Century Film Project

Celebrating the movies our ancestors loved

Tag: Russian Civil War

June 24, 2018

June 1918

The news round-up this month is a bit deceptive, because a lot of the important historical events of this month weren’t heavily covered at the time. The biggest event really is the escalation of the “Spanish Flu” to a pandemic, but no one knew in June that it would ultimately kill more people than the First World War. The Bolsheviks weren’t advertising the fact that they had begun killing off the Romanov royal family, either. And, the important document the British government sent to the Syrians, assuring them of the principle of national self-determination would have significant influence on the Treaty of Versailles, although it received little publicity at the time. Sometimes, we don’t know what the most significant events of our times are until we can look back at them with some perspective.

 

World War One:

The Battle of Belleau Wood begins June 1. The U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division deployed troops, including the 5th and 6th Marine Regiments, to hold Belleau Wood near the Marne River in France after the towns of Château-Thierry and Vaux fell to the Germans.

Allied counterattacks in the Third Battle of the Aisne on June 3 halted the German advance at the Marne River. Allied casualties were massive at 127,000, including 98,000 French casualties and 29,000 British casualties. Germany suffered slightly more with 130,000 casualties

The Austro-Hungarian dreadnought battleship SMS Szent István is sunk on June 10 by two Italian MAS motor torpedo boats, off the Dalmatian coast.

The first airplane bombing raid by an American unit in France is carried out June 12.

Grand Duke Michael of Russia

Russian Revolution:

Grand Duke Michael of Russia is murdered on June 12, thereby becoming the first of the Romanovs to be murdered by the Bolsheviks.

World Health:

The “Spanish ‘flu” becomes pandemic. Over 30 million people die in the following 6 months.

Disasters:

RMS Kenilworth Castle, one of the Union-Castle Line steamships, collides with her escort destroyer HMS Rival on June 4 while trying to avoid her other escort, the cruiser HMS Kent.

Astronomy:

V603 Aquilae, the brightest nova observed since Kepler’s of 1604, is discovered June 8.

Diplomacy:

The Declaration to the Seven, a British government response to a memorandum issued anonymously by seven Syrian notables after the Balfour Declaration and the Sykes-Picot Agreement became known, is published June 16. It assures Arabs of the British government’s support of the principle of national self-determination after the war is over.

Crime:

Suspects in the Chicago Restaurant Poisonings are arrested on June 22, and more than 100 waiters are taken into custody, for poisoning restaurant customers with a lethal powder called Mickey Finn.

Film:

Marion Davies produced and starred in her second feature film Cecilia of the Pink Roses, released through Select Pictures on June 2.

Theda Bara starred in the silent drama Under the Yoke, released June 9, which became noteworthy in its controversy in later years for its depiction of Filipinos and the one-sided view of American occupation in the Philippines.

Born:

Robert Preston (actor, in “The Music Man” and “Victor/Victoria”) June 8.

Jane Bryan (actress, in “Kid Galahad” and “Brother Rat”) June 11.

Ellen Liiger (Estonian actress, known for the film adaptation of Karge meri) June 26.

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March 18, 2018

March 1918

The War is still at the forefront of this month’s Century News, along with the developing situation in the new Soviet Union, which is transitioning from revolution to civil war. Germany is momentarily ascendant, or at least optimistic, with the collapse of Russia and the beginning of a new offensive prior to the large-scale arrival of troops from the USA, but these hopes will soon be dashed as the offensive stalls and shortages at home raise new tensions. The United States meanwhile shows its dedication by moving its clocks forward one hour, arresting an innocent man and releasing a movie about a little girl looking for a bird.

The Paris Gun

World War One

German submarine U-19 sinks HMS Calgarian off Rathlin Island, Northern Ireland on March 1.

Battle of Tell ‘Asur launched on March 8 by units of the British Army‘s Egyptian Expeditionary Force against Ottoman defences from the Mediterranean Sea, across the Judaean Mountains to the edge of the Jordan Valley ends on March 12 with the move of much of the front line north into Ottoman territory.

Spring Offensive  launched March 21 by the German Army along the Western Front. It fails to make a breakthrough despite large losses on each side, including nearly 20,000 British Army dead on the first day, Operation Michael.

First Transjordan attack on Amman by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins with the passage of the Jordan River on March 21.

On March 23, the giant German cannon, the ‘Paris Gun‘ (Kaiser Wilhelm Geschütz), begins to shell Paris from 114 km (71 mi) away.

First Battle of Amman launched March 27 by units of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force during the First Transjordan attack on Amman, ends with their withdrawal on 31 March back to the Jordan Valley.

Signing of the armistice between Russia and Germany

Diplomacy

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends Russia’s involvement in the war on March 3. This deal is engineered by the Bolsheviks, who came to power largely through the promise to end the war, however Germany treats her defeated foe shabbily, plundering territory and demanding exorbitant reparations, setting a precedent that would be raised at the time of the Treaty of Versailles.

Finland forms an alliance with Germany, formalized on March 7.

Russian Revolution and Civil War

Moscow becomes the capital of Soviet Russia on March 12.

The Belarusian People’s Republic declares independence March 25.

Bolshevik and Armenian Revolutionary Federation forces suppress a Muslim revolt in Baku, Azerbaijan, resulting in up to 30,000 deaths beginning March 30. The “March Days” will continue through April 2 (new calendar).

Karl Muck

Political Arrest

Dr. Karl Muck, music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is arrested March 25 under the Alien Enemies Act and imprisoned for the duration of WWI. He is accused of “treason” in the press for refusing to play the “Star Spangled Banner” at the beginning of concerts, a false accusation.

Aerospace

The Finnish Army Corps of Aviation is founded March 6 as a forerunner of the Finnish Air Force to be established on 4 May 1928. The blue swastika is adopted as its symbol as a tribute to the Swedish explorer and aviator Eric von Rosen, who donated the first plane. Von Rosen had painted the Viking symbol on the plane as his personal lucky insignia.

The first pilotless drone, the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane developed by Elmer Sperry and Peter Cooper Hewitt, is test-flown on March 6 in Long Island, New York, but development is scrapped in 1925 after its guidance system proves unreliable.

Standardization

The United States Congress establishes time zones and approves daylight saving time on March 19 (DST goes into effect on March 31).

Birth Control Literature

Dr. Marie Stopes publishes her influential book Married Love in the U.K on March 26. The book is banned in the United States until 1931.

 

Film

“The Blue Bird,” directed by Maurice Tourneur, released March 31.

Births

Roger Delgado, actor (played the Master on “Doctor Who”), born March 1.

Mickey Spillane, writer (created “Mike Hammer” thrillers), born March 9.

Deaths

In London at the Wood Green Empire, Chung Ling Soo (William E. Robinson, U.S.-born magician) dies on March 23 during his trick where he is supposed to “catch” two separate bullets – but one of them perforates his lung.

French composer Claude Debussy dies of colorectal cancer March 25 in Paris.

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