Interesting facts about the First World War

The Germans were the first to have adopted flamethrowers in the First World. Their flamethrowers could throw flames at 40 m.
More than 65 million men from 30 countries fought in the First World War. About 10 million have died. The Allies (the Entente forces) lost about 6 million soldiers. Triple Alliance lost about 4 million soldiers.
In the First World War there were more than 35 million soldiers and civilians injured. More than 15 million dead and 20 million wounded.

Almost 2/3 of the deaths occurred in the First World battles. In previous conflicts, the majority of deaths were due to diseases.
During the First World about 1/3 of all war victims died of the Spanish flu.
Russia's armed forces in the First World, there are 12 million soldiers, so it was the biggest army in the war. More than 3/4 were killed, wounded or missing.
In August 1914, German soldiers killed 150 civilians in Arshote. These killings were part of a strategy known as Schrecklichkeit («deterrence"). Its purpose was to intimidate the citizens of the occupied territories, in order to avoid uprisings.
During the First World War, British tanks were originally divided into "male" and "female." Males were equipped with guns, heavy machine guns and females.
"Willie The Kid" was the first prototype of the tank in the First World. Constructed in 1915, he could hold a team of three people and was moving at a speed of 4, 8 km / h.
Shelling and mines have created an incredible noise. In 1917, bombings of the German front line in the battle of the Messinian river Ypres in Belgium were heard in London, located 140 miles (220 km) from there.
Pool World - lake depth of 40 feet (12 m), located at Messina in Belgium. It fills the crater, resulting in an explosion in 1917, when the British set in motion a mine containing 45 tons of explosives.
In World War dogs were used as messengers, they were transferred to the front line orders capsules attached to the torso. Also, dogs were used to pave the telegraph wires.
First tanks were used in the battle of Fleur-Kurselet (1916).
Initially, the tanks were called "land ships". However, in order to pass them off as the water tank, not weapons, the British decided to give them the code name "tanks».
The most successful fighter pilot of the First World was Ritmeyster von Richthofen (1892-1918). He shot down 80 aircraft, more than any other pilot in the war. He died after having been shot at Amiens. The most successful fighter pilot of the Allies was the Frenchman Rene Fonck (1894-1953), he shot down 75 enemy aircraft.
Margaret Zelle (1876-1917), also known as Mata Hari was a Dutch exotic dancer, accusations of double espionage. Although she has always denied being a spy, the French executed it in 1917.
Shortly before his death the French Second Lieutenant Alfred Joubert wrote about the First World in his diary: "The world has gone mad! You'd be crazy to do what is happening. What a massacre ... What a scene of horror and carnage! I can not find words to convey their impressions. Even hell can not be so terrible! People are mad! »
Some Americans were opposed to the original US refusal to join in the First World, so they joined the French Foreign Legion or the British or Canadian Army. A group of American pilots formed a squadron "Lafayette", which became part of the French Air Force and one of the strongest military units of the Western Front.
For the US, the First World War cost $ 30 billion.
After the First World ceased to exist four empires: the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, German and Russian.
The First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918, the battle took place on every ocean and on almost every continent. Most of the battles, however, took place in Europe.
Terrorist group from Sarajevo responsible for the murder of Franz Ferdinand was called the Black Hand.
United States entered the First World over the last year, when the war was almost complete.
Campaign slogan Woodrow Wilson for a second term reads as follows: "He saved us from the war." About a month later, after he won the presidential office, April 6, 1917 the United States declared war on Germany.
The First World War - the sixth leading cause of death conflict in world history.
The First World War was a catalyst for the transformation of Russia into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It became the world's first communist state and the opening of a new milestone in the history of the world. Historians have noted that the emergence of the Soviet Union was the most striking and important consequence of the First World War.
After the First World War, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland were declared independent states.
The war left disfigured and disabled thousands of soldiers. To correct the damage a person, doctors resorted to plastic surgery, and to cover the most terrible deformities, use a mask. Some soldiers remained in private hospitals all my life.