First World War one day itineraries through Italy. Suggestion no. 11: the fort of Monte Rite and the “Museum in the Clouds”

View of the fort of Monte Rite

Not only an old fort of the WWI, but at present also the highest museum of Europe. It was 1977 when the renowned alpinist Reinhold Messner conceived the idea of restoring the fortification of Monte Rite (2.181m) and – after a long work, in renovating and transforming the architecture of the building – he inaugurated in the summer 2002 the “Museum in the Clouds”, which owes his name to the great 360° panorama that can be admired on its top: the view ranges over the clouds, starting from south with the Monte Schiara and Agner, the group of Sfornioi-Bosconero, then crosses over Civetta and Pelmo, overlooks the “royal pair” Marmolada and Antelao, catches even the Tofana of Rozes, move on the Marmarole and, to close the circle on the other side of the valley of the Piave River, gazes far on the northern horizon at the skyline of Tudaio and Cridola and finally turns to Spalti di Toro and the Duranno at east. The museum itself offers a lot, from the history of the region and its inhabitants through the centuries to collection of paintings and other temporaries exhibitions. It is open from 1^st June till the end of September and you can find the latest updates on the Museum Program here.

The museum is however only a reason to visit Monte Rite, and not the main one for us, who would rather suggest a simple, yet very impressive itinerary related to the Great War. Monte Rite is placed on the crossroad of three of the most important valleys of the Dolomites – Ampezzo, Cadore and Zoldana – and had therefore a high strategic importance. That’s why the Italian Army started to build a fort on its summit already before the beginning of WWI, since about 1911. The buildings, with the storehouse, the cooking area and barracks that could host about 500 men, were connected with the valley by a mule track, that run then to the summit, where a military observatory was placed. As the Great War started the fort was not completed, nevertheless it became a defensive position from June 1915. Yet he was never at the really frontline: after the rout at Caporetto it was abandoned.

There are many ways to reach the summit – the most interesting one it’s maybe the path n. 494, which starts about 1km before the Passo Cibiana arriving from Forno of Zoldo and runs constantly through the wood. We’d like to suggest you however the shortest one (the ascent on the path takes about 1 hours), with starting point Passo Cibiana, so that you can have more time to spend on Monte Rite and on the ring path of its summit. The itinerary is very simple and even inexperienced hikers can undertake it, walking on the large mule track or eventually taking the shuttle bus to the “Museum in the Clouds”, available during the opening season (for fee, timetables and contact, see here; think about that during the summer the parking in the valley, the museum, as well the mule track may be quite crowded). 

For those who want to have a walk, instead, and to enjoy so the landscape at full, we suggest to park near the Rifugio Re Mauro or in one of the many areas nearby (pay attention, some of them are with fee), then walk along the mule track for about 10 minutes till you reach two small wood-houses. At the next bend you’ll see on the left a signpost that indicates the starting point of the panoramic path (the n.479, also called “Sentiero Col de Orlando”) entering in the conifer wood. The trail is really narrow and steep, maybe slippery with rain or snow, but presents no difficulties and the view, especially on the Group of Bosconero, is great. As soon as you come out from the trees, you have to cross some meadows before reaching the mule track and then, short after, the Forcella Deona. This is the first panoramic point which directs immediately your look to Antelao. If you follow the mule track you can reach in about 15 minutes the refuge and the museum-fort, but we suggest to proceed first on the ring path of Monte Rite. An information panel at Forcella Deona describes the main features of the 6 km trail: it takes about 1.30 hours and some equipped passage facilitate the walk, that has however to be undertaken only with good weather conditions and by trained hikers. Follow the indications and walk the small trail that runs around Monte Rite: you can reach so the different panoramic points, especially the Col Sette Prede, the Croce del Rite (on the peak of Monte Roan) and finally the top of Monte Rite. On this ring path you will discover remains of the WWI, many information panels describe moreover the flora and fauna of the surrounding. If it’s a sunny and clear day, the 360° view from the top of Monte Rite is indescribable, as we said; and even in a cloudy and snowy day (as this year was oft in the Dolomites till June) you can enjoy the view, breathe and imagine with the clouds. Close then the ring path and descend to the near fort that host the Museum – a visit is worth. Before coming back home, you can eat something and rest at the Dolomites Refuge, just walk 5 minutes on the descending mule track. Way back to Forcella Cibiana always on the mule track on feet or with the shuttle bus. 

(Here is the photo reportage about this itinerary.)

