Famously referred to by US president Woodrow Wilson as “the war to end all wars,” the first world war eclipsed all previous wars with its scale of destruction. With over twenty-seven nations involved, the battle-field horrors and political outcomes of the first truly global military conflict had repercussions that are still felt today.

NPR presents a vivid portrait of what most experts consider the first modern war, including profiles of America’s flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker, unlikely savior of war-torn Belgium Herbert Hoover, and the last surviving doughboy Frank Buckles.