Ottoman Empire

#dailycolonist1915 - The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago:

This is the largest post in this series to date, with 85 "clippings". There are huge Canadian casualty lists from Ypres, anti-German rioting throughout the British Empire, lots of news about the sinking of the Lusitania, fighting continues at Gallipoli, and local news about transit and "ride-sharing" that has a striking relevancy today.

#dailycolonist1915 - News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago:

The news this week continues to be dominated by the German gas attack at Ypres and the Canadian counter-attack that stopped the German advance, and by the on-going attack by British forces (mostly from Australia and New Zealand) on Ottoman forces in the Dardanelles near Gallipoli. The news from the Dardanelles is somewhat disturbing in its vagueness. Praise is heaped upon Canadians for holding the line at Ypres, but the cost becomes nauseatingly apparent as the week wears on... 

#dailycolonist1915 - The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago:

[A lot of what happens, or is about to happen this week one hundred years ago has been in the news in the present. The first major gas attack by the Germans at Ypres, which distinguishes the Canadians involved, happens. On the 25th is the attack on Gallipoli that is remembered as ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand happens. Of course the results of the battle won't be in the paper until next week, but the build-up is ominous—it's very clear the Empire knew they were throwing the colonials in the meat-grinder. Also not in the paper is the start of the Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire. There is also a hint of the Arab Revolt that will eventually be led by T. E. Lawrence. A very interesting week...]

#dailycolonist1915 - The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago.

I've been busy with some other projects so while I try to keep things under a week at a time, this update covers 10 days. In general the war in Europe is unchanged on both fronts. The first Canadian contingent is in combat and there are stories from the front. A combined Anglo-French fleet is making its way up the Dardanelles toward Constantinople (Istanbul). The Mexican civil war is still going without any big news.

One article this week is particularly interesting from today's context: a story on an "Armed Secret Society of Foreigners" operating in Ontario.

#dailycolonist1915 - The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago:

#dailycolonist1914 - News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

The freaking-out over the German shelling of three English coastal cities is now over, and the news has returned to "normal". The news from the western front is the same—fighting near Ypres, British ships shelling the coast, all with gains and losses measured in yards. Meanwhile on the eastern fronts the news from Germany, Austria, Russia and Serbia is full of contradictions, with both sides claiming victories. The interesting news from abroad is what was exotic in 1914: technology, the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, Africa, and the Far East. There are also some local stories "today" that are interesting.

News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

Today it is not the battles in Europe and elsewhere that make the most interesting news. Today is about propaganda, technology, accidents and speculation...

The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today:

• Germans are reported to be using some kind of "silent cannon" that makes no noise when fired, that in areas where trenches are very close troops are talking back and forth and agreeing to ad hoc cease-fire agreements [this is another lead up to the famous informal Christmas cease-fire, and will later be "solved" by old men in charge by introducing troop rotation so the cannon-fodder won't have time to get friendly enough to agree not shoot each other], but life in the trenches is generally cold and miserable.
• It seems a story from yesterday about disappointing recruitment drives at football [soccer] matches that I took as unimportant is a more serious problem to some. The British Prime Minister is expected to be asked to introduce legislation banning football matches for the duration of the war.
• A large shipment of tobacco products is being sent to Canadian troops.
• Strange political machinations in the hard-to-comprehend politics of Egypt.
• Commendations for British and French pilots for Zeppelin-shed raids.
• Canada's first expeditionary force expected to be on the front lines before Christmas. The article goes on to detail the physical training the men are getting.
• In an extension of the programme of internment of "enemy aliens" all Canadian soldiers with German-sounding names in the Salisbury Plain camp, many of which are decorated Boer War veterans, are arrested, removed, questions and likely to be interned.
An editorial describing Basra and its strategic significance.
• A senator from Saskatchewan defends the loyalty of Galacians and Hungarians on the prairies
• Questions in London Parliament about annuities being paid to members of the British royal family living in Germany

News out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

Nothing quite on the level of underwater knife-fights with octopi today (I doubt that is ever going to be topped) in addition to horrible news of starvation in Belgium, there is plenty of interesting and almost as exotic news today including stories of:
• The French Foreign Legion,
• Fighting in the "Near East" and exotic Africa,
• The beginning of the events in "Lawrence of Arabia",
• Wild West mayhem with a stage coach robbery and a train robbery,
• An axe murder in Ontario and Ukrainian internment in Québec, and
• News of vital importance to the residents of Victoria...

#dailycolonist1914 - The news out of Victoria, British Columbia, 100 years ago today.

Big Sunday paper update today. Lots of interesting things: war news, 100 year-old technology, amazing illustrations and advertisements, and more...