🔫 This Week In History - World War 1 Begins

Welcome back History Nerds,

Thanks for sticking around for another fun week in history. You’re probably wondering why you’re not receiving this on Tuesday, and you’re not crazy we promise. We messed up and didn’t schedule it correctly, but we hope this brightens up your hump day. Make sure to pour yourself up an extra big cup of coffee for today’s read, and be sure to enjoy this week’s edition of the LOL History Newsletter!

Did You Know? On April 5, 1923, firefighters in Tokyo responded to what they thought was a routine warehouse fire—only to find a massive explosion waiting for them. The warehouse was secretly packed with 500,000 rounds of military ammunition, which detonated and leveled the entire district. The blast was so powerful it blew out windows miles away and was mistaken for an earthquake.

During Your History Lesson You’ll Learn About:

• A Puff of Revolution: How Tobacco Ignited Colonial Ambitions in 1586

• The Shot That Shook the World

• The First Submarine to Reach the North Pole

• Houston, We Have Liftoff

Pipes of Prosperity and Peril: Tobacco's Role in Shaping the Modern World

On July 27, 1586, Sir Walter Raleigh returned to England from the colony of Roanoke with an unexpected cargo: dried tobacco leaves and the knowledge of how to use them. Introduced from Virginia, tobacco was initially a novelty—an exotic indulgence inspired by Indigenous practices. Raleigh, a favored courtier of Queen Elizabeth I, helped popularize the habit among England’s elite, often seen smoking a pipe himself. What began as fascination quickly evolved into economic opportunity, laying the foundation for what would become one of the most influential—and controversial—global industries.

By the early 1600s, tobacco was fueling England’s colonial ambitions, driving land seizures, the expansion of plantation agriculture, and the brutal transatlantic slave trade. It became a cornerstone of imperial wealth and a symbol of sophistication, even as its cultivation and use left deep human and environmental costs. Raleigh’s seemingly modest import would ripple through centuries, shaping economies, cultures, and public health worldwide—proving that sometimes, the most lasting revolutions begin not with a bang, but with a single puff of smoke.

The Shot That Shook the World

On July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, setting in motion a chain of events that would ignite World War I, a conflict so massive and devastating it reshaped the globe. The spark? The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo by a Serbian nationalist. But it wasn’t just the bullet that started the fire, it was years of tangled alliances, imperial ambitions, and military buildups that turned one local crisis into a global inferno.

This was the war that introduced the world to trench warfare, machine guns, poison gas, and a new, industrialized way of killing on a scale never seen before. By the end, over 16 million people were dead, four empires had crumbled, and a generation was scarred physically and mentally. For fans of military history, World War I is a turning point. It was the brutal transition from 19th-century tactics to 20th-century total war. Nations mobilized millions, dug in, and bled for inches of land. Heroism and horror existed side by side in the mud of the Western Front.

The war to “end all wars” didn’t end war at all, but it did change everything: borders, governments, and the very nature of combat. Understanding how it started and how it could’ve been avoided isn’t just fascinating. It’s essential. Because in the end, history isn’t just a list of dates. It’s a warning flare.

Nuclear Triumph at the Pole: Nautilus's Historic Under-Ice Voyage in 1958

On August 3, 1958, the USS Nautilus emerged from icy silence into the pages of history, becoming the first submarine to reach the geographic North Pole beneath the Arctic ice cap. Powered by a revolutionary nuclear reactor, the Nautilus had already broken boundaries since its launch in 1954, but this mission—Operation Sunshine—was something altogether different: a journey into uncharted waters, both literal and symbolic. Traveling silently beneath thousands of feet of crushing ice, it passed beneath the pole at precisely 11:15 p.m. EDT, completing a feat that was once the stuff of polar fantasy and science fiction.

The mission wasn’t just a Cold War triumph—it was a declaration of technological possibility. In an era defined by tension and brinkmanship, the Nautilus symbolized a quiet but powerful form of dominance: a vessel that could go farther, faster, and longer than any submarine before it. Its under-ice passage proved the strategic value of nuclear propulsion and changed naval warfare forever. Decades later, the legacy of USS Nautilus lives on—not just as a museum ship in Groton, Connecticut, but as a symbol of innovation, endurance, and the human drive to explore the impossible.

Houston, We Have Liftoff

On July 29, 1958, the United States officially entered the space race with the creation of NASA. Why? Because the Soviets had just flung Sputnik into orbit, and suddenly America realized it was losing a very public game of “who can launch stuff into space first.” President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill that created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and just like that, the U.S. went from daydreaming about rocket ships to building them.

NASA wasn’t just about one-upping the Soviets (although, let’s be honest, that was a big part of it). It became the driving force behind moon landings, Mars rovers, and those sweet astronaut ice cream packets you begged your parents to buy. From John Glenn’s orbital trip to Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk, NASA transformed space from science fiction into headline news—and helped inspire a generation of kids to look up and wonder.

And it all started because America got a little embarrassed by a beeping metal basketball flying overhead. Since then, NASA has become a symbol of exploration, science, and pushing the boundaries of what humans can do. The agency’s legacy isn’t just about rockets. It’s about the people who dared to dream bigger than Earth.

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See You Next Time!

We hope that you enjoyed this edition of the LOL History newsletter! See you next week!

— Evan & Derek - LOL History Co-Founders