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WWIBIO 9/26/03 12:35 PM Page 1 World War I Biographies WWIBIO 9/26/03 12:35 PM Page 3 World War I Biographies Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast Christine Slovey, Editor WWIbioFM 7/28/03 8:53 PM Page iv Tom Pendergast and Sara Pendergast Staff Christine Slovey, U•X•L Senior Editor Julie L. Carnagie, U•X•L Contributing Editor Carol DeKane Nagel, U•X•L Managing Editor Tom Romig, U•X•L Publisher Pamela A.E. Galbreath, Senior Art Director (Page design) Jennifer Wahi, Art Director (Cover design) Shalice Shah-Caldwell, Permissions Associate (Images) Robyn Young, Imaging and Multimedia Content Editor Pamela A. Reed, Imaging Coordinator Robert Duncan, Imaging Specialist Rita Wimberly, Senior Buyer Evi Seoud, Assistant Manager, Composition Purchasing and Electronic Prepress Linda Mahoney, LM Design, Typesetting Cover Photos: Woodrow Wilson and Manfred von Richthofen reproduced by permission of AP/Wide World Photos, Inc. orld War I: Biographies orld War Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data W Pendergast, Tom. World War I biographies / Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast p.cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: A collection of thirty biographies of world figures who played important roles in World War I, including Mata Hari, T.E. Lawrence, and Alvin C. York. ISBN 0-7876-5477-9 1. World War, 1914-1918—Biography—Dictionaries—-Juvenile literature. [1. World War, 1914-1918—Biography. 2. Soldiers.] I. Title: World War One biogra- phies. II. Title: World War 1 biographies. III. Pendergast, Sara. IV. Title. D522.7 .P37 2001 940.3'092'2--dc21 2001053162 This publication is a creative work copyrighted by U•X•L and fully protected by all applicable copyright laws, as well as by misappropriation, trade secret, unfair competition, and other applicable laws. The editors of this work have added value to the underlying factual material herein through one or more of the following: unique and original selection, coordination, expression, arrangement, and classification of the information. All rights to this publica- tion will be vigorously defended. Copyright © 2002 U•X•L, an imprint of the Gale Group All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. ISBN 0-7876-5477-9 Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 WWIbioFM 7/28/03 8:53 PM Page v Contents Reader’s Guide .................... vii World War I Timeline ................. xi Words to Know .................... xv Sarah Aaronsohn ................1 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk .............6 William “Billy” Avery Bishop . ........13 Edith Cavell ..................19 George Creel .................27 Edith Cavell. Reproduced Alexandra Fyodorovna .............34 by permission of Archive Franz Ferdinand ................42 Photos, Inc. Ferdinand Foch ................48 Douglas Haig .................54 Jean Jaurès ..................62 Käthe Kollwitz .................68 Fritz Kreisler ..................77 T. E. Lawrence .................84 Vladimir Lenin ................90 Erich Ludendorff ................97 v WWIbioFM 7/28/03 8:53 PM Page xviii Mortar: A portable cannon used to fire explosive shells at the enemy over a fairly short distance. Mutiny: Open rebellion against authority. N Nationalism: Fervent commitment to one’s nation. Neutrality: An official government policy that declares that the country in question will not take sides in a war. P Parapet: An earthen embankment protecting soldiers from enemy fire. Pogrom: An organized massacre or persecution of a minority group, often used to refer to the persecution of Jewish people. R Reformer: One who is committed to improving conditions, usually in politics or civic life. Reparations: Cash payments for damages done during wartime. S Shell-shock: A form of mental distress caused by coming under fire in battle. Shrapnel: Fragments from an explosive shell. Siege: A blockade placed around a town or armed fortress in order to defeat those inside it. Sniper: A skilled marksman whose job is to shoot enemy sol- diers from a concealed position. T Theater: A broad area in which military operations are con- ducted. Treaty: A formal agreement between two countries. xviii World War I: Biographies WWIBIO 9/26/03 12:35 PM Page 1 World War I Biographies WWIbiosMB 7/28/03 10:20 PM Page 5 to her own house again to prepare to be transferred to the Turkish prison in Nazareth. Left alone for a few minutes and fearful that she could not withstand more torture, Sarah Aaronsohn shot herself with a gun she had kept hidden in a secret panel in her house. She died four days later. Though most of its agents were caught and killed or imprisoned, Nili had accomplished its goal. By December 1917, the British, led by General Edmund Allenby had cap- tured Palestine and issued the Balfour Declaration, promising