Great War in East Africa (CfP)

A map of the African continent
in 1919

Few months ago we announced the constitution of an international network for the study of the Great War in Africa. Today we’d like to support another initiative which aims to examine in depth the relationship between WWI and the African continent. Paper proposals for a conference which has to take place in forthcoming November in London are welcomed on any topics relating to the general theme of the campaigns in Africa. Furthermore a research day in The National Archives or Imperial War Museum is planned besides the conference. Below the CfP that you can find also on the home page of the Association here.



The second GWEAA conference will take place on 9 November 2013 at The National Archives, Kew, London (same place as last year).

At the request of many, we will have a conference research day on Friday 8 November for those who wish to access archival material whilst in London (details below). On the Friday evening, there will be an opportunity for everyone to meet at The Coach & Horses between Berkeley Sq. & Bond St. (max 5 mins walk from Bond St / Oxford Circus & Green Park tube / bus stops).

Given the centrality of the East Africa campaign to the Great War in Africa more generally, there will, pending interest, be a second strand of talks dealing with the Great War in other African theatres.

As there is no pre-determined theme for the day, topics relating to any aspect of the campaigns in Africa are welcomed.

If you would like to present a paper or talk on 9 November, please send a short overview to Anne at thesamsonsed[at]gmail.com. Papers and talks will be published following the conference event.

In order to cover the costs for 9 November, there will be a charge of £60 for participants and attendees. This includes lunch and refreshments during the day. There will be an additional small charge for the event on Friday evening 8 November for those wishing to attend. This will be advised in due course, as will details on how to book your place at the conference.

Research Day
If you would like to participate in the research day on 8 November, please let me know which of the archives (The National Archives or Imperial War Museum) you plan to visit. This will enable me to let you have the necessary information to access the collections (the two archives have different booking and entry requirements). There will be someone from the GWEAA at each venue to welcome members and to arrange a common place for those wishing to meet over lunch that day.

More information on the Research Day and the Conference will be posted here, but please do get in touch in the meantime to express your interest etc.

Pilates and the Great War

Did you know that the invention
 dates back to WW1 years?

Pilates was recently ranked as one of the Wellness-Trends of the past decades, and we guess a description of this training method is therefore not required. Yet, this “system of exercises that promote the strengthening of the body, often using specialized equipment”, as its founder described it, is closely related to the Great War. It is someway funny to compare the image of all people that nowadays go to the training centers and stand on their comfortable exercise mats on the one hand, and, on the other, the image of the places where actually this sport was ideated: an hospital for German prisoners in the Isle of Man during the WWI.

Born on December 9^th, 1883 in a small village near Düsseldorf, Joseph Hubertus Pilates was the second oldest child of nine children. His father was a gymnast, his mother a self-educated naturopath, and they likely provided him the suitable environment for his early commitment with both Eastern and Western form of training, combined with the study of Greek and Roman Philosophy. Being during most of his childhood ill, Joseph Pilates tried in fact to overcome his physical illness developing his body with body building, boxing, gymnastic and diving. In his late twenties, after the death of his first wife, he moved to England, where he wanted to further his boxing-training. Here he was hired with his brother by a German circus troupe and toured through England.

But as in August 1914 the Great War broke out, he was submitted to the new policy of internment (in the United Kingdom, the “Aliens Registration Act” was introduced on 5th August 1914). With other German nationals he was confined first in Lancaster, then at the Isle of Man. It is not clear to which of the two Camps – the Cunningham’s Young Men’s Holiday Camp in Douglas or the Camp at the Knockaloe Moar Fram, established only by October 1914 – Joseph Pilates was sent. For sure, he spent almost five years of internment in the Isle of Man. And it was during this period that he started developing his new training method. First he offered wrestling and self-defense training to his fellow internees, then, in the fall of 1916, he began working in one of the hospital as a physical therapist. He tried to assure benefits also to those confined to a bed from illness or injury. Fixing bedsprings to the headboards and the footboards of the hospital beds, he enabled bedridden patients to exercises against resistance and offered so simple, yet effective instruments to train the patients and improve their strength and health. As the influenza epidemic that killed thousand in England in 1918 started to spread in the camp, he stated that most of the internees he had trained didn’t got sick.

After the war, Joseph Pilates came back to Germany, where he improved his exercise method combining it with the dance technique. Impressed by the results of his training, the German government asked Pilates to train the new German Army. But Joseph disliked the political climate of his home country and decided to move in April 1926 to New York, where he spent the rest of his life working and improving his techniques. Pilates’ history is for sure an adventurous one, and the training exercises and instruments he has invented and developed are for sure well known, and it is not up to us to talk about them. We referred shortly to Pilates, just to say once again, that we shouldn’t forget the even some of the most funny “trend” of our societies are rooted in the past, even up to the WWI Camps in the Isle of Man.

