Poem ~ Broken Isolationism - Monday, 12 March 1917 - Thursday, 15 March 1917

Source: File: Woodrow Wilson is sworn in to his second term as President of the United States by Chief Justice Edward Douglass White. See an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WilsonInauguration1917.jpg> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

Sunday 4 March 1917, the day

President Wilson made an oath

To enter a second term in post.

Entering a more somber period

Of his presidency - expectancy

Awaited an inaugural speech.

The talk centered around an

'Armed Neutrality Bill,' when

President Wilson would gain

Powers, to arm all merchant

Vessels, against the piracy

Being carried out by Germany.

96 members of the senate

Saw total of 83 supporting

Moves to armed neutrality -

For all intent and purposes

America was acting out war,

As seen in correspondence.

While from reliable sources

Representatives, Senators

Any kind of declaration lay

In the hands of congress;

The Representatives house

Of 416 votes saw 403 united.

They favoured 'Armed Ship

Bill,' to note how events

And the timing of, perhaps

Declaring war, had become

Shadowed by fact in armed

Ships, making a declaration.

An isolationism that USA

Had maintained for more

Than two years had altered,

After a German submarine

Covered the great distance

Of sailing the Atlantic ocean.

A new reality had been born,

To show how United States of

America was part of the world.

Overriding the people's beliefs

In refraining from any meddling

In European continent's affairs.

With the revealed plot aimed

Towards USA - to set attempts

To utilize Japanese forces on

An Mexican platform, intent

To invade American soil - akin

To the 1914 Belgium invasion.

A German telegram effectively

Declared themselves as enemy

To the USA, sentiments were

Swiftly stirred to fight on allies

Side - rather than to fight as a

Completely separate nation.

The propaganda machine

Of Germany within the USA

Reached a crossroads - they

Could not deny discovery

Of the German plot - though

Newspapers attempted a ploy.

New Yorker, Staats-Zeitung

And Gaelic American, gave

The idea to their readers that

The Zimmermann Note was

In fact an English forgery,

Planted to create conflict.

Flying in the face of Berlin,

Admissions and sentiments

Inflamed a majority among

People of America, which

Awaited Vienna’s response

In supporting Germany.

Yet the feeling of situation

Being all out of proportion

To lay in a certain minority -

If memebers in the senate

Might block the bill, Woodrow

Wilson could override them.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: Second Inaugural Address of Woodrow Wilson. Yale Law School - The Avalon Project. Available at: <http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/wilson2.asp> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

Source: File: U.S. Presidential Inaugurations: Woodrow Wilson. Available at: <https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/inaugurations/wilson/index.html> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

Source: File: The Washington times., March 05, 1917, Complete Afternoon Edition, Image 1. Available at: <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1917-03-05/ed-1/seq-1/> [Accessed 12 March 2017]

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Poem ~ Sussex Pledge Broken - Wednesday, 7 March 1917- Thursday, 8 March 1917

Source: File: torpedoed Cross-channel ferry Sussex at Boulogne, March 1916. The entire forepart of the ship was destroyed in the attack. See an original image at: <http://study.com/academy/lesson/sussex-pledge-definition-lesson.html> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Within hours of the Laconia's loss, survivor

Reporter Floyd Gibbons of Chicago Tribune,

Composed his account of certain night, February

25 1917 - over the next few days newspaper

Debates expressed American opinions.

Only 11 months before a diplomatic crisis 

Had threatened America's neutrality; German
UB 29 in a grave error of judgment, had attacked 
What was believed to be a Mine Sweeper - 
A daily passenger ferry left Folkestone.

The situation at sea had seen declared

War zones; German frustrations at land-war

Stalemate turned towards the sea - from 1916

Unrestricted U Boat policy of attacks were

Made against shipping, though restricted.

The Lusitania that had been torpedoed

In May 1915 had initially riled America with

The deaths of 128 Americans - in order to pacify

USA, Germany curbed U-boat attacks; armed

Merchant ships again valid targets by 1916.

March 1916 the Sussex carried civilians;

Being a cross channel ferry sighted by UB 29

Believed to be a mine layer the ferry was targeted.

The Sussex did not sink yet damage was heavy;

Amid the 80 casualties were 25 Americans.

President Woodrow Wilson's reaction

Was a threat to cut off all diplomacy with

Germany - actions were swift to Wilson's angry

April speech - on 4 May came a promise

With Germany's 'Sussex Pledge.'

The Sussex Pledge promised that no

Passenger ships would be targeted - while

Merchant ships would only be sunk; after being

Searched for weaponry passengers and crew

Would be made safe - rescinded by 1917.

Germany confidently believed that

They might win the war swiftly by an act

At sea, whereby unrestricted warfare would
Defeat allied forces, before any chance

Of the USA joining in conflict.

