People Of World War I

"We shall never conquer this greatest of national perils simply by spreading pious fluff over the landscape. Cannot we simply take our courage in our own hands now and face the facts of life as they really are?, because we'd know no one wanted to publicise the problem of soldier VD."

"You cannot dictate to any man what shall be his morality or his own religion. He must make his own choice. Your attempts to impose total sexual abstinence on him he regards as a meddlesome and impertinent interference with the expression of a natural instinct."

"If it were possible for me to run a properly conducted licensed house for the troops here, I would do it, for the sake of protecting the New Zealand nation against further invasion by venereal disease. It is not to do that at present, and therefore we have to rely merely on prophylactics. We shall all do our very utmost to get the New Zealand soldiers to use these whenever they are exposed to infection."

"By means of prophylaxis and the medical control of women, venereal disease has been practically wiped out at Port Said and elsewhere among Anzac troops. Until these remedies were applied, venereal disease prevailed to an alarming extent."

"The purpose of this club is to provide members of the NZEF with the necessary articles for the medical prevention of venereal disease. It has been established with the approval of the New Zealand military authorities in England, and the beginning made at Hornchurch, by their special request."

"Heaven knows they need our help badly enough, poor lads! I don't think there is anything too good for these men : some of them are the finest men on earth. This, at least, I know : that though I never dreamed six months ago I was coming half-way round the world to be a canteen cook in this place of all others in the summer-time, no work could possibly be more important at the present time, for it does most certainly help to keep well men well, and help to buck up those who are seedy. As for the heat, it's no worse than lots of other places, and I don't feel it nearly so much as many other folk."

"We are getting on splendidly here. We have five large marquees up now, and have surrounded the only group of decent trees in the place. It is an oasis for the boys, in every way. They throng the place now. We have had some New Zealanders helping us, as a fatigue party, but most of them have returned to New Zealand - all but three. We have a grand party of Australians, who have quite got into the swing of the work. They are capable, and cheerful and helpful. The cooking has been the trouble. I have had to do that myself for several weeks, and the weather has been distinctly hot. I have stood over huge field boilers making gallons and gallons of blanc mange; all the boys are very keen on that. They simply devour anything that is made."

"Far beneath where our airmen fly, Slowly the Garrison guns go by. Breaking through bramble and thorn and gorse Towed by engines or dragged by horse, The great guns, The late guns, That slowly rumble up To enable Messrs. to converse with Messrs. ."

"He was concerned now more with livelihood than with life: Goddess, Planet or Mortal, he had no longer any thought of ."

"Monte Carlo itself is a fairy city given over to the worship of the hazard: a toy town, designed for the entertainment of the idle and the rich: a stage, particularly furnished with properties to deceive the vulgar, to intrigue folk of a small imagination. ... It is a shrine at which the artificial is natural: the useless, of use: the unreal, real: the false, true: a temple in which the painted cardboard is gold and silver: the wooden sword, Excalibur; and the paste, jewels. But Monaco, or rather the harbour of Monaco, is of a reverse order, for, here, the natural is artificial: not the useless of use, but the useful, useless: not the unreal, real, but the real, unreal. It is a place of essential and primitive things which are, here, accidental and secondary."

"By the canal in Flanders I watched a barge’s prow Creep slowly past the poplar-trees; and there I made a vow That when these wars are over and I am home at last However much I travel I shall not travel fast. Horses and cars and yachts and planes: I’ve no more use for such; For in three years of war’s alarms I’ve hurried far too much; And now I dream of something sure, silent and slow and large; So when the War is over — why, I mean to buy a barge."

"By Charing Cross in London Town There runs a road of high renown, Where antique books are ranged on shelves As dark and dusty as themselves. And many booklovers have spent Their substance there with great content, And vexed their wives and filled their homes With faded prints and massive tomes."

"I place my trust in the impenetrable spaces, impassable mud, and the mercy of Saint Nicholas Mirlikisky, Protector of Holy Russia."

"It is indisputable that the blacks have benefited from certain benefits of civilization."

"It is the great misery in the Congo, the negro does all the work, he is not paid, he is beaten. When the whites return to Europe, they are replaced by Others who mistreat us. King Albert and Queen Elisabeth came, when they are there, we are left alone, but when they are gone, it will be the same. The King does not know all this, everything is hidden from him. It is the great misery here in the Congo. The captain is very bad for us, but when Queen Elisabeth is on the boat, he does not dare to hit us."

"The British people realise that they are fighting for the hegemony of the Empire. If necessary we shall continue the war single-handed."