"Sur les pas de Wilfred Owen", the remembrance trail in Ors (Northern France)

Everybody knows that business-wise one of the most prominent points of the First World War Centenary is the worldwide tourism movement connected with it. Just to take the French case, every year millions of tourists visit the Somme battlefields. We have a similar situation in the Flanders fields. It's not the same with the Piave or Isonzo areas. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with the connection between the Centenary and tourism, provided that the touristic offer coming from WW1 tour operators is able to design always new and respectful paths and itineraries. Since the aftermath, the battlefields have always been the destination of people wanting to see and understand more about the battlefields where their beloved fought and too often died. So nothing is new on all fronts. We thank Delphine Bartier of ADRT NORD TOURISME for sharing with us the details, the press release and some pictures of the inauguration of the "Sur les pas de Wilfred Owen", a "remembrance trail" dedicated to one of the poets we already wrote about in this post. 

Here is the short introduction we read in the press release:

Ors, 4th November 1918, 05.45 hours: Second Lieutenant Wilfred Owen of the Manchester Regiment and his platoon launched an attack on a German position on the opposite bank of the Sambre-Oise canal. Under a hail of machine-gun fire, Wilfred Owen and 104 other men perished just one week before the signing of the armistice. One of the great names in modern poetry had fallen. 120 years after his birth, an audio-guided walk will take visitors in the footsteps of Wilfred Owen. Nord Tourism opens this walking trail and its associated interpretation panel on 2nd June 2013 along with Nord Pas de Calais tourism. Starting out from the Maison Forestière or Forester’s House opened in October 2011 and Simon Patterson’s work of art in his memory where he spent his last night, the trail passes through the woodlands of the Bois l’Evêque and the cemetery where he was laid to rest and on to the banks of the canal. An audio guided tour by Cambrai tourism office is also available free of charge. The 6 km trail (allow 1¾ hours) is also something of a nature walk taking in part of the woodland of the Bois l’Evêque and its history. The trail also speaks of the motivation of the mayor of Ors in paying to the poet, who was little known in France, the homage to which he is entitled.

Download the guide (from mid June in English):
www.tourisme-nord.com
www.remembrancetrails-northernfrance.com

The trail was officially launched on Sunday 2nd June, to see the trail in pictures:
www.facebook.com/GreatWarJourneys

More links:
http://www.patrimoinedefrance.fr/Sur-les-pas-de-Wilfred-Owen-son
http://nord-pas-de-calais.france3.fr/2013/06/03/ors-inauguration-d-un-chemin-sur-les-pas-de-wilfred-owen-poete-soldat-de-14-18-262775.html

And here below we are able to share some images of the trail we received.

World War One International Conference at Queen Mary, University of London

We are happy to share here below the news about the World War One International Conference at Queen Mary, University of London. This kind of conferences is getting always more frequent and as you see the approaches are different. The cross-fertilization is in our opinion one of the more relevant aspects to point out while posting about these academic initiatives:


To mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, an international, multi-disciplinary conference is being organised by the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film and the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London, the Open University, and the Department of German at University College London. The organizers are working in partnership with the Imperial War Museum, the German Historical Institute, the Leo Baeck Institute London, and the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations (Queen Mary, University of London). The conference will be hosted at Queen Mary, University of London on its attractive campus in the East End of the city. The oldest Jewish cemetery in London is situated on site and the campus is close to the Olympic Park, Docklands, Victoria Park, the Regent's Canal and many other places of interest.The keynote speakers will include:

Professor Elza Adamowicz (Queen Mary, University of London)
Professor Christopher Clark (University of Cambridge)
Professor Jonathan Steinberg (University of Pennsylvania)
Professor Sam Williamson (University of the South)
Professor Jay Winter (Yale University)
Professor David Stevenson (London School of Economics and Political Science)
Professor Michael Epkenhans (Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr)

This conference will mark the outbreak of the First World War, which was named the "Great War" from as early as 1916, when it was already referred to as the "Great European War". The dates for this event match exactly the four days between Germany's declaration of war on Russia and the British declaration of war on Germany. Although the USA remained neutral at this point, the conference does not neglect its eventual involvement. Almost every nation involved in the World War will represented by our speakers: Germany and Austria, Great Britain, the USA and Canada, Ireland, the Middle East and India, Japan, China, Australia and New Zealand, the former African colonies of both Germany and Britain, the Balkans, Poland, Russia, Spain, Italy and Portugal. As well as national and regional perspectives, the following perspectives and topics have emerged: political and military perspectives; colonial perspectives; Jewish perspectives (cultural and religious); other religious and confessional perspectives; the perspectives of occupied territories; gendered perspectives; science, technology and medicine; and the arts.

