Throughout the 1920s, stock prices in the United States were rising rapidly, driven largely by speculative investments. People were borrowing money in order to buy shares and stock in companies, and many believed the market would keep rising forever. The problem was that stock prices became vastly overinflated and disconnected from the actual value of the companies. In addition, unequal wealth distribution between the rich and poor was rife. While some were getting richer, the majority of workers weren’t seeing wages grow at the same pace. Additionally, industries like farming were struggling with overproduction and falling prices. The agricultural industry was hit especially hard by a series of droughts, further damaging the economy. With no regulations, banks were poorly managed and the system was vulnerable to mass withdrawals, which would become a problem when confidence in the market collapsed.
On October 22nd, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, investors started to realise the market was overvalued. Stock prices began to fall rapidly. A panic began to set in, and many tried to sell their stocks all at once. This led to a market panic, and the New York Stock Exchange had to call in bankers to try to stabilise the situation. Despite their efforts, the market continued to tumble. On October 29th, now known as the infamous Black Tuesday, the stock market completely collapsed. There was an overwhelming wave of selling, with nearly 16 million shares traded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stock market index of prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States, lost 12% of its value on that single day.
A graph of the value of Dow Jones
This began the Great Depression, a severe and prolonged economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s, becoming the longest and deepest economic depression of the 20th century. It affected not just the United States but many countries around the world, with devastating social, political, and economic consequences. Unemployment reached unforeseen highs, many families lost their homes and political instability was rife.
In the United States, Democrat Candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, a series of programs aimed at providing relief, recovery, and reform. These included public works projects, banking reforms, Social Security, and labour protections. While the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, it helped alleviate some of its worst effects and reshaped the role of government in the economy. Roosevelt is largely considered to be one of the greatest Presidents in US History and fundamentally remodelled the Democratic Party into what it is today.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States (1933-1945)
In the United Kingdom, the Great Depression lead to the rise of Keynesianism, a belief that during times of economic downturn, governments should step in and increase public spending to stimulate demand. This idea became a cornerstone of post-depression economic policy. This was a system that ran strong in the United Kingdom up until 1979 and the radical neoliberalism of Margaret Thatcher.
Clement Attlee, Labour Prime Minister (1945-1951)
In Germany, the Depression led to the rise of the Nazi Party, an extremist far right faction that believed that the previous democratic Weimar Government had led Germany to failure, led by Adolf Hitler. He capitalised on the widespread discontent and promised to restore Germany’s economy. He then used state-led economic programmes to reduce unemployment and revive the economy, whilst also putting much of the blame for the crash on the Jews as a scapegoat. As a result, anti-semitism was widespread in Germany, leading to the ultimate acceptance of state sponsored anti-semitism, such as Kristallnacht and eventually the Holocaust. Hitler later went on to start World War 2, which lead to over 70 million people dying.
By November 1918, German morale was at an all time low. Despite Russia backing out of the war, they were now losing on the Western Front. The Kaiser had abdicated and had moved to the Netherlands, with a new democratic German government taking his place. Erich Ludendorff had resigned and was replaced by Wilhelm Groener. All of Germany’s allies had all either suffered defeat or surrendered. Everyone wanted the war to end but Germany wanted it more than anyone else.
The German government eventually requested that the allies meet to discuss the armistice. They met in Ferdinand Foch’s train carriage, located in the forest of Compiègne. Foch was French General and would be one of the main representatives of the allies.
A carriage of the same design on display in a museum. The original carriage was destroyed by the SS in 1940
They handed the Germans the terms of unconditional surrender without negotiation. They commanded that the German army leave the territories that they had occupied, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorraine. They also requested a demilitarisation of the Rhineland, an area of Germany that bordered France. They also had to surrender much of their munitions and other army supplies. The Germans had no choice to agree to these harsh terms and the Armistice was signed at around 5am local time on November 11th, 1918, with the Armistice not taking effect until 11am.
During those 6 hours, another 3,000 men died for nothing. The last soldier of the war to die was German, who died not long after the Armistice took affect.
As the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers, the war against Russia in the Caucuses had reached a stalemate. One thing Russia desperately needed was supplies. First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, believed that they needed to secure the land around the Dardanelles Strait, which would then lead into the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea beyond, allowing a secure supply line to Russia. It could also possibly help the Western Front, by opening up a new front to divert the German forces onto 3 fronts.
A map of the area
The first attempt at securing the strait was on March 18th, 1915 via a naval attack through the straight in an attempt to take out the Ottoman artillery guns. However, Ottoman sea mines had been placed in the strait and that, combined with the Ottoman gun fire, sank 3 battleships and the ships eventually had to retreat. On the 25th of April, 75,000 troops, comprising of French, British, Australian and Kiwi troops, commanded by General Ian Hamilton landed on the beaches of the Gallipoli Peninsula. Despite not having proper landing craft, instead having to row over, a decent beach head was formed.
The Anzac forces had landed North of their intended target and were now inside a cove. Due to their valiant efforts, the cove was named Anzac Cove.
British Officers in a trench at Gallipoli
However, once the beach head was formed, trench warfare soon began to set in. What made the trench warfare here worse was the glaring sun and the dysentery epidemic. Hamilton ordered another 60,000 men to attack Suvla Bay from the water. However, due to hesitation from Allied high command, the Ottoman’s had managed to dig defences and the bay was eventually recaptured by Mustafa Kemal Pasha on August 10th. The attempt to break the stalemate was a disastrous failure.
As allied and Ottoman casualties began to increase, the stalemate was no closer to breaking. Eventually, on December 7th, an evacuation was ordered, with the last troops leaving Gallipoli on January 6th of the next year.
Despite its significance in Australian, Kiwi and Turkish history, the Gallipoli campaign is still considered to be one of the greatest catastrophe for the allies during the war. One of the main problems with the campaign was that, despite the Allied advantage, no orders were issued and due to the lack of coordination the allies could not advance. They were instead ordered to dig in, which was considered to be highly counterproductive. The campaign ultimately failed to take the pressure off Russia, which many attribute as the reason of the Russian Revolutions of February and October of 1917.
Well, I thought the same as everybody else. Everybody said ‘It’ll be over by Christmas and you’ve got to get out soon, otherwise you won’t see anything’. But I don’t know if it was my opinion, or if everybody was saying it. One certainly changed one’s mind when we found how well-organised Jerry was compared with us for instance.
