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The Spectator

From the archives | 4 September 2014

From ‘The giving up of Louvain to “Military Execution”,’ The Spectator, 5 September 1914: Germany has dealt herself the hardest blow which she has yet suffered in the war. By burning Louvain, killing we know not how many of its inhabitants, and turning the rest (say nearly 40,000 men, women, and children) adrift in the

The Spectator at war: Driven to distraction

‘Distraction’, from The Spectator, 5 September 1914: EVER since the world began great trouble has been surrounded by ceremonial. From age to age the ceremonial changes. It tends to become a bondage or a hypocrisy, and bold social reformers step in, as they think, to destroy it, but immediately it appears again in a new

The Spectator at war: Push on to Paris?

The Spectator, 5 September 1914: SEDAN Day has passed, but there has been no second Sedan, as the Germans so fondly hoped. Indeed, as far as one can yet learn, the day passed without any memorable action, for it would be absurd to count as memorable the pleasant little capture of ten German guns by

The Spectator at war: The United States and the war

The Spectator, 29 August 1914 IT is most gratifying to Englishmen who value American sympathy to know that public opinion in the United States is wholly with them in the war. We may be told that we overestimate the advantage of the approval of the United States, and may seem to be in danger of

The Spectator at war: Left behind

The Spectator, 29 August 1914: THE loafers in London look more pitiable than ever. The best have enlisted, and the rest are drinking to their good fortune and safe return. In the poorer streets a kind of holiday atmosphere prevails, and a sort of excitement which is in a measure pleasurable fills the air. The

Cave

‘I suppose with the rate technology’s changing these days they’ll look back on us and think we were primitive.’

Waterboard

‘Turns out they provide water to the local community. They don’t know anything about interrogation techniques.’