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1914
Franz Ferdinand assassinated
Europe declares war
Recruitment begins
Battle of Mons
Battle of the Marne
Battle of the Aisne
East Coast bombed
1915
Edith Cavell executed
Poison gas introduced
Gallipoli Campaign begins
RMS Lusitania sunk
Munitions Ministry created
1916
Verdun Offensive begins
Battle of Jutland
Somme Offensive begins
1917
USA enters the war
W.A.A.C. established
Battle of Passchendaele
1918
Rationing introduced
Russian Armistice signed
Operation Michael begins
Hundred Days Offensive
Spanish Flu peaks
Armistice signed
1919
Peace Treaty signed at Versailles
Cenotaph unveiled
The ILN at War
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War ArtistsAAlfred LeeteAmedee ForestierAnnie FishArthur WattsBBert ThomasBruce BairnsfatherEEdmund BlampiedEdward Tennyson ReedFFortunino MataniaFrank ReynoldsFrederic VilliersGG. H. DavisGeorge BelcherGeorge StuddyHH. M. BatemanHarold C. EarnshawHarry L. OakleyHelen McKiePPercival AndersonPhilip DaddRRaphael KirchnerReginald HigginsRichard Caton WoodvilleSSamuel BeggSteven SpurrierWWill OwenWilliam Heath Robinson
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The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News
As its name suggests, The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News was founded in 1874 to concentrate predominantly on sport and drama. The ISDN answered the demand for a paper devoted to sport at a time when British middle and upper classes were showing an increasing enthusiasm for all forms of sporting pursuits.
The nation’s sporting elite were fostered largely through a public school and university system and, seeking to capture this market, the magazine positioned itself as a ‘country gentleman’s illustrated newspaper’. It would always give particular attention to equine sports such as horseracing, polo and hunting, but also covered cricket, rugby, rowing, athletics, tennis and indoor sports such as billiards. Each issue usually featured a favoured actress of the day on the cover, as well as scenes and reviews of current stage plays, illustrated by Tony Sarg during the war years.
[/one_half] The Great War ISDN is a fascinating record of how the war affected this world. The magazine’s interest in horses was reflected by articles about hunting in wartime, the commandeering of horses, breaking in mules or the work of the Royal Veterinary Corps. The Officers’ Training Corps of the country’s public schools and universities were featured as were battalions made up from sportsmen. It also took an interest in how women were helping the war effort and reflects their changing roles, with a particular focus on jobs in the countryside, such as the Women’s Land Army or the work of the Army Remount Service.
Photographs and sketches of war-themed plays also proliferate, and its Christmas issues, entitled, ‘Holly Leaves’ was always a festive feast of illustration, with contributions from artists such as Lawson Wood, Harold Earnshaw, William Heath Robinson and E. T. Reed.
The ISDN’s sporting bias also makes it a poignant record of the large number of sportsmen who lost their lives during the war, as reported in the weekly feature, the Sportsman’s Roll of Honour.
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