Bill Haine, a British Soldier in WW1
Despite what many claimed at home, the war was not over by Christmas. Winter was setting in and the fighting had slowed even more than before. Whilst the Christmas Truce of 1914 is seen as a unique one, ceasefires had been occurring all over the Western Front. A “turn a blind eye” attitude was becoming common place, despite orders from command. The harsh winter was also getting to the soldiers. The feeling of the first Christmas away from home was beginning to set in so gifts were sent. Kaiser Wilhelm sent cigars for the officers and pipes for the ranks while Princess Mary of Harewood sent out cigarettes, sweets and cards.
On Christmas Eve, the rain that had been flooding trenches for weeks had finally stopped, and the ice froze the floor of the trenches over, reducing the risk of trench foot significantly. Soon, snow fell upon No Mans Land and the gun fire slowly but surely dwindled into silence. Filled with merriment and joy, the German’s began to sing Silent Night in their trenches. The British officers, hearing this, believed it to be a challenge and began singing their own carols back at the Germans. However, what began as a competition eventually turned into a harmonisation of English and German voices. Many officers met by the wire, agreeing not to exchange gunfire the next day. However, such friendliness was not shared with the French or Belgian troops, as they were under occupation by the Germans at the time. However, they did agree to stop shooting in order to bury their dead.
Christmas Day came. Many British soldiers looked over the parapet to see German Soldiers standing upright in No Mans Land. The two sides got out and buried their dead. The two sides found they shared a communal experience, of having had their friends die and being sick of the war. Extra gifts given to them by their wives and families were exchanged. One notable exchange was between Captain Edward Hulse of the Scots Guard and Lieutenant Thomas of the 15th Westphalians. Thomas gave Hulse a Victoria Cross and a series of letters belonging to an officer who had been killed in a German trench in a previous attack, hoping to have them returned to his family. Touched by his empathy, Hulse gave Thomas his scarf he had received the night prior. Not having anything to give back, Thomas ordered a German troop to find the gloves given to him by his family in order to give them to Hulse. Unfortunately, Hulse ended up being killed in action the following April at the Battle of Neuve-Chappelle while trying to help his commanding officer. Thomas’ fate remains unknown
German and British troops playing football together on the battlefield
The most famous part of this truce were the football matches played between the two sides. Both sides brought out their own footballs, playing kick-about between the two trenches. However, not all was done with best intentions. This time of peace was used to repair dugouts and spy on the enemy. Some were cautious, with incidents of people spotting daggers being drawn and British soldiers not wanting to smoke German cigarettes for fear of poisoning.
Eventually, high command stepped in, fearing that the war would not go on if their troops knew their enemy as people. For some, the armistice was swift and done with by Boxing Day. Others carried on, pushing until New Years Eve. German command dispatched snipers whilst the French ordered artillery barrages. For high command, they believed the war machine had to go on and all human connection must be stamped out. There was never another ceasefire like this, not just in this war but any war since then.
Initially, many trenches of World War 1 were glorified foxholes. But once the war began to set in, these trenches became more complex and became a vast system behind the front lines, including reserve trenches, dugouts and medical areas behind the trenches.
Trench warfare would tend to be very repetitive in nature. A battle would start with a large artillery bombardment from one side against the other. Many of these artillery barrages would cause Shell Shock or, as modern physcologists have called it, PTSD.
A British soldier suffering from Shell Shock
Then waves of troops would come over through an area called No Mans Land, the term for the empty land between the two trenches, which was often ravished by craters, barbed wire and dead trees. The guns from the defending side would open fire, usually massacring the wave. They offending side would then usually send wave after wave until they either gave up or captured the trench. Tens of thousands of lives would be lost, only to gain a few metres of land.
The trenches were often very crudely designed, as many suspected the war would not be long. Many had open mud on the floor, which would mean diseases such as trench foot would be spread. Rats were common place as well. However, the German trenches were considered to be more sturdy, being deeper and wider than the Allied trenches, allowing for better movement and cover. German trenches averaged around 12 feet in depth, whilst British ones averaged around 6 or 7 feet deep.
A drawing of a German Trench from a book
For when artillery fire came, bunkers were dug in, with the German ones being characterised as a lot more homely and comfortable.
By 1915, the true nature of the war began to set in and the trench fixtures became a lot more permanent. Machine gun turrets were set up and, eventually, the German’s began using the new weapon, chlorine gas. Poison gas was a key element of the war, despite it being illegal. Both sides would use this weapon on each other. Many died due to gas attacks and those who survived suffered later in life.
Tsar Nicholas ordered the mobilisation of troops on July 29th and Kaiser Wilhelm mobilised theirs on the 30th. Because Russia had such a large army to mobilise on such a large border, Germany believed they had to take out France first. Luckily, they had planned for this.
In 1906, Alfred Von Schliefen had devised a plan in case they needed to invade France. He proposed a plan of going through the Lowlands, of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, before attacking France from it’s northern border, encircling Paris, assuring a swift victory. The front could then be moved to Russia and their large army to focus on that front.
A photo of Schlieffen, 1906
The invasion of Belgium began. Having reassured it’s safety, Britain joins the war against Germany, sending troops down to France. However, the advance slows at the heavily fortified city of Liege. Once the city was captured, the German’s committed brutal war crimes against the civilian population. The Triple Alliance spread propaganda, denouncing the German’s actions in the Belgian cities, making many neutral countries opinions of Germany turn sour.
France began to make a push into the German territory but were pushed back at a heavy cost in the Battle of the Frontiers
Belgian soldiers marching during the battle
The British troops eventually make an advance and fight with German troops at Mons. However, they were vastly outnumbered and had to retreat to the French frontline at the Marne River. It seemed as though the Schlieffen Plan would be a swift success.
However, the German’s needed to secure a naval port. The Allied Armies and the Germans quickly ran to the coast trying to flank one another, forming a full frontline, colliding at the First Battle of Ypres. However, due to some light tinkering from Helmuth von Moltke, the German line was under supplied so could not advance past this point for the meantime. The two lines began to dig in, building a network of trenches across the frontline.
Many believed that the plan itself was flawed and was destined to never work. Others claim that due to Moltke’s meddling, the plan failed. But no matter what you think was the cause for the Schlieffen Plan’s failure, the era of Trench Warfare had begun.
RMS Titanic was the largest ship afloat by the time of her construction in 1912. The second of three in a line of Olympic-class ocean liners, she had passenger accommodation described to be “of unrivalled extent and magnificence,” especially the first-class section, which contained a Grand Staircase, Turkish baths, a pool, and high-end dining, including the luxurious À la Carte Restaurant. Even third-class, despite being less luxurious than second or first-class, was still deemed in higher quality than its contemporary counterparts. White Star Line, the company that created the Olympic-class ships, stated that the class “as far as it is possible to do so, [is] designed to be unsinkable.”
