Fortified complex in the center of Moscow that was home to Nicholas II (1868–1918), Czar of Russia 1894–1917.

Reference to the French, who with the British were allies of Russia.

Russians

Nicholas II (1868–1918), the last Czar of Russia 1894–1917.

Peeling, Siobhan, “Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia.” In 1914–1918–online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/nicholas_ii_emperor_of_russia.

In May 1915 Italy, which had remained neutral during the war, resigned from the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary after secretly negotiating the Treaty of London with Great Britain, France, and Russia. Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915. This poem suggests that the Roman Catholic Church gave its blessing to mobilization, although the Vatican Secretariat of State secretly asked clergy to avoid not only holding ceremonies for the war dead and offering thanksgiving for victory in battle but also taking part in the war.

Paiano, Maria. “Religious Mobilization and Popular Belief (Italy).” Translated by Noor Giovanni Mazhar. In 1914-1918-online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published January 6, 2015. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/religious_mobilization_and_popular_belief_italy.

Alexandra Feodorovna (1872–1918), as wife of Nicholas II, was Empress (Czarina) of Russia 1894–1918. She was born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, in Darmstadt, in the Grand Duchy of Hesse, then part of the German Empire.

Czar Nicholas II.

In Imperial Russia, a flogging whip used for punishing criminals.

After the partition of Poland in the late 18th century, Poles living in Russian–Poland (also called Congress–Poland) were subjects of Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

Szlanta, Piotr. “Poland.” In 1914–1918–online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/poland.

Finland, a significantly autonomous Grand Duchy, was constitutionally part of the Russian Empire during the war.

Richter, Klaus. “Baltic States and Finland.” In 1914–1918–online. International Encyclopedia of the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/baltic_states_and_finland.

During the war, Jews in the western regions of the Russian Empire were subject to persecution and deportation from the front lines by the openly anti-Semitic Russian military and civil authorities who believed Jews could not be Russian patriots.

Goldin, Semion. “Antisemitism and Pogroms in the Military (Russian Empire).” In 1914–1918–online. International Encyclopedia the First World War, edited by Ute Daniel, Peter Gatrell, Oliver Janz, Heather Jones, Jennifer Keene, Alan Kramer, and Bill Nasson. Freie Universität Berlin, 2014–. Article published October 8, 2014. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/antisemitism_and_pogromsin_the_military_russian_empire.

See annotation above for Kaiserin.

The Rhine and the Odenwald, a low mountain range located partially in Hessen, are geographical features of the empress’s German homeland.

Low mountain range partially located in Hessen, between the Main and Neckar rivers.

Reference to the Rodenstein Castle and legend, according to which the nobleman Rodenstein leaves his grave to warn people whenever the threat of war looms.

Batten, Deena. “The Runions of Rodenstein and the Rodensteiner Ghost.” (blog). August 13, 2017. https://englishspeakingodenwald.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-ruins-of-rodenstein-and.html.

Reference to German unification in 1871.

German writer Konrad Nies (1862–1921) attended a theatrical school and performed on stage in Germany before emigrating to the United States in 1883, where he acted in German theaters in Buffalo, Milwaukee, and Omaha and worked for the Freidenker Publication Company in Milwaukee. In 1888, Nies founded the periodical Deutsch–Amerikanische Dichtung, “designed to cultivate interest in German and German–American literature.”¹ The project failed after just a couple of years. Nies published plays, poetry, and a novella in the first decade of the 20th century. From 1913 to 1914 he toured American cities with significant German populations to promote interest among Americans in German literature. The entry of the United States into the war “distressed him greatly”; he wrote war poetry and spoke out against the war.² He was recognized as a “German–American ‘Klassiker’.”³

¹Beaulieu, Elizabeth Ann. “Nies, Konrad.” In American National Biography, February 2000. https://doi-org.www2.lib.ku.edu/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1601201.

²Beaulieu, “Nies.”

³ Ward, Robert E., ed. Deutsche Lyrik aus Amerika: Eine Auswahl. New York: Literary Society Foundation, 1969, 105.

Nies, Konrad. Funken: Gedichte. Großenhain und Leipzig: Baumert & Ronge, 1901. 2nd ed. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/dul1.ark:/13960/t3903rw5q.