Since late 2019, the novel coronavirus has spread across the world, sending governments scrambling for supplies.

Because cloth masks were identified as an easy way to slow the spread, one unexpected group has stepped into the chaos.

Crafters, armed with sewing machines and scrap fabric.

Here's my coworker, Kate.

So when this call came out for masks, everybody kind of jumped on it to help their communities,

protect their family and friends, and really just have something that they can be actively doing.

This is not the first time crafters have come to the rescue during a national emergency. In this episode,

we go back in time to another crisis, one that happened just over 100 years ago. I'm talking about

World War I. And while the conflict was originally shrugged off as something that would be over

quickly, the war would last four years, spread to over 37 countries,

and consume over 17 million lives. Today, we go into the trenches of Belgium and France

and learn that one of the most important items in the soldiers kit, right up there with a rifle

and gas mask, was a good pair of hand-knit woolen socks. I'm Alison Kourleski,

and you're listening to Fibernation, tales of textiles, craft, and culture.

World War I is so complicated, and there are so many players that to try to explain it in a sentence or two is almost impossible.

So what I'm going to give you now is basically the third grade distillation of it.

On June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princep, a Serbian nationalist, assassinated Archduke, Franz Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Now, Austria-Hungary ruled over the Balkan states, Bosnia, Serbia, and Herzegovina.

And they wanted to strike back quickly and with force.

But Russia supported Serbia, and Russia was allied with France and Britain.

So Austria-Hungary needed help from their ally, Germany. Long story short, exactly one month later,

on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. And within a week, France, Belgium,

...