WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.100 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we really dig 00:00:03.100 --> 00:00:05.179 into complex sources to pull out the essential 00:00:05.179 --> 00:00:07.960 knowledge you need. Today, we are tackling a 00:00:07.960 --> 00:00:10.820 truly massive topic, one that really shaped the 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:14.199 entire 20th century, World War I. Yeah, it's 00:00:14.199 --> 00:00:16.800 huge. And it's a conflict that people at the 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:18.960 time knew was different. I mean, they started 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.280 calling it the Great War or even the World War 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:24.539 right away, like in 1914. That early. Wow. Absolutely. 00:00:24.699 --> 00:00:27.440 And its scale, just the sheer horror of it, led 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:29.839 to that, well, that tragic but kind of hopeful 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:32.700 phrase, the war to end war. Which, sadly, it 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:35.939 wasn't. It ran from July 28, 1914 to November 00:00:35.939 --> 00:00:39.500 11, 1918. So what is that, four years, three 00:00:39.500 --> 00:00:41.640 months, give or take? Exactly. Four years, three 00:00:41.640 --> 00:00:44.600 months, and 14 days that just fundamentally rewired, 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:47.479 you know, the world. And the cost, it's almost... 00:00:47.740 --> 00:00:49.179 Well, it's hard to really wrap your head around 00:00:49.179 --> 00:00:51.619 it. Our sources point to over 9 million military 00:00:51.619 --> 00:00:53.840 deaths straight off. Yeah, it's something like 00:00:53.840 --> 00:00:57.359 5 .5 million plus for the allies, over 4 .3 million 00:00:57.359 --> 00:00:59.579 for the central powers. But that's just the soldiers 00:00:59.579 --> 00:01:02.179 in uniform. Right. Because when you add in civilian 00:01:02.179 --> 00:01:05.319 casualties, people displaced, dying from famine 00:01:05.319 --> 00:01:08.409 or disease linked to the war. The estimates shoot 00:01:08.409 --> 00:01:10.370 up, don't they? They really do. Historians talk 00:01:10.370 --> 00:01:14.030 about a total toll closer to 30 million people. 00:01:14.129 --> 00:01:16.290 It's staggering. Staggering. And there's this 00:01:16.290 --> 00:01:19.349 other dimension, too, which often gets maybe 00:01:19.349 --> 00:01:21.670 not overlooked, but less emphasized. You mean 00:01:21.670 --> 00:01:23.950 the Spanish flu? Exactly. The timing is just 00:01:23.950 --> 00:01:27.269 horrific. The war ends and bam, this deadly pandemic 00:01:27.269 --> 00:01:30.450 sweeps the globe. And it's not just timing. The 00:01:30.450 --> 00:01:32.450 sources are pretty clear that the war itself 00:01:32.450 --> 00:01:36.540 was a massive accelerator. Think about it. Millions 00:01:36.540 --> 00:01:39.239 of people crammed together, trenches, camps, 00:01:39.640 --> 00:01:42.480 troop ships. Terrible conditions. Awful. Perfect 00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:44.459 breeding grounds. And then you move these huge 00:01:44.459 --> 00:01:46.640 numbers of potentially infected people all around 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.540 the planet. The war basically created the highway 00:01:49.540 --> 00:01:52.439 for the pandemic. Massive dislocation, weakened 00:01:52.439 --> 00:01:55.219 immune systems. It was a perfect storm. That 00:01:55.219 --> 00:01:59.090 combination, war and plague. It really underscores 00:01:59.090 --> 00:02:01.189 the sheer scale of the global disruption we're 00:02:01.189 --> 00:02:03.370 talking about. It really does. So our mission 00:02:03.370 --> 00:02:05.650 today, then, is to go beyond just, you know, 00:02:05.689 --> 00:02:07.769 the assassination in Sarajevo and the mud of 00:02:07.769 --> 00:02:09.810 the Western Front. We want to unpack the deeper 00:02:09.810 --> 00:02:12.469 stuff. Right. The long -term geopolitical forces, 00:02:12.689 --> 00:02:15.849 the tensions that built up for decades, the things 00:02:15.849 --> 00:02:17.909 that made the whole system so fragile. And then 00:02:17.909 --> 00:02:20.590 how did that specific spark, the July crisis, 00:02:20.689 --> 00:02:23.270 actually ignite the whole thing? How did the 00:02:23.270 --> 00:02:26.030 technology of war change so drastically? And 00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:28.219 the consequences, of course. The peace treaties, 00:02:28.460 --> 00:02:32.840 this redrawn map, the seeds of future conflict, 00:02:33.080 --> 00:02:36.080 it's all connected. Okay, let's dive in. Where 00:02:36.080 --> 00:02:39.159 do we start to understand how Europe got so unstable 00:02:39.159 --> 00:02:40.819 in the first place? What was the foundation? 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:43.060 Well, you really have to go back further than 00:02:43.060 --> 00:02:45.979 1914. Think about the 19th century. For a long 00:02:45.979 --> 00:02:47.659 time, Europe had this system called the Concert 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:49.259 of Europe. That was about maintaining balance, 00:02:49.400 --> 00:02:52.180 right, after Napoleon. Exactly. A sort of equilibrium 00:02:52.180 --> 00:02:54.939 among the major powers. But that got seriously 00:02:54.939 --> 00:02:57.979 disrupted around 1871. Two big things happened. 00:02:58.080 --> 00:03:00.919 The rise of a unified German empire after the 00:03:00.919 --> 00:03:03.199 Franco -Prussian War. Which was a huge shift 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:05.680 in power right in the center of Europe. A massive 00:03:05.680 --> 00:03:08.439 shift. And at the same time, you have the slow, 00:03:08.479 --> 00:03:11.439 steady decline of the Ottoman Empire in the southeast. 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.460 So the old balance was just gone. And that Franco 00:03:14.460 --> 00:03:16.680 -Prussian War left a really deep scar, didn't 00:03:16.680 --> 00:03:18.719 it? Especially in France. Oh, absolutely. You 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:21.860 mentioned revanchism. French policy after 1871 00:03:21.860 --> 00:03:25.400 was, well... heavily influenced by this desire 00:03:25.400 --> 00:03:27.460 for revenge against Germany. It wasn't just about 00:03:27.460 --> 00:03:29.800 politics. It was cultural. They'd lost Alsace 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:32.780 -Lorraine. Right. Key territories, rich in resources. 