Where and when
Queen Mary, University of London
1-4 August 2014

Programme
The conference committee is currently planning a programme based on some 150 abstracts that have been submitted. We will post a provisional programme on the site as soon as possible. A number of cultural and social events will also be included on the programme.

Funding and fees
Our university will be able to provide some funding, but cannot promise to fund the entire event or pay speakers' expenses. We will therefore have to charge a fee to cover our internal expenses, but we will keep this as small as possible. We will charge a reduced fee for students.

Publication
We cannot promise to publish all conference papers, but we do intend to produce one collection of refereed articles. We are currently negotiating with a number of publishers and will announce any developments as soon as they become concrete.

Enquiries
Felicity Rash
email: f.j.rash@qmul.ac.uk
Falco Pfalzgraf
email: f.pfalzgraf@qmul.ac.uk

The First World War and language (CfP)

A poilu's letter
about the Battle of Verdun

Only a few days are left to send a proposal and we wish this opportunity won’t be lost. Under the title “The First World War and language” the organizers of this conference wish to study the WWI from an unusual, yet interesting perspective: that of the languages and not only of the French one. Was the Great War also a linguistic event? How and in which extent did the conflict shaped the spoken and written communication? This is just a couple of aspects which linguists, historians and specialists of literature are invited to discuss privileging a multidisciplinary approach.  You find below the English text of the Call for Papers with all the indispensable information.
(The text of this Call for Papers is available also in French at this link.)

In the context of the upcoming commemorations of the First World War in 2014, the purpose of this conference is to bring together the research by linguists, historians and specialists of literature around what happened to the French language – and to other languages – during the conflict. For some, the First World War is a turning point in the history of the French Language. This standpoint raises the question of the coincidence between language change and historical change, and of the possible use of periodization. Furthermore, the history of the French Language during the 19th and 20th century has not been much explored recently, as these times may appear too near to us for the diachronic approach to be deemed necessary.

As a matter of fact, the First World War seems to have fascinating potential for sociolinguistic enquiries, as some of its language material still remains unexploited, and may reveal a fruitful case study for some of today’s most important issues in the linguistic field – the question of variation and language use, for example.

Indeed, while the quantity of written material that remains from some more ancient periods can prove scarce and frustrating, this is not the case with the First World War. An enormous quantity of sources is available – some of them even oral sources -, constituting a rich heritage, and there is no doubt that during this period of commemorations, some of them will be more systematically explored. Through digitization, new corpora will be made available for researchers.

While existing studies mostly put a stress on literary testimonies or the use of argot on the front lines, the purpose of this conference is to open up the range of possible linguistic issues and raise a number of questions that have not been so far dwelt upon in much detail.

Proposals on the following aspects will be particularly considered:

The First World War as a landmark. Is the First World War a real turning point for the French language? On what grounds is this thesis defended?
The use of dialects. Is the First World War the moment when, as soldiers sent to the front had to adopt French as a vehicular language, the use of dialects began a phase of serious decline? Were the soldiers bilingual in their every-day life? Did the First World War play a role in the perception of French as a « national language », attached to military values, to the ideas of unity and cohesion of the nation?
The use of argot and neologism. Was there such a thing as a « parler poilu »? Behind all the picturesque aspects developed by a significant literature, often published during the war itself, and tending to to promote clichés and stereotypes, what are the facts? What kind of sources can be used : dictionaries, newspapers, songs…? To what extent did the new ways of speaking spread into the civil society after appearing on the front? How were these new forms of speech regarded? What were the private and general attitudes towards them?
Language contact. During the war, the practice of learning a foreign language, of translating, of interpreting, was significantly increased. Who were the interpreters? What was their education, their capability, their experience? How did the different languages involved interact with each other? How did the joint staffs work? In which contexts did translations take place? Did nationalist ideas and ideologies play a role?
The use of writing. During the war, a number of individuals (soldiers and their families) had to write in French, perhaps for the first time ever, but certainly for the first time on that scale. Is there a linguistic specificity to those written productions? Did the level of literacy evolve? Can we observe a change in the expression of emotions? Was the expression of intimate matters altered by the war?
Language and education. The very functioning of schools was severely affected during the years of war. So far, there has been little research on this fact by historians.  How did the school system adapt to the new regime imposed by war? Was the teaching of the French language altered? Can we speak of a gap in transmission? Did the linguistic and cultural norms change during those years?
The purpose of this conference is to show that, by examining such an event as the First World War from the specific viewpoint of language matters, we can reveal its entanglement with cultural, social and political issues. The conference would also like to be an opportunity for historians and linguists to bring together their questions and methodologies, and promote new approaches around a common and engaging object.

