Mental Floss

WAR

Imperial War Museum, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

"The war to end war" finally ends.

Indro Montanelli and Mario Cervi, Due Secoli di Guerre, Vol. 7, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.5

Central Europe fragments while Germany sees the final throes of battle.

Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Among the American Revolution's many heroes, Crispus Attucks is immortalized as the "first to defy, the first to die."

William Rider-Rider, Imperial War Museum, Wikimedia Commons // IWM Non-Commercial License

The Central Powers are close to giving up.

Department of Defense, Department of the Army, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, National Archives and Records Administration // Public Domain

Germany and its allies face defeat, with Allied victories including American Meuse-Argonne Offensive

Photographer unknown, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Lawrence of Arabia returns.

Library of Congress // Public Domain

Here's everything you need to know about the last major engagement in the War of 1812.

iStock

The ships moored together and formed a micronation. (It might as well have been an adult summer camp.)

Collier's New Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

The Spanish flu epidemic sweeps ever more lethally through war-torn Europe.

National Archives

Could Texas ever be returned to Mexico? In 1917, Germany tried.

Egide Charles Gustave Wappers, Wikimedia Commons // Public domain

In 1830, King William I of Netherlands celebrated his birthday with an opera. The performance would help destroy his country.

Keystone/Getty Images

The attempted assassination of the Bolshevik leader set off a campaign of extreme violence.

Take a tour of Belfast's eeriest works of public art.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

He was called the fiercest warrior in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

Fred Ramage, Keystone/Getty Images

A reporter coined the name.

Pvt. J.M. Liles, U.S. Army, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Even German children knew the end of the war was near.

David McLellan, Imperial War Museum, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

The final German offensive finally peters out.

Rex Features

Anne Frank was captured by the Nazis on this date in 1944.

H.D. Girdwood, Library of Congress, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Erik Sass is covering the events of the war exactly 100 years after they happened.

John Warwick Brooke, Imperial War Museum, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

By splitting the French and British near Amiens and pushing the latter into the sea, there was still a chance Germany could win the war

Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

French civilians celebrated July 4 almost as enthusiastically as the American troops.

Georges Scott, Collier's New Encyclopedia, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

Allies take control of the strategic forest northeast of Paris.

iStock

The U.S. doesn’t even crack the top 100.

Italian Army Historic Photogalleries, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.5

TK