Showing posts with label Austro Hungaria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Austro Hungaria. Show all posts

Thursday, December 7, 2017

December 7, 1917. The United States Declares War On Austria Hungary

Whereas the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government has committed repeated acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America : Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a state of war is hereby declared to exist between the United States of America and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government; and that the President be, and he is hereby, authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government; and to bring the conflict to a successful termination all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

Sunday, April 9, 2017

The Wyoming Tribune for April 9, 1917. And now Austria. And youth training camp cancelled.


It looked like the United States would be at war with Austria, as well as Germany, soon.  And the news hit about Cuba being at war with Germany.

A training camp for boys at Ft. Russell had been cancelled. . . training for new recruits for the Army was the reason.

Monday, April 3, 2017

The Wyoming Tribune. April 3, 1917: War Action Blocked


"Battling Bob" LaFollette used a procedural move to keep the vote on Wilson's request for a Declaration of War from occurring. The vote would of course occur. Something like that was a mere delay.

Governor Houx was pleading that the state a "contingent of rough riders" to the war.  Of course, given the way the war news was reading, a person might debate if that was to fight Germany or Mexico.  But anyhow, Wyoming was looking to supply cavalry.

West Point was going to follow the Navy's lead and graduate the 1917 class of officers early.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

The Sherdian Enterprise for February 11, 1917; Austrian officers dudes no more, U.S. reestablished diplomatic relations with Mexico.

I haven't put too many Sheridan Enterprise up here, but this one I had to because of the great headline about Austrian officers


Wow.  Austrian officers "cease to be dudes".

That probably doesn't quite read the same way now.

In other items, this issue also reported the war news and on the restoration of diplomatic relations with Mexico.  And again, a tragic automobile accident was reported.

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Brother Albert Chmielowski dies on this day at age 71.

Albert Chmielowski, a Polish painter whose concern for the poor lead him to become a Franciscan monk died at age 71.


Chmielowski was born to a wealthy family and studied agriculture in order to step into the role of managing his family's estates.  Drawn to politics he joined in the Polish uprising of 1863 in which he lost a leg.  Following the Polish defeat he relocated to Belgium where he developed an interest in painting.  In 1874 he returned to Kraków, Poland where his interest in politics and the poor ultimately lead him into the Franciscan order in 1887.  By that time his identification with the poor had already lead him to a voluntary life of poverty.  He founded the Brothers of the Third Order of Saint Francis, Servants of the Poor in 1891.


Tuesday, December 13, 2016

The start of what came to be known as White Friday (although it apparently was a Wednesday), 1916


 Mount Marmolata vom Sellajoch, in the Dolomites before World War One.  The disaster commenced on this mountain where Austrian troops were garrisoned on the summit.  A local officer, Rudolf Schmid, had asked for permission to withdraw prior to the disaster, recognizing the danger, but had been denied.  He survived the disaster.

On this day in 1916 nature and war combined to eventually kill over 10,000 Italian and Austrian soldiers in the Italian Dolomites.  The day featured a catastrophic series of avalanches which would continue to carry on the rest of the week.  The majority of the casualties were Austrian with only 300 Italians loosing their lives in the disaster, if "only" is an appropriate word for death on such a colossal scale.

Austrian recruiting poster omitting, curiously, death.

An oddity of this event is that it is recalled as "White Friday", but it didn't solely or even principally occur on a Friday. The disaster was the start of a series of such events that would apparently culminate in some fashion on Friday.  Given this, it's often reported as if the full disaster occurred on a single day and a significant number of deaths occurred on the first day, but they did not end that day, and the day they first occurred on did not lend itself to the title of the day in history.

By any measure, however, it was a horrific event.

Monday, November 21, 2016

Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria died, November 21, 1916.

Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, died from pneumonia contracted only shortly before this date.  He was 86 years old and had been serving in that role for the Austro Hungarian Empire since 1848.

Franz Joseph in 1905

His death came, of course in the midst of the great tragedy of World War One, of which his nation was a central participant and the originating belligerent in some ways.   With his death, the throne would pass to his grandnephew Charles I who would carry forward until the death of the Empire in 1918.  

It's hard, in some ways, not to view the long reigning monarch's 1916 death as symbolic of the very death of the old order in Europe.

Saturday, June 4, 2016

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: The Brusilov Offensive Launched

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: The Brusilov Offensive Launched: Russian Infantry Advancing After an Initial Success Against an Austrian Position Where:    Galicia on the Southwestern Eastern Fro...