An image of the Titanic setting sail from Southampton
Whilst it was common practice for many companies to claim their ships were unsinkable, White Star Line specifically highlighted the bulkhead system, which was designed in a way that the Titanic could stay afloat with any two adjoining out of its 16 main compartments open to the sea. In addition the height of the bulkhead deck above the water line in flooded condition was well above the requirements, and the vessel would have been able to float with 3 adjoining compartments flooded in 11 of 14 possible combinations. The subdivisions could be sealed from each other with cast iron watertight doors.
The ship, under the command of Captain Edward John Smith, set off on its maiden voyage from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. Almost immediately, the ships bad luck began, when she nearly collided with the SS City of New York while departing the harbour, leading to her departure being delayed by 45 minutes. Eventually, she arrived in Cherbourg, France, to take on more passengers before once again stopping in Queenstown, Ireland, before departing to her final destination of New York City on April 11th. By the time she left the shores of Ireland, she had 892 crew members on board and 1,320 passengers. Among her passengers was Joseph Bruce Ismay, the chairman and managing director of White Star Line, and Thomas Andrews, the managing director of the company that built the Titanic in Ireland. One crew member of note was Harold Bride, one of the wireless operators. The passengers of first-class consisted of some of the richest people in the world whilst third-class consisted of many immigrants seeking a new life in the land of opportunity. Many of these people would not make it to shore.
Last image of the Titanic, taken off the coast of Ireland
Over the next few days, multiple warnings were issued regarding icebergs in the North Atlantic. The last one, on April 14th, was from the German Ship Amerika at around 13:45, and was relayed to Captain Smith by Bride, who claimed that the note was immediately discarded by the bridge without reading. Bride returned to the wireless room and began sending out messages from the passengers once more. At around 18:00, both Ismay and Andrews were in the first-class lounge and smoking rooms, where Ismay had allegedly been showing off the note regarding the iceberg warning. Ismay then retired to his quarters by 21:00 and went to bed. By 23:30, Bride was asleep and the primary operator, Jack Phillips, was operating the Marconi machine, made for radiotelegraphy. In order to receive messages from the distant Cape Race in Newfoundland, Phillips had the machine turned up to maximum volume. However, when the nearby SS Californian notified the Titanic of it stopping due to the ice fields, the high volume meant the message was received incredibly loudly by Phillips. He punched back a rude snarky message, telling the Marconi operator aboard the Californian to keep out of the signal. As most operators were in their mid-twenties, they were used to the friendly abuse they would send each other. The operator aboard the Californian, tired anyway, turned off the machine and went to bed.
Nine minutes later, with the cloudless night and a new moon, vision was limited when lookout Fredrick Fleet spotted an iceberg a mere 500 metres away from the Titanic‘s bow. Fleet cried “Iceberg, right ahead!” This message was quickly relayed to the bridge, who ordered that the Titanic change course towards the starboard side to avoid a head on collision. However, it had just managed to strike the ship below the waterline, breaching the front six compartments of the ship. One passenger is first-class described the noise as sounding “as though someone had drawn a giant finger along the side of the ship.” Around seven minutes after the collision, the crew were ordered to shut down the engines, which was standard procedure after a collision but they also feared that the cold water would combine with the high pressure steam and cause an explosion.
A diagram of the Titanic and its bulkheads. The green lines indicate the damaged areas
The stopping of the usual hum of the engines stirred many from their sleep, including Bride, Andrews and Ismay. Andrews left his quarters and went to investigate the damage sustained to the ship. He determined that at least five of the compartments had been breached by the iceberg, which was more than the ship could sustain and made him the first person to grasp the true severity of the situation. He directly reported this information to Captain Smith, who relayed this information to Bride and Phillips, telling them to send out calls for assistance upon his command. Ismay, who spoke to officers on deck, was informed that the ship had been struck but was not aware of the extent of the damage.
Meanwhile, the nearby Californian, that was closest ship to the Titanic, had its Marconi machine investigated by an officer. Whilst he knew some of morse code, he did not realise the machine was turned off so, when he didn’t hear anything from the other end, concluded that it was not worth checking again for the rest of the night. The Californian‘s Marconi machine was never checked again. When he joined the captain on deck, they observed the Titanic slow and eventually stop before the lights dimmed. When the captain raised concern, the officer explained that the lights were often dimmed on ocean liners in order to get the passengers to sleep and allow the service crew to get an early night in.
A map of the positions of ships in the vicinity of the Titanic
Meanwhile, Andrews informs Smith that the ship may sink within the next hour and a half. Smith then orders Bride and Phillips to begin sending out the distress signal, CQD. Shortly after this, Ismay spoke to Smith, who also warned him of the severity of the situation, whilst officers began to uncover the lifeboats and abandon ship. The crew began waking up passengers and ordering them to put on life jackets and come up to the deck. Many passengers, however, saw this as somewhat silly and took it as a joke to just get in the lifeboats for half an hour or so. The band came on board deck and began playing tunes to keep up spirits. Despite this, both Andrews and Ismay assisted with the evacuation process, prioritising women and children first as a part of official policy. Whilst many other ships were too far away or on the other side of the dangerous ice wall, the RMS Carpathia was 58 nautical miles south of the Titanic‘s position and received a message from Cape Race regarding the ship. The captain, Arthur Rostron, ordered the Carpathia go full steam ahead towards the Titanic‘s position. It would take them three hours to reach the Titanic
Back on board, Bride and Phillips, having switched to the newly introduced SOS signal, were informed by Smith of the true severity of the situation. Meanwhile, distress signals went up in the form of fireworks and lights flashed in morse code. However, the Californian‘s crew determined that they must have been having som kind of party and that the light was just the bobbing of the ships masthead. On deck, the situation escalated. The crew, most of them unfamiliar with emergency lifeboat procedure, did not know how much weight the boats could withstand, as they were designed to immediately ferry passengers to another nearby ship. As a result, many boats were lowered only half full. This was also partially due to some officers that interpreted “women and children first” as women and children only, and would rather launch a half full lifeboat with only women and children aboard than let any men get on. As chaos erupted on the deck, Andrews realised that, due to the company’s decision to reduce the number of lifeboats from 48 to only 16, was nowhere near enough to accommodate even a fraction of the people on board the ship.
