the toher day. . . Scouting was an urban, not a rural, movement.

James West of the early BSA disagreed with Bryce on an organization being needed, as he felt that 4H fulfilled the needs of rural youth.

Lone Scouts were just that, lone.  No leaders were required, although LSA members could form "tribes" if there were other members nearby. Or they could form a "mail tribe" and interact in that fashion. All members received The Lone Scout in the mail.  In 1924 a radio program was added. No uniforms existed until World War One, when the Lone Scout Supply Company was created to form one.

Racism appeared in 1922 when the organization determined to no longer accept black youth.  In that same year, the masthead of The Lone Scout changed from "A Real Boys Magazine" to "The White Boys' Magazine."

The merger came about due to the persistence of the Boy Scouts, which thereafter ran a "lone scout" program, although many of the LSA members dropped out.  When Cub Scouts were added in 1930, a Lone Cub Scouting program was also added.  The program still exists today, with the requirements being, according to Scouting USA:

The Lone Scout plan is a way for any youth ages 7 to 10 (or who is in the first through fifth grades) to become a Lone Cub Scout; or ages 11 to 17 to become a Lone Scouts BSA member. A youth applies for membership as an individual Lone Scout only if he or she cannot conveniently join a Cub Scout pack or Scouts BSA troop.

Scouting was a big deal, so it's not too surprising to find that some famous personalities had been Lone Scouts.  Burl Ives, who we mentioned the other day, was.  Also in the organization were Broderick Crawford, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Orval Faubus, Hubert Humphrey; Fred MacMurray, and Harry Morgan.

King Victor Emmanuel III held an extraordinary council to discuss the Matteotti crisis.  Mussolini's grasp on power appeared to be slipping.

Last prior edition:

Saturday, June 14, 1924. Flag Day.

Labels: 1920s, 1924, California, Flag Day, Holidays, Ku Klux Klan, Unions

OROZCO by SK GUNS and Pascual Orozco himself.

Wow, that's a wild commemorative.

Pascual Orozco was a Mexican Revolutionary who originally supported Madero before falling out with him.  He was of immediate Basque descent, something we tend not to think about in regard to Mexico, which is in fact more ethnically diverse than we commonly imagine.  He was an early recruit to Madero's 1910 revolution, and was a natural military leader, and could be rather morbid.  After his January 2, 1911, victory at Cañón del Mal Paso he ordered the dead Federal soldiers stripped and sent the uniforms to Presidente Díaz with a note that read, "Ahí te van las hojas, mándame más tamales" ("Here are the wrappers, send me more tamales.").

On May 10, 1911 Orozco and Pancho Villa seized Ciudad Juárez, against Madero's orders, a victory which caused Díaz to briefly resign the presidency.  Madero would naively choose to negotiate with the regime, which resulted in The Treaty of Ciudad Juárez allowing for the resignations of Díaz and his vice president, allowing them to go into exile, establishing an Interim Presidency under Francisco León de la Barra, and keeping the Federal Army intact.

Like Zapata, he went into rebellion against the Madero government, which he felt had betrayed the revolution.  He openly declared revolt on March 3, 1912, financing it with his own money and confiscated livestock sold in Texas.  His forces were known as the Orozquistas and the Colorados (the Reds). They defeated Federal troops in Chihuahua under José González Salas. Madero in turn sent Victoriano Huerta against him, who in turn were more successful.  A wounded Orozco fled to the US. After Madero was assassinated and Huerta installed, Orozco promised to support him if reforms were made, and he was installed as the Supreme Commander of the Mexican Federal forces.  As such he defeated the Constitutionalist at Ciudad Camargo, Mapula, Santa Rosalía, Zacatecas, and Torreón, causing his former revolutionary confederates to regard him, not without justification, as a traitor.

He refused to recognize the government of Carvajal after Huerta's fall and was driven into exile again.  He traveled in the US in opposition to Carranza along with Huerta.  In 1915, he was arrested in the US, but escaped.  An unclear incident at the Dick Love ranch in Texas led to claims that he and other like-minded combatants had stolen horses from the ranch, which in turn resulted in a small party of the 13th Cavalry, Texas Rangers, and local deputies pursing the supposed horse thieve with Orozco being killed once the party was holed up.  What exactly occured is not clear.

His body interred in the Masonic Holding Vault at the Concordia Cemetery in El Paso by his wife, dressed in the uniform of a Mexican general, at a service attended by a very larger gathering of admirers.  In 1925 his remains were retuned to Chihuahua.

Why the commemorative?  I have no idea.  He is not an obscure figure in the Mexican Revolution, but not a well known one like Villa or Zapata.  I can't see where he's associated with the M1911 either, a weapon that was brand new at the time the Revolution broken out.  The .38 Super, which is apparently popular in Mexico, wasn't intruduced by Colt until 1929.

