10 Historic Facts That Show Unexpected Sides of the Past

7. Funny gas masks

A mother and 3 children, one of whom is in an air-tight baby carriage.

The mass production of gas masks started during World War I. Along for the gas masks for soldiers, there were also special masks for horses and dogs. An interesting fact: according to writer Alexander Moritz Frey who served with Hitler during World War I, Hitler wore the toothbrush moustache in the trenches after he was ordered to trim his mustache to facilitate the wearing of a gas mask. This is how Hitler got his famous toothbrush mustache

Later, gas masks for civilians were produced. For example, there were special gas rooms where you could hide and even baby carriages that were air-tight gas masks. During World War II, in order not to scare kids with creepy gas masks and to not make it look like torture, there was even a Mickey Mouse-shaped gas mask in the U.S.