An illustration depicting the evacuation on deck
Down below in the ship’s lower quarters, third-class passengers were promised by officers that they would be allowed onto the deck in groups of 50. However, after only three groups went up, the officers allegedly became distracted and left much of the rest of third-class down in the hold. As the radiotelegraphy system was overwhelmed with messages, the signals jammed for several minutes before Bride and Phillips returned to punching SOS messages. However, as water reached the generators, the power on the ship began cutting out and the range of the Marconi machine decreased. Eventually, their transmitter on Cape Race went out of range, meaning that they could no longer send messages on behalf of the Titanic. Whilst trying to communicate with the Carpathia, Phillips received the overpowering message from the German ship Frankfurt, which had a very powerful transmitter. The Frankfurt had been consistently asking the Titanic what was wrong. Whilst Bride and Phillips had initially joked about the stupidity of the operator, it is suggested that this was moment when Phillips lost his rag with the Frankfurt.
You are a fool, [shut up] – [shut up] – [shut up] and keep out
Phillips’ message to the Frankfurt
Phillips left the office and stood on the deck. Whilst he had only felt the ship before, he now saw it. Part of the bow was becoming submerged in the icy waters of the Atlantic. He saw Smith atop the bridge yelling out to the officers to bring the lifeboats back and take on more passengers. Near one of these boats that was about to disembark, Ismay, along side another first-class passenger, allegedly asked if there were any women and children nearby. When they got no response, the pair hopped into the lifeboat and set out to safety. Whilst the passenger who got on with Ismay, William Carter, stated that they had both checked around for any women and children, Carter’s wife described his behaviour aboard the ship as “cruel and barbarous treatment and indignities to the person,” apparently leaving her and their children to fend for themselves aboard the ship. Carter and his wife divorced only two year later.
Drawing from a book criticising Ismay by comparing his survival to a list of notable individuals who perished with the Titanic
This action from Ismay was perceived as a widely controversial one. He was ostracised from London high society life and eventually resigned his position at White Star Line. In a 1943 Nazi propaganda film about the Titanic, he was portrayed as a corrupt British business man, who ordered the Titanic to try and set a transatlantic speed record that led to the collision with the iceberg, a myth that still persists to this day. In actuality, he had briefly consulted the idea of breaking a speed record with Smith but it didn’t go much further. Lord Mersey, who led the 1912 British inquiry on the Titanic, concluded that Ismay had helped many other passengers before finding a place for himself on the last lifeboat to leave the starboard side.
At around 01:50, Smith gave up trying to call back the lifeboats and proceeded to relieve Bride and Phillips of their posts. Whilst Bride got ready, Phillips continued to punch out messages. Noticing him struggling to adjust the machine and send out messages, Bride joined his side again and the pair continued to send out messages. It was also around this time that Andrews was spotted last. The most often cited place for this sighting was in the first-class smoking lounge, with water lapping at his feet whilst in deep thought. He was never seen again.
A portrait of Andrews
After sending one last message to the Carpathia regarding its power capabilities, the ship’s lights turned a sickly red and the Marconi machine died. The ship was now alone, slowly sinking into the icy waters of the Atlantic, with the nearest help two hours away. She would sink under the waves in the next 20 minutes. The Californian had noticed that the Titanic was disappearing below the horizon and an officer attempted to notify the sleeping captain, who merely grunted and rolled over. By the time the officer returned to deck, the Titanic was gone.
Meanwhile, Phillips ordered Bride to retrieve the back-up transmitter before a crew member from the boiler room began throttling Phillips in an attempt to take his life jacket. The pair then proceeded to fight the man, before knocking him to the ground. According to Bride’s account, Phillips then grabbed the wireless key and beat the stoker over the head until the shin deep water inked with blood and the man went limp. Not knowing whether the man was dead or merely unconscious, the pair rushed out to deck. The ship, now with its stern elevated out of the water, had mere minutes left. Bride attempted to assist crewmen in lowering Lifeboat Collapsible B, and spotted Phillips running to the back of the deck. Suddenly, the oars holding the boat slipped, trapping Bride underneath it. Eventually the water lapped up, taking Bride and the boat off the deck and into the icy waters. Meanwhile, port holes created suction that pulled desperate swimmers back into the ship. The collapsing funnel caused a splash that toppled most people from the boat before they scrambled back on.
A depiction of Collapsible B from A Night to Remember
Two minutes before total submersion, the power went out. The area was plunged into total darkness, with what remained of the ship blotting out the stars in the sky. Eventually, the ship split in half, before the rest of the ship was eventually dragged down into the icy depths. In all, it took 2 hours and 40 minutes for the Titanic to sink. Reportedly, Ismay could not watch as she sank beneath the waves.
I had never seen so many shooting stars. I recalled a legend that every time there’s a shooting star, somebody dies
Jean Hippach, 1st Class Survivor
A gif depicting the sinking of the Titanic
Screams of passengers attempting to get onto lifeboats slowly went quiet as they eventually succumbed to hypothermia. On the still upside down Collapsible B, Bride clung to the side, one foot still submerged in water. He informed Charles Lightoller, a second officer, of the incoming Carpathia, who then ordered that the men attempt to balance the boat. However, as the night progressed, the boat continued to sink and the survivors were up to their knees in water. Some, not being able to handle the pain, collapsed and drifted away. Aboard the boat, Lightoller led a speaking of the Lord’s Prayer, before, eventually, the Carpathia arrived at 04:00. Some set off fireworks to signal the ship, some lit pieces of paper whilst one woman reportedly set her hat on fire. Collapsible B merely screamed for help, with Lightoller using his whistle to attract the rescue boats.
Upon being brought aboard, Bride collapsed. Ismay was in deep shock and was uncharacteristically withdrawn. He apparently ate very little and was allegedly sedated by a doctor at one point. Whilst some saw it as avoidance, others saw it as trauma. However, he assisted in compiling lists of survivors. When Bride awoke, he was given one of these lists in order to assist sending out the lists for newspapers. He was distraught to find that Phillips’ name was not on it. Eventually, public inquiries in both the US and Britain were held regarding the disaster. The Senate Inquiry, led by Senator William Alden Smith, determined that the disaster was not unavoidable and that the speed that the Titanic was going at the time should have been slowed due to the warnings that the bridge had received, implicitly blaming Ismay for this decision. It also concluded that the lifeboat provisions were beyond inadequate and that the crew were unskilled to deal with such an evacuation. It also put partial blame on the Californian, for not taking any action even when the Titanic disappeared. Meanwhile, the British Inquiry determined that the speed was standard practice at the time and assigned little personal blame. However, it still determined that evacuation procedure was not up to standards and that the lifeboats were inadequate to save even half of the passengers on board. As a result, maritime regulations were enforced, requiring lifeboats for all individuals on board, 24-hour messenger operation and an Internal Ice Patrol. Both Bride and Ismay testified at the inquiries. In all, over 1,500 died in the sinking of the Titanic. It is, by far, the most well known commercial nautical disaster of all time.
