That idea has run all through madisons history. It has caused an interesting phenomenon. People have come to the fore at key junctions junctures and madison history to say, we need to take the road less traveled. We need to take the difficult road. We need visionary ideas. We need to try to achieve them. These are the kinds of things that all flow from that fundamental perception that madison was special, and we need to do everything we can to keep it that way. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring madison, wisconsin. Raised in wisconsin, architect frank lloyd writes contributions to the madison skyline include the unitarian meetinghouse. Our Charter Cable partners worked with cspan staff when we recently traveled to medicine to explore the citys rich history. Learn more about madison all weekend here on American History tv. We are on the ninth floor of Memorial Library at the university of wisconsin madison. We are in the middle of an exhibit called 1914 then came armageddon. The goal was to commemorate the 100 Year Anniversary of the outbreak of the war. Toferent artifacts related not only wisconsins role in the war, but also what was happening in each combatant country when the conflict began in the summer of 1914. The war broke out in the summer of 1914 after franz ferdinand, the archduke and heir to the austrian hungarian throne, was assassinated by a member of a serbian military group called the black hand whose goal was to bring all serbs together in one country, independent of austrohungarian control. After the assassination of the air to the throne, austria put pressure on serbia to allow them to conduct an investigation about Franz Ferdinands investigation. Austria acquiesced serbia acquiesced on all of austrias the mans except that austria be able to use their own police in serbian territory. This led to a standoff and eventually a military confrontation when austria mobilized against serbia. Russia declared that they would help defend the serbs. Germany asked russia to stop their mobilization process and threatened that if russia mobilized, they would declare war. Russia would not back down, and germany declared war. There is for the cascading effect, where france stepped in in support of russia, and then when germany invaded france by way of belgium, britain declared war in a in order to defend belgian neutrality. We chose to focus on the western front for practical reasons. That is where the strength of theholdings university of wisconsin are. A lot of material is germanys role, as well as belgium and france. We wanted to bring these sources to the four and focus on the western combat experience. These first cases in the collection focus on the outbreak of the war in different countries. Here is what we are calling germany mobilizes for war. Within the case, you can see here for images of example, crowds assembled in berlin to receive news that germany was declaring war on russia, and right here, the kaiser is creating a crowd in front of the royal palace. Kaiser wilhelm is sitting on his horse. Some of the more interesting aspects of what we have for this exhibit are the material culture objects that antispangle has donated. Within this case, we have two different pins that were passed around in germany during the war. These include a pin on germans not to forget their colonies. This was a reminder that germany was not just fighting for its territory in europe but also its holdings in africa. There is the payment to show ,olidarity with the combatants a little pin of the german , which a person could wear in order to signify their loyalty. One theme that was heavily represented in the uw medicine collection was antigerman propaganda, and a lot of this in the u. S. Focus on the german invasion of france by way of belgium. In this case, we have the idea that germany has violated belgian neutrality. There are crimes in which a bloody knife is stepping through the german treaty with belgium. Also, we have a couple of nice images. Fromxample, this image reality, in which the germans are bombing to belgian children on a country road and calling it military necessity. And then this pamphlet that was given out in new york, thousands of little children of france are crying to you to save fruitfulness. N germany is committing crimes against civilians. They are not conducting an honorable war. In conjunction with that, there are lots of books put out against germany that claim to either tell the truth about what germany is doing in belgium, tell the truth about the german war aims, or just to highlight the different atrocities germany is committing against civilian populations throughout the fronts. Germany versus civilization, the idea germany is not fit to stand among the members of western europe. Then this book i like conquest and culture, how there is something flawed and german culture that has led them to start this war and to engage in an unjust conflict against the belgian civilian population. What is interesting about the First World War is that the print culture is so advanced that even in putting together this exhibit, we were sort of swimming in sources. Its not the first time that propaganda is used, but it is artainly a very treasure treasure trove of propaganda. A lot of the propaganda in this case is aimed at trying to get americans to pressure the government to join the