In Mexico, the constitutionalist forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza oust the conventionalists from Mexico City and Pancho Villa is forced to retreat to his base in Chihuahua. German intelligence agents in the US fund the pro-German magazine The Fatherland as they plot to draw the US into the conflict in Mexico. With Victoriano Huerta in prison, the Germans offer support to Pancho Villa. Villa also believes US intervention in the Mexican Revolution to be in his interests, and he provokes the Americans by attacking Columbus, New Mexico.

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Ochos Valses Poéticos
Composed in 1900 by Enrique Granados. Public domain.
Performed by Edson Lopes and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
The United States experienced an economic boom during the Great War. The motion picture industry grew rapidly, and the most famous name in cinema was Charles Chaplin. Vaslav Nijinsky and the Ballets Russes tour the US, and Nijinsky visited Chaplin’s studio. (See photo above. Nijinsky and Chaplin were both 27 years old when this picture was taken.)

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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Music from Sam Fox Moving Picture Music Volume 1
by J.S. Zemecnik. Published in 1913. Public domain.
Performed by Richard Frolich and the Texas Radio Theatre Company and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source and source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
In the autumn of 1915, the Allies attempt an offensive on the Western Front, partly in an effort to take pressure off the Russians. The offensive attempted to put into practice new strategies for offensive combat that the French and British were developing, but the Germans were also developing new strategies.
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Danse macabre
Composed in 1874 by Camille Saint-Saëns. Public domain.
Performed by the University of Chicago Orchestra and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

“La Marseillaise”
Composed in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle. Public domain.
Performed by the United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
Although there was a great deal of political resistance to conscription in the United Kingdom, declining numbers of new volunteers forced Parliament to enact mandatory service. Meanwhile, all the Great Powers are experiencing manpower shortages and increasing pressures on their economies, caused by the demands of the Great War.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile!”
Composed by George Asaf and Felix Powell in 1915. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

“Your King and Country Want You”
Composed by Paul Rubens in 1914. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
The revolutionaries in Mexico ousted the dictator Victoriano Huerta, but then fell into fighting among themselves. Huerta, meanwhile, schemes with the Germans to take back the Mexican presidency, while the US government tries to stop him.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“Marcha de Zacatecas”
Composed by Genaro Codina and Fernando Villalpando in 1892. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

“Himno en Honor de Aguascalientes”
Composed by Esteban Ávila Mier and Miguel Meneses in 1867. Public domain.
Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
After ten years of further work, Albert Einstein publishes his General Theory of Relativity, which changes our understanding of the very nature of reality.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Symphony No. 8 in F
Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1812. Public domain.
Performed on recorder by Papalin, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
Once German East Africa proved to be more difficult to subdue than originally thought, the British seek to wrest control of Lake Tanganyika from the Germans as a first step.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Overture to Der fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman)
Composed by Richard Wagner in 1840. Public domain.
Performed by The University of Chicago Orchestra, and used pursuant to a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
Political instability and mounting foreign debt wrack Haiti and the Dominican Republic. With the Great War raging in Europe and fears of German meddling, US Marines take control of both countries.

You can listen to my interview on “Stocks and Jocks” here.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

“America the Beautiful”
Music composed by Samuel A. Ward in 1882. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Navy Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Marines’ Hymn”
Music composed by Jacques Offenbach in 1859. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine Band. Public domain recording. Source.

“Bullets and Bayonets”
Composed by John Philip Sousa in 1915. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Marine Corps Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.

 
With the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war, and with Serbia still holding out, an alliance with Bulgaria became increasingly attractive to both sides in the Great War, and both sides attempted to sway Bulgaria to join their coalition.
 
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Fanfare

Opening War Theme

Tragic Overture
Composed in 1880 by Johannes Brahms. Public domain.
Performed by The Czech National Symphony Orchestra. Public domain recording. Source.

“Farewell of Slavianka”
Composed in 1912 by Vasily Ivanovich Agapkin. Public domain.
Performed by The United States Coast Guard Band. Public domain recording. Source.

Closing War Theme

Except when otherwise indicated, the contents of this podcast are © and ℗ 2016, 2017, 2018 by Mark Painter, all rights reserved. Some music and sound effects used by arrangement with Pond 5.