00:03:33.099 --> 00:03:35.840 They became these powerful symbols of national 00:03:35.840 --> 00:03:40.219 humiliation. So almost any interaction with Germany 00:03:40.219 --> 00:03:42.259 after that was viewed through this lens of, you 00:03:42.259 --> 00:03:44.060 know, one day we'll get it back. So you've got 00:03:44.060 --> 00:03:46.699 Germany rising, the Ottomans declining, France 00:03:46.699 --> 00:03:49.409 wanting revenge. That sounds like a recipe for 00:03:49.409 --> 00:03:52.349 trouble. It was. And it pushed everyone towards 00:03:52.349 --> 00:03:54.449 locking themselves into these defensive alliances, 00:03:54.629 --> 00:03:56.689 the famous web of alliances. OK, so you had the 00:03:56.689 --> 00:03:58.930 Triple Alliance on one side, Germany, Austria, 00:03:59.090 --> 00:04:01.610 Hungary and Italy. That was formed back in 1882. 00:04:02.030 --> 00:04:04.330 Correct. And in kind of opposing them, you had 00:04:04.330 --> 00:04:06.629 the Triple Entente. Now, this wasn't quite a 00:04:06.629 --> 00:04:09.229 formal military alliance in the same way, more 00:04:09.229 --> 00:04:11.750 like a set of cooperative agreements. That was 00:04:11.750 --> 00:04:14.990 France, Russia and... The UK, right. Right. Through 00:04:14.990 --> 00:04:17.569 things like the Entente Cordiale in 1904. Exactly. 00:04:17.610 --> 00:04:19.790 The Entente Cordiale between Britain and France 00:04:19.790 --> 00:04:22.589 and then the Anglo -Russian Convention in 1907 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:25.810 brought Russia into that alignment. But looking 00:04:25.810 --> 00:04:29.149 at these alliances on paper, how strong were 00:04:29.149 --> 00:04:32.629 they really? Were they ironclad guarantees? That's 00:04:32.629 --> 00:04:35.350 the fascinating part. They look solid, but underneath? 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:38.420 Not so much. Take the Triple Alliance. Our sources 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:41.660 highlight this secret deal Italy made. Italy? 00:04:41.779 --> 00:04:45.100 What did they do? Well, back in 1902, so more 00:04:45.100 --> 00:04:47.220 than a decade before the war, Italy secretly 00:04:47.220 --> 00:04:49.639 agreed with France that they'd stay neutral if 00:04:49.639 --> 00:04:52.459 Germany attacked France. Wait, so Italy, a member 00:04:52.459 --> 00:04:54.459 of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria 00:04:54.459 --> 00:04:56.899 -Hungary, basically promised France they wouldn't 00:04:56.899 --> 00:04:59.360 help their own allies? Pretty much, yeah. It 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:00.980 effectively nullified their commitment within 00:05:00.980 --> 00:05:03.079 the Triple Alliance, at least regarding an attack 00:05:03.079 --> 00:05:06.160 on France initiated by Germany. So why did Germany 00:05:06.160 --> 00:05:08.779 and Austria even count on Italy then? Were they 00:05:08.779 --> 00:05:11.540 just ignoring this wishful thinking? I think 00:05:11.540 --> 00:05:14.379 it was a bit of both. Maybe some denial. Maybe 00:05:14.379 --> 00:05:16.199 they thought they could persuade Italy when push 00:05:16.199 --> 00:05:18.860 came to shove. But fundamentally, it shows how 00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:21.779 shaky these alliances could be. They were meant 00:05:21.779 --> 00:05:24.319 to deter war. But they ended up being transmission 00:05:24.319 --> 00:05:26.980 belts for it. Exactly. Instead of guaranteeing 00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:29.240 peace, they made it almost inevitable that a 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:31.879 small conflict would drag everyone in. They became 00:05:31.879 --> 00:05:34.819 instruments of escalation, not stability. And 00:05:34.819 --> 00:05:37.420 fueling all this tension alongside the alliances 00:05:37.420 --> 00:05:40.970 was this massive arms race. A terrifying arms 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:43.370 race, yeah. Huge increases in military spending 00:05:43.370 --> 00:05:46.329 driven by technology and, frankly, paranoia. 00:05:46.470 --> 00:05:48.649 The most obvious example is probably the Anglo 00:05:48.649 --> 00:05:51.189 -German naval race. Right. Kaiser Wilhelm II 00:05:51.189 --> 00:05:53.790 wanted a German navy that could challenge Britain's 00:05:53.790 --> 00:05:56.230 Royal Navy, which had ruled the waves for centuries. 00:05:56.569 --> 00:05:58.889 He did. It was a huge departure from Bismarck's 00:05:58.889 --> 00:06:01.870 earlier, more cautious foreign policy, which 00:06:01.870 --> 00:06:04.389 always tried not to provoke Britain. Wilhelm 00:06:04.389 --> 00:06:06.050 wanted Germany to have its place in the sun, 00:06:06.170 --> 00:06:09.040 and a big navy was part of that vision. And this 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:11.240 race had a pivotal moment, didn't it, with one 00:06:11.240 --> 00:06:15.199 specific ship? HMS Dreadnought. Launched in 1906. 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:18.180 You really can't overstate its impact. What made 00:06:18.180 --> 00:06:21.740 it so revolutionary? It had two key things. All 00:06:21.740 --> 00:06:24.160 big guns of the same caliber, allowing for better 00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.899 fire control, and steam turbine engines, making 00:06:26.899 --> 00:06:29.600 it much faster. In an instant, Dreadnought made 00:06:29.600 --> 00:06:33.120 every single battleship afloat, including Germany's 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:36.240 brand new ones, basically obsolete. So all that 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:38.839 money Germany had already spent? Kind of wasted. 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:41.319 Essentially, yes. They'd poured fortunes into 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:43.420 building a fleet, and suddenly the British had 00:06:43.420 --> 00:06:46.019 leapfrogged them technologically. Now Germany 00:06:46.019 --> 00:06:48.639 had to spend even more enormous sums just to 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:51.300 try and catch up to this new standard. So strategically, 00:06:51.620 --> 00:06:54.220 it was a disaster for Germany. A massive strategic 00:06:54.220 --> 00:06:56.839 blunder. They spent enough to guarantee Britain 00:06:56.839 --> 00:06:59.139 would see them as a threat and likely join any 00:06:59.139 --> 00:07:01.399 war against them, but they never invested enough 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:03.500 to actually beat the Royal Navy. And did that 00:07:03.500 --> 00:07:06.569 failure lead them to shift focus? It did. Around 00:07:06.569 --> 00:07:10.069 1911, 1912, Germany realized the naval race was 00:07:10.069 --> 00:07:12.930 probably unwinnable, or at least too costly. 