By Lea Seago
Class of 2013
The World War or Great War was absolutely correctly named. The war touched almost every country in the world, almost every family and almost every race and gender. WWI was the first war to use airplanes in combat, rapid fire machine guns, tanks, chemical weapons, submarines and flame throwers. There was extensive use of blimps, airships, zeppelins, barrage balloons with barrage nets and steel mine barrages in the North Sea. All used by enemy and friend, for the good and for the bad. One is to wonder regarding lessons learned, as WWI was just the prelude for the greatest generation and WWII.
12 October 1915, forty-nine year old British nurse, Edith Cavell is executed by a German firing squad in Brussels Belgium. She, to the British, is the 20th century St. Joan of Arc. Edith is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers in Brussels from all sides, harboring no animosity. She, with Belgium and French colleagues, helped over 200 allied soldiers escape from German occupied Belgium. Some even stayed in her home.
Because of the British government’s decision to use Cavell’s story as propaganda, she became the most prominent British female casualty of WWI. A statue in London near Trafalgar Square is inscribed with her words “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone”.
May 1916, American socialite, social reformer, organizer and diplomat, Florence Jaffrey Harriman, was recruited by Eleanor Roosevelt to lead the group “Independent Women of America” in a parade down 5thAvenue, New York. After President Wilson declared war on Germany, she organized the Red Cross Women’s Motor Corps of the District of Columbia. Florence also directed the “Women’s Motor Corps” in France.
7 October 1916, the German U-53 commanded by Kapitanleutnant Hans Rose, entered Newport Harbor, Rhode Island, and anchored near the cruiser flagship of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves, Commander of the Atlantic Destroyer Flotilla, based in Newport. After anchor, Rose brought his crew of 3 officers and 33 enlisted men on deck in full uniform complete with medals. He invited high ranking naval officials and their wives aboard the submarine for a tour and drinks.
Rose met all of the neutrality regulations while in port. All that changed once he was out of the 3 mile limit protocol, he again began to sink allied shipping. He sank at least five merchant ships, three British, one Dutch and one Norwegian. The Newport Navy Flotilla was mobilized to rescue passengers.
6 December 1917, Rose torpedoed and sank USS Jacob Jones which was the first American destroyer lost during WWI.
One of the mysteries of WWI was the role of Mata Hari. An aging exotic dancer, surviving only on money earned from adoring German and French officers, was rumored to be a spy because of her travels from the Netherlands, France and other world locations during wartime. She would sometimes travel with proper credentials and at other times without proper credentials. She received money from Germany and France to be a spy, but never reported anything significant that a spy would provide. She simply needed money to survive.
The Germans saw her as a nuisance and decided to use her as a subterfuge for their important German Agent, Clara Benedix. The French helped identify her as a German spy, however, no paperwork was ever found to substantiate.
Actually, Mata Hari, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, born in Leeuwarden, Holland was a non-threatening exotic figure. She was Indian, Javanese, Malaysian and other self-inventions. Had WWI not happened, she would have remained a harmless figure skirting the fringes of society in her own way. In October of 2001, a Dutch group asked France to rehabilitate the reputation of Mata Hari, saying the exotic dancer, executed by a firing squad in 1917 as a German spy, was framed.
We have come a long way—however? Facts to ponder:
17 March 1920, Queen Alexandra, Great Britain, unveiled the memorial statue of Edith Cavell on Trafalgar Square. The sculptor was Sir George Frompton.
From 1917 – 1919 Florence Harriman served as chair of the US National Defense Advisory Commission’s Committee on Women in Industry.
The U-53 was 212 feet long and was powered by two 1200 horsepower diesel engines; it could reach surface speed of 17 knots, a submerged speed of 11 knots, and had a range of 9,400 nautical miles. It could receive radio transmissions from 2,000 miles.
13 October 1917, Mata Hari was executed in Paris by firing squad. Records from the French, British and German military archives were combed and evidence was found that Mata Hari was framed by German secret services, who claimed she was a double agent. The Dutch foundation that bears Mata Hari’s name found that she was not a traitor.
