You can somehere silently call a Google Maps GDirection(). It gives you not only a route but real distance also, but this is javascript soulution, and only way to provide this data to php is catch received distance and send to php by AJAX.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.