I found this picture on one of the websites that Dr. Karl provided to us on Angel (theatlantic.com) because I thought it provided an interesting opportunity for close reading and connections to what I already know about World War 1. On the website this photograph is accompanied by a description that says “1915, British soldiers on motorcycles in the Dardanelles, part of the Ottoman Empire, prior to the Battle of Gallipoli.” This picture features soldiers on motorcycles which I find interesting because when I think of technology involved with war during the early 1900s I do not necessarily think of motorcycles. Instead, as the photo suggests, these soldiers are more or less “hanging around” waiting around for the actual battle to begin. The fact that they have such a number of these (what I would assume to be expensive) motorcycles reminds me of the immense finances spent on WW1, especially since the fighting included many types of modern technology that were surely expensive as well.

Dr.Karl asked us to pick a photograph that we feel British people who were removed from the fighting would have seen, and I certainly feel that this photo would have been circulated. Rather than showing people the gravity of the war through pictures of trench warfare and wounded soldiers I believe that the British government would circulate this photo as if to say that the soldiers were well taken care of and in good spirits. When looking into the background of the photo one sees a relatively nice camp with a great number of what I assume to be British ships. This portrays the idea that the British troops were well prepared for the battle that was soon to commence. The photo even seems staged which would suggest that some photographer wanted not only to capture the soldiers on their bikes, but also the scene of preparedness and strength of the British army/navy in the background possibly as a way to convince British civilians to support the war.