In 1888, London was the largest city on the planet. At the height of the industrial revolution, this was the peak of capitalism, with many factory owners making lots of money very quickly.
A photo of London in the late 19th Century
However, just down the road from where all these rich men lived in Kensington were their workers, who lived in the infamous Victorian London Slums, which were rife with cholera outbreaks, rats and typhoid. Many of the men laboured in the highly dangerous factories to make a living for their family whilst the children were hired as chimney sweeps, where some would get trapped and die. The women sometimes turned to prostitution in order to make a living. One of the most famous of these slums was the expansive district of Whitechapel.
An East End Slum in Whitechapel
On the 31st August 1888 at around 3:40 am, Charles Cross was walking down Buck’s Row in Whitechapel when he saw a woman lying on her back on the ground. He rushed over, to find her hands cold to the touch. Robert Paul came to his side and the two analysed the body. However, not wanting to be late for work, the two men left the scene, hoping to find a police officer on their way. This effort was, thankfully, for naught as 5 minutes later PC John Neil happened upon the same body himself.
Neil, who had a lantern so could see much better, found a large cut across the woman’s throat. It was deemed to be relatively fresh, as the wound was still bleeding and different parts of the body were still warm. Another constable arrived who grabbed a doctor who determined that she had been dead for half an hour, which meant that Cross and Paul found the body only 10 minutes after the murder.
She was quickly rushed to the morgue not long after, where she was identified as Mary Ann Nichols, a 43 year old woman with 6 children who had turned to prostitution in order to get into a lodging house she had been denied from earlier that night. She was last seen, by a close friend, walking down Whitechapel Road, around 800 metres from her murder site, whilst visibly drunk. This was around 2:30, only one hour before her death.
A drawing of Nichols
The doctors determined that there were two slits to the throat as well as a slice across the abdomen and that she had been disembowelled. Whilst no organs had been removed, the doctors still determined that the killer had a decent anatomical knowledge. Many police officers compared it to another murder earlier that month, that being Martha Tabram. Both women were prostitutes, killed incredibly violently and ferociously, had no discernible motive for their respective murders and were around the same age. However, the difference was in the wounds. Whilst Tabram had been repeatedly stabbed, Nichols wounds were more consistent with slashes and slices. Despite this, the police still suspected the two murders of being linked.
On September 8th, a little over a week after the first murder, at 4:45 am, John Richardson was walking along Hanbury Street before making a stop at No. 29. He walked through the house to check the security of the basement door in the back yard before sitting on the back doorstep, where he trimmed a piece of leather from his boot. He then left the premises back through the front door and closed it behind himself, continuing on his walk to work. An hour later, a tenant on the third floor by the name of John Davis walked down stairs. The front door was now wide open but the back door was closed. Davis walked outside only to find the body of a woman lying on her back by the fence in the yard.
A photo of the back yard of 29 Hanbury Street
A doctor and a police officer soon arrived on the scene. The doctor said that she had been “terribly mutilated”. The specifics include a deep cut in her throat and her intestines had been lifted from her body and wrapped around her neck. By the woman’s feet they found a cloth and two combs, which were suspected to be belonging to the victim but had been arranged by the murderer.
At the mortuary she was identified as Annie Chapman, a 47 year old woman, who occupied herself with crochet work, flower selling and casual prostitution on the side. The last official sighting of Chapman was when she was denied lodging at 35 Dorset Street due to insufficient funds. However, at 5:30, a woman named Elizabeth Long saw Chapman conversing with a man just metres away from 29 Hanbury Street. Many suspect that this man, who Long could not see as his back was facing her, was the killer.
A photo of Chapman
However, this creates a conflict, as the doctor determined the time of death was at 4:30. Richardson claimed that when he entered the backyard at 4:45 there was no body, and that it was impossible for him to not have seen it if it was there. The doctor did concede saying that he mainly judged the time of death based off the temperature of the body, which could’ve been effected by the cold night. This would place Chapman’s death between 5:30 and 5:45 in the morning. However, this creates a chilling reality, where, with the dim light of dawn slowly creeping through the streets, the residents of 29 Hanbury Street would have had an unobstructed view of the murder. However, no-one was reported as having observed the murder.
At the mortuary, marks were discovered on her fingers, consistent with someone aggressively taking off a ring. Other parts of the abdomen were removed and not found, including Chapman’s womb. Doctor’s determined that, because of this, the killer must have some kind of anatomical knowledge, whether that be a surgeon, a medical student or a butcher.
Many in Whitechapel began to question the competence of the police, despite the overwhelming odds stacked against them. In an attempt to stop the attacks, a man named George Lusk established the Whitechapel Vigilance Committee, a vigilante task force set on hunting down the killer. Due to a leather apron being found at the scene of Chapman’s murder, newspapers began to suspect that a Jewish man was behind the attacks, due to a Polish Jewish boot maker in Whitechapel named John Pizer often being characterised by his leather apron. The Vigilance Committee began to severely harass Jewish Businesses.
A cartoon depicting a police man playing Blind Man’s Bluff, attempting to demonstrate their incompetance
The newspapers whipped the people up into a frenzy, which encouraged many people to write into the police offices and newspapers claiming to be the murderer. Many of these were dismissed as pranks or false allegations. However, one sent to the Central News Agency in London caught their eye. The letter, which arrived on the 27th of September, read as follows in bright red ink.
Dear Boss,
I keep on hearing the Police have caught me, but they won’t fix me just yet. I have laughed when they look so clever and talk about being on the right track. That joke about Leather Apron gave me real fits. I am down on whores and I shan’t quit ripping them till I do get buckled. Grand work the last job was. I gave the lady no time to squeal. How can they catch me now? I love my work and want to start again. You will soon hear of me with my funny little games. I saved some of the proper red stuff in a ginger beer bottle over the last job to write with, but it went thick like glue and I can’t use it. Red ink is fit enough I hope ha. ha. The next job I do I shall clip the lady’s ears off and send to the police officers just for jolly wouldn’t you. Keep this letter back till I do a bit more work, then give it out straight. My knife’s so nice and sharp I want to get to work right away if I get a chance. Good Luck. Yours truly Jack the Ripper
Don’t mind me giving the trade name
PS Wasn’t good enough to post this before I got all the red ink off my hands curse it. No luck yet. They say I’m a doctor now. ha ha
The letter sent to the Central News Agency
The name at the bottom of the letter would ring throughout history as one of if not the most famous serial killer of all time. The Agency forwarded this to the police, who were more skeptical. However, their opinion would soon change.