Imperial Russia commences the Brusilov Offensive: June 4, 1916

The high water mark for Imperial Russia commences with the launch of the Brusilov Offensive.  The offensive was successful against Austria Hungary but was incredibly violent, resulting in over 500,000 Russian casualties and over 1,300,000 German and Austrian casualties.

The Russian offensive halted German operations against Verdun, which was one of its goals, but it was so costly that it effectively impeded the Russians from repeating it.  Had the Russians been able to do so, they may have forced a conclusion to the war and prior to the collapse of Russia itself.  It can be regarded as a genuine Imperial Russian feat of arms.

 Imperial Russian infantrymen, World War One.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Wednesday June 23, 1915. Fighting south of Mexico City, and in the Alps.

Troops under Zapatista General Rafael Eguía Lis halted those under Pablo Gonzáles Garza at the Gran Canal.

Italy launched its first major campaign of World War One, attacking the Austro Hungarians above the Isonzo River in the Alps.

Two magnitude 6.3 earthquakes struck within an hour of each other in the Imperial Valley, California.

Last edition:

Tuesday, June 22, 1915. Zapatista advances.

Saturday, May 23, 2015

Sunday, May 23, 1915. Italy declares war on Austro Hungaria.

Italy declared war on Austro Hungaria.  The Austrians opened the actual hostilities post declaration by bombarding the port of Ancona

Faisal bin Hussein received the Arab Secret Societies Damascus Protocol proposting an Arab state to come about by way of a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire which read:

The recognition by Great Britain of the independence of the Arab countries lying within the following frontiers:

North: The Line Mersin-Adana to parallel 37N and thence along the line Birejek-Urga-Mardin-Midiat-Jazirat (Ibn 'Unear)-Amadia to the Persian frontier;

East: The Persian frontier down to the Persian Gulf;

South: The Indian Ocean (with the exclusion of Aden, whose status was to be maintained).

West: The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea back to Mersin.

The abolition of all exceptional privileges granted to foreigners under the capitulations.

The conclusion of a defensive alliance between Great Britain and the future independent Arab State.

The grant of economic preference to Great Britain.

Last edition:

Saturday, May 22, 1915. Eruption of Lassen Peak.

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Movies In History: The Grand Budapest Hotel

It may seem odd to some to see this film listed here, but it shouldn't.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is an Academy Award nominated film that was a bit of a surprise hit last year.  At least its a surprise to me, as it's the sort of unusual "small" story that we don't see get much attention anymore. The film itself almost recalls movies of the 1930s, during which it is set, more than contemporary movies.  And perhaps its a bit of a tribute to those films really.

It's masterfully done as well. Set in a fictional Eastern European country that we're lead to believe must have been part of the defunct Austro Hungarian Empire prior to its World War One collapse, the movies does a surprisingly good job of capturing the feel of those countries which had only lately entered into independence.  The Austro Hungarian Empire being multinational in nature, the mixed culture of those countries and those in its influence and orbit, such as Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and so on, is very well captured.  The film features a fair amount of the use of the German language. French shows up as well.  Last names are Slavic, German and perhaps Turkish.  The depiction of the cities is appropriately ornate.  The uniformed services shown in the film are also appropriately late Austrian in appearance. 

This film is in many ways truly odd, and very well done.  It is funny, but some of the humor is really off color and not appropriate for younger audiences. That comment would also apply to some of the things depicted in the film. But an American film pitched at a modern audience which features an Eastern European theme, set in the very early 1930s, is a real surprise, and that it did well is an even bigger surprise.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Monday, October 26, 1914. Wars within wars.

Wars within wars, a feature of World War One and World War Two, commenced with a battle between the Austro Hungarian backed Polish Legion and the Imperial Russian Army.  The Russians prevaled in the action at at the villages of Laski and Anielin.

Both the Austro Hungarians and the Russians would back different bands of Polish nationalists.

British and French colonial troops captured Edéa in German Cameroon.

The Norwegian schooner Endurance, carrying members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition arrived at the South Georgia Islands.

In another expedition, this one much further north, Captain Robert Bartlett and eight survivors of Karluk arrived in Victoria, British Columbia on USS Bear.

HMS Liverpool and HMS Fury with RMS Olympic, try to take the sinking HMS Audacious in tow. October 26, 1914.


Last edition:

Sunday, October 25, 1914. Change of command.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Monday, October 12, 1914. The trial of the Serbian conspirators.