"In short, there is a great deal of stagnation among the settlers and the medium-sized enterprises. The native there is often mistreated, exploited and has no medical care. In the Menteau farm, we observed a considerable number of varicose ulcers, which hardly exists at UM and La Forminière. There is no dispensary on this farm. The small settler can succeed in the Congo, one can doubt it, he lives by the exploitation of the native whom he makes work like a convict and moreover, he takes back his meager salary by selling him bad goods. The settler is often doubled as a trafficker, they complement each other, the system truck. Besides, the whole colonial edifice rests on the negro's shoulders. He alone is the source of profit, thanks to the excessive exploitation of which he is the object. In a colony, where there are few transport routes, where those that exist demand exorbitant prices, where there is little or no mechanical handling, no workhorse, only the degradation of the workforce - work can maintain the commercial level of the cost price. Large companies have the merit, through their tools, their medical assistance, their works of providing more treatment and of not wasting manpower."

"The negro workers are still unaware of the force that can give them union organization; happy industrialists."

"Brilliant reception at the station. Children are tidied up as soon as they enter the mission grounds. There is perfect order. The mission makes a big impression."

"The companies are complaining, but they have not done what is necessary to retain their workforce. They have relied too much on the obligation that the administration placed on the population."

"I am struck that quite a few black workers do not greet us and watch us pass by with folded arms. There are dances in the evening, not very lively. We feel that the strain of hard woodworking weighs on the morale of the natives."

"What a beautiful breed these Wagenias and how friendly."

"The chief comes to greet us, he is a handsome Baluba negro, dressed as a European with a white helmet; shame."

"Visit of the incomparable and impressive installations of Union Minière. We go up the hill. The sight is prestigious: the station, one of the most important in Africa, the buildings, the Europeans with the houses surrounded by gardens, the vast chessboard of the native city. The Negro workers that we see do not look unhappy, they are in good health."

"A real city, well laid out, with pretty houses, 1500 whites, it makes an excellent impression, better than Elisabethville. Here they are serious people, harnessed to a grandiose enterprise."

"The reception was enthusiastic and brilliant. The city appears largely mapped out, too bad there are so many ugly buildings that make it look like a city in the American Far West."

"Having a proper sense of her duty, and the means to carry it out, Belgium has mapped out her own course, and intends to keep to it. It entails a policy of humanity and progress. To a nation whos only aim is justice, the mission of colonization can only be a mission of high civilization: a small nation proves it greatness by carrying it out faithfully. Belgium has kept her word."

"The Italian Government has now written her perfidy indelibly with letters of blood on the pages of history."

"Like you, I believe our most urgent task is a modus vivendi with England. In the last analysis even Morocco was intended to facilitate this. ... We should do everything our finances allow for our defenses on land and sea, but we must work as quietly as possible, not threaten boisterously. Only then can we improve our relations with London and prevent a new naval law from leading to war."

"If war is forced upon us, we shall fight and, with God's help, not perish. But to conjure up a war ourselves without having our honor or vital interests imperiled, this I would consider a sin against Germany's destiny, even if human foresight would predict a total victory."

"We must keep France in check through a cautious policy towards Russia and England. Naturally this does not please our chauvinists and is unpopular. But I see no alternative for Germany in the near future."

"Political friendships are political business transactions and in political, as in economic life, business transactions are most easily and reliably concluded between strong parties The weakling always goes to the wall. A people that lacks a genuine sacrificial spirit or believes that it is not rich enough to keep its armaments in order thereby only betrays that it is played out. I beg you to bear one idea in mind through every difficulty. If anyone should threaten our homestead, we must be ready to the last man."

"[We are confronted with our] old dilemma at every Austrian action in the Balkans. If we encourage them, they say we pushed them into it. If we discourage them, they say we left them in the lurch. Then they will throw themselves into the open arms of the Western powers and we lose our last important ally. ... [My predicament is] worse than in 1912, because this time Austria is on the defensive against Serbo-Russian intrigues. ... An attack on Serbia can lead to world war. [Any general conflagration] however it ends [will lead] to a revolution of all existing conditions. ... The future belongs to Russia which grows and grows, looming above us as an increasingly terrifying nightmare. ... Perhaps the old Emperor [Francis Joseph] will prefer not to fight after all. If war comes from the east so that we have to fight for Austria-Hungary and not Austria-Hungary for us, we have a chance of winning. ... [I]f war does not break out, if the Tsar is unwilling or France, alarmed, counsels peace, we have the prospect of splitting the Entente."