Submission guidelines

Papers proposals should be sent in electronic format word, rtf or pdf to colloque-langue14@listes.paris-sorbonne.fr

not later than June 30, 2013.

Proposals must include the author’s name and his status, the title of the paper, a 350-word or a 1000 signs abstract.

They will be examinated by the members of the scientific committee.

Scientific committee

Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau (directeur d’études à l’EHESS)
Hélène Baty-Delalande (maîtresse de conférences en littérature, université de Paris 7)
Annette Becker (professeure d’histoire contemporaine à l’Université de Paris-Ouest Nanterre La Défense  / IUF)
Gabriel Bergougnoux (professeur de linguistique à l’université d’Orléans)
Sonia Branca-Rosoff (professeur émérite en linguistique à l’université de Paris 3)
Bruno Cabanes (associate professor en histoire contemporaine à Yale University)
Jean-François Chanet (professeur d’histoire contemporaine à l’Institut d’études politiques de Paris Sciences Po Paris)
Jean-Claude Chevalier (professeur émérite, université de Paris 8)
Jacques Dürrenmatt (professeur en Langue française, unievrsité Paris-Sorbonne)
Jacques Guilhaumou (directeur de recherche émérite, CNRS, section 34)
John Horne (professeur d’histoire contemporaine à Trinity College Dublin)
Jean-Marie Klinkenberg (professeur émérite en sémiologie et rhétorique à l’université de Liège, président du Conseil Supérieur de la Langue Française de Belgique)
Peter Koch (professeur, Romanisches Seminar, université de Tübingen)
R. Anthony Lodge (professeur émérite en Langue Française, University of St Andrews)
Marie-Anne Paveau (professeure en analyse du discours, université Paris 13)
Gilles Philippe (professeur de linguistique, université de Lausanne)
Christophe Prochasson (directeur d’études à l’EHES)
Frédéric Rousseau (professeur en Histoire contemporaine, université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3)
Odile Roynette (maîtresse de conférences habilitée en histoire contemporaine à l’Université de Franche-Comté et chercheure associée au Centre d’histoire de Sciences Po)
Jean-François Sablayrolles (professeur de lexicologie, université Paris 13)
André Thibault (professeur en Langue française, université Paris-Sorbonne)
Carine Trevisan (professeure en littérature du XXe siècle, Paris 7)
Jay Winter (professeur d’histoire contemporaine à Yale University)

The poets and the World War: "Valmorbia" by Eugenio Montale

The Italian poet
Eugenio Montale in 1918

Today we go back to poetry with the world renowned Italian poet Eugenio Montale (Genova 1896 - Milano 1981), Nobel prize in Literature in 1975. Montale was a soldier of the Great War in the Trentino region. As far as we know, he wrote only one poem about his experience at the front and this appears in his debut book entitled Ossi di seppia (Cuttlefish bones, 1925, Piero Gobetti Editore Torino). It's a recollection of memories happening some years after the war has ended and therefore something completely different from the poems Ungaretti wrote live and kept in his haversack. The translation we offer is a brand new one and is a team work of the editors of World War I Bridges. For a better location of the region you can have a look at this page. A curiosity and an advice for people willing to deepen their knowledge of the Italian poetry: the title of the best anthology of Italy World War I poetry today available borrowed a verse of this poem: Le notti chiare erano tutte un'alba (edited by Andrea Cortellessa, Bruno Mondadori Editore, 1998).


Valmorbia, blossoming clouds of plants
held forth on your bottom at the puffs.
World's oblivion flowered in us
doomed to the blind chance.

In the lonely lap the shots fell silent,
nothing but the gruff Leno resounded.
A rocket bloomed on its stem, faint,
letting tears flow into the air.

The bright nights were all a dawn
and brought foxes to my cave. 
Valmorbia, a name - and now in the pale
memory, land where the night never falls.

The valley entitling the poem in a photo of the war time

 
Valmorbia, discorrevano il tuo fondo
fioriti nuvoli di piante agli àsoli. 
Nasceva in noi, volti dal cieco caso, 
oblio del mondo.

Tacevano gli spari, nel grembo solitario 
non dava suono che il Leno roco. 
Sbocciava un razzo su lo stelo, fioco 
lacrimava nell'aría.

Le notti chiare erano tutte un'alba 
e portavano volpi alla mia grotta. 
Valmorbia, un nome - e ora nella scialba 
memoria, terra dove non annotta.

