WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.710
Hi. I'm Jesse Alexander,

00:00:01.710 --> 00:00:06.750
and thank you for supporting this companion episode of glory and defeat.

00:00:06.750 --> 00:00:10.290
In this week's regular episode, we mentioned newspapers.

00:00:10.290 --> 00:00:14.595
Let's take a closer look at the war reporters and war artists,

WEBVTT

00:00:14.595 --> 00:00:17.235
who accompanied the German armies.

00:00:17.235 --> 00:00:22.635
Their job was to paint their side in the best possible light for posterity,

WEBVTT

00:01:44.520 --> 00:01:50.020
Nonetheless, the technical artist in him, saw things differently.

00:01:50.050 --> 00:01:57.040
"The sun laughed so freshly and cheerfully over all this atrocity.

WEBVTT

00:01:57.040 --> 00:01:59.405
The most disgraceful thing,

00:01:59.405 --> 00:02:05.600
groups of bodies were strewn about in such a deliciously picturesque way,

WEBVTT

00:02:05.600 --> 00:02:10.830
that one could not and would not stop drawing."

WEBVTT

00:02:11.300 --> 00:02:15.405
Pietsch's descriptions of the effects of modern war,

00:02:15.405 --> 00:02:23.870
foreshadow the apocalyptic scenarios of a later industrial war in 1914-1918.

WEBVTT

00:02:23.870 --> 00:02:26.600
Thanks for supporting glory and defeat.

00:02:26.600 --> 00:02:29.160
I'll see you next week.
WEBVTT

00:00:22.635 --> 00:00:25.470
even while the battles were going on.

00:00:25.470 --> 00:00:30.470
This was a particular concern of Prussian crown prince Friedrich Wilhelm.

WEBVTT

00:00:30.470 --> 00:00:33.740
He gave information and special passes to

00:00:33.740 --> 00:00:37.385
famous artists like Georg Bleibtreu and Emil Hunten,

00:00:37.385 --> 00:00:39.725
and writers like Gustav Freytag.

00:00:39.725 --> 00:00:43.850
Irish Times journalist and famous Crimean war correspondent,

WEBVTT

00:00:43.850 --> 00:00:45.320
William Howard Russell,

00:00:45.320 --> 00:00:48.040
also enjoyed the crown prince's protection,

00:00:48.040 --> 00:00:51.015
since he wanted favorable coverage abroad.

00:00:51.015 --> 00:00:53.535
Berlin writer and painter Ludwig Pietsch,

WEBVTT

00:00:53.535 --> 00:00:59.155
actually rushed to the front on his own initiative after the declaration of war.

00:00:59.155 --> 00:01:01.235
He planned to publish a war book,

00:01:01.235 --> 00:01:03.335
which he did in 1871,

WEBVTT

00:01:03.335 --> 00:01:06.365
with the support of the crown prince's staff.

00:01:06.365 --> 00:01:10.670
Pietsch's book doesn't shy away from the horrors of war.

WEBVTT

00:01:10.670 --> 00:01:14.360
Just a few days after the battle of [inaudible],

00:01:14.360 --> 00:01:18.625
he walked the battlefield looking for subjects to draw.

00:01:18.625 --> 00:01:23.940
"It was a swamp of blood and brains and entrails.

WEBVTT

00:01:23.940 --> 00:01:25.820
The bursting projectile,

00:01:25.820 --> 00:01:28.579
had destroyed 10 men at once,

00:01:28.579 --> 00:01:31.060
tore away the legs of this one,

00:01:31.060 --> 00:01:33.290
half of the head of that one,

WEBVTT

00:01:33.290 --> 00:01:35.465
the torso of that one.

00:01:35.465 --> 00:01:44.520
Splatter is the only word for it," [inaudible].