to help establish a Jewish “national home” in Palestine. Unfor- tunately, the British also had promised the Palestinian Arabs their independence in exchange for helping the British defeat the Ottoman Turks; and all the while, the British and the French were planning to divide the region between themselves once the war was won. These contradictory promises set the stage for decades of unrest in the region, for both Jews and Palestinians lay claim to the same geographical regions known as the “Holy Land.” In Israel, the Jewish state that was eventually created in Palestine, Sarah Aaronsohn finally has her place in history. She is a national hero, whose story is taught to schoolchildren. Many people visit Sarah Aaronsohn’s grave, in her hometown of Zikhron Ya’akov, on the anniversary of her death, to remem- ber one woman’s great sacrifice to help her people. For More Information Books Cowen, Ida, and Irene Gunther. A Spy for Freedom: The Story of Sarah Aaron- sohn. New York: Lodestar Books, 1984. Engle, Anita. The Nili Spies. London: Frank Cass, 1997. Web sites Berman, Mark. “REED, edited by Avi Tsur.” [Online] http://reed.kfarolami. org.il/resources/landmark/history/nilisara.htm (accessed April 2001). Sarah Aaronsohn 5 WWIbiosMB 7/28/03 10:20 PM Page 6 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 1881 Salonika, in the Ottoman Empire November 10, 1938 Istanbul, Turkey Military leader, political leader, statesman “There are two Mustafa he name Atatürk means “Father of the Turks,” and Mustafa Kemals. One [is] the TKemal Atatürk earned the title by devoting his life to mak- flesh-and-blood Mustafa ing positive changes in his native land. Often called the founder of modern Turkey, Atatürk was a great general who Kemal who now stands defeated invading armies and led a revolution to gain inde- before you and who will pendence for Turkey. He also was a great visionary who under- pass away. The other is stood the kinds of changes that would be necessary for Turkey you, all of you here who to join the new Europe that would emerge after World War I. will go to the far corners As president of Turkey for fifteen years, Atatürk introduced of our land to spread many changes and reforms in Turkish law and society. Though some Turks resisted these changes to their traditions, Atatürk the ideals which must is still honored in Turkey as a great hero. be defended with your lives if necessary.” Poverty and Struggle at the End of an Empire —Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, When Atatürk was born in the old Greek city of quoted from “Atatürk’s Life” at http://www.ataturk.org. Salonika in 1881, that city was part of the Ottoman Empire, which had been created by the Ottoman Turks in the four- Mustafa Kemal Atatürk teenth century. The armies of the Ottoman Empire conquered Reproduced by permission of the entire Middle East and much of North Africa. By the 1500s, Archive Photos, Inc. it had become the most powerful state in the world. When the 6 WWIbiosMB 7/28/03 10:20 PM Page 7 Ottomans tried to push westward into Europe, however, Euro- pean nations banded together to stop them. After that, the empire’s decline was slow but sure. Born near the end of the Ottoman Empire’s sixth century, Atatürk grew up in poverty in the Turkish section of Salonika, and the miserable conditions of his life made him angry. He hated the class system that sep- arated the rich from the poor. He hated the traditional clothes he had to wear—loose trousers and blouse with a sash—that branded him as a peasant. He hated the rigid religious schools that poor Turks attended. He hated the corrupt government officials who controlled the city. Unwilling to accept authority without questioning, he fought with his parents and his teach- ers as often as he fought with the Greek children in the streets of his city. Atatürk finally refused to go to religious school and was sent to a modern, secular (nonreligious) school; there he began to wear western clothes like pants and a shirt, instead of his tra- ditional clothes. In 1893, he entered a military school, where he was very successful. He had been given only the name Mustafa, because common people generally had no last names, but his mathematics teacher added the name Kemal, which means “perfection.” Mustafa Kemal graduated in 1905 with the rank of staff captain. In military school, he had not only learned how to be a soldier, he also had learned that the gov- ernment of the failing empire was dishonest and corrupt. And, from the extremely patriotic Greeks and Macedonians, he had learned about nationalism—a fierce devotion to one’s nation. Fighting for a New Turkey Atatürk had a distinguished military career, serving all over the vast Ottoman Empire and advancing to the rank of pasha, or general. He played a major role in defending the Ottoman Empire during World War I, becoming a beloved war hero.