Free Republic

influenza pandemic of 1918–19, also called Spanish influenza pandemic or Spanish flu, the most severe influenza outbreak of the 20th century and, in terms of total numbers of deaths, among the most devastating pandemics in human history. Influenza is caused by a virus that is transmitted from person to person through airborne respiratory secretions. An outbreak can occur if a new strain of influenza virus emerges against which the population has no immunity. The influenza pandemic of 1918–19 resulted from such an occurrence and affected populations throughout the world. An influenza virus called influenza type A subtype H1N1 is now...

Mr. Neiberg's presentation to the National Security Seminar and the class of 2018 during their capstone week.Michael S. Neiberg - Why the US Entered the First World War and Why it Matters | 54:46USArmyWarCollege | 57.7K subscribers | 40,164 views | June 14, 2018

The first large-scale battle fought by American soldiers in World War I begins in Belleau Wood, northwest of the Paris-to-Metz road. In late May 1918, the third German offensive of the year penetrated the Western Front to within 45 miles of Paris. U.S. forces under General John J. Pershing helped halt the German advance, and on June 6, Pershing ordered a counteroffensive to drive the Germans out of Belleau Wood. U.S. Marines under General James Harbord and Allied forces led the attack against the four German divisions positioned in the woods and by the end of the first day suffered...

Researchers have recovered a treasure trove of World War I artifacts from a cave shelter in northern Italy revealed by the melting of a glacier. During the war, the cave shelter housed 20 Austrian soldiers stationed at Mount Scorluzzo on the Alpine front, close to the famous Stelvio Pass, historian Stefano Morosini told CNN Tuesday. While people knew the shelter existed, researchers were only able to enter it in 2017 as the surrounding glacier had melted, added Morosini, who is scientific coordinator of the heritage project at Stelvio National Park and teaches at the University of Bergamo. Inside they found...

India has taken its first step towards liberating itself from dependence on the US dollar by buying oil from Russia in Indian rupees We have seen the continuous rise of the dollar since the First World War. After World War I, in exchange for supplies, the Allies began paying in gold to the United States, due to which America became the world's largest gold reserve. After the end of the war, various countries linked their currencies with the dollar and with this, the 'Gold Standard' ended in the world and thus the dollar became the world's most preferred currency. All...

[snip] The Italo-Turkish War 1911 was one of the last classic imperial wars over colonial processions between two great powers. But it was in many ways also a first glimpse into what would come during the First World War: trenches, artillery, combat aircraft, motorboat attacks. This war in Ottoman Libya was fought between the Italian Army and Ottoman-led local Senussi forces. [/snip]Forgotten Prelude To WW1 -- Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912 (History Documentary)The Great War | 31:39 | 1.57M subscribers | 1.3M views | 1 year ago

Private John Klopfenstein was our family member killed by German fire in France in WWI. Born April 15, 1896 in Indiana. He was employed at the Brass Foundry in Sturgis, Michigan where he entered the US Army on 9/19/1917. He was sent to Camp Custer, Michigan & was assigned to Company D, 328th Machine Gun Battalion & transferred to Camp Merritt New Jersey. He was subsequently sent overseas to Company C, 18th Infantry, 1st Division, "The Big Red One." John was killed while serving his country after being wounded on 09/13/1918, passing away 09/18/1918. He was laid to rest at...

World War I had no good guys and no winners. France rightly sought the return of the provinces Germany had annexed in 1870. Russia rightly feared that German influence would sever its industrial centers and tax base in the Western parts of it its empire; England feared that Germany would encroach on its overseas empire; Germany feared that Russia’s railroad system would overcome its advantage in mobility and firepower. None of them wanted a war, but each of them decided that it was better to fight in 1914 than fight later at a disadvantage. Historian Christopher Clark in his 2013...

BEERSHEBA, Israel (Reuters) - An “Australian light horse brigade” of history enthusiasts rode through the Israeli desert town of Beersheba on Tuesday to commemorate the 100th anniversary of a World War One cavalry charge that helped reshape the Middle East. The victory by the Australia and New Zealand Corps (ANZAC) in the Battle of Beersheba, a biblical town in what was Ottoman Palestine in 1917, broke a strategic Turkish defense line and led to the conquest of the Holy Land by British imperial forces. Dozens of history buffs, including descendents of the soldiers of the 4th Brigade of the Australian...