The trial of Serbian conspirators who had worked to assassinate Archduke Ferdinand commenced.   Gavrilo Princip stated:

I am a Yugoslav nationalist and I believe in unification of all South Slavs in whatever form of state and that it be free of Austria ... By means of terror.

The Germans took Ghent.

The French and British took back the Mont des Cats.

The Union of South Africa declared martial law in response to the Maritz Rebellion.


Boston won game three of the World Series.

Last edition:

Sunday October 11, 1914. Front line stabilization sets in.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Friday, September 4, 1914. No separate peace.

The Triple Entente declared that its members would not arrive upon a separate peace.

The Germans attacked Belgian fortressed at Antwerp, worried about the probable progress of the British who had landed in France and proceeded to Belgium.

The Russians seized Lemberg in Galicia (Poland).


Captain Robert Bartlett requested of  American fur trader Olaf Swenson that his chartered fur trade vessel King and Winge stop at Wrangel Island to look for the survivors of the Canadian Artic Expedition.

Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith encouraging military recruitment at Guildhall, London.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 3, 1914. Pope Benedict XV starts his reign.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Tuesday, August 18, 1914. Lady Teacher for Lincoln County. Neutrality for the US.

The Lincoln County School District requested a "lady teacher" from the University of Wyoming for the Cumberland Mining Camp. (UW History Calendar).

Lincoln County is remote now, and it would have been even more so in 1914.

The Imperial Russian Army invaded the Austrian Crownland of Galicia, or Austrian Poland (it's now in Poland and Ukraine.

The French captured bridges over the Rhine as well as taking large numbers of German soldiers in Alsace.

President Wilson declared the United States to be strictly neutral in the war developing in Europe and spreading the globe.



Last edition:

Monday, August 17, 1914. Russia invades Prussia.

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Wednesday, August 12, 1914. The United Kingdom and France declare war on Austro Hungaria.

The United Kingdom and her Dominions declared war on Austro Hungaria.

So did France.

Belgian troops repulsed  German cavalry at the Battle of Halen.



Karl von Müller, commander of the German light cruiser SMS Emden, met with Imperial German Navy Admiral Maximilian von Spee at Pagan, Mariana Islands.  In the meeting he learned that Impertial Japan was gravitating towards the United Kingdom and tracking down German squadrons in the Pacific.  The Emden was ordered to remain in the Pacific as a raider.

Interim Mexican president Francisco Carvajal formally left Mexico City for Veracruz, allowing the Constitutional Army to enter the city.

Last edition:

Monday, August 10, 1914. Austro Hungaria takes the field against Imperial Russia.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Sunday, August 9, 1914. The end of the second phase of the Mexican Revolution.

The leaders of the Constitutionalist met with interim Mexican president Francisco S. Carvajal and the unconditional surrender of the Federals in exchange for safe passage of all federal troops and senior government leaders out of Mexico City. The defeated Federals left the following day.


Montenegro declared war on Austro Hungaria.

The French dirigible overflew portions of Germany.

British ships received definitive actual wartime orders to pursue the German warships SMS Goeben and Breslau.

The Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane James Duhig dedicated the opening of St Brigid's Church in Brisbane.

Last edition:

Saturday, August 8, 1914. Leaving for the Antarctic.

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Thursday, August 6, 1914. More declarations of war.

Austro Hungaria declared war on Imperial Russia.

Serbia declared war on Germany.

Italy refused portage to the Goeben and Breslau.  The Germans ships, even though they lacked sufficient coal, were ordered to make a run to Constantinople, partially in the hope that it would cause the Ottoman Empire to enter the war..

The Royal Navy, already pursuing the Goeben and Breslau, commenced pursuit of the SMS Karlsruhe in the West Indies.

The HMS Amphion struck a mine resulting in the first British deaths of the war.

The German airship Zeppelin Z VI was damaged in combat over Belgium and made an emergency crash landing.

The US negotiated a ceasefire in the Dominican civil war.

Woodrow Wilson's first wife Ellen Axson Wilson, died of Bright's disease.  She relayed a dying message to her husband via the White House physician allowing her husband to remarry.

Orthodox Fr. Maxim Timofeyevich Sandovich was executed by Austro Hungarian for actions they deemed to be pro Russian in nature.  He is regarded as a martyr in the Orthodox Church.

Last edition:

Wednesday August 5, 1914. Battle of Liège commences.