Today -100: September 20, 1914: Of cathedrals, flanks, submarines, footballers, and horses

The Germans shell the 13th century Rheims Cathedral, setting it on fire. This will feature heavily in Allied propaganda for some time to come, as in this French cartoon



and this 1915 Irish recruiting poster.



Headline of the Day -100: “PUSHING IN GERMAN FLANKS.; Allies Fail to Budge the Invaders’ Centre, However.” War, or bad sex?

A while back, I was saying that no one is defining their war aims. Well, the London Times says the war will go on “until German militarism, its causes, and its effects are destroyed once and for all. ... Not until the German people have been compelled to perceive this struggle in its true light, as a revolt of the invincible forces of civilization against the systematized ethic of barbarism forged by German potentates and Professors, can there be a prospect of lasting peace for the world.” See, and I didn’t think there were any concrete war aims.

An Australian submarine sinks, or at any rate disappears. Probably an accident. Anyway, Australia evidently had submarines.

Mexico’s Not-Provisional-President-Because-Woodrow-Wilson-Said-He-Can’t-Call-Himself-That Carranza orders the expulsion of 400 Catholic priests and nuns from the country.

Headline of the Day -100: “English Soccer Players Go to War.”

The French Army is selling off several hundred horses captured from the Germans.  They can’t be used by the French Army, because they only speak German, so they’re being sold off to farmers (who had their horses requisitioned by the army).

Columbia, already the largest university in the country, will have its largest class ever this year, as people who’d expected to study in Europe think better of it.

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