100 Years Ago - Russia, France, Palestine

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/hindenburg-main-trenches-v309gcxb7

november 30, 1917

Hindenburg main trenches

The main trench of the advanced line of the Hindenburg system was deep, narrow, very cleanly cut, and well built, with numbers of strong points, snipers’ posts, and so forth, but apparently without dug-outs. The main trench of the second line, 500 to 1,000 yards behind, is of immense width, 16ft in most places, presumably for the purpose of checking the Tanks. Both at the front and rear the trench descends perpendicularly some five feet to a broad bench or fire step, which is four or five feet above the level of the trench bottom. At places there are trench-mortar positions, where the trench widens out into a great chamber of some 30 by 40ft. Everything is on the same colossal scale. The third main trench is built on a similar plan. Besides these the whole area, to a depth from one and a half to two miles, is intersected with support and communication trenches, besides barbed wire in quantities almost incredible. The dugouts indicated that they were meant to be held by a considerable permanent garrison. Everywhere there are signs of this expectation of permanent possession, and of the suddenness of the evacuation.

The barbed wire entanglements were of extraordinary strength, not merely in depth and complication, but also in the character of the individual strands, some of which were so thick as to be very difficult to cut with hand nippers, and so densely set with barbs over an inch in length as to be almost impossible to take hold of. Barbs like great acacia thorns were so close together as to be almost continuous, and there was not even room to grasp the wire with the thumb and finger. Before the great main line, a deep belt of this wire was set well forward, some 50 yards from the trench, then between it and the trench a further deep belt, broken into islands and built in cunning patterns, with openings through which the defenders could sally. When the attackers penetrated the front belt they would be herded to the openings, which, of course, were swept by machine-guns.
The amount of labour expended on the Hindenburg defences is simply tremendous and most craftily planned. That we should have broken through with the suddenness we did will remain one of the most extraordinary feats of this war.

Charles Saatchi's Great Masterpieces: James McNeill Whistler's apparently simple study that electrified American art

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/charles-saatchis-great-masterpieces-james-mcneill-whistlers/


In 1891, James McNeill Whistler’s portrait of his mother was the first painting by an American artist to be bought by the French government. It would have been hard to predict that a moody, temperamental young boy, whose parents had discovered that the best way to soothe him was to hand him pencils and crayons and let him draw, would end up with such a distinguished honour.
His engineer father had been commissioned by Tsar Nicholas I to design a railroad, taking young James and his family to live in St Petersburg, Russia, in 1842. There, the precocious 11-year-old insisted that he be allowed to show his drawings to the Tsar’s court artist, who was impressed enough to assist James’s acceptance into the Imperial Academy of Fine Art.
Four years later, after his father died, Whistler was back in America and grudgingly enrolled in West Point Military Academy: this part of his education was to be short-lived, as he was promptly expelled for poor conduct and dismal academic results.
Keen to fulfil his artistic ambitions, Whistler decided that Paris was the place to be. Here he was free to become the epitome of a bohemian painter, adopting the casual air of a stylish young man who spent freely on clothes and drink. He funded his somewhat louche lifestyle by selling his copies of works by French and Spanish masters in the Louvre. Soon, his circle of friends included many artists on the brink of greatness, including Henri Fantin-Latour, Édouard Manet and Gustave Courbet, whose earthy, realistic approach to painting influenced Whistler’s early works.

The Times History of the War CHAPTER CCXXXV -THE RUSSIAN " PEACE."

100 Years Ago - Cambrai

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/the-glorious-battle-of-cambrai-whvmxhzpp

november 23, 1917

The glorious battle of Cambrai

The ground won in the first phase of the battle of Cambrai is being successfully consolidated, except that we have not been able to hold the village of Fontaine-Notre-Dame, which lies two-and-a-half miles west of the town of Cambrai. The big Bourlon wood, however, should soon be untenable for the enemy. We are now able to estimate more carefully the results already achieved. The Germans say in their bulletin that we have gained “a little ground”. As a matter of fact, our progress has been so rapid that in two days the Third Army has gained at least half as much ground as was captured during the whole battle of the Somme; and we are inclined to think that the total is nearer three-fifths.
It must not be forgotten that the Germans have at their disposal four lines of railway which converge upon Cambrai and therefore enable them to concentrate reinforcements rapidly. Should Cambrai fall, the results may be very far-reaching indeed. But enough has been accomplished already to warrant all the gratitude which is pouring forth to Sir Douglas Haig and Sir Julian Byng upon a battle which has immensely heartened the Army, the country, and our Allies. No victory in the war has ever come at a more welcome moment. It has made a deep impression, not only by its magnitude, but because it contains, in a signal degree, the elements of prescience and imagination. The enemy boast of casualties inflicted upon the Tanks. Casualties were expected, but it was the Tanks that made triumph possible. They levelled the wire, and thus obviated the necessity of a long artillery preparation. Without their aid we should not have taken ten thousand German prisoners, and we are entitled to feel fresh pride in this purely British development of the mechanical side of warfare. Of the work of the cavalry we have still to learn full details, but we believe their casualties have so far been light. Our airmen have never surpassed their exploits on Tuesday and Wednesday, when many of them were repeatedly flying at the astonishingly low level of fifty feet from the ground.

The battle is not yet over, and its full fruits have still to be gathered. If it fulfils further expectations, it may materially alter the whole position on the Western front. We await later developments with confidence.

Truls Egil Wyller, Hva er tid – Трюльс Вюллер, «Що таке час?»