00:07:13.189 --> 00:07:15.589 They initiated what's called the Rüstungswende, 00:07:15.670 --> 00:07:18.350 basically, an armament turning. They pivoted 00:07:18.350 --> 00:07:20.910 back to focusing massive investment on the army. 00:07:21.069 --> 00:07:23.819 Why the army specifically? Fear of Russia. Simple 00:07:23.819 --> 00:07:27.800 as that. After its defeat by Japan in 1905, Russia 00:07:27.800 --> 00:07:30.040 started recovering economically and militarily 00:07:30.040 --> 00:07:32.259 much faster than anyone expected. And they were 00:07:32.259 --> 00:07:34.800 building railways. Crucially, yes. They were 00:07:34.800 --> 00:07:37.639 rapidly expanding their railway network, especially 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:40.720 near Germany's eastern border. Now, German war 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:43.699 planning, like the famous Schlieffen Plan, depended 00:07:43.699 --> 00:07:46.300 entirely on being able to mobilize faster than 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:49.000 Russia. To compensate for Russia's massive population 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:51.699 of Venice. Exactly. So Russia building railways 00:07:51.699 --> 00:07:54.040 that could speed up its mobilization? That was 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:56.660 seen in Berlin as an existential threat. They 00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:58.579 felt their window of opportunity, their speed 00:07:58.579 --> 00:08:00.980 advantage, was closing fast. And you can see 00:08:00.980 --> 00:08:02.839 this in the spending figures, can't you? Oh yeah. 00:08:02.939 --> 00:08:06.420 The numbers are stark. Military spending by the 00:08:06.420 --> 00:08:10.620 six big European powers. Britain, France, Germany, 00:08:10.819 --> 00:08:14.379 Russia, Austria -Hungary. Italy went up by over 00:08:14.379 --> 00:08:18.379 50 % in real terms just between 1908 and 1913. 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:20.879 Everyone was getting ready. Everyone was actively 00:08:20.879 --> 00:08:23.600 preparing for a major war. The atmosphere was 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:26.019 incredibly tense. And the place where all these 00:08:26.019 --> 00:08:28.040 tensions seemed to converge, the real flashpoint, 00:08:28.120 --> 00:08:31.459 was the Balkans. The powder keg of Europe, as 00:08:31.459 --> 00:08:34.139 it was famously called. And the key destabilizing 00:08:34.139 --> 00:08:36.580 factor there was the continuing decline of the 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:38.960 Ottoman Empire. The sick man of Europe. Right. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.360 As the Ottomans weakened, everyone else, Russia, 00:08:41.500 --> 00:08:44.000 Austria, Hungary, the newly independent Balkan 00:08:44.000 --> 00:08:46.480 states themselves, saw opportunities to gain 00:08:46.480 --> 00:08:48.700 territory or influence. Russia saw itself as 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:50.620 the protector of the Slavs, didn't it? Like Serbia. 00:08:51.149 --> 00:08:53.049 It did, but Russian policy was actually quite 00:08:53.049 --> 00:08:55.330 complex. They wanted influence, sure, but they 00:08:55.330 --> 00:08:57.710 were also wary of a really strong Slavic state, 00:08:57.870 --> 00:09:00.509 like an expanded Serbia, controlling the strategically 00:09:00.509 --> 00:09:03.909 vital Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. Ironically, 00:09:03.950 --> 00:09:05.950 they sometimes preferred a weak Ottoman Empire 00:09:05.950 --> 00:09:08.389 controlling the Straits to a strong, ambitious 00:09:08.389 --> 00:09:11.080 Balkan power. So it wasn't simple. And this region 00:09:11.080 --> 00:09:13.700 just kept erupting, didn't it? Crisis after crisis. 00:09:13.980 --> 00:09:17.559 You had the Bosnian crisis in 1908, 1909, where 00:09:17.559 --> 00:09:20.039 Austria -Hungary formally annexed Bosnia and 00:09:20.039 --> 00:09:23.419 Herzegovina. That massively angered Serbia and 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:26.399 Russia. Because Serbia saw Bosnia as rightfully 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:28.580 theirs, or at least destined for a greater Serbia. 00:09:28.759 --> 00:09:31.379 Exactly. And many Bosnians were Serbs. Then you 00:09:31.379 --> 00:09:34.220 had the Balkan Wars in 1912 and 1913. These wars 00:09:34.220 --> 00:09:35.899 basically kicked the Ottomans almost entirely 00:09:35.899 --> 00:09:38.240 out of Europe, but they also led to Serbia nearly 00:09:38.240 --> 00:09:40.960 doubling in size and becoming much more powerful 00:09:40.960 --> 00:09:43.620 and assertive. Which, for Austria -Hungary, must 00:09:43.620 --> 00:09:45.820 have been terrifying. Absolutely existential. 00:09:46.000 --> 00:09:48.440 Remember, Austria -Hungary was this huge, multi 00:09:48.440 --> 00:09:51.019 -ethnic empire with lots of its own Slavic populations. 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:54.899 Czechs, Slovaks, Croats, Slovenes, Poles, Ukrainians, 00:09:54.899 --> 00:09:57.659 and Serbs. A strong, nationalistic Serbia right 00:09:57.659 --> 00:10:00.360 on its border, acting as a magnet for South Slavs. 00:10:00.429 --> 00:10:02.990 loyalty. Vienna saw that as a direct threat to 00:10:02.990 --> 00:10:05.750 the empire's very survival. So nationalism, declining 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:08.190 empires, competing ambitions, rigid alliances, 00:10:08.490 --> 00:10:11.750 an arms race. The stage was well and truly set. 00:10:12.149 --> 00:10:14.110 Perfectly set. All it needed was a spark. And 00:10:14.110 --> 00:10:17.750 that spark came on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo. 00:10:17.870 --> 00:10:21.730 Yes. Archduke Franz Ferdinand, who was the heir 00:10:21.730 --> 00:10:24.629 to the Austro -Hungarian throne, and his wife 00:10:24.629 --> 00:10:27.669 Sophie were assassinated during a visit to Sarajevo, 00:10:27.769 --> 00:10:30.480 the capital of Bosnia. The assassin was Gavrilo 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:32.720 Princip. He was a Bosnian Serb, part of a group 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:34.899 called Young Bosnia. That's right. And critically, 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.659 our sources confirm Princip and his collaborators 00:10:37.659 --> 00:10:40.220 were supplied with weapons and training by Serbian 00:10:40.220 --> 00:10:42.759 nationalist extremists, specifically elements 00:10:42.759 --> 00:10:45.179 within a shadowy group called the Black Hand, 00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:47.980 which had ties to Serbian military intelligence. 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:52.480 Now, the immediate reaction in Vienna, it's interesting. 00:10:52.559 --> 00:10:54.740 One source we looked at said the news. Almost 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:57.039 failed to make any impression whatsoever initially. 