On September 29th, just two days after the “Dear Boss” Letter, 40 Berner Street was holding a meeting for the Socialist Club. The meeting came to a close and some chose to stay and drink. At half past midnight, Joseph Lave used the side entrance, which led into Dutfields Yard, to grab some fresh air. He lingered for 10 minutes, facing into Berner Street before retreating into the building. Moments later a man named Morris Eagle, who was a member of the club and had come back after escorting a woman home, turned right off Berner Street into Dutfields Yard and used the same entrance into No. 40.
A map of the street
Barely 20 minutes went by before a horse and carriage, driven by Louis Diemschutz, made the same turn that Eagle did, turning right into Dutfields Yard off Burner Street. However, once he entered the yard, the horse veered to the left. He looked down and saw the body of a woman lying by the wall. He went inside to check on his wife before a small crowd gathered outside. They determined that the woman was dead and then dispersed to find a police officer.
The name of the victim was Elizabeth Stride, a 44 year old cleaner and prostitute. She had been spotted 3 times through out the night with a man described as having a “respectable appearance” the last one of these being at around 12:35, about 25 minutes before the body was found.
A photo of Stride
The most notable sighting was by Israel Schwartz, who spotted a man violently shoving a woman at the entrance of Dutfields Yard. Schwartz crossed the street, deciding to not intervene, before the man yelled “Lipski”, a Jewish slur, which encouraged another man to follow Schwartz for quite some distance. Whether this was a co-conspirator or the man was simply frightened too and happened to walk down the same way as Schwartz is up to interpretation. This occurred only 5 minutes before the body was discovered and it is believed that the woman was Stride and the man shoving her was the killer.
She did not have as many brutal wounds as the other victims, with just a slit of her throat, which lead many to believe that she was not actually a victim of the Ripper. However, what many believe is that when Diemschutz rolled his cart down Dutfields Yard, he had inadvertently interrupted the murder, and the murderer had hidden at the end of the alleyway. Once Diemschutz went inside to check on his wife, it is believed that the murder slipped out of the yard and went on the hunt for another victim.
Later that night, at around 1:45, PC Edward Watkins discovered another body on his patrol route around the area of Mitre Square, only 15 minutes away from Dutfields Yard. She was taken to the mortuary and identified as Catherine Eddowes, a 46 year old street vendor and prostitute. Eddowes had been jailed earlier that night, for being so drunk she collapsed on the pavement, and was not released until 1 in the morning. 35 minutes later, she was spotted in the company of a man near an entrance to Mitre Square.
A drawing of Eddowes
The post mortem found that she too had been disembowelled, with some of her organs being removed, most notably her womb and her left kidney, reinforcing their theory that the killer had decent anatomical knowledge. What was also notable was that there had been a small incision made on her left earlobe. This indicated that the murderer was attempting to cut Eddowes’ ear off, as detailed in the letter, before he was, once again, interrupted. This was somewhat confirmed by a postcard sent 2 days later. Whilst it was much shorter than the letter sent on the 27th, many detectives still believed this to be from the actual killer, as it was written before any information about the two murders had been released to the public or the press.
I was not codding dear old boss when I gave you the tip, you’ll hear about Saucy Jacky’s work tomorrow double event this time number one squealed a bit couldn’t finish straight off. Had not got time to get ears off for police thanks for keeping last letter back till I got to work again.
The postcard sent to the Central News Agency
In addition, two blocks away from Mitre Square, a piece of blood stained cloth was found on the pavement, which was found to be a part of Eddowes’ apron that she was wearing. Above it, in large sprawling text on the wall, was written:
The Juwes are the men that will not be blamed for nothing
The graffito found on Goulston Street.
A cartoon depicting the discovery of the writing
The meaning of this is heavily debated. Was it written by the killer in an attempt to divert attention away or towards the Jewish Community of London? Was it just discarded there by chance under to some anti-semitic graffito by someone who wasn’t the killer? To this day, no-one knows the answer to any of these questions. No matter what the case was, Commissioner Charles Warren ordered it to be removed for fear of civil unrest.
A final confirmed letter was sent to George Lusk on the 16th of October and was redirected to the police force after its arrival. It appeared as though the handwriting was much worse than the previous two, as well as the spelling. However, some suspect that this was done on purpose to throw the police off to make the killer seem uneducated.
From hell.
Mr Lusk, Sir I send you half the Kidne I took from one women prasarved it for you tother piece I fried and ate it was very nice. I may send you the bloody knife that took it out if you only wate a while longer signed
Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk
A photo of the “From Hell” letter
With the letter there was a parcel which, as the letter described, contained half a human kidney. There was no way of confirming, however, if this was actually Eddowes’ kidney or something that a medical student had done as a prank. Whatever the case may be, this is what many believe to be the final letter from Jack the Ripper, and there was relative peace in London for quite some time. For over a month, not a single murder was reported and many believed that the Ripper had simply stopped.
[I]t daily becomes evident that the Whitechapel murderer has gone out of business [and i]t is pretty certain that, despite […] the bravado exhibited by Jack the Ripper in his recent letter, the monster has become frightened at the magnitude of the police arrangements for his detection and has suspended his horrible work for the present, if not for good.
The Dunkirk Observer Journal, October 29th, 1888
In the property of Millers Court on November 9th, 1888, landlord John McCarthy had noticed that the tenant of number 13, one Mary Jane Kelly, had fallen behind on her rent. At around 10:45 am, he instructed his assistant, Thomas Bowyer, to collect the money. Bowyer knocked on the door twice and, after receiving no response, decided to peer through the window to see if Kelly was home. After seeing what was inside he quickly ran to his boss and summoned him to look upon the horror in 13 Miller’s Court.
The sight we saw I cannot drive away from my mind. It looked more like the work of a devil than of a man. [Kelly]’s body was lying on the bed undressed. She had been completely disembowelled, and her entrails had been taken out and placed on the table. It was those that I had seen when I looked through the window, and took to be lumps of flesh. The woman’s nose had been cut off, and her face gashed and mutilated so that she was quite beyond recognition. Both her breasts, too, had been cut clean away, and placed by the side of her liver, and other entrails on the table. I had heard a great deal about the Whitechapel murders, but I declare to God I had never expected to see such a sight as this. The body was, of course, covered with blood, and so was the bed. The whole scene is more than I can describe, I hope I may never see such a sight again.
John McCarthy’s testimony he gave to the press
Kelly was the youngest victim. She was somewhere in her mid twenties and was, up until the start of the month, cohabitating with a man named Joseph Barnett, who had split with Kelly on the 30th of October, due his disapproval of her life as a prostitute as well as the circles she hung around with.
