Cuban Inter-Allied Victory Medal 1917-1919

 

World War I.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

This medal was instituted in June 1922, following an international agreement at the Inter-allied Peace Conference immediately preceding the Treaty of Versailles which was signed in June 1919.

 

The basic design - a ‘Winged Victory’ - and ‘rainbow’ ribbon was adopted by Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Union of South Africa and the USA. Siam and Japan also issued the medal but with a different design - although the ribbon matched that of the others.

 

The Cuban medal was awarded to soldiers and sailors who served between 7 April 1917 and 13 January 1919. Cuba declared war on the Central Powers on the same day as the United States of America, with the intention of sending an expeditionary force to Europe, in the event, political and practical problems delayed its formation until it was too late to be sent.

 

Approximately 6-7,000 medals were awarded.

 

 

The medal is circular, 36mm in diameter and was struck in bronze. The obverse of this medal depicts a winged figure of Victory, arms outstretched, signed; ‘C. Charles’.

 

The reverse depicts the arms of Cuba in the centre with oak and laurel branches above. To the left and right it is the inscription; ‘LA GRAN GUERRA POR LA CIVILIZACION’ (The Great War for Civilisation).

 

The names of the Allied nations are shown either side of the shield; with a bronze hallmark and triangular; ‘AC’ maker’s mark for Etablissements Andrean Chobillon of Paris which can be found on the edge.

 

The face of the medal is identical to that of the French un-official issue, type 1 designed by Charles and also manufactured by Chobillon. It is believed that this design, with a Cuban reverse, was adopted on grounds of economy and convenience.

 

The medal was suspended by a ring through a laterally pierced mount fixed to the top of the medal.

 

This medal was issued un-named.

 

 

 

The ribbon is 37mm wide and is the silk moiré rainbow coloured design common to all the Inter-Allied Victory Medals issued by the First World War Allies.

 

 

None were authorised for this medal.

 

Further relevant historical context can be found at the foot of this entry.

 

 

 

* It should be noted that the values quoted above reflect the average price that a medal dealer may expect to sell this medal for - please see the ‘things you should know’ web page for more details about valuing medals.

 

 

This section contains information on:-

 

- Cuban Forces During World War I.

- The Entente Powers.

 

Cuban Forces During World War I - Cuba declared war on Germany on April 7, 1917 the day after the U.S.A. did and remained involved in the conflict until the war's end on November 11, 1918.

 

Conventional thinking at the time felt that If they stayed neutral, they would have been obligated to close their ports to any country at war. The consequence of this would have meant including those of the U.S.A. who was its main trading partner.

 

Equally, they exported sugar to the UK via Sweden and joined the war effort to avoid their ships being sunk by German U-boats.

 

In his general statement, Cuban President General Mario Garcia Menocal stated:

 

'Cuba cannot remain neutral in this supreme conflict, because the declaration of neutrality would oblige her to treat all belligerents equally, refusing them with equal rigour any access to her ports and imposing on them the same restrictions and prohibitions, which would be in the present case contrary to public sentiment, to the essence of the pacts and moral obligations, moral rather than legal, which bind us to the United States…

…and would result, lastly, because of our geographical location, in being the cause of innumerable conflicts, the consequences of which it is easy to predict for a friendly and allied nation, and which would prove an inexcusable weakness and condescension for the attitude of implacable aggression unconditionally proclaimed by the Imperial German Government against the rights of all neutral peoples and against the principles of humanity and justice, which constitute the highest note of modern civilisation'.

 

In reality, there was very little Cuban involvement in actual hostilities.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.

 

The Entente Powers - The Entente Powers or Allies were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the French Republic, the British Empire and the Russian Empire; Italy ended its alliance with the Central Powers and entered the war on the side of the Entente in 1915. Japan, Belgium, Serbia, Greece, Montenegro, Romania and the Czechoslovak legions were secondary members of the Entente.

 

The United States declared war on Germany in 1917 on the grounds that Germany violated U.S. neutrality by attacking international shipping and because of the Zimmermann Telegram sent to Mexico.

 

The U.S. entered the war as an ‘associated power’, rather than a formal ally of France and the United Kingdom, in order to avoid ‘foreign entanglements’. Although the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria severed relations with the United States, neither declared war.

 

Although the Dominions and Crown Colonies of the British Empire made significant contributions to the Allied war effort, they did not have independent foreign policies during World War I. Operational control of British Empire forces was in the hands of the five-member British War Cabinet (BWC).

 

However, the Dominion governments controlled recruiting, and did remove personnel from front-line duties as they saw fit.

 

From early 1917 the BWC was superseded by the Imperial War Cabinet, which had Dominion representation. The Australian Corps and Canadian Corps were placed for the first time under the command of Australian and Canadian Lieutenant Generals John Monash and Arthur Currie, respectively, who reported in turn to British generals.

 

In April 1918, operational control of all Entente forces on the Western Front passed to the new supreme commander, Ferdinand Foch.

 

The only countries represented in the 1918 armistice which ended the combat were Britain, France and Germany.

 

This information was taken from ‘Wikipedia’. The original article and details of the authors can be found here. It is reproduced on this web-site under the ‘creative commons’ licence which can be found here.