World War I was a game changer for the history books

“World War I changed everything.”

That declaration greets visitors to the website of the United States World War One Centennial Commission, which chose Kansas City as the site for Thursday’s national observance of the U.S. entry into the war.

The war did change a lot of things. Here are a few.

● World War I introduced total mechanized, industrialized war with tanks, air power, machine guns and chemical weapons.

● The United States went from being a debtor nation to a creditor nation. The world financial center shifted from London to New York.