New Season of Effingham County Historical Presentations Begins Thursday

A new series of historical presentations begins Thursday at the Effingham County Museum in the historic Court House. As in the past the meetings will be held at 7:00 P.M.

In the first program in the 2018-2019 season, Phil Lewis, retired U.S. History & German teacher and local historian, will present “World War I: The War to End All Wars?”

With the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, Bosnia on June 28, 1914, the world was thrown into its first global war. Entangling alliances pitted the Allies against the Central Powers. The introduction of modern weapons into global warfare resulted in unprecedented carnage and destruction that the world had never seen. More than nine million soldiers died (1914-1918). Old empires crumbled and new countries emerged. The monetary cost of the war devastated European economies. The world would never be the same. All of these events set the stage for World War II just twenty-one years later.

This program is in observance of the centennial anniversary of the end of World War I (1918-2018) and the Bicentennial of Illinois (1818-2018). Admission is free to the public.