The New York Times Current History: The European War, February, 1915

This is a primary source document from February 1915, capturing how contemporary writers and intellectuals understood the Great War in its earliest months. The collection opens with a powerful appeal from Russian authors, artists, and intellectuals, demanding their fellow citizens recognize the brutality inflicted by Germany and rally against perceived barbarism. These are not retrospective analyses but urgent voices from a century ago, revealing how people made sense of modern industrial warfare as it unfolded. The compilation preserves the immediate reactions, patriotic fervor, and initial shock of a world descending into unprecedented carnage. This is historical snapshot as it happened, offering readers a rare window into the assumptions, fears, and moral frameworks that shaped how nations understood their own participation in what was then called the Great War. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand World War I not as history but as lived experience.