Friday, January 18, 1924. Corn husking bee, Transiting Mexican Federals, Convalescing Commie.

 

A corn husking bee, January 18, 1924.

The news recalled 1916.

Mexican troops looked to be about to get US transit.

Calvin Coolidge gave a press conference.  He addressed that topic, and others.  On the transit, he stated:

An inquiry also about the passage of Mexican troops across American territory. It is my information that New Mexico and I think Arizona have given consent of their Governments to the passage of Mexican troops, but that the Acting Governor of Texas thought that such passage through Texas territory might incur some danger. Of course, the opinion of the Governor there would be respected, and unless the local authorities, I mean by that the Government, state authorities, want to give their consent, our Government would notify the Government of Mexico that it seemed expedient to have troops pass through Mexico. Whether that would be refused, or changed at all, when the Governor gets home, I don’t know. It may be that the Acting Governor simply didn’t want to take the responsibility of making an affirmative decision, and is awaiting the return of the Governor.

Interesting how it was viewed as a state first matter.

One of the other topics addressed was the Teapot Dome Scandal.

While Trotsky was convalescing on the Black Sea, getting a little respite from being an agent of murderous armed agency, Stalin denounced him in a blistering speech.

1924  Douglas bank closes in failure, part of a waive of bank failures.  Attribution:  Wyoming State Historical Society. 

April 24, 2021: Statement by President Joe Biden on Armenian Remembrance Day

 

Each year on this day, we remember the lives of all those who died in the Ottoman-era Armenian genocide and recommit ourselves to preventing such an atrocity from ever again occurring. Beginning on April 24, 1915, with the arrest of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities, one and a half million Armenians were deported, massacred, or marched to their deaths in a campaign of extermination. We honor the victims of the Meds Yeghern so that the horrors of what happened are never lost to history. And we remember so that we remain ever-vigilant against the corrosive influence of hate in all its forms.

Of those who survived, most were forced to find new homes and new lives around the world, including in the United States. With strength and resilience, the Armenian people survived and rebuilt their community. Over the decades Armenian immigrants have enriched the United States in countless ways, but they have never forgotten the tragic history that brought so many of their ancestors to our shores. We honor their story. We see that pain. We affirm the history. We do this not to cast blame but to ensure that what happened is never repeated. 

Today, as we mourn what was lost, let us also turn our eyes to the future—toward the world that we wish to build for our children. A world unstained by the daily evils of bigotry and intolerance, where human rights are respected, and where all people are able to pursue their lives in dignity and security. Let us renew our shared resolve to prevent future atrocities from occurring anywhere in the world. And let us pursue healing and reconciliation for all the people of the world.  

The American people honor all those Armenians who perished in the genocide that began 106 years ago today.

Blog Mirror: The life of American workers in 1915

 A fascinating read:

The life of American workers in 1915

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: First Lutheran Church, Watford City, North Dakota.

Churches of the West: First Lutheran Church, Watford City, North Dakota....:

First Lutheran Church, Watford City, North Dakota.

This Gothic style church is the First Lutheran Church in Watford City, North Dakota. The church was originally built in 1915, expanded in 1939, but destroyed in a fire in 1945.  The church was rebuilt in 1950.

The Mexican Revolution. . . where we're at in terms of century delayed time.

Yesterday we ran this item:

Lex Anteinternet: Venustiano Carranza assassinated . . .: .

Venustiano Carranza assassinated . . .

on this day in 1920, by officers who had betrayed him, pretending to offer him a safe lodging for the night in the town of Tlaxcalantongo.  Sometime during the night, their forces surrounded the house and then opened fire into ito.  Oddly, the assassins then telegramed Obregon to inform him that "we are at your service" but also asked for permission to bring Carranza's body to Mexico City for burial.  Obregon replied with the comment "It is very strange that a group of officers who vouched their loyalty and honor should have permitted him to be assassinated instead of complying with your duty."

And it goes on from there.

So, where are we at on this story that we've been following for years and for which there are now 306 entries on this blog.

The story starts with the revolution against Porifirio Diaz in 1911

Well, not really.  Diaz, who had been a lieutenant of Mexican revolutionary and then president Benito Juarez, served as President of Mexico three times with his last period of dictatorial service running form 1884 until May 21, 1911.  An odd statement to an American reporter about being willing to hold elections in 1908 lead to one and ultimately he proved unwilling not to run, as he'd promised, with his running meaning an assured reelection..  That lead to the rebellion in 1910 we now call The Mexican Revolution, lead at first by the improbable Francisco Modero.

Diaz at age 77.

On this date in 1920, Diaz had been dead five years.  He'd died of natural causes at age 85 in France.

In 1911 he took to his exile and was succeeded by Francisco León de la Barra y Quijano, whom Mexican conservatives called the "white president" due to his purity.  He only served until November.

