The First World War ( 1914-1918 ) obviously didn’t get that name while it was still raging*, on account of the Second one still being a few decades in the future. Some called it ‘the War to End All Wars’ (which didn’t quite turn out that way), others labelled it ‘the Great War’, although that qualifier was a bit misleading - more a comment on its size than on its enjoyability.
Not that there wasn’t any fun to be had in the trenches, in between bouts of severe carnage. This helmet is a nice example of trench art, showing a map of the Western Front. The brim of the helmet is marked ‘H.G. Booth, 110th TMB AEF France 1918-’19’. Henry G. Booth was a cook for the 110th Trench Mortar Battery. AEF stands for ‘American Expeditionary Force’.
The helmet map shows
- England (with London, Winchester, Dover, Southampton, Hull and Liverpool indicated)
- Holland (‘Amstradam’ marked)
- Belgium (one city highlighted, name not legible)
- Luxemburg (a bit too large)
- the Alsace (shown separate from Germany and France; the city of Metz indicated)
- the north of France (with Calais, Lille, Le Havre, St Malo, Brest, Paris and three other cities shown) and
- part of Germany (Cologne, Coblenz, Mayence – i.e. Mainz).
This map taken here from the website Trench Art. Thanks to blogfok for sending me the link.
* As hinted at by some people in the comments section, and recently confirmed by an email I got from Philip Jenkins, a history professor at Penn State (on whose authority I take what he says about the subject to be true): “It was fashionable as early as 1918 to refer to the then-raging war as the ‘First World War’, the correct assumption being that it was indeed only the first instalment, and more to come.” What a gruesome thought!
I think the city in Belgium is “Brussel”. If you look closely, you can read the “ss” and the “l” to the left of the red dot.
Interesting find!
Comment by Sebastian — May 2, 2008 @
And another one: In France, the city closest to Luxemburg and Metz is Verdun - it should make sense to include that city on this map, after all.
Quite interesting how different the geography seems to be once north is at the bottom.
Comment by Sebastian — May 2, 2008 @
Since it’s upside down, it looks rather strange. My mind is still seeing Italy in that part of France that sticks out into the sea and Sweden/Norway in England.
Comment by Lurker — May 2, 2008 @
I wonder when the “World War” terms were first used. When did World War II start becoming known as such? During the war or somewhat later? When did people decide that the Great War would be renamed WWI?
Comment by Evan — May 2, 2008 @
In France, WWI was called « La Grande Guerre » (The Great War) or less officially « La Der‘ des Ders‘ » (short for « La Dernière des Dernières ») : The Last of the Last Ones.
…until it was clear we had to fight another one
Comment by Krysztof von Murphy — May 2, 2008 @
If Metz is part of it, the region on the map isn’t Alsace but Alsace-Moselle… Metz is in Moselle, whereas Alsace is only between the Rhine valley and the Vosges.
Comment by Linca — May 2, 2008 @
The Wikipedia article on “World war” says “first world war” is attested from 1914, and “second world war” from the 1920s.
Comment by mollymooly — May 2, 2008 @
There is no need for people of the time to believe that there would be a second world war for them to call their war “the first world war”. It was indeed the first war to take place simultaneously in so many places in the world (although that could be debated).
Comment by Marc Naimark — May 2, 2008 @
#7 — ummm, the article under the link says “First World War” was used starting 1939, when WWII first broke. Now it does say that the term “World War” was used since 1909, if that’s what you’re referring to.
Comment by El Santo — May 3, 2008 @
Compared to most Middle-Americans his deplorable sense of geography beyond Columbus, Ohio, is actually highly advanced…
Comment by Cogidubnus — May 3, 2008 @
would be scary and strange if people in 1918 knew, that; “this is only the beginning”..
Comment by Bjorn — May 5, 2008 @
The maps just keep getting better! :-)
Raf
http://uzar.wordpress.com/
Comment by Raf Uzar — May 5, 2008 @
Poor guy. Not only did he have to fight in some war he never should have been involved in , and for ungrateful people not worth fighting for…he did it in that horrid hat.
Comment by j forbes — May 5, 2008 @
I believe too that the Belgian city is Brussels. First you have these letters (ss and l). I can’t think of any Belgian city at the first world war front with those letters in it. Second it’s the capital. If the Dutch capital is placed on the map (A’dam), the Belgian capital would probably be also.
Comment by Henk — May 6, 2008 @
One of the French cities is Vitry (near Verdun). I believe also that the Belgian city is “Brussel” (Brussels in Flemish) but it seems not on the right place (too far West), and if the helmet is French-made (which seems so) it should be written “Bruxelles”.
Just a note on the Alsace-Moselle’s doubts for Linca (n°6): the Elsass-Lothringen/Alsace Lorraine historical region does include the two Départements of Alsace (Haut- and Bas-Rhin) and the Département of Moselle (chef-lieu: Metz) even if the latter has always been mostly French-speaking. I’m still searching for the webpage were I read that tere was a strategic-military reason to this, but I have not found it yet (I thought it was Wikipedia, but it is apparently not …)
Comment by P.F. — May 7, 2008 @
Should be this:
http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/
More explanations here:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace-Lorraine
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trait%C3%A9_de_Francfort
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alsace-Lorraine
Comment by P.F. — May 7, 2008 @
Brussel in Flemish and Dutch.
Bruxelles in French.
Brussels in English.
Question: are the black lines railroads? (There definitely is a major railroad between Amsterdam and Brussels, and Brussels and Lille.)
Comment by Tommickx — May 8, 2008 @
«would be scary and strange if people in 1918 knew, that; “this is only the beginning”..»
Actually, many Europeans of 1918 knew war: war used to ravage through Europe at least once each generation before 1913: why wouldn’t it continue to do so afterwards?
Comment by El-Visitador — May 26, 2008 @
I’ll do your professor one better and give you a near citation for tte earliest se of the term “The First World War. I have a copy of Will Irwin’s _The Next War_ which that a col. Repington had been using the term since shortly before 1920.
I would say that teh real first world war was the War of the Spanish Succession and its spinoff wars that went on for decades.
Ah, what migh have been if Anne’s son survived and had been as smart as his mother and his great uncle Charles II. With no Hannoverians there’d not have been an American Revolution, America would gradually been spun off as a daughter nation over the course of a few decades.
Comment by Bacopa — June 9, 2008 @
Strangemaps - you don’t have to say “the Alsace.” It’s just “Alsace” (without the definite article) in English.
P.F. - most of the Moselle departement actually is historically German-speaking, which is why it was annexed by the German Empire along with almost all of Alsace (a small portion of Alsace remained French). However, the city of Metz is historically French-speaking and ended up German anyway, which was a major point of contention.
Comment by Bill — June 21, 2008 @