Saturday, October 06, 2018

Today -100: October 6, 1918: Of negotiations, mistrials, flu & explosions, and ex-armies


Austria again proposes peace talks, on the basis of Wilson’s 14 Points (or 23, because he keeps adding points). Austria’s offer, which has to be translated and go through Sweden and then I think Switzerland, hasn’t officially reached the US yet. Note that “negotiating on the basis of the 14 Points” is not the same as accepting them and negotiating at all is not the same as surrendering.

New German Chancellor Max the Prince talks about peace to the Reichstag. He wants Germany to join a League of Nations. He accepts the 14 Points too, but with conditions, like Germany getting its colonies back and Alsace-Lorraine getting autonomy rather than being reattached to France.

France says if Austria carries out its threat to execute captured pilots who dropped leaflets, it will execute twice as many captured Austrian officers, so there.

A second mistrial in the trial of Max Eastman, John Reed et al.

That NY Health Dept plan to stagger opening hours to reduce Spanish Flu infection by relieving crowding on public transportation was screwed by that shell-loading plant explosion in New Jersey, which resulted in the closing of bridges and subways in NYC (authorities thought the fire might reach and set off 80,000 pounds of TNT, destroying East River bridges and the under-river subways). This created greater congestion than ever, as, for example, thousands stood around trying to get on ferries to get home to Brooklyn. The plant continues to be ripped by explosions every half hour or so for hours.

Boris III, the new Bulgarian king, orders the army demobilized.


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