HEADS OF STATE IN 1914

[Mervyn Mitton]

(painted by Sir Luke Fildes 1911)

KING GEORGE V TH.

KING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM AND BRITISH DOMINIONS

AND EMPEROR OF INDIA - FROM 6 MAY 1910 UNTIL HIS

DEATH IN 1936.

GRANDSON OF QUEEN VICTORIA AND THE FIRST COUSIN

TO THE RUSSIAN TSAR NICHOLAS 2 ND. AND OF KAISER

WILHELM 2 ND. OF GERMANY

THE BRITISH ROYAL FAMILY WERE ORIGINALLY THE HOUSE

SAXE-COBURG GOTHA - CREATED IN 1714 WHEN GEORGE

1 ST. INHERITED THE THRONE. BECAUSE OF ANTI GERMAN

FEELING HE RE-NAMED THEM THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR.

KAISER WILHELM 2 ND.

EMPEROR AND KING OF PRUSSIA FROM 15 JUNE 1888 TO

9 TH. NOVEMBER 1918. HE WAS THE ELDEST GRANDSON

OF QUEEN VICTORIA.

HE WAS BORN ON 27 JANUARY 1859 AND DIED IN EXILE IN

HOLLAND ON 4 TH. JUNE 1941 - AGED 82

[Mervyn Mitton]

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EMPEROR FRANZ-JOSEPH 1 ST.

BORN 18 AUGUST 1830 - DIED 21 NOVEMBER 1916

EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA AND APOSTOLIC KING OF HUNGARY

FROM 1848 TO 1916..

ON 28TH JUNE 1914 THE ASSASSINATION OF ARCHDUKE

FRANZ FERDINAND - HIS NEPHEW , LED TO AUSTRO-HUNGARY

DECLARING WAR AGAINST THE KINGDOM OF SERBIA.

THIS ACTIVATED ALLIANCES WHICH LED TO WORLD WAR 1.

[Mervyn Mitton]

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NICHOLAS 2 ND.

EMPEROR AND AUTOCRAT OF ALL THE RUSSIAS

COMMONLY KNOWN AS THE TSAR (OR, CZAR)

BORN 18 MAY 1868 - DIED 17 JULY 1918 ( BY EXECUTION)

HE WAS TO BE TSAR FROM 1ST NOVEMBER 1894, UNTIL

FORCED TO ABDICATE 2 ND. MARCH 1917. HIS ENTIRE

FAMILY WERE HELD IN CAPTIVITY AND WERE SHOT BY THE

COMMUNISTS WHO HAD DE-THRONED HIM.

HE BROUGHT RUSSIA INTO THE WAR IN 1914 AND AS A

RESULT 3.3 MILLION RUSSIAN MEN WERE KILLED.

[Mervyn Mitton]

MEHMED V th. RASHAD

OTTOMAN SULTAN AND CALIPH

BORN 3 NOVEMBER 1844 - DIED 4 JULY 1918

HE WAS THE 35 TH. OTTOMAN SULTAN.

HIS REIGN WAS FROM 27 APRIL 1909 TO 4 JULY 1918.

HE DID NOT HAVE GREAT POWER AND HIS MAIN ACT WAS

TO PROCLAIM A JIHAD AGAINST THE ALLIED

POWERS ON 11 NOVEMBER 1914, WHEN THE OTTOMAN

GOVERNMENT JOINED WITH THE CENTRAL POWERS.

(GERMANY ETC..)

[Mervyn Mitton]

http://gmic.co.uk/uploads/monthly_03_2014/post-6209-0-00149600-1394024424.jpgCLICK

RAYMOND POINCARE

PRESIDENT OF FRANCE

BORN 20 AUGUST 1860 - DIED 15 OCTOBER 1934

A SKILLED POLITICIAN HE SERVED FRANCE THREE

TIMES AS PRIME MINISTER.

HE WAS PRESIDENT FROM 1913 TO 1920.

VERY ANTI-GERMAN HE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE

RE-OCCUPATION OF THE RHINELAND IN 1923 WHEN

HE WAS PRIME MINISTER.

[Mervyn Mitton]

PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON

BORN 28 DECEMBER 1856 - DIED 3 FEBRUARY 1924

HE WAS THE 28 TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

AND HELD OFFICE FROM 4 MARCH 1913 TO 4 MARCH 1921

AN ASTUTE DEMOCRAT HE KEPT THE U.S. OUT OF THE WAR

DURING HIS FIRST TERM. THERE WAS STILL STRONG ANTI-

BRITISH SENTIMENT AND MANY OF THE POPULATION WERE

GERMAN.

HOWEVER, ON RE-ELECTION IN 1916 HE REALISED THAT

AMERICA WAS NEEDED. HE WAS ABLE TO BRING HIS

COUNTRY INTO THE STRUGGLE. HE WAS A DOUR MAN AND

A STRONG RACIST - HOWEVER, WE MUST REMEMBER THE

TIMES. HE WAS AN IMPORTANT FRIEND TO THE WEST.