An exhibition in Maserada sul Piave on the development of surgery and medical sciences during the Great War

Today aesthetic surgery principles meet their pioneering start in the Great War period. This is one of the possible conclusions we could get after analysing some aspects of the medical sciences in the years of World War One. Beside of this, we all know that wars are always a crucial passage towards the development of sciences, technology or logistics. Think about the "container", the basic unit of today freight transport. It was during the Vietnam war that the standardization introduced by this metal parallelepiped became evident to the entire world. Going back to the First World War and to the great boost it gave to the development of medicine, we like to remind that in February of 1916 the Italian kingdom decided to set in the north-eastern region of Friuli, and precisely in the village of San Giorgio di Nogaro (just behind the lines of the Isonzo front), one of the most important medical schools of the time. The history of this school is an important part of the exhibition that the friends of Museo della Grande Guerra 15.18 of Maserada sul Piave designed in a layout fully concentrated on the development of surgery and medical sciences during the Great War. The exhibition was designed to tell the story from the points of view of the soldiers and their physical sufferance and it tries to keep the distance from all the bombasts that often followed the Great War (we think about the huge ruinous scars in the body and souls of men and the way it was "managed" from a political point of view; we also published an interesting interview with professor Barbara Bracco about the postwar period and the Italian case). All the actors of the peculiar "health service" find their place in the layout of this exhibition: the previously remembered "Ospedale Castrense", doctors, nurses, the Red Cross and the University of Padua.
There's no hurry.  If you're travelling in the Venice or Piave areas, you have time until next February 2014 to plan a visit (just follow the links below). The exhibition opens today with a conference. Further information below. 

"Epicentri"
La scienza medica incontra la Grande Guerra
(Medical sciences and the Great War)
Museo Storico della Grande Guerra 15.18
Palazzo Attività Ricreative di Maserada sul Piave
From 15 th June, 2013 to 24th February, 2014
Free Entrance
(The exhibition is open with the same times of the museum)
In cooperation with FAST
Foto Archivio Storico Trevigiano della Provincia di Treviso

Novels of the Great War: "Der Baron Bagge" by Alexander Lernet-Holenia

Up to what extent can we consider Der Baron Bagge by Alexander Lernet-Holenia a novel of the Great War? This Austrian poet, novelist and dramaturgist never wrote a book eligible for being considered a complete war testimony like the ones we already pointed out. And yet the First World War is an almost permanent trait of his fiction. We get out (escape?) from the sticky world here represented with a deeper feeling (and emotion) of what the war was, about the spectres in the mind of people who fought it. If from an historical point of view this novel could be filed as the last novel about the corps of cavalry, from a narrative perspective this is probably one of the strangest stories you may read today about the First World War set in the forgotten front line between Central Powers and Russia. This short novel first published in 1936 is both a real and a dreamlike journey of a squadron of Austrian cavalry towards the unknown, a compelling pursuit of the protagonist's gallop in the territories of a misty war and of an almost mystic love (you will read about an extraordinary wedding ceremony... but you will discover it's a dream). This novel is in fact the story of the advance of Baron Bagge through the plains of Pannonia, the former Roman region today shared by a multitude of countries (Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina), a journey that passes through reality and a long dream (the biggest part of the novel) to land at the end in the reality again.

There is deep sense of wait in this novel, something reminding us the atmospheres of The Deserts of the Tartars by the Italian novelist Dino Buzzati. Unlike Buzzati's book and his protagonist (a tenant tied to stillness whose name is Drogo), here we can see and understand a movement (what we called before the advance towards the enemy's line). If we stop for a while and think, we can realize that this is an innovation in the First World War literary legacy, often resembling a stagnating, putrescent and muddy literature. Our impression is that Lernet-Holenia is really helping readers who search in World War One literature a way for a better understanding, but he is successful in this keeping himself light-years away from the manners of Hemingway, Remarque or the Italian Lussu (just to mention some of the most popular names).

You may read Der Baron Bagge beside some of other books he wrote. Take for example Die Standarde (The Standard), another novel set during the Great War years, and you will discover how this Austrian writer invents his plots staying at the edges of the war. Or maybe you could dive into the pages of Ein Traum in Rot (A Dream in Red). Some recurring elements are traceable in all these works of fiction and these are 1) the World War that seems present but somehow set aside, 2) love and wedding ceremonies, 3) high society social gatherings and 4) a thin (sometimes feeble and sickly) line between reality and fantasy, between life and dream. In other words, his experience of official during the war in one of the two "eastern" fronts (Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Russia) will become a great source of the future fiction, a powerful spring from where his prose gushes, like when, just before the Nazi invasion of Poland many years later, he got a second (and very short) call to arms which originated Mars im Widder (Mars in Aries). As we said, the most noteworthy feature of this great master of storylines is perhaps the hint of dream in reality and, viceversa, the hint of reality in a dream. The Italian writer Leonardo Sciascia once wrote that while reading this book you never know the exact point when you realize that the narrator has switched to the "dream mode", after having led you through a multitude of absurd and often surreal details. It's very propable that this will happen to you.