war. America is neutral up until 1917. These materials from 1914, 1915 are trying to show that America Needs to fight because its an unjust conflict, that there is a clear case of evil that needs to be stopped represented by germany before further damage is done to the belgian and french civilian populations. All of these cases are overstated. It is true that germany would commit reprisals against civilian populations, for example, if there was a sharpshooter in a belgian village. In order to find the sharpshooter, germany would inot unarmed civilians reprisal. There are lots of stories, for , thele the most famous idea that germany is bayoneting belgian babies, which was not true. In the second world war, this leaves the allies to downplay stories of german atrocities being committed in Eastern Europe because the case was so overstated in the First World War. In each of the outbreak cases, we try to capture part of the mood of the country at the beginning of the conflict, sort of to get at what the message is from all of the different sources from 1914. In the case of france, it is overwhelmingly that france is fighting a defensive war, that france has been attacked by germany, and the french nation needs to rise up and defend the home front. In this case, you have, for example, a french soldier in the woods saying, no one shall pass, the idea that germany has taken part of france, but they will not gain any more territory. Images, french soldiers are leading straight out of paris. There were a lot of memoirs written. One of the most popular and friends was under fire in france was under fire. This dwells much more on the trauma of combat, about the ways in which is not glorious and how it is traumatic for the combatants. What is interesting with b arbussa, he comes after the war, but the combat experience as men are living it is not widely circulated during the war. With the french case, with the german case, with the crowds gathering before the kaiser, there is a sense that all political differences need to be set aside. France calls this the sacred union. Says, iny, the kaiser no longer see political parties. See germans. The idea being, united, we can conquer our foes. What is interesting about the First World War is that none of the countries had a territorial stake on any of the other countries. The war, for example, germany had in mind when they decided to engage france and russia, having no real legal cause to attack france after declaring war on ofsia, was the war 18701871, in which germany won quickly against the french. This idea, will be home by christmas, was something all sides shared. Germany believed they would quickly arrive in paris, forced a treaty on france, maybe take a little more territory, and that the conflict would be over. Nobody imagined that when the two armies met, it would lead to oftalemate and bloodshed previously unknown scales. Within this collection at uw madison, there is a sense of foreboding, of knowledge that this is going to be a cataclysmic confrontation. In the first week after the combat began, on the western front, armies were equipped with defensive weapons but not highly effective offensive weapons. Ngs like Barbara Ryanair barbed wire, the machine gun are good for holding a position but not necessarily good for breaking through. As the war developed, each side attempted to find new offensive weapons in order to counter the strong defensive positions that were opposite them in the western front. This took a number of developments. These included things like poison gas, the flamethrower, the tank, putting guns on airplanes, all of which were aimed at trying to get over the trenches. In this case, we tried to highlight these different war technologies. We have a map of what it was like to be in the interior of a tank. You can see, if you look closely, that a tank required six men, and they were in very cramped conditions in the tank. There were also ski units set up to fight in the helps alps. They had to learn to fire while on skis. Of of the biggest results the changes in warfare were casualty figures. That neitherasons side was willing to back down was that they were trying to make the sacrifice worth something, too, put some reason for all of these deaths. That is helping to drive the , tryinggical innovation to figure out some sort of technology to force a decisive defeat. He needed to defeat the enemy in such a way that they would have no choice but surrender. Both sides were surprised by the number of casualties. That is the origin of this anxiety, that it wouldnt actually be such a quick fight but that this would be some sort of earthchanging, european event that would shift the balance of power in europe but way in whiche European Society was structured. The german high command realized that they were going to collapse, that they were not going to be able to stop the western front once america joined, so they asked the civilian government to sue for peace. The kaiser then went into exile, which was part of wilsons demand for an unconditional surrender, and ultimately, the treaty signed was the treaty of versailles, in which the germans were forced to acknowledge that they were responsible for the war. Germany had to pay a war indemnity to reimburse france and britain for the cost of the war. Germany also lost all of their colonies. They lost european territories