... wearing a nightshirt, armed with a bayonet, standing in front of a latrine. Click for bigger if that will help you figure it out. Found at drakegoodman's Flickr photostream, via I've Had Dreams Like That, via Uncertain Times. p.s. sorry about the grammar here, which makes it sound like the cat is wearing the nightshirt and is armed with the bayonet... Addendum: Reposted from 2010 in response to the comment "Is'nt having "a cat on your head" a slang for having a hangover in German?" Ich habe Deutsch nicht seit viertzig jahren studiert, but after some searching I found the word "katzenjammer" has this etymology - 1840–50; < German, equivalent to Katzen (plural of Katze cat ) + Jammer discomfort, Old High German jāmar (noun and adj.); compare yammer. - and is used to describe the effects of a hangover. So perhaps this soldier was trying to depict what his head felt like that morning? Addendum #2: A hat tip to reader Gus Bryngelson for the comment "The Garde du Corps had a lion on their helmets, this is likely what was being hinted at."
The immediate trigger that led to the start of the Great War (or First World War as it was subsequently known) was, relatively, innocuous enough - another assassination in the volatile Balkans. However what followed quickly resolved itself into a direct causal sequence of mobilisations & declarations of war by all the major European countries in turn - like a line of toppling dominoes.
Dedicated to 20th-century people and culture, 'Lost In History' posts pictures that illuminate our past in ways we haven't seen before. Or have simply forgotten about!
A collection of 34 photos of military dogs and their handlers during WWI and WWII.
Millions of hungry caterpillars may soon fall onto the illegal coca fields of South America as the Colombian government seeks a natural alternative to toxic herbicides in their own war on drugs. But this is hardly the first time living creatures have been used as weapons in actual wars, from tank-exploding Russian dogs to bombs […]
History used to be one of our favorite subjects back in school. We absolutely adored learning about ancient cultures, long-gone civilizations, recent developments, and how things changed (though people mostly stayed the same). So whenever there’s a chance to share this passion for the past with you, we pounce!
JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post [All images from John Brown's Public Diplomacy Press and Review Blog, here.] Almost all of these posters were printed by the U.S. government as a preventative measure to help eradicate the costs of venereal...
Grandma was just making a sweater. Or was she?
Scholars commemorating the 100th anniversary of the First World War are turning their attention to female icons of the era - two of whom were used in propaganda campaigns after their deaths to bolster the war effort, albeit in very different ways.
History of the Christmas Truce of 1914: The Surprising Peace in the WWI Trenches