León.

During his short administration León had to attempt to deal with the growing revolution against him and the growing right wing extremism in his army.  He wouldn't succeeded, but he did succeed in outliving the revolution  He was still living in 1920 and had a career as a diplomat ahead of him.  He ultimately retired to Spain, but even there was used unofficially in this capacity as a go between between France and Spain.  He died in 1939 of natural causes.

Modero.

León's successor was Modero who was a weak president from November 1911 until he was killed in a military coup on February 19, 1913.  His death threw the country back into civil war.

The fallen Huerta.

His successor was the successful head of the coup, Victoriano Huerta.  Huerta was able to topple Modero, but he couldn't quell the revolution, and he went into exile in July 1914.  Going first to Europe and then the United States, he died an alcoholic in 1916.

His successor, Francisco Sebastián Carvajal y Gual, served for only a month before also going into exile, a victim of Huerta's failed effort to reclaim Diaz's position in Mexico.  His story was happier, however, as he met his wife in exile in the United States and he ultimately returned to Mexico in 1922 to resume his legal practice, which he occupied until his death by natural causes in 1932.

And then came Carranza.

So, so far we've seen the assassination of two of the real revolutionary presidents of Mexico, the odd but admirable Modero and the determined and not so admirable Carranza.  And we've seen the exile of three of the right wing pretenders, two of whom had died by natural causes.

Not dying by natural causes up to this point were thousands of Mexican soldiers who had fought on both sides of the Mexican Revolution, and in some cases literally on both sides.  Included in that number was Emiliano Zapata, the greatest of the Mexican revolutionaries, who was its best post Modero hope.

And the revolution was getting increasingly extreme. Having gone from a hope for democracy with Modero it was coming to increasingly reflect the extreme left wing politics of revolutions of its age, something that would have ill consequences for Mexico in coming years.

Indeed, a real oddity of Mexico's post Maximillian politics in general, up to this point, is how radical it was even when seemingly combined with conservative elements.  If Diaz sometimes dressed like Napoleon, his politics, he in some ways was like him.  He was a political liberal but one who did not trust the democratic process.  Ultimately he governed as a moderate liberal with a focus on stability.  Even today he is credited with having laid the foundations for modern Mexico.  His real fault was in not trusting democracy and running for reelection in 1910, when he promised not to.

Had Diaz held to his initial promise, Modero would have been elected in 1910.   Whether Diaz stepping away from politics voluntarily would have necessarily resulted in a Mexican army that would have accepted the election is another question, and one we will never know the answer to.  Had that occured, Mexico would have stepped into being a true democracy in 1910, something that would take another century to occur.  Diaz's failure to trust his own people lead to a revolution in which propelled radicals to the top.  One of those radicals was Carranza, who ended up sharing that lack of trust with Diaz.  He sought to dictate the results of the upcoming 1920 Mexican election, which in turn lead to his bloody end in May, 1920.  That put Obregon in the position of being the assured ultimate next president of the country, with extreme radicals rising up right behind him.

April 16, 1920. Carranza seeks to repeat history. . .

by transporting his troops across Texas to go into action in northern Mexico.

It was exactly that action in 1915, which allowed Carranza to transport his troops across Texas to go into action against Poncho Villa's, that lead to the 1916 raid by Villa on Columbus New Mexico.  Villa, not illogically, concluded that the United States should be chastised for intervening in the Mexican civil war in that fashion.

The irony was that Carranza personally disliked the United States and had never been its friend.  Wilson's 1915 action had been a mistake.  Carranza was asking him to repeat it. At the same time, Mexican revolutionaries in Sonora had invaded neighboring Sinola.

It was Arbor Day.

Agriculture Secretary Meredith making the principal address at the Arbor day exercises in Washington D.C.

Churches of the West: Former First United Methodist Church, Port Arthur, Texas

Churches of the West: Former First United Methodist Church, Port Arthur ...:

Former First United Methodist Church, Port Arthur Texas

This is the Ruby Ruth Fuller Building in Port Arthur, Texas.  It was built as a Methodist Church in 1915.

This church may frankly not belong on this blog, as I really question if Port Arthur can be considered the "West".  I highly doubt it.  I don't know where the West really starts, but it's somewhere west of Port Arthur. Still, this church is west of the Mississippi, so I've included it here.

All of which, I suppose, begs the question a bit.  If churches in Port Arthur are in the South (and there are a lot of churches in Port Arthur, are churches in Houston in the South also?  What about churches in Dallas.  Maybe.  Maybe some are in both the South and the West. What about churches in Oklahoma?

Well, we have no desire to create a vast new profusion of blogs, but perhaps we should add a few for this purpose.  We're pondering that, and have reserved the URLs to do it.  For the meantime, as this posting is at least geographically credible, we'll be content to post this one here.