Hope might be "the thing with feathers," according to poet Emily Dickinson, but when it comes to war, hope continues to be grounded. Consider the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928. Created in the aftermath of the worst fighting the world had ever seen -- World War I -- the international agreement was meant to be a vow by its signatories to never again wage war and only engage in battle as an act of self-defense. In fact, the document made war illegal, and, in time, almost every developed country signed it. But there was no way to enforce the agreement or truly define the limits of "self-defense," and within a short time, minor incidents around the globe made it clear that the deal had no teeth. World War II began only 11 years later, in 1939.
Warring madness:
- Motorized ambulances were introduced during World War I to help injured soldiers; one of the first drivers was Walt Disney.
- More than 70 years after the end of World War II, at least 2,000 tons of unexploded bombs are still being found in Germany every year.
- More U.S. soldiers died from the "Spanish" flu during World War I than were killed on the battlefield.