A drawing of Mary Jane Kelly
Kelly was seen by Barnett in 13 Millers Court on the evening of November 8th, the former of which was in the company of a woman who was on her way out the door. Whilst many accounts conflict on this, Barnett claims he arrived anywhere between 7:00 and 7:45 and left before 9:00. At 11:45, Kelly’s neighbour spotted her entering her home with a man, whilst she was in a drunken state. She was heard singing by this same neighbour and was still singing by the time the neighbour left Miller’s Court at 1am.
It is then alleged that she left Miller’s Court and met up with George Hutchinson, asking for some spare coins as the two were well acquainted. When Hutchinson told Kelly he had no spare money, she walked down the street and was spotted in the company of a well dressed man by Hutchinson. Believing the presence of a well dressed man in the accompaniment of a woman like Kelly to be strange, he scrutinised the appearance of the man.
The central figure aligns with Hutchinson’s description of the man
Hutchinson then shadowed the couple up to Miller’s Court, whereupon the man gave Kelly a red handkerchief before being invited inside. The detail about the red handkerchief matches up with the testimony of the last person to see Eddowes alive, who described the man he sighted as having a “reddish handkerchief” tied around his neck. Hutchinson then stuck around for around an hour before leaving.
Once Kelly’s neighbour returned, at around 3:00, there was now no sound or light coming from Kelly’s room. At 4:00, the residents above and across from Kelly heard “cries of murder” from nearby, whilst other residents heard absolutely nothing at all. Doctors were unsure where to place the time of death as, despite Hutchinson’s testimony, some believe that he embellished the truth or simply lied in order to gain more public attention. The certainty was not helped by the fact that some witnesses described seeing and even speaking to her as late as 8 or 10 o’clock on the morning of November 9th.
These 5 murders described above are the suspected “Canonical Five” Victims. Whilst there were some murders in the area before and some since, these are usually the ones collectively agreed upon as the murders that were committed by Jack the Ripper. To this day, the case still remains unsolved. With hundreds upon hundreds of suspects, ranging from Charles Cross, who discovered the body of Nichols, to Lewis Carroll, the writer of Alice in Wonderland, the case will likely never be solved. Even with all these advances in modern science, with some DNA tests being conducted on cloth samples, this one simple question can not be answered nearly 200 years later.
Who was Jack the Ripper?
A cartoon depicting the nearly impossible manhunt for Jack the Ripper
Nyx was night, but what was night without its cover? Not long after Nyx had pulled herself into existence, Erebus followed. He was darkness. While Nyx was the divine embodiment of night and all that it entailed, Erebus was action. He was primordial, an enforcer, the executioner. The final knell of sleep and death and the champion of the night.
Molly Tullis in her book “Consort of Darkness”
By the mid 19th century, much of the world’s waters had been explored. The primary route, by sea, to Eastern Asia from Europe was to go underneath South America or Africa, as the Panama and Suez Canals were yet to be built. However, some believed that there was another, faster way, through the fabled North West Passage.
A map of trade routes before 1845
Just north of Canada is the icy and unforgiving waters of the Arctic Ocean. In the winter months, the Sun would not rise, and winds would bring temperatures as low as -40°C and sometimes even lower. Whilst easily passable with modern technology, this was not the case in 1845. But, the British were still determined to find the North West Passage to Asia.
The man assigned to command the expedition was Captain Sir John Franklin. Franklin was an experienced explorer, and had led 3 different expeditions to the Arctic previously and was very popular with his crew, who saw him as a compassionate commander who had an admiration for expedition. However, the Admiralty was hesitant. In 1819, Franklin had led a disastrous expedition in the same territory. His men eventually began to starve and got so hungry they began eating the leather from their boots, to which he gained a nickname “The man who ate his own boot”. However, Franklin was confident that he could find the Northwest passage, securing a more efficient way to trade with Asia, before he would humbly retire once the passage was explored.
A photo of John Franklin
Two ships were chosen for the expedition, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, commanded by Captain James Fitzjames and Captain Francis Crozier respectively. At the time, they were seen as the height of naval technology. Formerly war ships in the Royal Navy, the ships had been specially modified for Polar Expeditions, with extra planking and metal plating at the bow and water line, believing this may help them break through the ice. The ship was equipped with central heating technology as well as a steam engine connected to a propellor at the rudder, which was theorised to give the ship extra strength to power through the ice.
A drawing of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror
The British also wanted to use the expedition to test many of their newest inventions. If the propellors needed fixing they would use the new invention of the diving suit to go down and break the ice with a stick. They also brought canned food onto ships, in order to cut down on contractions of scurvy, a disease brought about by lack of Vitamin C in a diet, a very common plight for sailors. In order to preserve the crew’s mental health, books, sports equipment and even costumes for theatre productions were brought aboard.
Everything seemed well enough and the mission set sail from Greenhithe in Kent on May 19th, 1845 with 134 men between the two ships. Around a month into the expedition, they stopped in Greenland, to gather more supplies, send letters home from the crew and send 5 men back who had contracted illnesses. In late July of 1845, two whaling ships spotted the Erebus and Terror entering Baffin Bay. This was the last time the crew was officially seen alive.
Two Christmases came and went and there was no sign of the ships and no word from them either. People began to get concerned, none more so that Franklin’s wife, Jane, who called upon the admiralty to launch a search party for the expedition immediately, knowing they would run out of food by September of 1848. When they refused, she appealed to the British public, with the help of her close friend, Charles Dickens, who by now had written The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol. The surmounting pressure from the public eventually lead to a search being launched in 1848. The ships sailed off into the Arctic Circle, and only in August of 1850 did they begin to uncover the horrible truth.
On a beach on Beechey Island, they found 3 gravestones for 3 of the crew of the Franklin Expedition, dated throughout the winter of 1845, near the remains of a camp. It appears as though, as the winter of 1845 approached, Franklin ordered his men to take shelter in the cove of Beechey Island. There, the water froze over for the winter and would not thaw until the next year. It is assumed that during this time the three crew men died. When the ice thawed, it was believed that Franklin told the crew to leave quickly in order to make decent ground before the water froze over again.
The graves on Beechey Island. The fourth one, furthest left, is for a member of the search party
In the 1980s, it was revealed that the bodies had been nearly perfectly preserved in the ice, which I shall not be showing here for the more queasy among you. However, it is believed that, due to the high amounts of lead found in the bodies, that the cans containing the food were sealed using lead, leading to lead poisoning which would weaken the immune system as well as causing confusion and hallucinations. Not only that but many postulate that the cans were also sealed improperly, leading to cases of botulism and scurvy, due to the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables.
In 1859, they found a large pile of stones, called a cairn, on the Northern coast of King William Island, around 418 miles south from Beechey Island. Inside was a note from the expedition, which is currently the only form of contact found from the crew post 1845.