00:10:57.340 --> 00:11:00.000 It is surprising, isn't it? You'd expect immediate 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:03.460 outrage, maybe spontaneous grief. But it seems 00:11:03.460 --> 00:11:06.200 at first it didn't quite register as this empire 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:09.129 shattering event. But that changed. Very quickly. 00:11:09.289 --> 00:11:11.850 As historian Christopher Clark puts it, officials 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:13.889 in Vienna soon realized this was an opportunity. 00:11:14.230 --> 00:11:16.649 They saw the assassination not just as a tragedy, 00:11:16.690 --> 00:11:19.669 but as a pretext. Clark calls it a 9 -1 -1 effect, 00:11:19.929 --> 00:11:22.370 a terrorist act loaded with historical meaning 00:11:22.370 --> 00:11:24.769 that could completely change the political chemistry. 00:11:25.129 --> 00:11:27.750 Change it in what way? To finally deal with Serbia. 00:11:27.850 --> 00:11:30.549 They saw this as the perfect justification to 00:11:30.549 --> 00:11:33.389 crush Serbian nationalism and interference in 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:35.940 Bosnia once and for all. They weren't looking 00:11:35.940 --> 00:11:38.139 for justice. They were looking for a reason to 00:11:38.139 --> 00:11:41.039 go to war. And that led to the diplomatic maneuvering 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:45.480 in July 1914, the so -called July Crisis. Austria 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:49.019 issues an ultimatum to Serbia. On July 23rd. 00:11:49.019 --> 00:11:52.000 And this ultimatum, when you read it, it's clearly 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:54.779 designed to be impossible for Serbia to accept 00:11:54.779 --> 00:11:58.360 fully. It had 10 demands, but some were particularly 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:00.919 provocative, weren't they? Absolutely. The most 00:12:00.919 --> 00:12:03.299 crucial ones demanded that Serbia allow Austrian 00:12:03.299 --> 00:12:06.500 officials to operate on Serbian soil to suppress 00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:09.299 anti -Austrian groups and even participate in 00:12:09.299 --> 00:12:11.470 the investigation into the assassination. That's 00:12:11.470 --> 00:12:13.669 a direct violation of sovereignty. No independent 00:12:13.669 --> 00:12:16.690 nation could really accept that. Precisely. Serbia 00:12:16.690 --> 00:12:18.870 actually gave a very conciliatory reply. They 00:12:18.870 --> 00:12:21.549 mobilized their army, but agreed to almost all 00:12:21.549 --> 00:12:24.289 the demands except those specific points about 00:12:24.289 --> 00:12:26.590 Austrian officials operating within Serbia. But 00:12:26.590 --> 00:12:28.809 that wasn't good enough for Austria. Not at all. 00:12:28.889 --> 00:12:31.850 Austria immediately declared the reply unsatisfactory, 00:12:31.970 --> 00:12:34.549 broke off diplomatic relations, and cruefully 00:12:34.549 --> 00:12:38.809 declared war on Serbia on July 28, 1914. So the 00:12:38.809 --> 00:12:41.539 first domino falls. And then the alliance system 00:12:41.539 --> 00:12:44.940 kicks in just as feared. Exactly. Russia saw 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.919 itself as Serbia's protector. Facing Austria's 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:50.500 declaration of war, Russia began to mobilize 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:53.519 its massive army along the Austrian border on 00:12:53.519 --> 00:12:56.870 July 30th. Now, Germany's role here is critical. 00:12:57.029 --> 00:12:59.230 They were allied with Austria -Hungary. Yes. 00:12:59.330 --> 00:13:01.409 And they had given Austria what's known as the 00:13:01.409 --> 00:13:04.610 blank check earlier in July, basically promising 00:13:04.610 --> 00:13:06.990 full support for whatever Austria decided to 00:13:06.990 --> 00:13:09.429 do about Serbia. But Germany played the timing 00:13:09.429 --> 00:13:11.509 quite carefully. How so? They actually delay 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:14.629 their own mobilization until July 31st. They 00:13:14.629 --> 00:13:16.870 wanted Russia to mobilize first so they could 00:13:16.870 --> 00:13:19.330 frame Russia as the aggressor. This was really 00:13:19.330 --> 00:13:21.309 important for public opinion back home in Germany, 00:13:21.450 --> 00:13:23.690 especially to get the socialist parties to support 00:13:23.690 --> 00:13:25.830 the war effort. So they wait for Russia to mobilize, 00:13:26.129 --> 00:13:28.850 then they demand Russia stop. Right. Russia refuses. 00:13:29.330 --> 00:13:32.629 So Germany declares war on Russia on August 1st. 00:13:32.730 --> 00:13:35.509 And because of their war plan, the Schlieffen 00:13:35.509 --> 00:13:38.649 plan, war with Russia automatically meant war 00:13:38.649 --> 00:13:41.940 with France, Russia's ally. So Germany declares 00:13:41.940 --> 00:13:44.799 war on France two days later on August 3rd. OK, 00:13:44.860 --> 00:13:47.799 so Austria, Serbia, Russia, Germany, France are 00:13:47.799 --> 00:13:51.039 all in. What about the UK? Britain's entry is 00:13:51.039 --> 00:13:54.269 the final piece and it hinges on Belgium. Britain, 00:13:54.370 --> 00:13:56.929 going way back to the 1839 Treaty of London, 00:13:57.090 --> 00:13:59.649 had formally guaranteed Belgium's neutrality. 00:13:59.730 --> 00:14:02.049 And Germany's war plan, the Schlieffen Plan. 00:14:02.110 --> 00:14:04.389 Absolutely required German armies to march through 00:14:04.389 --> 00:14:06.750 neutral Belgium to attack France from the north. 00:14:06.889 --> 00:14:08.970 It was the cornerstone of their strategy for 00:14:08.970 --> 00:14:10.929 a quick victory. Did Germany think Britain would 00:14:10.929 --> 00:14:12.889 just ignore the treaty? The German chancellor 00:14:12.889 --> 00:14:15.409 famously dismissed the treaty as a scrap of paper. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:18.039 They seriously miscalculated Britain's commitment 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:20.419 or perhaps Britain's willingness to use it as 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:22.259 a reason to enter the war against a rival power. 00:14:22.519 --> 00:14:24.740 When German troops crossed into Belgium on August 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:27.580 4th, Britain issued an ultimatum demanding they 00:14:27.580 --> 00:14:29.980 withdraw. Germany refused. And Britain declared 00:14:29.980 --> 00:14:33.419 war. Britain declared war. The conflict was now 00:14:33.419 --> 00:14:35.620 truly continental. And with Britain involved, 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:37.559 it became global because of the British Empire. 