"If we succeed not only in keeping France itself quiet, but also in having it plead for peace in Petersburg, this turn of events will weaken the Franco-Russian alliance."

"We must maintain Austria proper. Were Russia to unleash the South Slavs, we would be lost. ... If the Serbian quarrel passes without Russian mobilization, we can safely come to an understanding with the Tsar, [who will be] disappointed in the Western powers, once Austria is satisfied."

"Should war break out, it will result from Russian mobilization ab irato, before possible negotiations. In that case we could hardly sit and talk any longer, because we have to strike immediately in order to have any chance of winning at all."

"It is improbable that England will immediately enter the fray."

"As long as Russia does not commit a hostile act, I believe that our stand, directed towards localization, must remain peaceful, too."

"Should they be confirmed, we would be forced to take countermeasures against our will. Even today we try to localize the conflict and keep peace in Europe. We therefore ask Sir Edward Grey to use his influence in Petersburg in this direction."

"We are certainly ready to fulfill our obligations as ally but we clearly must refuse to be drawn lightly into a world conflagration by Vienna without consideration of our proposals."

"We can assure the English cabinet—presupposing its neutrality—that even in case of a victorious war, we will seek no territorial aggrandizement in Europe at the cost of France."

"Germany and England have undertaken all steps to avoid a European war. ... [W]e have lost control and the landslide has begun, As a political leader I am not abandoning my hope and my attempts to keep the peace as long as my démarche in Vienna has not been rejected."

"This evening I have most energetically declared to the Viennese cabinet that Germany will not swim in Austria's wake in the Balkans. Should Vienna reply affirmatively I still do not despair for peace. Sad to say, through quasi-elemental forces and the persistent poisoning of relations among the cabinets, a war desired by no one might be unleashed."

"We are now in a position of self-defence, and necessity knows no law! (Cries of “Quite right.”) Our troops have occupied Luxembourg, perhaps they have already entered Belgium. (Loud applause.) That is a breach of international law. The French Government, it is true, had declared in Brussels that they would respect Belgian neutrality so long as their opponent respected it. But we knew that France stood ready to invade it. (Cries of indignation.)"

"All these attempts on which, as he well knew, I had worked incessantly, were wrested from me. And by whom? By England; and why? Because of Belgian neutrality! Can this neutrality which we violate only out of necessity, fighting for our very existence, and with the express assurance that we will repay any damage, if Belgium lets us march through—can this neutrality and the way in which it is threatened, really provide the reason for a world war? Compared to the disaster of such a holocaust does not the significance of this neutrality dwindle into a scrap of paper?"

"It is a crime that Russia has forced war upon us while we are still mediating between Vienna and Petersburg, and a Franco-Russia war against Germany is enough of a disaster. ... This war turns into an unlimited world catastrophe only through England's participation. It was in London's hands to curb French revanchism and pan-Slav chauvinism. Whitehall has not done so, but rather repeatedly egged them on. Now England actively helps them. Germany, the Emperor, and the government are peace-loving. That the ambassador knows as well as I do. We enter the war with a clear conscience, but England's responsibility is monumental."

"I repeat the words of the Kaiser: ‘We enter the struggle with a clear conscience!’ (Great enthusiasm.) We are fighting for the fruits of our labours in peace, for the heritage of a great past, and for our future. The fifty years are not yet ended within which Moltke said we should stand at arms to defend the heritage and the achievements of 1870. The hour of great trial has struck for our nation. But we look forward to it with absolute confidence. (Tremendous applause.) Our army is in the field, our fleet is ready, and behind them the entire German nation (roars of enthusiastic applause and hand-clapping in the whole House)—the whole German nation! (These words were accompanied by a gesture towards the Social Democrats.—Renewed outburst of applause, in which the Social Democrats also joined.)"

"When assessing the responsibility for this war—we have to confess honestly that we bear a share of the guilt. If I said this thought oppresses me, I would say too little—this thought never leaves me. I live in it."

"We will create real guarantees to ensure that Belgium shall not become a Franco-British vassal and shall not be used as a military and economic high road against Germany. Germany cannot abandon the so long enslaved Flemish people to Latinisation. We will, on the contrary, ensure for it a sound development corresponding to its resources and based on the Flemish language and character."

"What I am able to say concerning the direction and aim of our terms, I have already said repeatedly. To put an end to the war with a durable peace that will compensate us for all the wrongs we have suffered and will safeguard the existence and future of a strong Germany—that is our aim."