What I Love to Learn About

My favorite subject in school is history, and my favorite time period in history is WWI, simply because it's a treasure trove, forgotten and tucked away. My interest was sparked last year when our 4H group went to the WWI museum in Kansas City, it's the biggest collection in the world, I believe, of WWI weapons and uniforms from all across the globe.

I knew relatively nothing about what I was seeing, and that bothered me, I wanted to go home and find out everything! What were gas attacks? Why don't you hear of those in WWII? What were the most popular weapons? (Did you know swords were still used at the very beginning? Weaponry very quickly evolved in a short amount of time.) What was the political reason behind the war? What about trench warfare? Why did America join? I have the answers to all of these questions and I'm still not done studying after a whole year. =)

Why does this war still fascinate me? I don't know. I have a few questions still unanswered, but I don't think that's why. Maybe it's the scruples of the people who fought the war. It was a political battle more than anything. The men who lived in trenches, with rats and fleas for close companions were simply tools. "Expendable crewmen" as it were. Their stories are depressing and tell of humans for whom the battle wasn't personal. Have you ever heard of the Christmas Truce? In the very first year of the war, soldiers stopped shooting and walked into no man's land. Enemies wished each other well and traded small gifts and cigarettes. And it lasted for several days. Why wasn't this phenomenon repeated? Because the top dogs didn't appreciate it. The real enemies in that war weren't the soldiers, but the politicians.

If you ever have a bit of free time in your school year, take a detour through WWI. You are guaranteed to learn something new.
Christmastime in the German trenches.