Never assassinate Archduke Ferdinand

Ah, World War I. A snowball of events leading into a big hot mess, a major war that doesn't really fix the issues when it's over. Today we simulated the events that led to WWI, beginning with the assassination of the Austrian Archduke by Serbian terrorists.  After a steamrolling of events, the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottomans) are pitted against the Allied Powers (Britain, France, Russia, Italy, and out of nowhere, Japan!). We'll see the US join the battle over time, but we'll get to them later. WWI is going to result in an abhorrent level of destruction and slaughter, especially because of trench warfare and modern technology such as machine guns and tanks. You'll read more about this in Chapter 33 (which is due on Tuesday!).

Is this the Kaiser...or a guy you saw at Urban Outfitters?

If you enjoy studying WWI or are a visual learner like myself, here's an interesting WWI infographic from the History Channel's website. It gives details of the conflict by the numbers...did you know 1.2 MILLION men died in just ONE of WWI's skirmishes, the Battle of the Somme? The statistics are horrifying.

THIS WEEKEND IS THE SUPERBOWL!!!! (all caps so it sounds like I care about football!). What I really love about the SuperBowl is an excuse to hang out with my friends and eat (and root for the superior football player...)

And last but not least, for the photo of the day, I wanted to share one of my favorite photos from history in honor of Black History Month. You may have seen this picture before; it's from the much protested integration of nine African American students into Little Rock Central High School in 1957. This photo blew up, and the nine high schoolers have become forever memorialized as the Little Rock Nine. I have always found this photo stunningly powerful, and if you look at this or any other photos from that day, the Nine all embodied grace and dignity.

Friends, I hope you have the BEST weekend. You all rock. Stay classy. 

-Virdin out.