A drawing of the search party finding the cairn
H.M.S.hips Erebus and Terror Wintered in the Ice in Lat. 70°5’N Long. 98°23’W Having wintered in 1846-7 [sic] at Beechey Island in Lat 74°43’28’’N Long 91°39’15’’W
After having ascended Wellington Channel to Lat 77° and returned by the West side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin commanding the Expedition. All well. Party consisting of 2 Officers and 6 Men left the ships on Monday 24th May 1847.
Charles Frederick Des Voeux and Graham Gore (officers on the ships) May 28th, 1847
However, they found in the margins a very different message than the one claiming everything was fine a year prior.
HMShips Terror and Erebus were deserted on the 22nd April 5 leagues NNW of this having been beset since 12th Sept 1846.
The officers and crews consisting of 105 souls under the command of Captain F. R. M. Crozier landed here — in Lat. 69°37’42’’ Long. 98°41’
This paper was found by Lt. Irving under the cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross in 1831 — 4 miles to the Northward — where it had been deposited by the late Commander Gore in May June 1847.
Sir James Ross’ pillar has not however been found and the paper has been transferred to this position which is that in which Sir J. Ross’ pillar was erected.
Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June 1847 and the total loss by deaths in the Expedition has been to this date 9 officers and 15 men.
Francis Cozier, April 25th 1848
And start on tomorrow 26th for Backs Fish River
James Fitzjames, April 25th 1848
Due to this, it is believed that the crew had gotten trapped once more in the ice in the winter of 1847 around the Northwest Coast of King William Island, as at the time it was still speculated that it could be connected to mainland Canada.
A postulated map from the time, showing King William Island connected to the mainland (The Terror, HBO)
However, due to freak weather as determined by modern scientists, the ice did not thaw for years on end, even in summer. In 1847, Franklin had died alongside 24 other men and the remaining crew decided to abandon the ships and walk down 130 miles south to Backs Fish River, now called Back River, in Northern Canada, in an attempt to find civilisation. It is believed they put dinghies on large skis and put supplies in them. The ships were left abandoned and eventually sunk, not being found until the 2010s. However, in 1854, a shocking discover had been made.
Sir John Rae, an English explorer had spoken with the local Inuit population. They showed trinkets that could’ve only been found with the Franklin expedition to prove their story. They claimed that they found a camp site with 30 dead bodies, with some inside tents whilst others were scattered outside. Not only that but in the fire pit they found human remains, implying that the survivors had resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Shocked by this revelation, many vehemently denied these claims, claiming that civilised people would not do such things.
We submit that the memory of the lost Arctic voyagers is placed, by reason and experience, high above the taint of this so easily-allowed connection; and that the noble conduct and example of such men, and of their own great leader himself, under similar endurances, belies it, and outweighs by the weight of the whole universe the chatter of a gross handful of uncivilised people, with domesticity of blood and blubber.
Charles Dickens writing in his public journal, 1854
The story was only confirmed in 1993, when archaeologists found that the remains had slices in them from knives or other sharp objects, especially around the hands, neck and feet. It appeared as through the crew had intentionally cut off the most human parts of their comrades, in order to not feel so guilty about eating them.
Ultimately, not a single member of the Franklin expedition was ever seen alive again. Whilst archaeologists are still making discoveries, even as recently as 2024 with them discovering the bones of James Fitzjames, comfort can be found in the fact that it is highly likely that the crew did find the Northwest Passage, as they would’ve seen it in their southern march. Due the search party’s efforts, the passage was truly discovered, even if the Franklin Expedition never actually did. In 1866, a unanimous vote was passed through Parliament to erect a statue in honour of the Franklin Expedition.
They Forged the Last Link with Their Lives
The words on the base of the statue
The statue of Franklin on Waterloo Place in London
Napoleon returned to Paris from his campaign in Italy and was lauded as a hero. His campaign was so successful that the French Government believed that Napoleon was capable of an invasion of mainland Britain. However, as the War of the Second Coalition broke out, Napoleon soon realised that the French Navy was nowhere near powerful enough to take on the powerful Royal Navy. Instead, he decided to take out Britain’s supply line to India by taking control of Ottoman Controlled Egypt, whilst also securing the Sultan of the Indian Mysore Kingdom as a potential ally.
By 1798, Napoleon was elected to the French Academy of Sciences, after which he went to Egypt with 40,000 soldiers, and a collection of 167 scientists, mathematicians, naturalists, chemists and geodesists. However, on the way there, he managed to capture Malta, then under the control of The Order of St John of Jerusalem. They put up little fight and Napoleon only lost 3 men. On July 1st of 1798, Napoleon’s forces landed in Alexandria. They combatted the Ottomans on multiple occasions, most notably at the Battle of the Pyramids, which was located approximately 24km (15 miles) from the Great Pyramids of Giza. In the battle, there was less than 30 French casualties compared to the nearly 2,000 they inflicted.
A painting of the Battle of the Pyramids (July 21st, 1798)
Despite this increase to French morale, disaster struck when Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed or captured all but 2 out of 17 French Ships in the Battle of the Nile. After this decisive loss in the Mediterranean Campaign, Napoleon travelled north to Damascus with 13,000 men, capturing the port towns of Gaza, Arish, Haifa and Jaffa. Most notably, Napoleon noticed that, when he attacked Jaffa, the defenders were largely made of Albanian prisoners of war on parole. As a result, when he conquered the town, he ordered the garrison to be executed by bayonet and drowning. Then, all the men, women and children were pillaged, murdered or raped for 2 days and nights.
Napoleon’s army eventually reached the city of Acre. Believing it to be an easy victory, Napoleon decided to only use infantry to attack the city, believing that they would capitulate easily. He believed it would only take two weeks to capture the city before he would then march on Jerusalem. However, after one and a half months, the city stood firm. Many believe this was in part due to the large Albanian population of the city, fearing that they may share the same fate as Jaffa if they fell. Not only that but the British came in to assist, supplying the city’s defences with fresh sailors and marines, and sunk multiple French siege artillery ships. Once the French forces had finally managed to make a break through the wall of the city they discovered that the defenders had built a much deeper wall within. A cold, hungry and plague ridden French Army eventually retreated on May 21st, 1799, after a two month long siege.
A painting of the Siege of Acre (March 20th – May 21st 1799)
Napoleon returned to Egypt, having lost over 5,000 men in the siege, 2,000 of whom had succumbed to the bubonic plague. After this humiliating defeat, Napoleon decided to return to France without his army, fearing that the French Republic may soon collapse. Or was it perhaps him taking advantage of an opportunity?