The 120-year-old crocodile is now on display at the schoolWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info A 120-year-old crocodile has been put on display at a Rhondda primary school after being discovered underneath the floorboards of a classroom. Pupils at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Bodringallt, in Ystrad, arrived at school on Wednesday to see the giant saltwater crocodile, which was discovered by workmen in June 2019 when work...

One of Australia's greatest mysteries has finally been solved thanks to advances in DNA technology, with the 'Unknown Sailor' finally identified exactly 80 years after he died. Thomas Welsby Clark was just 21 years old and an able seaman on HMAS Sydney when it was sunk on November 19, 1941, about 200km off Western Australia. He had trained as an accountant in Brisbane, then served in the army before finding a berth on HMAS Sydney. His remains washed up on Christmas Island, 2,600km north-west of Perth, 11 weeks after the HMAS Sydney was lost, and it was all that was...

The world’s loneliest house, stuck on the side of a remote mountain range, had lain empty for 100 years — but its mystery remains. Savvy Italian soldiers are said to have built the shelter as a place to rest while battling the Austro-Hungarians across the rugged terrain.

Many Americans have no idea why we celebrate Veterans Day on November 11. Those who know that the holiday began as Armistice Day typically think of it as a day of victory and peace. However, for those on the ground in Europe the last twenty-four hours before the cessation of hostilities on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, that day was nothing less than hell on earth.

WXYZ) — A non-live WWI ammunition round was discovered at a Lansing residence over the weekend containing a hidden treasure trove of old coins and bills, Michigan State Police said on Twitter. According to police, MSP assisted Lansing Police after people cleaning out a family member’s house discovered what appeared to be an ammunition round. Bomb squad reportedly determined it was not a live round. (Pics at source)

Incredible colourised photos from the Battle of the Somme have provided a glimpse into the brave sacrifice of British and Commonwealth troops ahead of tomorrow's 105th anniversary of the start of the horrific carnage. In one picture, a German prisoner assisted wounded British solders as they made their way to a dressing station after they fought on Bazentin Ridge on July 19, 1916. Another image showed Australian gunners who stripped off in the summer heat, serving a 9.2 howitzer during the Battle of Pozières which took place during the Battle of the Somme. The torrential rain of October 1916 which...

Whilst undertaking detailed seabed scanning for the development of windfarm projects in the East Anglia Zone, off the coast of Norfolk and Suffolk, windfarm developers ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) and Vattenfall uncovered something they weren't expecting -- an 'uncharted' wreck of a WWI German submarine, missing in action since 1915... SPR and Vattenfall used advanced sonar technology to scan over 6,000km2 of the seabed in the Southern North Sea over two years, which is nearly 4 times the size of Greater London (1,583km2). This work is critical to understand seabed conditions, and allow the companies to design the layout of their...

Nov. 9 (UPI) -- A couple hiking in northeastern France came across an unusual historical artifact -- a carrier pigeon message dating from 110 years earlier. Jade Halaoui said he was hiking with his partner in the Ingersheim area when they spotted a tiny aluminum cylinder on the ground. "I dug it up and I cut it to see what was inside," Halaoui recalled to the Les Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace newspaper. Inside was a small piece of paper bearing a message the couple could not make out. They took it to the Linge Memorial museum, where curator Dominique Jardy enlisted...

In September, a couple out for a stroll in the eastern French Alsace region, came across a tiny aluminium capsule in a field. Inside was the message, written in barely legible German on a kind of tracing paper. The message appears to carry the date 1910, or 1916. Dominique Jardy, curator of the Linge Museum, near where the discovery was made, thinks 1910 is more likely, Le Parisien reports (in French) . Describing the find as "super-rare", he told the paper the capsule was likely to have come to the surface of the soil over time as have many military...

The British military shot 306 soldiers for desertion or cowardice during World War I, but the very first of them was 19-year-old Thomas Highgate on September 8, 1914. This Kent farmhand and former seaman had enlisted back in 1913, before the world fell apart and that meant that even though Highgate was a trained up and ready to go when the Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment deployed to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Young Master Highgate had the honor of participating in the first British engagement of the Great War, the Battle of Mons. The ensuing...

A hundred years ago this week, a series of biggest battles that Europe were to witness between the end of the First World War in 1918 and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 decided the fate of the continent as much as, if not more than, the Great War itself. In early August 1920, the newly resurrected, independent Poland saved the Eastern Europe, Germany and possibly the rest of the war-exhausted Europe from the triumphant Russian communism. As a result of a little known war in the distant corners of the continent, the status quo of the...