00:14:38.139 --> 00:14:40.179 While all these declarations are happening, what's 00:14:40.179 --> 00:14:42.899 going on back in the Balkans on the ground? The 00:14:42.899 --> 00:14:45.570 violence starts almost immediately. even before 00:14:45.570 --> 00:14:48.649 the major armies clash. In places like Sarajevo 00:14:48.649 --> 00:14:51.889 and across Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Austro 00:14:51.889 --> 00:14:54.429 -Hungarian territory with large Serb populations, 00:14:54.889 --> 00:14:57.690 authorities actively encouraged anti -Serb riots. 00:14:58.049 --> 00:15:00.889 So, neighbor turning against neighbor. Yes, often 00:15:00.889 --> 00:15:03.389 fueled by existing tensions and actively stoked 00:15:03.389 --> 00:15:05.950 by the authorities. Our sources mention thousands 00:15:05.950 --> 00:15:08.649 of prominent Serbs being arrested over 5 ,500 00:15:08.649 --> 00:15:12.629 and estimates of up to 2 ,200 executed. They 00:15:12.629 --> 00:15:14.470 even used special militias like the predominantly 00:15:14.470 --> 00:15:16.809 Bosniak Schutzkorps to carry out some of these 00:15:16.809 --> 00:15:19.409 actions. A brutal start, and the initial Austrian 00:15:19.409 --> 00:15:22.110 military campaign against Serbia itself. It was 00:15:22.110 --> 00:15:24.649 a disaster for Austria. Despite the chaos and 00:15:24.649 --> 00:15:26.909 the size difference, the Serbian army, battle 00:15:26.909 --> 00:15:29.450 -hardened from the Balkan Wars, inflicted stunning 00:15:29.450 --> 00:15:31.990 defeats on the invading Austrians in August 1914 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:35.529 at the Battles of Sur and Kolobara. Really, an 00:15:35.529 --> 00:15:38.169 upset victory. A major upset victory, one of 00:15:38.169 --> 00:15:41.200 the biggest of the 20th century, arguably. And 00:15:41.200 --> 00:15:45.039 it had huge strategic importance. It forced Austria 00:15:45.039 --> 00:15:47.960 -Hungary to divert significant forces to the 00:15:47.960 --> 00:15:50.940 Serbian front throughout 1914, weakening their 00:15:50.940 --> 00:15:53.059 efforts against Russia on the much larger eastern 00:15:53.059 --> 00:15:56.820 front. Serbia's resistance really mattered. Okay, 00:15:56.899 --> 00:16:00.139 so the war is global. Germany's grand strategy, 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:02.899 the Schlieffen Plan, was all about avoiding a 00:16:02.899 --> 00:16:05.559 long two -front war by knocking France out quickly. 00:16:05.879 --> 00:16:08.860 Within six weeks, that was the idea. before Russia 00:16:08.860 --> 00:16:11.000 could fully mobilize its huge army. But it didn't 00:16:11.000 --> 00:16:14.000 work. The plan failed. Why? What went wrong? 00:16:14.259 --> 00:16:16.179 Well, several things. The plan itself had been 00:16:16.179 --> 00:16:18.039 modified from the original by the German Chiefs 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:20.549 of Staff, Boltke the Younger. Schlieffen's original 00:16:20.549 --> 00:16:23.009 concept was incredibly bold, a massive right 00:16:23.009 --> 00:16:25.389 hook through Belgium, with almost all the forces 00:16:25.389 --> 00:16:27.570 concentrated there. Moltke weakened that right 00:16:27.570 --> 00:16:29.870 hook, didn't he? He did. He shifted troops to 00:16:29.870 --> 00:16:31.690 strengthen the left flank in Alsace -Lorraine, 00:16:31.809 --> 00:16:34.350 partly out of caution, partly for political reasons. 00:16:34.570 --> 00:16:37.490 This arguably made the crucial right wing too 00:16:37.490 --> 00:16:39.830 weak to deliver the knockout blow. And then there 00:16:39.830 --> 00:16:41.850 were decisions made on the ground during the 00:16:41.850 --> 00:16:45.190 advance. Yes. As the German First Army under 00:16:45.190 --> 00:16:47.750 von Klick approached Terrace, he made a critical 00:16:47.750 --> 00:16:51.320 decision. Fearing his flank was exposed, he turned 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:54.120 inward, southeast of Paris, instead of continuing 00:16:54.120 --> 00:16:56.679 the planned wide sweep around the city. And that 00:16:56.679 --> 00:17:00.159 created an opening. A fatal gap. It opened up 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.480 a space between his army and the German Second 00:17:02.480 --> 00:17:05.470 Army. The French, along with the small but professional 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:09.130 British Expeditionary Force, BEF, spotted this 00:17:09.130 --> 00:17:11.970 gap and launched a desperate counterattack. The 00:17:11.970 --> 00:17:14.190 First Battle of the Marne. The First Battle of 00:17:14.190 --> 00:17:17.490 the Marne, early September 1914. It halted the 00:17:17.490 --> 00:17:20.009 German advance. It wasn't a total rout, but it 00:17:20.009 --> 00:17:22.069 was a decisive strategic defeat for Germany. 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:24.710 The chance for a quick victory was gone. And 00:17:24.710 --> 00:17:26.980 the realization must have set in quickly. It 00:17:26.980 --> 00:17:29.220 did. There's that chilling quote attributed to 00:17:29.220 --> 00:17:31.279 the German crown prince Wilhelm around that time, 00:17:31.380 --> 00:17:34.079 supposedly saying to an American reporter, we 00:17:34.079 --> 00:17:36.660 have lost the war. It will go on for a long time, 00:17:36.700 --> 00:17:39.759 but lost it is already. He saw that the two -front 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:43.400 war Germany dreaded was now inevitable. So after 00:17:43.400 --> 00:17:45.619 the Marne, both sides tried to outflank each 00:17:45.619 --> 00:17:47.859 other, heading north towards the coast. Right, 00:17:47.940 --> 00:17:50.859 the so -called race to the sea. Neither side 00:17:50.859 --> 00:17:53.000 could outflank the other. And the result was 00:17:53.000 --> 00:17:55.740 this continuous line of trenches digging in, 00:17:55.839 --> 00:17:57.980 stretching all the way from the English Channel 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:01.400 down to the Swiss border, about 400 miles. The 00:18:01.400 --> 00:18:04.299 Western Front stalemate. And you can even see 00:18:04.299 --> 00:18:06.579 their strategic thinking in how they built the 00:18:06.579 --> 00:18:09.599 trenches, can't you? You really can. German trenches 00:18:09.599 --> 00:18:11.460 were generally much better constructed from the 00:18:11.460 --> 00:18:14.480 start, often deeper, more reinforced, sometimes 00:18:14.480 --> 00:18:17.640 with concrete, better bunkers. Why? Because they 00:18:17.640 --> 00:18:20.539 knew they were stuck there. Basically, yes. They 00:18:20.539 --> 00:18:23.019 accepted the reality as a long defensive war 00:18:23.019 --> 00:18:25.480 in the West while they dealt with Russia. The 00:18:25.480 --> 00:18:28.019 Allies, on the other hand, especially initially, 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:31.160 tended to build less permanent trenches. Because 00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:33.059 they still believed they could break through. 