The Laconia attack sparked debate,

As daily American newspapers endorsed

The Governments view, to see the Laconia

Sinking as an overt act - such event

Were changing opinions in USA.

Tuesday 27 February an address

Made by President Wilson saw mixed

Reactions, about ambiguous nature of armed

Neutrality; 'peace at all costs' had then

Been the central policy of USA.

President Woodrow Wilson, along

With legal advisor Robert Lansing, met

To confer how blatantly Germany had gone

Against their word of the 'Sussex Pledge,'

Resulting in a new congress policy.

A quote from the New York Times

Called on all Americans to defend their

Liberties of the nation - a right to sail the seas

Securely and without risk - any surrender

Would show a nation lacking courage.

Debates in arming of American shipping

Were yet to be tested - to stretch the mind

How America might enter a war centered purely 

In Europe - President Wilson believed only

An invasion of the US would cause war.

Only time might tell any future 
Direction; in the meantime all American

Consular officers, along with all diplomats,

Started a process of leaving Austria,

Breaking with the central powers.

At the foot of America on Mexican 

Border, stretching from Tijuana across

To Brownsville, had been brewing a line

Of adversity - although regarding war

The country shared USA neutrality.

Mexico itself was in the throws

Of lengthy revolution - with strained

Politics openly made the hispanic country

An ideal sideline for German intent -

To entice Venustiano Carranza.

The President of Mexico held key

To deflect the USA; the Zimmerman

Telegram decoded message had revealed

German intent to restart their submarine

Warfare, to curtail 'Sussex Pledge.'

Ideal was that America remained

Neutral - if this did not happen then

Germany proposed a Mexico alliance -

The carrot being financial support

For regaining all lost territories.

Arizona, Texas and New Mexico taken

In the 1848 Mexican cession in the treaty

Of Guadalupe Hidalgo; von Eckardt was given

Free reign to gain Mexico as an ally,
By a settlement to retake territory.

Von Eckardt instructions was to distract 

President's attention; that in a few months

England would be compelled to make peace.

'Make war together make peace together,'

Was motto of an alliance with Mexico.

Although the telegram kept options

Open, von Eckardt was requested to use

His initiative; also to mediate some agreement

With Japan, who was then fighting alongside

The allied powers; signed Zimmerman.

Strains of mutual dislike lay all around;

America was anti Mexican, with element

Of anti British - with anti Germany in Mexico

Was anti America - German held hopes

For a Mexico-American war to break.

So a scene was set - with the 'Sussex

Pledge' trashed, to see by start of March
Defensive arms to be carried by American ships.

A direct result of overt act; diplomacy ties

With Germany fell - time might tell.

by Jamie Mann.

Source: File: US Department Of State: American Entry into World War I, 1917. Available at: <https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/wwi/82205.htm> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Source: File: Wikipedia: Sussex Pledge. Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sussex_pledge> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

Source: File: The First World War, East Sussex. The Sussex Pledge. Available at: <http://www.eastsussexww1.org.uk/the-sussex-pledge/> [Accessed 7 March 2017]

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Poem ~ Peace In A Note - Thursday, 28 December 1916 - Friday, 29 December 1916

Source: File: Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg. See an original image at: <https://macedonia1912-1918.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/ww1-leaders-german-statesmen-and-army.html> [Accessed 28 December 2016]

Possibly prompted and basking in glow

Of success over Roumanian defeat,

Germany purveyed idea of negotiated

Peace - perhaps to believe that with

Advent of Christmas and goodwill to all

Men that this might be taken seriously.

Came an echo of previous attestations,

Where war's conclusion might become

Reality - another chapter for peace

Emerged from words by the German

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg

12 December 1916, given in a speech.

The act of Roumania's entry to conflict

Began the body of the speech before

The Reichstag podium - in seriousness

Of the situation was noted Field Marshall

Von Hindenburg's strength - who had

Captured Bucharest and Wallachia.

This had been achieved alongside other

Fronts; the Somme, Italy and Russian -

Without any let up Hiddenburg pushed

All operations onwards. A twist existed

In Roumanian foodstuffs stocks,

While German enemies felt a famine.

The speech entwined praise and awe

On emperor's heart, by 1st anniversary

August 1915 - words told how Germany's

Empire was not a besieged fortress, but

An organised nation - having limitless

Resources, alongside a force of allies. 

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg

Laid out claims to a nation of defence

And freedom - having quite forgotten

Their initial invading aggression -

Ever ready to hold out the German

Hand made claim of a peaceful country.

'God, humanity and nation' - three

Elements evoked the story, how all

Attempts for German declarations

Of peace were always avoided -

A reluctant Kaiser had mobilised,

Prompted by Russian mobilisation.

