Ships in Bottles The postcard above reflects an aspect of the history that found Germany and Great Britain at war in 1914. The conceit of this German postcard is that the battleships of the British Royal Navy, observed through the periscope of a German submarine, are confined to port—“bottled-up”—out of fear of Germany’s navy. […]
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The Big Pond This postcard, printed in Germany, is captioned, in translation, “Friend and Enemy at the Big Pond.” The image shows children representative of the nations soon to be at war at the edge of a pond on which toy boats are being sailed. The card was issued before the war broke out, but […]
Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please. ~ Niccolò Machiavelli Arthur Travers Harris was a career officer in the British Royal Air Force. He was […]
“Civilization—To Your Health! [A Great War-Era Postcard Featuring an Image by the Dutch Artist, Louis Raemaekers] World War One—the “Great War”—certainly counts as one of the major events in modern human history. Its effects were felt for decades after the guns fell silent—and in important respects (not least, the political borders of the […]
I acknowledged, in earlier posts to this site, that I have become obsessively interested in the hideous tragedy we recall as “World War I”—the “Great War.” As related in those posts, I formed a particular interest in the ways in which picture postcards of the period document both the course of the conflict […]
I had intended to give all of us a rest from JudgmentsHere . . . But then I received intelligence that obliges me to post, today, as a matter of civic responsibility and a demonstration of my regard for the sensibilities of faithful readers. I read, today, in the latest copy of FOOD & […]
As of this writing, the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of 160,000 of our friends and relations. It is a measure of the tragedy that large numbers of bits and bytes would be consumed by the mere listing of their names. Remembering even a small fraction of those dead in any meaningful way would […]
Offered here, for the delectation of readers, is a list of songs that are favorites of JudgmentsHere. An effort has been made to have the selections span a variety of genres, and to tilt toward the neglected and the obscure. There are few better feelings than stumbling on a piece of music […]
Propaganda Postcards and the German Invasion of Belgium “The first casualty when war comes is truth,” observed United States Senator Hiram Johnson in a 1918 speech. Coincidentally, his subject was the Great War—America’s involvement in which Johnson had opposed. “Truth is so precious that she should always be attended by a bodyguard of […]