00:18:33.259 --> 00:18:35.680 Exactly. They kept thinking their trenches were 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:38.460 just temporary positions, holding the line until 00:18:38.460 --> 00:18:40.380 the next big offensive would finally restore 00:18:40.380 --> 00:18:43.519 mobile warfare. That belief cost countless lives. 00:18:43.799 --> 00:18:47.019 And it led to this horrifying mismatch. Old tactics 00:18:47.019 --> 00:18:50.279 against new defensive tech. Precisely. You had 00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:53.579 generals ordering massed infantry assaults, soldiers 00:18:53.579 --> 00:18:56.059 advancing shoulder to shoulder, basically 19th 00:18:56.059 --> 00:18:59.099 century tactics. Straight into 20th century defensive 00:18:59.099 --> 00:19:02.920 firepower. Machine guns in concrete pillboxes, 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.339 miles of barbed wire, and incredibly powerful, 00:19:06.539 --> 00:19:09.859 accurate artillery. The result was industrialized 00:19:09.859 --> 00:19:12.680 slaughter on an unprecedented scale. And when 00:19:12.680 --> 00:19:15.200 the offensives failed, they looked for technological 00:19:15.200 --> 00:19:18.599 solutions, sometimes horrific ones. Like chemical 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:21.140 warfare. The Germans first used chlorine gas 00:19:21.140 --> 00:19:23.599 on a large scale at the Second Battle of Ypres 00:19:23.599 --> 00:19:27.079 in April 1915. It caused panic and broke the 00:19:27.079 --> 00:19:29.000 Allied line initially. Which was a violation 00:19:29.000 --> 00:19:30.960 of international treaties, right? The Hague Convention. 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:34.619 It was. And while gas ultimately didn't prove 00:19:34.619 --> 00:19:37.000 decisive countermeasures like gas masks were 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:39.980 developed, winds were unpredictable. Its psychological 00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:42.559 impact was enormous. It became one of the most 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:45.039 feared aspects of the war. How many casualties 00:19:45.039 --> 00:19:47.700 are attributed to gas? The estimates are around 00:19:47.700 --> 00:19:50.819 1 .3 million casualties overall, maybe 90 ,000 00:19:50.819 --> 00:19:53.720 fatalities. But the terror it inspired went far 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:55.519 beyond the numbers. But offensive technology 00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:57.920 eventually started to catch up, didn't it, by 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:01.940 later in the war? Slowly, yes. The British pioneered 00:20:01.940 --> 00:20:04.019 the tank, starting with prototypes like Little 00:20:04.019 --> 00:20:06.720 Willie. The idea was an armored vehicle that 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:08.960 could cross trenches, crush barbed wire, and 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:11.140 attack machine gun posts. Did they work well 00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:13.940 initially? They had lots of problems. Mechanical 00:20:13.940 --> 00:20:16.980 breakdowns, slow speed, vulnerability. But by 00:20:16.980 --> 00:20:20.259 1917, 1918, used en masse and coordinated with 00:20:20.259 --> 00:20:22.579 infantry and artillery, they started to make 00:20:22.579 --> 00:20:24.900 a difference in breaking this stalemate. You 00:20:24.900 --> 00:20:26.819 mentioned artillery earlier. That changed dramatically, 00:20:26.980 --> 00:20:29.900 too. Hugely. Probably the most important tactical 00:20:29.900 --> 00:20:33.150 innovation. Artillery shifted from mostly direct 00:20:33.150 --> 00:20:36.410 fire, where you could see the target, to sophisticated 00:20:36.410 --> 00:20:39.210 indirect fire. How did that work? Using maps, 00:20:39.329 --> 00:20:41.549 mathematics, and crucially new communication 00:20:41.549 --> 00:20:44.329 methods. Spotter aircraft or observers on the 00:20:44.329 --> 00:20:46.509 ground could use field telephones to relay target 00:20:46.509 --> 00:20:48.809 coordinates back to gun batteries miles behind 00:20:48.809 --> 00:20:50.809 the lines. So they could hit targets they couldn't 00:20:50.809 --> 00:20:53.190 even see? Exactly. And they could concentrate 00:20:53.190 --> 00:20:55.569 fire from hundreds of guns onto a small area 00:20:55.569 --> 00:20:59.809 with devastating accuracy. This ability to deliver 00:20:59.809 --> 00:21:02.849 massed, precise artillery fire became the key 00:21:02.849 --> 00:21:05.430 to both defense and offense on the Western Front. 00:21:05.609 --> 00:21:07.809 But trying to break through these defenses, even 00:21:07.809 --> 00:21:10.289 with new tech, led to these battles of attrition 00:21:10.289 --> 00:21:14.509 with unimaginable costs. Verdun in 1916. Verdun, 00:21:14.549 --> 00:21:17.269 a 10 -month meat grinder. The Germans intended 00:21:17.269 --> 00:21:19.890 to bleed France white. It became this symbol 00:21:19.890 --> 00:21:21.890 of French determination that they shall not pass 00:21:21.890 --> 00:21:25.299 spirit. But the cost? Estimates range from 700 00:21:25.299 --> 00:21:28.160 ,000 up to nearly a million total casualties 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:31.059 on both sides. Just horrific. And the Somme also 00:21:31.059 --> 00:21:33.759 in 1916. The Somme is infamous, especially for 00:21:33.759 --> 00:21:36.559 the British. That first day, July 1st, 1916, 00:21:36.779 --> 00:21:40.000 the British Army suffered 57 ,500 casualties. 00:21:40.299 --> 00:21:44.299 57 ,000 in one day. In one day. It remains the 00:21:44.299 --> 00:21:46.460 single bloodiest day in British military history. 00:21:46.799 --> 00:21:48.920 The total battle lasted months and cost the British 00:21:48.920 --> 00:21:52.339 around 420 ,000 casualties, the French 200 ,000, 00:21:52.420 --> 00:21:54.660 and the Germans maybe half a million. Over a 00:21:54.660 --> 00:21:56.480 million casualties from minimal territorial games. 