To claim throughout months of war,

The emperor wanted only peace -

His morals and religion nature finally

Prompted him to make official

Request for war's end, for harmony

With hostile countries in mutual peace.

Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg

Advised he had sent a transmission

Of a note for peace to major neutral

States; Switzerland, America and

Spain - ensuring all hostile powers

Received this, as well as neutrals.

To include the Pope who had always

Been an agent for a peaceful end

To conflict - the peace note circulated

To Constantinople, Vienna and Sofia.

The Chancellor edged towards reading

Circulated note in challenging enemy.

Greatest of all claims was the real

Existence of German world power,

And their clear conscience to act

In choosing peace over slaughter -

If declined than those that fought

Against them are wars perpetuators.

By suggestion that their enemies

Seek only to conquer how they,

With such words, spin doctor this

Situation - 'God will be the judge'

As Germany carrys on their way;

A burden of horror will be enemies.

To state the obvious catastrophe

Of conflict over much of the world,

Germany was not out to annihilate

Their adversaries, in a war forced

On them - yet a strong economy

Would enable them to continue.

A bitter end would be no problem,

Though civilization might dissolve

Into ruin - victories in Balkan arena

Only showed German power - how

That situation justifies their nations

Claim to unrelenting successes.

'Germany then carries on a war

Of defence' - she fights to assure

Integrity of frontiers and liberty

Of her nation' - for free intellect

And to develop peaceful energy

Alongside neighboring nations.

A pontification address to pope's

Intentions was to set out Germany

As subject of victimisation - only

Germany was ready for peace -

Setting forth an understanding for

The Holy See to channel outcome.

Making out his congratulations for

Imperial chancellors speech came

Reports via neutrals, quoting words

Of Marshal von Hindenburg - whose

Emotion was a soldier’s response;

'To live and die for the fatherland.'

Words from a Berlin telegram added

More prophetic rhetoric; Hiddenburg

Declared the highest holy duty by

Prosecuting victory another, Dr von

Bethmann-Hollweg, stated the words

As being both the army and peoples.

To reinforce that if German enemies

Did not terminate the war, guarantee

Of Germany is to fight and secure

Fatherland a strong, lasting peace -

Meanwhile neutral reactions came

In with importance of United States.

Missouri politician and chairman

Of Senate Committee for Foreign

Relations, William Stone, addressed

The 'League to Enforce Peace' - as

An advocate of American neutrality,

With right to open up negotiations.

William Stone refused all warnings

From any foreign statesmen opinions,

That United states peace movements

Would be seen as futile and offensive.

He pointed out that USA had lost lives

And property due to European events.

Despite this that the USA movements

Should not be considered as meddlers,

But as a friend who had been affected

By wars ruthless acts - what might then

Happen from the latest initiatives from
Germany; might peace come in 1917?

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Hindenburg And Peace - Significant Telegrams. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 December 1916. P.10. Col.3. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213996/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1916.htmll> [Accessed: 28 December 2016].

Anon.,1916. The Peace Proposal - An American View. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 December 1916. P.10. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213996/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1916.htmll> [Accessed: 28 December 2016].

Source: File: Extract from the Speech of Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg in the German Reichstag, December 12, 1916. Available at: <https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Extract_from_the_Speech_of_Chancellor_von_Bethmann-Hollweg_in_the_German_Reichstag,_December_12,_1916> [Accessed 25 December 2016]

Source: File: Official Communications and Speeches Relating to Peace Proposals 1916-1917. Available at: <https://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/Official_Communications_and_Speeches_Relating_to_Peace_Proposals_1916-1917> [Accessed 25 December 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 28 December 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213996/Daily-Telegraph-December-15-1916.html

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Poem ~ A Swiss Spies for Germans - Monday, 16 October - Thursday, 19 October 1916

Impression sketch; recruitment of Swiss spy Felix Malherbe.

From neutral Switzerland came source

Of subjects, willing to sell services

For purposes of Germany's war intent.

Exact numbers to be then classified

By the French army - for their missions

Such recruited spies travelled miles.

A subject of Switzerland Felix Malherbe,

An electrician, later confessed how his

Involvement as a spy began - six months

Of war had passed, when in February

1915, Felix Malherbe was sat on a bench.

A man came to him asking his situation.

Felix Malherbe had no work or money.

The stranger talked to him asking about

His past, his knowledge and his ability

To speak French - studying his passport

Malherbe evidenced he could freely travel

About France - did he want to earn money?

In agreeing to idea of taking work Malherbe

Was asked to report to a brewery in Geneva.

On arrival there he met a German man from

Loerrach - being a German city close to the

Swiss border - Malherbe learned from him

About the German Intelligence Service.