[Carol I]

CAROL I

KING OF ROMANIA

20 APRIL 1839 - 27 SEPTEMBER (OLD STYLE) / 10 OCTOBER (NEW STYLE) 1914

ELECTED TO THE THRONE OF ROMANIA IN 1866, DURING HIS 48 YEARS REIGN (THE LONGEST IN ROMANIAN HISTORY) HE OVERSAW A PROFOUND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMANIAN STATE, INCLUDING FULL INDEPENDENCE FROM THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE IN 1877 AND PROCLAMATION OF THE KINGDOM IN 1881. FEARFUL OF RUSSIAN AGGRESSION, IN 1883 HE SIGNED A SECRET TREATY LINKING ROMANIA WITH THE TRIPLE ALLIANCE TO PROTECT IT FROM A POSSIBLE ATTACK. WHEN WWI BROKE OUT, CAROL DISCLOSED THE DETAILS OF THE TREATY TO THE CROWN COUNCIL CONVENED ON 3 AUGUST 1914 CONVINCED THAT THE HONOURABLE THING TO DO WAS TO ENTER THE WAR SUPPORTING THE GERMAN EMPIRE AND HIS RELATIVE, EMPEROR WILHELM II (CAROL WAS A HOHENZOLLERN-SIGMARINGEN BY BIRTH). THE CROWN COUNCIL MEMBERS STRONGLY DISAGREED AS GERMANY WAS NOT THE VICTIM OF AN ATTACK, OPTING IN THE END FOR NEUTRALITY. KING CAROL CONCEDED DEFEAT AND DIED TWO MONTHS LATER, ON 10 OCTOBER 1914, ALLEGEDLY OF A BROKEN HEART FROM BEING OVERRULED IN THE CROWN COUNCIL.

FERDINAND

KING OF ROMANIA

24 AUGUST 1865 - 20 JULY 1927

FERDINAND SUCCEEDED HIS UNCLE ON THE THRONE OF ROMANIA FOLLOWING THE LATTER'S DEATH IN 1914. HE OVERSAW ROMANIA’S ENTRY INTO WORLD WAR I ON 27 AUGUST 1916 ON THE SIDE OF THE TRIPLE ENTENTE AND AGAINST HIS GERMAN RELATIVES, THUS GAINING THE NICKNAME ‘THE LOYAL’. THE END OF THE WAR FOUND FERDINAND THE RULER OF GREATER ROMANIA, FOLLOWING THE UNION OF BESSARABIA (OCCUPIED BY RUSSIA IN 1812), BUKOVINA (OCCUPIED BY AUSTRIA IN 1775) AND TRANSYLVANIA (WITH A MAJORITY ROMANIAN POPULATION) WITH ROMANIA IN 1918. HE RULED UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1927.

[Laurence Strong]

Taken in 1910 at the funeral of King Edward VII, one of the last family pictures before many royal families were deposed in World War I and its aftermath....

Cheers

Larry

[graham]

Albert I of Belgium, born April 8, 1875, Brussels, died February 17, 1934, Marche-les-Dames near Namur, king of the Belgians (1909–34), who led the Belgian army during World War I and guided his country’s postwar recovery.

[graham]

 

Peter I of Serbia, born July 11, 1844, Belgrade, died August 16, 1921, Topčider, near Belgrade, king of Serbia from 1903, the first strictly constitutional monarch of his country. In 1918 he became the first king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later called Yugoslavia) until his death.

[graham]

Nikola I Petrović-Njegoš, born October 7, 1841, Njeguši, Montenegro, died March 2, 1921, Antibes, France, prince (1860-1910) and then king of Montenegro (1910-18).

[graham]

Emperor Taishō of Japan, born August 31, 1879, Tokyo, Japan, died December 25, 1926, Hayama, the 123rd ruling descendant of the Japanese imperial family, who reigned from 1912 to 1926.

[graham]

Victor Emmanuel III, born November 11, 1869, Naples, Italy, died December 28, 1947, Alexandria, Egypt. King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until 9 May 1946, whose reign brought the end of the Italian monarchy.

[graham]

Bernardino Luís Machado, born March 28, 1851, Rio de Janeiro, died April 29, 1944, Porto, Portugal, Brazilian-born political leader who was twice president of Portugal (5th October 1915 until 12 December 1917, and from 1925-26). Portugal joined the allies on March 9th 1916 when Germany declared war on her.

Although he was not head of of state in 1914 (that was Manuel José de Arriaga Brum da Silveira e Peyrelongue, President of Portugal from August 1911 until May 1915). He did lead Portugal into World War 1.

Edited July 3, 2020 by graham

[graham]

Vajiravudh, also called Phramongkutklao or Rama VI, born January 1st, 1881, Bangkok, Siam [now Thailand], died November  26, 1925, Bangkok, king of Siam from 1910 to 1925. On 22 July 1917, Siam declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.

[graham]

Venceslau Brás Pereira Gomes was the 9th President of Brazil between November 1914 and November 1918, during the First Brazilian Republic. Brás was born on the 26 February 1868 in Brasópolis (formerly São Caetano da Vargem Grande), Minas Gerais State and died 15 May 1966 at Itajubá, Minas Gerais, Brazil. His government declared war on the Central Powers in October 1917 during World War I.

[graham]

Aurelio Mario Gabriel Francisco García Menocal y Deop, born December 17, 1866, died September 7, 1941, was the 3rd President of Cuba, serving from 1913 to 1921. He authorized Cuba's declaration of war against the German Empire on April 7, 1917.

[graham]

Alexander, born July 20, 1893, Athens, died October 25, 1920, Tatoi Palace, near Athens. King of Greece from 11 June 1917 until his death in October 1920. Greece officially declared war against the Central Powers on 30 June 1917.

His father king Constantine I was King of Greece in 1914, his reign was from 18 March 1913 until 11 June 1917 and then again (after his son Alexandra died) from 19 December 1920 until 27 September 1922.

Edited July 3, 2020 by graham

[graham]

Ferdinand I (Ferdinand Karl Leopold Maria), born February 26, 1861, Vienna, Austria, died September 10, 1948, Coburg, Germany. First king (5th October 1908 until 3rd October 1918) of modern Bulgaria.

[Paul C]

Nice post and thank you.