Erik Sass

Joined: Nov 21, 2012

Erik Sass is the author of The Mental Floss History of the United States and co-author with Steve Wiegand of The Mental Floss History of the World, both of which you should go buy right now. He also covers online and traditional media for MediaPost. His interests include water gardens, games of strategy, geography, and cats.

An illustration of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand (1863-1914), Archduke of Austria, and his wife Sophie, in Sarajevo, Bosnia, on June 28, 1914.

Kaiser Wilhelm II

World War I brought aircraft carriers into the action.

Getty Images

Wikimedia Commons

Keystone/Getty Images

On this date in 1941, Japan launched a daring attack on Pearl Harbor. While devastating, the move stirred the wrath of the American people, bringing the world’s largest industrial power squarely into the 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.

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.

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

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

Keystone/Getty Images

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

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.

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.