00:21:56.680 --> 00:21:58.559 It forces you to ask, what were the commanders 00:21:58.559 --> 00:22:00.720 thinking? Did they truly believe this was the 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:02.980 only way, or were they just trapped in this mindset 00:22:02.980 --> 00:22:05.279 of attrition? That's a debate historians still 00:22:05.279 --> 00:22:08.519 grapple with. Was it incompetence, stubbornness, 00:22:08.559 --> 00:22:11.299 or a grim acceptance that this was the terrible 00:22:11.299 --> 00:22:14.559 price of industrialized warfare? Probably a mixture 00:22:14.559 --> 00:22:16.920 of all three. And even if you survived the shelling 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:19.259 and the attacks, the trenches themselves were 00:22:19.259 --> 00:22:22.460 deadly. Absolutely. Disease was rampant. Trench 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:25.359 foot, caused by constant wet and cold, could 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:28.619 lead to gangrene and amputation. Typhus, spread 00:22:28.619 --> 00:22:31.119 by lice, was a major killer, especially on the 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:33.259 eastern front. One source mentioned it killed 00:22:33.259 --> 00:22:36.519 200 ,000 people in Serbia alone back in 1914. 00:22:36.779 --> 00:22:40.619 Plus dysentery, influenza. Exactly. The battlefield 00:22:40.619 --> 00:22:42.839 wasn't just a killing zone. It was a breeding 00:22:42.839 --> 00:22:45.420 ground for disease, amplifying the suffering 00:22:45.420 --> 00:22:47.819 and contributing to that later Spanish flu pandemic 00:22:47.819 --> 00:22:50.789 we talked about. It was death from shells. bullets, 00:22:51.009 --> 00:22:53.369 gas, and germs. While the Western Front gets 00:22:53.369 --> 00:22:55.789 a lot of attention for that static trench warfare, 00:22:56.109 --> 00:22:58.549 the war was obviously global, and other fronts 00:22:58.549 --> 00:23:00.750 were often much more fluid. Let's look at the 00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:02.750 Eastern Front. Right, the fighting between Germany 00:23:02.750 --> 00:23:05.029 and Austria, Hungary on one side and Russia on 00:23:05.029 --> 00:23:07.809 the other. This was a vast theater of war, characterized 00:23:07.809 --> 00:23:10.710 by huge distances, sweeping maneuvers, and enormous 00:23:10.710 --> 00:23:13.390 armies. Russia surprised Germany with how fast 00:23:13.390 --> 00:23:15.190 they mobilized initially, didn't they? They did. 00:23:15.329 --> 00:23:17.190 They attacked into East Prussia within about 00:23:17.190 --> 00:23:19.710 15 days, much quicker than the Schlieffen plan. 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.720 had anticipated. This forced Germany to pull 00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:25.279 troops away from the Western Front right at that 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:28.140 critical moment of the Battle of the Marne. Arguably, 00:23:28.220 --> 00:23:30.980 Russia's speed helped save France early on. But 00:23:30.980 --> 00:23:33.680 that speed came at a cost for Russia. It did. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:36.220 The Russian army was enormous, the famous Russian 00:23:36.220 --> 00:23:38.980 steamroller, but it lacked the heavy artillery, 00:23:39.259 --> 00:23:41.680 the logistical support, the industrial base to 00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.160 sustain a long modern war. They suffered huge 00:23:45.160 --> 00:23:48.059 losses and devastating defeats early on, like 00:23:48.059 --> 00:23:51.039 the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914, which essentially 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:53.339 destroyed a Russian army and drove them out of 00:23:53.339 --> 00:23:55.880 Germany. Yet they kept fighting for years. Was 00:23:55.880 --> 00:23:57.880 there a point where Russia seemed to be gaining 00:23:57.880 --> 00:24:00.799 the upper hand? There was a major moment in 1916, 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:03.829 the Bruslov Offensive. General Alexei Brusilov 00:24:03.829 --> 00:24:06.390 launched this massive attack against the Austro 00:24:06.390 --> 00:24:08.769 -Hungarian lines in Galicia using innovative 00:24:08.769 --> 00:24:10.950 tactics. What was different about it? Instead 00:24:10.950 --> 00:24:13.970 of one huge, predictable bombardment on a narrow 00:24:13.970 --> 00:24:17.630 front, Brusilov used short, intense barrages 00:24:17.630 --> 00:24:20.609 across a very wide front, followed by surprise 00:24:20.609 --> 00:24:24.349 infantry attacks at multiple points. It shattered 00:24:24.349 --> 00:24:27.690 the Austrian lines. How successful was it? Initially, 00:24:27.690 --> 00:24:30.930 incredibly successful. It was perhaps the most 00:24:30.930 --> 00:24:33.329 successful Allied offensive of the entire war 00:24:33.329 --> 00:24:36.230 in terms of territory gained and prisoners taken. 00:24:36.329 --> 00:24:38.849 It caused panic in the central powers. And it 00:24:38.849 --> 00:24:41.450 had wider effects. Definitely. It forced the 00:24:41.450 --> 00:24:43.390 Germans to pull vital troops away from the Battle 00:24:43.390 --> 00:24:45.930 of Verdun in the west to bail out the Austrians. 00:24:46.109 --> 00:24:48.710 It relieved pressure on the Italian front. And 00:24:48.710 --> 00:24:50.529 it finally convinced Romania to join the Allies, 00:24:50.769 --> 00:24:53.089 hoping to gain territory from Austria -Hungary. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:55.119 But it sounds like there was a downside, too. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:24:57.700 A massive downside. The offensive cost the Russian 00:24:57.700 --> 00:25:00.680 army maybe a million casualties. And while it 00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:03.059 devastated the Austro -Hungarian army, it also 00:25:03.059 --> 00:25:06.059 bled the Russian army white. It used up Russia's 00:25:06.059 --> 00:25:08.400 last reserves of trained manpower and material, 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:11.000 fueling the growing discontent and exhaustion 00:25:11.000 --> 00:25:13.099 back home that would explode into revolution 00:25:13.099 --> 00:25:16.319 the following year. Brusilov's success paradoxically 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.579 hastened Russia's collapse. Okay, let's shift 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:21.000 focus to the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:24.359 joined the Central Powers later in 1914. Why 00:25:24.359 --> 00:25:27.200 was that significant? Hugely significant. It 00:25:27.200 --> 00:25:30.259 opened up entirely new fronts. Suddenly, Russia 00:25:30.259 --> 00:25:32.960 was threatened in the Caucasus region. And critically 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:35.420 for Britain, the Ottomans threatened the Suez 00:25:35.420 --> 00:25:38.380 Canal in Egypt. The lifeline to India and the 00:25:38.380 --> 00:25:41.059 rest of the British Empire. Exactly. Protecting 00:25:41.059 --> 00:25:43.200 the Suez Canal became a top British priority. 