The art coming from the trenches: the drypoint of Anselmo Bucci in the exhibition of Montelabbate

The recognizable trait of drypoint
in this work of Anselmo Bucci

The title of this exhibition in Montelabbate (Italy) dedicated to the artist Anselmo Bucci lands us in the middle of that important chapter to dedicate to visual artists and their experience of the Great War: "L’arte in trincea. Anselmo Bucci e la Prima Guerra Mondiale" is a very short exhibition starting on the 2nd of June. The show gather fifty drypoint etching artworks from the folder Croquis du front italien (Paris, 1917) where we find the results of his war experience at the front as volunteer cyclist. In spite of his affinity to futurist artists such as Marinetti, Boccioni and Sant’Elia, in the etching works here displayed we discover Bucci's eye more absorbed by the rest moments of the battalion. One of the reasons of interest of this exhibition is also the background and overall frame where the artworks lay, full of cross-references to the main Italian writers operating during the First World War years. By the way, Anselmo Bucci was a writer himself. In 1930 he published Il pittore volante ("The Flying Painter") awarded with the prestigious Viareggio literary prize and some aphorisms of this lucky book gained popularity in Italy.

L’arte in trincea. Anselmo Bucci e la Prima Guerra Mondiale
(Art in the trenches. Anselmo Bucci and the First World War)
Palazzo Municipale di Montelabbate (PU / Italy)
2-16 June, 2013
Saturdays and Sundays from 5pm to 7pm
Info: +39.349.8605868 or email
Free entrance

"Harmonies of the Homefront". A music exhibition in Kansas City

How music influenced not only the morale of soldiers in the trenches and the battle fields, but also the public opinion of the citizens at home in favor of the First World War is the topic analyzed by the new exhibition of the National WWI Museum in Kansas City, entitled Harmonies of the Homefront. Under the supervision of the guest exhibition curator and music professor Dr. Kristin Griffeath, the multimedia exhibit aims to grasp the inner feelings and emotions of the generation of Americans – but not only – who faced the Great War from their home. So the collective fears, preoccupations, hopes and reliefs are depicted with an astonishing immediacy by the popular songs of those years, including title such as “I didn’t raise my boy to be a soldier”, maybe the most representative musical manifesto of the pacifist movement in the USA before the country entered the WWI, which gives voice to a lonely mother who lost her son in the war. Or hit-songs like “It's a long way to Tipperary”. Open until October 27^th 2013, the exhibition is introduced very well in the web page of the museum where you can also listen few songs.

First World War one day itineraries through Italy. Suggestion no. 10: the trenches of Nagià Grom

Trenches of Nagià Grom
Courtesy: Gruppo Alpini di Mori

If you search “Nagià Grom” in google-maps or on an “official” atlas you’ll probably find nothing that match with. And yet it exists and it is a mountain, no less! Sometimes called Nagià, sometimes Grom, this little summit near Rovereto, south of Trento, was another nerve center of the boundary line between Italy and the Austrian Empire during WWI. Although the political border run since the Treaty of Vienna through the ridge of Monte Baldo, east of Lake Garda, the Austrian Army started to fortify his confines before the beginning of WWI, placing a defensive system on a backward line, in front of Monte Altissimo di Nago, along the lake of Loppio till the Monte Biaena that overlooks Rovereto and the Valsugana. The south-eastern offshoot of Monte Biaena is the Nagià-Grom, controlling part of Val of Gresta, i.e. overlooking on the one hand the village of Mori, on the other hand Valle San Felice. The Austro-Hungarians started setting position for artillery and observer and digging trenches on Nagià-Grom since spring 1915.
As the Great War started the whole valley was evacuated: men able to fight were enlisted, the other were sent to other part of the Empire and all suspected people (due to political or cultural reasons) were internalized with their family in detention camps. While the Italian Alpini troupes conquered already the first day (24th May 1915) the Monte Altissimo, the Austrian Army established their front line along Val of Gresta and sheltered among others behind the fortifications on Nagià Grom. During almost the whole war both Armies kept their positions from where they bombarded fiercely the enemy. From the beginning of the conflict a battalion of Standschützen – men aged over 45 and youths under 18, i.e. too old or too young for active service, who were grouped however in civil defense corps – fought and died on Nagià Grom. To their memory is also dedicated a commemorative monument that will be inaugurated on 25th and 26th May 2013. (Photo Courtesy: Graziano Simonini). Further information here.

