C'est la guerre.

How many of these facts did you have at your fingertips? If you found it a reach, reflect on that. Think about it: once upon a time, these things were common knowledge. In fact, most of this information was vitally important. Today, they're just trivia questions. Does that tell us something about war, and what it's good for? End of lesson. Here are the answers.

Multiple choice.

1. What kind of event set off the Great War?
   
   • An assassination. (Archduke Franz Ferdinand, by a Serb dissident.)
2. Which countries made up the Triple Entente alliance?
   
   • Russia, France, and the UK. (The intent of the Entente was to defeat the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires, or Central Powers.)
3. What was 'Little Willie'?
   
   • The first tank. (Ha! Fooled you. But 'Big Bertha', the huge cannon, was named after Herr Krupp's wife.)
4. How many planes did Baron von Richthofen shoot down?
   
   • 80, (Sing after us: '10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or more, the Bloody Red Baron was rollin' up the score…')
5. What was Margaretha Zelle executed for?
   
   • Being a double agent. (Mata Hari was her other name.)
6. Who flew in the Lafayette Escadrille?
   
   • Americans. (Early entrants to the war from then-neutral US.)
7. Who was the Zimmermann Telegram addressed to?
   
   • The German ambassador in Mexico. (But British cryptographers read it anyway, naughty.)
8. Which of these features could often be found in a German trench?
   
   • All of the above. (We're sorry, but we have to say it: only a German would put a doorbell in a trench. Engineers.)
9. What were 'Hello Girls'?
   
   • Bilingual US-born telephone operators. (Hello, Central, give me heaven.)
10. What did patriotic Americans call hamburger during the Great War?
    
    • Salisbury steak. (We always wondered where that came from.)

How did you do? Share your knowledge in honour of the fallen on this day. And vow that someday, wars won't be the major cause of holidays, on this planet or any other.

(Click the picture to find out what the Kaiser is complaining about.)

Dmitri Gheorgheni

10.11.14 Front Page

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