FOR the Chautauqua at the library on TODAY, Nov 11 @ 2 pm. Your history lesson: World War 1 - 100 years ago it ended. DO you know why it started? How much do you know about this " war to end all wars"?

I have only included a few of the many photos available to learn the history of World War I.  I encourage you view more photos with the captions at this website:
https://www.theatlantic.com/projects/world-war-i-in-photos/

World War I in Photos: Introduction

• ALAN TAYLOR
 
• APR 27, 2014
 
• 45 PHOTOS
 
• IN FOCUS

A century ago, an assassin, a Serbian nationalist, killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary as he visited Sarajevo. This act was the catalyst for a massive conflict that lasted four years. More than 65 million soldiers were mobilized by more than 30 nations, with battles taking place around the world. Industrialization brought modern weapons, machinery, and tactics to warfare, vastly increasing the killing power of armies. Battlefield conditions were horrific, typified by the chaotic, cratered hellscape of the Western Front, where soldiers in muddy trenches faced bullets, bombs, gas, bayonet charges, and more. On this 100-year anniversary, I've gathered photographs of the Great War from dozens of collections, some digitized for the first time, to try to tell the story of the conflict, those caught up in it, and how much it affected the world. This entry is part 1 of a 10-part series on World War I. In this installment, I hope to give a glimpse of the war's beginnings, and a preview of what is to come.

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• Nine European Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII in May of 1910, four years before the war began. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of Greece and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King-Emperor George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Within the next decade, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Ferdinand's empires would engage in bloody warfare with the nations led by King Albert I and King George V. The war was also a family affair, as Kaiser Wilhelm II was a first cousin to King George V, and an uncle to King Albert I. Of the remaining monarchs pictured, over the next decade one would be assassinated (Greece), three would keep their nations neutral (Norway, Spain, and Denmark), and two would be forced out of power by revolutions. #

  W. & D. Downey

• 

  In 1914, Austria-Hungary was a powerful and huge country, larger than Germany, with nearly as many citizens. It had been ruled by Emperor Franz Joseph I since 1848, who had been grooming his nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand as the heir to the throne. In this photo, taken in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, a visiting Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Czech Countess Sophie Chotek, are departing a reception at City Hall. Earlier that morning, on the way to the hall, their motorcade had been attacked by one of a group of Serbian nationalist assassins, whose bomb damaged one car and injured dozens of bystanders. After this photo was taken, the Archduke and his wife climbed into the open car, headed for a nearby hospital to visit the wounded. Just blocks away though, the car paused to turn around, directly in front of another assassin, who walked up to the car and fired two shots, killing both Franz Ferdinand and his wife. #

  AP

• 

  Assassin Gavrilo Princip (left) and his victim Archduke Franz Ferdinand, both photographed in 1914. Princip, a 19 year old a Bosnian Serb who killed the Archduke, was recruited along with five others by Danilo Ilic, a friend and fellow Bosnian Serb, who was a member of the Black Hand secret society. Their ultimate goal was the creation of a Serbian nation. The conspiracy, assisted by members of Serbia's military, was quickly uncovered, and the attack became a catalyst that would soon set massive armies marching against each other around the world. All of the assassins were captured and tried. Thirteen received medium-to-short prison sentences, including Princip (who was too young for the death penalty, and received the maximum, a 20 year sentence). Three of the conspirators were executed by hanging. Four years after the assassination, Gavrilo Princip died in prison, brought down by tuberculosis, which was worsened by harsh conditions brought on by the war he helped set in motion. #

  Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek

• 

• Between 1914 and the war's end in 1918, more than 65 million soldiers were mobilized worldwide - requiring mountains of supplies and gear. Here, on a table set up outside a steel helmet factory in Lubeck, Germany, a display is set up, showing the varying stages of the helmet-making process for Stahlhelms for the Imperial German Army. #

