Where second is always first!
11/11/2018
Updated on 12/31/2018
This being the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended major fighting in WWI, SilverMedals.net presents some “second” facts about the Great War.
Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary on July 29, a day after Austria-Hungary declared war on Russian ally Serbia.
Germany 7,142,558 (Russia had the most with 9,150,000)
Russian infantry in 1916.
Cambrai (November, 20 1917)
France 6,160,800
Aerial view of trench systems. Notice the craters all around them, created by artillery shell impacts.
7,020,000
Small arms fire (guns, machine guns, grenades)
René Fonck (France) 75 kills (Manfred von Richthofen “Red Baron” 80)
It was in this second battle where poison gas was first used — Germany used it against British Commonwealth soldiers.
René Fonck, the greatest Allied “Flying Ace” during the Great War. He was second only to the “Red Baron”.
George Lawrence Price (Canada)
It didn’t have as compelling a birth as the first Special Air Service regiment. It didn’t have its great founder driving point in a souped-up jeep during attacks on German air bases. It didn’t have the romance of the desert as its initial stomping grounds. About the only thing it seemed to have going for it was the reputation of…read more
Several cities in the U.S. had a dark smoggy cloud come over them last week as the American Lung Association (ALA) released its annual State of the Air report. The sobering and slightly depressing report uses data on particulate matter — otherwise known as “soot” — and ground-level ozone — otherwise known as “smog” — that was collected between 2015…read more
When it comes to polar exploration, history is the mother of all excursion. To close out 2018, Louis Rudd became the second person to complete a solo crossing of the continent of Antarctica. In what seems a repeat of the Shackleton/Amundsen race to the pole (that was a race to the pole and not a traversal of the continent), the…read more
After the fifth installment of the James Bond movie series You Only Live Twice hit the theaters, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, the producers of the lucrative franchise, had a problem. Their Bond didn’t want to be Bond anymore. After spying, killing, and sexing his way through five movies, Sean Connery was ready to go. There were several reasons for…read more
The armistice1 that ended the fighting in World War I was signed by representatives from Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, at 5AM on 11/11/1918, in a railroad carriage in Compiègne, France, but the agreement didn’t go into effect for another six hours. WWI would end at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which was fine for those who…read more
A recent report issued by Arton Capital, a global financial advisory firm, shows that Germany owns the second most powerful passport in the world. You can see for yourself by having a look at the Passport Index. This updated index was covered by several major news publications including Business Insider, CNN, and the Telegraph, except they weren’t focusing on the second most…read more
