World War I broke out on this day a century ago, as Russia and Germany declared war on each other. Here’s one of the strange songs generated by that savage conflict: “The Bells of Hell Go Ting a Ling a Ling,” from the movie Oh! What A Lovely War.
Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.
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