THE LIBRARY OF JOHN DOE

The Great War/World War One (1914-1918)

French Mud & No Man's Land

Here's all the stuff off the top of my head before I organize it:

World War One is often quoted to have started when Austrio-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian nationalists on July 12, 1914. This sparked conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary with would've have been another minor Balkan war if not for the secret alliances. Russia came to the aid of Serbia and Germany to the side of Austria-Hungary. I swear i'm not a fake fan but i forgot the exact series of events that led France to become involved, however, when Germany went to attack France they bulldozed through Belgium which prompted the U.K. to become involved. Well, of course, if the U.K. is in it then you drag along a variety of African nations as well as Australia, Ireland, Scotland, their extensive collection of colonies in South America and I believe one or two middle-eastern countries. I know Turkey was on the central powers side as well as a couple other balkan countries but I haven't gotten very knowledgeable on every involved peoples. There were two major fronts, the Eastern and Western, aka both sides of Germany however the african campaign of ww1 was equally as eventful. As many people know most the the Western front's fights took place at The Somme, a section of French land where a deadly stalemate was held for the entirety of the war due to the reliance on trench warfare. Trench warfare also created the term No Man's Land, for the treacherous expanse of land between each side's trenches that was riddled with artillery and barbed wire. WW1 saw the emergence of all kinds of war machines, including but not limited to: machine guns, large-scale artillery launchers, tanks, and mustard gas. It also was such a terrible war that it quite literally invented the term "shell shock", a psychological condition now caled Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. Ailments in the trenches not only were things such as the famous 'trench foot' shown to innocent 5th-graders around the world, but also largely had to do with infestations such a rats and lice. Additionally, injuries from this war were so gruesome as to require the invention of plastic surgery to aid in the reintegration of maimed soldiers back into daily life. French and British uniforms were practically the same except for two things: green/blue color difference, and the French more often wore long coats. Besides that, both had vest webbing, backpacks, leather boots, puddies/leg-wraps, and metal helmets. Nicknames were a popular thing among soldiers to cleverly identify friends and enemies. The British were Tommies, the French were Poilu (translated as "The Hairy Ones" for their mustaches), the Germans were Jerry, and the Americans, despite their late entrance, gained the moniker Dough Boys.