WAR AUDIO

[00:00.14] War

[00:02.39] The shortest war on record took place in 1896 when Zanzibar surrendered

[00:06.65] to Britain after 38 minutes.The longest was the so-called 100-years

[00:11.89] war between Britain and France. It actually lasted 116 years, ending

[00:16.64] in 1453.It was during the 100-years war that direct taxation on

[00:23.14] income was introduced, a British invention designed to finance the war

[00:27.89] with France.Since 1495, no 25-year period has been without war.Since

[00:34.89] 1815 there has been 210 interstate wars.During the Battle of Waterloo,

[00:40.64] Lord Uxbridge had his horse shot from under him 9 times.Chevy Chase

[00:46.14] was a battle that took place on the english-Scottish border in 1388.

[00:50.90] The doors that cover US nuclear silos weigh 748 tons and opens in 19

[00:56.89] seconds.The first recorded revolution took place at around 2800 BC when

[01:02.64] people from the Sumerian city of Lagash overthrew bureaucrats who were

[01:06.89] lining their own pockets but kept raising taxes.The NATO attack on

[01:11.14] Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo war killed more animals than people.

[01:16.14] The very first bomb that the Allies dropped on Berlin in World War II

[01:20.89] killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.There are 92 known cases of

[01:25.89] nuclear bombs lost at sea.The first reference to a handgun was made in

[01:31.14] an order for iron bullets in 1326.When killed in battle, Japanese

[01:36.15] officers were promoted to the next highest rank.During the 1991 Gulf

[01:41.39] War, the Allies dropped more than 17,000 smart bombs and 210,000 dumb

[01:47.14] (unguided) bombs on Iraqi troops.In 1997, the US maintained 13,750

[01:55.64] nuclear warheads, 5,546 of them on ballistic missiles.In 1998, the US

[02:03.39] spent more than $35 billion on its nuclear weapons programme.

[02:07.89] In 1997, the US exported $15,6 billion in arms to developing countries,

[02:15.39] 54% of which went to non-democratic regimes.Global spending on defence

[02:21.15] total more than $700 billion. Global spending on education is less

[02:26.64] than $100 billion.Although the two-finger V for Victory sign is

[02:31.89] synonymous with Winston Churchill, it actually was the idea of a

[02:35.89] Belgian refugee in London, Victor De Laveleye.Chemical and biological

[02:44.65] warfare have been used long before World War 1. During the

[02:46.14] Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BC, Spartans used sulphur and

[02:50.14] pitch to overcome the enemy. During ancient and medieval times,

[02:52.89] soldiers sometimes threw bodies of plague victims over the walls of

[02:56.89] besieged cities, or into water wells. During the French and Indian

[03:02.89] wars in North America (1689-1763), blankets used by smallpox victims

[03:08.90] were given to American Indians in the hope they would carry the

[03:12.14] disease.