Це зовсім невеличка книжечка, менш від півтораста сторінок. Власне, така була ідея закладачів норвезької книжкової серії, «Hva er», тобто дослівно «Що таке...», норвезького видавництва «Universitetsforlaget» (що в свою чергу запозичили ідею в англійського «Oxford University Press» та їхньої серії «Very Short Introductions» («Дуже короткий вступ»). «Oxford University Press» видало, починаючи з 1995 року, коли вони започаткували цю серію, більш як півтисячі таких коротких але всеохоплюючих книжок на окремі теми з самих різних галузей науки, від фізики елементарних часток до проблем сучасної політики. Книжки ці адресовані широкому читацькому загалові, але написані провідними фахівцями з тих питань, яким вони присвячені. Книжки серії «Very Short Introductions» виявилися дуже успішними комерційно, тому їх перекладено на більш ніж 25 мов ссвіту. Але норвезькі видавці «Universitetsforlaget» у 2003 році вирішили, що краще ніж перекладати щось вже написане, вони створять аналогічну серію, але написану для читачів саме їхньої країни. Судячи з того, що серія успішно видається й досі, відносно невелика ємність норвезькомовного книжкового ринку  (а Норвегія минулого року налічувала аж цілих 5 мільйонів 233 тисячі жителів) не стала їй на заваді.

Charles Saatchi's Great Masterpieces: Piero della Francesca was the neglected genius who showed Christ in a new light

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/what-to-see/charles-saatchis-great-masterpieces-piero-della-francesca-neglected/


The overwhelming greatness of Piero della Francesca has only become clear during the past 100 years. Unlike Masaccio, who was also working in Italy in the early 15th century, Piero was never considered a pivotal artist.
Masaccio’s paintings had been scrutinised by Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael – the titans of the High Renaissance – and clearly had a resonating influence on their thinking. Piero, by comparison, was thought of by his contemporaries as a mathematical theorist specialising in geometry, rather than as a painter of electrifying power.
Now, of course, his achievements have been fully recognised by scholars. Today, there are Piero Trails to view his masterpieces across Italy.
Few facts are available about Piero’s early life. He was born in Sansepolcro in the early 1400s and is known to have worked as an assistant to Domenico Veneziano, painting frescoes in Florence. The early Renaissance style was beginning to develop here and Piero would have studied the sculptural works of the brilliant Donatello, as well as the revolutionary paintings of Masaccio and Fra Angelico. These would form the foundation of Piero’s artistic methodology: his serene, disciplined exploration of perspective, colour and light.
Although he travelled to intellectual centres like Ferrara and Rimini to complete a number of important commissions, he would regularly return to his home in Sansepolcro, Tuscany, and its relative calm. It was here that he produced his greatest masterpieces, and the tiny town is now an important port of call for visitors wanting to see some of the most exquisite art ever created.

Ще один діалог

А за два роки до щойно викладеного діалогу я мав ще один, на тій самій ділянці, і здається з тим же співбесідником (хоча тут можу помилятися). Він теж достатньо характерний, щоб викласти його тут ще раз


Співбесідник 1. Ваша фраза: "Украинцы не испытывали никакого неудобства в СССР если не выёживались и не пытались вести себя как отличающиеся от русских". Но ведь в СССР жила масса народов, чьи т.с. "житейские привычки" вызывали куда большую оторопь у русских (кавказ например). При этом на государственном уровне эти народы старались преподносить как гордых, смелых и т.д. При чем все понимали что это ложь и бред. Я даже как то задумался чем украинцы вели себя как иначе от русских, кроме того что на Украине больше процент сельского населения с причитающимися деревенскими повадками. И ещё Вы говорите: "при этом "украинский акцент" неизменно вызывал насмешку (ну или добрую улыбку, что ещё хуже)". Вы серьезно считаете, что подобная реакция на украинский говор (вполне нормальная по сути) серьезно раздражала украинцев в многонациональном СССР?

Співбесідник 2 (я). Даже и не знаю что ответить... Вот, собственно, именно о такой реакции, как Ваша, я и говорил

Співбесідник 1. Вы родились и выросли на Украине? На западной? Вам тоже не нравилась реакция русских на украинцев? Честно интересная тема. Вопрос - что не устраивало Украину в совместном проживании с Россией меня мучает давно и ответа я не вижу )))

Співбесідник 2. В "совместном проживании" не устраивала позиция подчинённой стороны, которая должна выполнять то, что решит старший партнёр

Співбесідник 1. А как вы считаете могло бы быть еще в многонациональном государстве? На республиканском уровне же ИМХО не было такого отношения. Те же песни С.Ротару на украинском были весьма популярны в СССР. И опять же почему второго сорта, если кроме Украины язык и культура были не понятны большей части страны? Везде была своя культура и ИМХО вполне пропорционально весу республик распределялось и внимание к каждой... так мы дойдем до того, что несколько национальностей вообще не способны жить в одном государстве и если они компактно проживают, то раздел неизбежен...

Співбесідник 2. Отношение как к культуре второго сорта было именно в УССР, когда постоянно сокращалось количество школ с украинским языком обучения (якобы по пожеланиям родителей, хотя их никто не спрашивал), когда практически не было высшего образования на украинском за пределами анклавов украинской филологии, когда культивировалось отношение к украискому языку как к языку деревенщины (или опасных вольнодумцев). Когда можно было освободить ребёнка от изучения украинского языка в школе "по состоянию здоровья" (ни с каким иным предметом такое не прокатывало) И в общем, речь идёт об отдельной довольно большой стране, населённой в абсолютном большинстве одним народом, которая поставлена в подчинённое положение к многонациоональной формально и руссской по факту империи. Что касается опыта 20-го века, то раздел таки оказывался, к сожалению, неизбежен