#wwi

[captain-price-unofficially]

German soldiers in body armor and gas masks demonstrate the use of a 2cm Becker-Flugzeugkanone. Western front, circa 1918

[yeoldenews]

A selection of emojis from a love letter written in 1916.

The final one appears to have been the author's favorite as he wrote: "I'm particularly proud of this one - It looks so natural. Bless its 'ittle 'eart-"

[asidian]

One of the things I love so much about Dead Boy Detectives is how much attention is paid to detail, even on little things, even when they didn't need to go that hard.

Take the very first case. This WWI ghost?

Was killed by chemical warfare.

If you've done any reading on WWI, one of things that comes up again and again was that it was the first major conflict where chemical warfare and gas attacks were employed against soldiers on the ground.

Soldiers on both sides were terrified by it. They had gas masks with them all the time, when there were enough to go around, but sometimes the gas masks failed.

And if someone was hit by a gas attack, what were some of the symptoms? Blistered skin, blisters in the lungs, and irritated eyes, up to and including blindness.

This man was killed by a gas attack, probably mustard gas, and likely when his gas mask failed.

They never mention it in the dialogue. Maybe Edwin and Charles don't even know.

But the show runners did the research and designed his makeup accordingly and slipped in that little nod for anyone who knows the history.

God damn. This series was made with so much care, and it shows.

[my-darling-boy]

They issue this to all batmen if I remember right

ig: slightly_teddy

[sogekii-heii]

some wwi fruk redraws - references under the cut

[cirr0stratus]

Siegfried Sassoon, counter attack

[charlesoberonn]

The Grim Reaper doesn't come for the dead. That's a myth. He doesn't wear a robe either. Nor does he carry a scythe.

The Grim Reaper comes for the living. He wears the uniform of a private, ill fitting on a young man who's barely past boyhood.

The Grim Reaper comes for mothers. And when he comes every mother on the street steps outside to watch him go, dreading that it's her door where he's gonna stop.

The Grim Reaper is trembling and shy. It never gets easier. All those eyes on him.

The Grim Reaper doesn't carry a scythe. He carries a mailbag. And in it are a hundred letters. Each stamped with the Royal Army Seal.

The mother cries. She refuses the letter. But the Grim Reaper will not be denied. He is not the instrument of death. Only its herald.

The Grim Reaper has no time to stay. There're so many letters yet to deliver today.

The year is 1915, and the Grim Reaper knows that tomorrow will be a busy day as well.

[catsofyore]

Young soldier posing with kitten. 1916. Source.

[yesterdaysprint]

The Blue Valley Farmer, Oklahoma City, August 10, 1933

[facts-i-just-made-up]

In 1913, two twins left their bikes tied to a small tree when they went off to fight in WWI. When they returned, the tree had grown up, and those twins grew up to be none other than Barack Obama.

[madnessofmen]

French and British soldiers sharing a light at Étaples, c 1915.

[captain-price-unofficially]

German soldiers training with captured Madsen and Lewis light machine guns in preparation for the 12th Battle of the Isonzo, Oct 1917

[yeoldenews]

Absolutely magnificent creature.

(source: Sears catalog, Fall/Winter 1918.)

[fictionadventurer]

I'm haunted by the beautiful potential in an Edwardian-era Persuasion.

A setting just after WWI, another time of major social upheaval--blurring class barriers, new ideas about gender roles, further crumbling of the aristocracy

Sir Walter blindly clings to the old order, barely thinking about the war except to lament the impossibility of getting good servants these days

Elizabeth Elliot styles herself as a bit of a women's rights activist, claiming this is the reason she remains unmarried

Anne would have served as a nurse if her father had allowed it, but of course he couldn't permit an Elliot of the Elliots to undertake such ugly work, so she stayed at home quietly undertaking the usual home-front charitable work

This war deepens the story's melancholy. There's not the same sense of the men returning home as conquering heroes. The world is changing, but is it worth what we've lost? Can we have hope for the future when all our optimistic dreams led to such slaughter?

The best way to retain some of Wentworth's glamour is to make him a flyboy. However, given their short life expectancies, I'm not sure how realistic it is to have him and several buddies survive the war.

A "band of brothers" in the trenches is also a decent analogue for their relationship

Harville's injury meant he was invalided home fairly early. Benwick's probably a wartime poet suffering from shell shock that only got worse after his fiance died in the influenza epidemic.

Louisa and Henrietta are of a slightly younger generation that hasn't been quite as scarred by the war. Their relative innocence makes them refreshing to a war-weary returning soldier

It's possible Wentworth is so shaken by Louisa's accident (and thus needs Anne to take charge) because it sparks some kind of PTSD flashback. (Though that may not be the best direction to take the character).

There's just so much potential to explore the layers--old wounds and new possibilities, finding ways to heal and grow and rebuild after pain and loss

[my-darling-boy]

So a very unique purchase I made during hiatus… a pair of antique prosthetic arms I basically saved from being sold as lamps?? They were most likely made between 1900-1930, though one professor I reached out to says they might specifically be WWI era or thereabouts which is grand cos I’ve been getting very into WWI medicine, specifically prosthetics and plastic surgery, these past two years. Definitely a great addition to my collection regardless! They are two left arms produced for two different people but by the same maker in France and came with a swivel joint and hook, ring, and brush attachments.

[victusinveritas]

An Ottoman supply train still resting where it was ambushed by Lawrence of Arabia

107-ish years ago on the Hejaz railway