  National Archives / Official German Photograph
• The Salonica (Macedonian) front, Indian troops at a Gas mask drill. Nationaal Archief
• (CPL Blog editor note: The horrific results of poison gas in warfare have spurred the drafting of various treaties signed since the end of the first world war. Progressive agreements in this area have resulted in the banning of the use of chemical weapons in warfare as well as the production, transportation and stockpiling of these compounds. Sadly this has not brought an end to their use in conflicts. from https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2016/sep/16/chlorine-the-gas-of-war-crimes)

• 

  Unloading of a horse in Tschanak Kale, Turkey, equipment for the Austro-Hungarian army. #

  Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek 
• More photos of War Animals at https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/04/world-war-i-in-photos-animals-at-war/507320/
• 
• A bridge across the mud flats in Flanders, Belgium, in 1918. #

  Library of Congress
• Now then Flanders is important, because this is where the poem "In Flanders Fields" was written and started the tradition of poppies for  remembrance.   from the Smithsonian Magazine:



The seeds of common poppy (Papaver rhoeas) only germinate when the soil in which they live is disturbed. Intense fighting during World War I decimated Europe’s physical environment, causing thousands of poppies to bloom where battles once raged. 

• On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the “war to end all wars” ended. While the United States honors all of its military veterans annually on November 11, this year is particularly special—it coincides with the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day and Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day)—holidays observed in Europe to commemorate the end of World War I and remember the members of the armed forces who died in the line of duty.
• People honor lost loved ones in many ways. Some plant trees while others create shrines or sew quilts. Less often, an everyday object becomes a symbol to commemorate a collective loss. An ordinary plant became such a symbol one century ago.
  The common poppy, Papaver rhoeas, is an annual plant in the Papaveraceae family. It produces seeds that can remain dormant in the soil for as long as 100 years. Since the seeds need light to grow, they only germinate in disturbed soils. Trench digging, bombs, and mass cemeteries decimated Europe’s landscape during World War I, causing millions of poppies to bloom on the disrupted soil. Imagine the contrast between the horrors of war and the beauty of red poppies blanketing the European countryside.
  What we can only imagine now was once reality to Canadian Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. In 1915, McCrae noticed poppies blooming on a battlefield in Belgium, inspiring him to write the war poem “In Flanders Fields.” The poem references the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers:

  In Flanders field the poppies blow
  Between the crosses, row on row
  That mark our place, and in the sky,
  The larks, still bravely singing, fly,
  Scarce heard amid the guns below.
  
  We are the dead; short days ago
  We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
  Loved and were loved, and now we lie
  In Flanders field
  
  Take up our quarrel with the foe!
  To you from failing hands we throw
  The torch; be yours to hold it high!
  If ye break faith with us who die
  We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
  In Flanders fields.

  Not long after the publication of McCrae’s poem, Europeans and Americans alike wore silk and paper red poppies to commemorate those who lost their lives in World War I—a tradition that continues today on Armistice Day and Remembrance Day.
  It might be challenging to see the same poppies that once bloomed on the environmental scars left behind in World War I. However, a number of natural history museums around the world care for dried plant specimens, including poppies, and make them available to the public.  Whether they are blooming in Europe or preserved in museum collections, poppies symbolize the past. Sometimes, they preserve the memories of loved ones lost in a bitter war 100 years ago. Other times, they reveal Earth’s history. Despite their painful reminders, poppies teach us about the past so we can make our future—and Earth’s—better.
• see videio reading 'In Flanders Fields" at https://www.legion.org/poppyday/videos/PLHMR9MmnivfORCLz44AFRLSCZpa6_u8Vr/yLclqv2XHyg
• Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2018/11/09/100-years-ago-poppies-became-more-just-flowers/#E7AHTqJcTM3tat2E.99Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/national-museum-of-natural-history/2018/11/09/100-years-ago-poppies-became-more-just-flowers/#E7AHTqJcTM3tat2E.99