Given 100 francs Malherbe then agreed

To go on an initial trip across France - war

Was still young and battles over frontiers

Had happened - in the proximity of Cernay

With the battle of Mulhouse, Malherbe

Was issued with specific orders to follow.

This was to be a trial to see how well he did
Various tasks - Malherbe was requested

First to travel via Bellegarda to Lyon, Dijon

And Duchy of Bar, to finally reach Troyes.

A return journey to take in Belfort and Delle,

Having gained information to make a report.

Specifically Felix Malherbe was ordered

To find out about cost of raw materials,

Commodities and resources - to observe

The French state of mind at Villefranche;

Where the engineering company Vermorel

Was engaged in manufacturing of shells.

The Germans wanted to know how many

Worked there - age groups and if men 
Or women. At Dijon Malherbe had to find

How well the army shops were supplied -

Onwards to Neufchâteau, where he would

Discover that a woman of the intelligence

Group had been arrested, as suspected.

At Brienne-le-Château Malherbe learnt

About artillery ammunition of the French.

With the trip going to plan, he returned to

Loerrach via Troyes - here questioned

At length - Malherbe was given 800 francs.

Next he was asked to travel to Cherbourg.

21 March 1915 Felix Malherbe set upon

A mission - meeting a woman of German

Secret Service who had passed him

A newspaper - a series of codes had been

Written In the margin that he conveyed

To Basel. Next he travelled to Cherbourg.

There he looked into state of naval guns,

Then onto Saint-Malo - Malherbe passed on

Information - along to coast from Manche

Into Brittany to arrive Brest; here to discover

About Bretagne Battleship progression and

Goods and coal being shipped to England.

Other boats Malherbe looked for information

On were transatlantic SS Paris, along with

SS France; turned into a merchant cruiser.

Also in Brittany Malherbe arrived in Nantes,

To spy on imports of British steel and state

Of plants; idle by lack of labor or materials?

After passing on information to a German

Spy in Nantes, Malherbe soon travelled

To Paris - to meet four German officers

Disguised as British Red Cross - at end

Of March Malherbe was back in Loerrach,

Providing the secret service with a report.

Handed a total of 1,100 francs Malherbe

Was asked to travel again - at Villefranche

His mission to look into Vermorel plants.

There discovering amounts of shells

Being made, also to find about industrial

Goods produced and moved out by train.

Journeying to Poitiers central France, the

Experienced spy Malherbe looked into

French army enrollment and movements

Across to Evereux in Normandy - after

To Rouen, where 20,000 British 40,000

French troops were being moved to front.

Whilst in Normandy, Malherbe found out

About shipping boats origins and cargos,

To observe unloading of army supplies

By the British - then he looks into numbers

Of wounded or sick troops, to consider

French women’s morality for reference.

German newspapers intentions to say

French immorality was rife and debauchery

Existed in the country - after trying to find

About barracks to house recruits, Malherbe

Moved onto Valbonne southeast France,

To spy on colonial and Montluel troops.

Close to Rhone Alps city Lyon, he sought

Information of troops stationed at Banne

Camp - in same region Malherbe paused

At a station of Saint-Germain-des-Fosses,

To watch troop transports and presence

Of artillery - noting details of an airfield.

After Orleans he found where British were

Stationed - Malherbe back in Paris delved

Into the city’s economy - from 29 March

Spy Malherbe had covered many miles -

Throughout April he had asked questions

To then look at Paris' people and defences.

On 4 May Malherbe journeyed to Troyes,

North central France - his subject there

To look into how factories operated again

And the moves of transport - this talented

Electrician started to falter, running out

Of luck; to be stopped at the train station.

With routine passport checks done more

Thoroughly, Felix Malherbe was detained

And quizzed - due to lack of a diplomatic

Signature - a further search of the Swiss

Subject had found he possessed details;

Regiment numbers and other information.

Imprisoned at Troyes Malherbe underwent

A trial - providing all details of his activities.

In his defence he made an appeal to Troyes

Protestant Chaplin - but charges were held;

Felix Malherbe had conspired with enemy

In 12 months. 12 May 1916 came sentence.

Whilst no immediate execution was made,

He sought a presidential pardon; time ran out.

Monday 9 October 1916 spy Felix Malherbe

Aged 41, finally faced his firing squad 5 a.m.

At Hauts-Clos, Troyes - to be given a small

Paragraph in the English Daily Telegraph.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Spy Shot In France. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 10 October 1916. P.6. Col.6. Available at: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213413/Daily-Telegraph-October-10-1916.html> [Accessed: 16 October 2016].

Source: File: Une affaire d'espionnage à Troyes. Available at: <http://www.jschweitzer.fr/notre-histoire/espionnage/m> [Accessed 16 October 2016]

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 16 October 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12213413/Daily-Telegraph-October-10-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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