WEIRD FACTS ABOUT
WORLD WAR ONE
The first British shots of the First World War were fired in Belgium on 21 August 1914, by cavalrymen belonging to the 4th Dragoon Guards. It was the first military action by the British on European soil since the Battle of Waterloo.
By the end of 1914, 192 Old Etonians had been killed in the fighting. The Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith, Conservative leader Andrew Bonar Law and Labour leader Arthur Henderson all lost sons in the war.
In May 1917, the people of Guildford raised £396 in aid of sick and wounded horses.
Although the Armistice in 1918 ended the fighting, the Treaty of Versailles, which formally ended the war, was not signed until June 28, 1919, which is why the dates of the war are sometimes seen as 1914-1919.
A total of 633 Victoria Crosses were awarded during the war.
According the the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest recorded use of the phrase "First World War" was in 1931.
Related links:
KISSING
More germs are transferred shaking hands than kissing.
During World War I, it was reported... MORE
MALARIA
More soldiers died from malaria in World War I than were killed by weapons. ... MORE
SNAIL
Thanks to the sticky carpet they exude, snails can crawl along the edge of a... MORE
SWIMMING
'Fornication avec l'onde' was how Paul Valèry described swimming, and humans have been fornicating with... MORE
WRISTWATCH
Before World War One, only women wore wristwatches.
However, soldiers began wearing them in the War... MORE
MOST POPULAR
adolescence alcohol attractiveness bestiality bush bush senior compact disc costa rica dingo fart jamaica liechtenstein moustache peter the great tuesday
