First war to be fought on 3 continents.
First industrialised conflict.
First use of chlorine & mustard gas.
First use of the flame thrower.
First tank battle.
First use of mass airplanes.
First use of x-ray in the military.
First use of a blood bank.
First use of guide dogs by blinded soldiers.
First four-star general, General John J. Pershing
First use of trillion in estimating war costs.
First commissioning of war art for propaganda.
First use of the IQ Test given to Doughboys of 1917.
First U.S. president to visit a European country while in office was Woodrow Wilson on 12/04/18.
The Russian Revolution
The 1917 Russian Revolution was not, as many people suppose, one well organised event in which Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown and Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power. It was a series of events that took place during 1917, which entailed two separate revolutions in February and October (with a great deal of political wrangling in-betweens), and which eventually plunged the country into Civil War before leading to the founding of the Communist State.
The Great Depression * Herbert Hoover (1874-1964), a Republican, was president when the Great Depression began. He infamously declared in March 1930 that the U.S. had “passed the worst” and argued that the economy would sort itself out. The worst, however, had just begun and would last until the outbreak of WWII (1939).f * People who lost their homes often lived in what were called “Hoovervilles,” or shanty towns, that were named after President Herbert Hoover. There was also “Hoover Stew” (food dished out in soup kitchens), “Hoover Blankets” (newspapers that served as blankets), “Hoover Hogs” (jack rabbits used as food), and “Hoover Wagons” (broken cars that were pulled by mules).c * Chicago gangster Al Capone (1899-1947), in one of his sporadic attempts at public relations, opened a soup kitchen during the Great Depression. For millions, soup