The monument to the Standschützen
(Photo courtesy Graziano Simonini)

This ceremony is an interesting occasion to visit the trenches and fortification on Nagià Grom that represent an impressive historical document of this chapter of WWI in Italy. Thanks to the praiseworthy renovation works carried on by the Alpini group of Mori, the summit and its paths – that go through trenches, cooking and recovery shelters, observers and artillery positions –  are now fully walkable. But this groups of volunteers, to whom is due the recovering of more than a 1Km of trenches on an area of about 35.000 square meters, is also involved in the cultural promotion of Nagià Grom, in order to make everybody– and especially the young people – aware of the history of the Great War in this valley. The home page of Nagia Grom abounds in technical and historical information, and although no English version is available, the great amount of photos – some of them has been kindly made available for us here – shows how interesting this place is.

Trenches of Nagià Grom
Courtesy: Gruppo Alpini di Mori

That’s why, for all those who’d like to visit the trenches on Nagià Grom but have no chance to take part at the guided tours during the forthcoming weekend, we’d like to suggest also a short itinerary that you can also find in the home page dedicated to the Nagià Grom. Starting point is the crossroads short before the village of Manzano (coming from Valle San Felice, where you can eventually park and take a path from the church square with indication to Nagià Grom, given that at the crossroads there’s not a lot of place). On the right, across a small meadow, you can see the starting point of the path where you find also an informative label. If you walk 5 minutes in the grove you reach immediately the first ruins: a water tank and some cave where soldiers could find a shelter – this is in fact the side of the mountain repaired from the attacks of the Italian artillery – or store foods or other materials. A little bit north-west starts the ring path of trenches. Walking through them, in such narrow spaces, passing through cooking areas, recoveries, observatories, gun positions, looking at the craters created by the heavy artillery: all these images make the wonderful view on Valle San Felice and on Garda Lake touching, but someway also painfully. Following the path you approach then the opposite side and can also glance at the valley of the Adige river, reaching so the starting point. The itinerary is very simple and takes about an hour and a half. The near villages of Manzano or Valle San Felice will offer you opportunities to rest and eat. We also suggest to contact the Alpini groups of Mori if you plan to undertake a visit of the trenches here: info@anamori.org

First World War Centenary debate: according to Hew Strachan we must do more to remember

Hew Strachan

It might be pointless to discuss about commemoration and imagine new initiatives for the Centenary of the Great War without knowing deeply what we want to do with it and without acknowledging that in an ideal scenario this five year period of celebrations should become not an arrival but hopefully a starting point. For this reason we guess it makes sense to post about the people and the situations that feed a kind of debate around the Centenary, its purposes and strategies, about what seems to work and what is not working at all. In Italy, for example, just to remain in the country from where we post, it's extremely hard to explain to rest of the world what we think to do starting from 2014 or 2015 up to 2018. Every Italian region seems to have its own plans and the fact that the war was fought only in the north eastern part of the country is not helping the making of. With a bit of bitter humor we might say that Italy is taking this Centenary easily and probably we think of having one year more if we compare to other countries (as you know, Italy entered the war in May 1915 but if we think like this, we should conclude that United States will start the celebrations in 2017 and we all know it will not be like that). Some people could also say with sarcastic, expected and often unpleasant smile that now Italy has more urgent problems to look at and, even though this is true, this reason is not enough to exempt Italy from the preparation of the Centenary.

Anyway, Italy is not the only country that should wonder about what to do with the Centenary. Take for example one of the countries that started very early in designing programs and developing strategies for the Centenary. In the United Kingdom we have one of the most popular historian, Hew Strachan, former professor of at the Universities of Oxford and Glasgow, director of "Oxford Programme on the Changing Character of War" since 2004 and author of best-selling books about the Great War, saying openly that "we must do more to remember". "The Telegraph" entitled the article about his speech using two adjectives that highlight the real danger connected with the Centenary. This commemoration could transform into something sterile and boring and all people involved in this huge project of commemoration, in all countries and at all levels should act to avoid this existing risk. No other word is needed, just the link to the article appeared in "The Telegraph" at the beginning of this year, in case you missed it. And of course, if you're concerned about this risk, we have the possibility to carry on with the debate using the comments' form below.