We look at why each of the major countries joined in the war and why so many people thought going to war was a good idea. And some of those soldiers were kids – listen to see if you’re older than the youngest kids who fought in a world war!

Find out more at https://www.dadandmelovehistory.com/

Read industry reviews of Dad’s World War II novels, A Chance Kill and The Slightest Chance, at paulletters.com. Available on Kindle, as well as in paperback. Dad’s first wartime novel, A Chance Kill, is a love-story/thriller based on real events in Poland, Paris, London and Prague. The Slightest Chance follows the remarkable true story of the only escape from Japanese imprisonment by a Western woman during World War II.

Here are some questions to see if you were listening:

1. True or false: World War I started because a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry.
2. Which small country did Austria-Hungary declare war on first?
3. Why did Russia join the war?
4. Why did Germany join the war?
5. How old was the youngest British soldier?
6. Why did some people actually want to go to fight in the First World War?

Please rate and review us wherever you get podcasts. And share our podcast on social media and recommend it to friends – that's how we'll keep going.

We’ll be back on the first weekend of next month!

Podcast cover art by Molly Austin

All music is from https://filmmusic.io and composed by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Sound effects used under RemArc Licence. Copyright 2020 © BBC