00:25:43.819 --> 00:25:46.200 The Ottomans also controlled the Dardanelles 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.660 Straits, cutting off the easiest sea route for 00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:50.859 the Western Allies to supply Russia. The Ottoman 00:25:50.859 --> 00:25:53.039 entry didn't start well for them militarily, 00:25:53.160 --> 00:25:55.539 did it, in the Caucasus? No, it was a disaster. 00:25:55.880 --> 00:25:58.160 And Verpascha, the Ottoman leader, launched this 00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:00.140 ambitious winter offensive against the Russians 00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:03.339 in the Caucasus Mountains at Sarikamish in December 00:26:03.339 --> 00:26:06.240 1914. It was poorly planned. Soldiers weren't 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:08.299 equipped for the extreme cold. They lost something 00:26:08.299 --> 00:26:11.180 like 86 % of their army, mostly to frostbite 00:26:11.180 --> 00:26:13.359 and disease. Wow. But the Allies had... their 00:26:13.359 --> 00:26:15.599 own disasters in the Ottoman theater, like Gallipoli. 00:26:15.900 --> 00:26:19.220 Gallipoli, yes. The 1915 attempt by Britain and 00:26:19.220 --> 00:26:21.599 France, heavily involving Australian and New 00:26:21.599 --> 00:26:24.480 Zealand troops, the ANZACs to force the Dardanelles 00:26:24.480 --> 00:26:26.539 Straits and capture Constantinople. It was a 00:26:26.539 --> 00:26:29.240 bloody failure. Huge casualties on both sides. 00:26:29.420 --> 00:26:30.839 But elsewhere in the Middle East, the British 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:33.430 eventually had more success. They did. British 00:26:33.430 --> 00:26:35.730 imperial forces, often using troops from India, 00:26:35.890 --> 00:26:38.509 advanced through Mesopotamia, capturing Baghdad 00:26:38.509 --> 00:26:41.970 in 1917. And another campaign pushed across the 00:26:41.970 --> 00:26:44.430 Sinai Desert into Palestine, eventually capturing 00:26:44.430 --> 00:26:47.609 Jerusalem. Figures like T .E. Lawrence of Arabia 00:26:47.609 --> 00:26:50.009 were involved in supporting the Arab revolt against 00:26:50.009 --> 00:26:52.630 the Ottomans there. This theater also saw one 00:26:52.630 --> 00:26:54.569 of the darkest events of the war, didn't it? 00:26:54.670 --> 00:26:58.470 Yes, the Armenian Genocide. Starting in 1915, 00:26:58.730 --> 00:27:00.730 the Ottoman government, under the cover of war, 00:27:00.890 --> 00:27:03.910 initiated systematic deportations and massacres 00:27:03.910 --> 00:27:06.089 of its Armenian Christian population. They claimed 00:27:06.089 --> 00:27:08.269 it was a security measure. That was the pretext, 00:27:08.349 --> 00:27:11.250 that Armenians were potentially disloyal or collaborating 00:27:11.250 --> 00:27:14.450 with Russia. But the scale and brutality forced 00:27:14.450 --> 00:27:17.769 marches into the desert. Mass killings led historians 00:27:17.769 --> 00:27:21.269 to classify it as genocide. Estimates are around 00:27:21.269 --> 00:27:25.480 1 .5 million Armenians died. Similar atrocities 00:27:25.480 --> 00:27:27.460 were also committed against other Christian groups 00:27:27.460 --> 00:27:30.259 like Assyrians and Greeks. And Turkey still denies 00:27:30.259 --> 00:27:32.859 it was genocide today. Officially, yes. It remains 00:27:32.859 --> 00:27:35.160 a deeply contentious issue. Okay, let's move 00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:37.599 to another front, the Italian front. Italy started 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:40.180 in the Triple Alliance but switched sides. They 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:43.599 did. In 1915, Italy joined the Allies, tempted 00:27:43.599 --> 00:27:46.140 by promises of gaining Austro -Hungarian territory 00:27:46.140 --> 00:27:48.980 after the war areas like Trentino and Istria 00:27:48.980 --> 00:27:51.000 down the Adriatic coast. What was the fighting 00:27:51.000 --> 00:27:52.599 like there? It's sometimes called the White War, 00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:54.619 isn't it? Yes, because so much of it took place 00:27:54.619 --> 00:27:57.579 high up in the Alps and the Dolomites. The geography 00:27:57.579 --> 00:28:00.259 was just nightmarish for warfare. Trenches and 00:28:00.259 --> 00:28:03.180 mountains. Literally. Soldiers had to hack trenches 00:28:03.180 --> 00:28:05.660 out of rock and ice. Fighting often happened 00:28:05.660 --> 00:28:08.279 at incredibly high altitudes. Avalanches were 00:28:08.279 --> 00:28:10.420 a constant danger, sometimes killing more men 00:28:10.420 --> 00:28:13.160 than the enemy. Supply was a logistical nightmare. 00:28:13.500 --> 00:28:16.380 And the Italian commander, Cadorna, he had a 00:28:16.380 --> 00:28:19.660 reputation. A terrible reputation. Luigi Cadorna 00:28:19.660 --> 00:28:21.579 believed solely in the mass frontal assault. 00:28:21.799 --> 00:28:24.319 He launched 12 major battles along the Asanzo 00:28:24.319 --> 00:28:27.559 River between 1915 and 1917. 12 battles in the 00:28:27.559 --> 00:28:30.380 same place. Basically, yes. Trying to break through 00:28:30.380 --> 00:28:33.140 the Austrian mountain defenses, they gained almost 00:28:33.140 --> 00:28:35.920 no ground, but suffered horrific casualties, 00:28:35.980 --> 00:28:38.339 something like half a million Italian combat 00:28:38.339 --> 00:28:41.480 deaths during the war, many of them in these 00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:44.279 feudal Isonzo offensives. Did the front ever 00:28:44.279 --> 00:28:47.279 break? It did, but initially against the Italians. 00:28:47.500 --> 00:28:50.460 In 1917, a combined German -Austrian offensive 00:28:50.460 --> 00:28:53.140 at Caporetto utterly shattered the Italian lines, 00:28:53.319 --> 00:28:55.480 causing a massive retreat. It almost knocked 00:28:55.480 --> 00:28:57.559 Italy out of the war. But they recovered. They 00:28:57.559 --> 00:28:59.940 regrouped with Allied help along the Piave River. 00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:02.259 And then right at the end of the war, in late 00:29:02.259 --> 00:29:04.920 October 1918, the Italians launched their own 00:29:04.920 --> 00:29:07.680 final offensive at Vittorio Veneto. This time, 00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:10.200 the Austro -Hungarian army, already disintegrating 00:29:10.200 --> 00:29:12.480 from internal nationalist pressures, just collapsed. 00:29:12.779 --> 00:29:14.839 That victory essentially ended the war on the 00:29:14.839 --> 00:29:17.180 Italian front and precipitated the final breakup 00:29:17.180 --> 00:29:19.940 of the Austro -Hungarian Empire. Lastly, let's 00:29:19.940 --> 00:29:22.140 touch on the war at sea beyond the dreadnought 00:29:22.140 --> 00:29:25.180 effect. Germany tried commerce raiding. Early 00:29:25.180 --> 00:29:28.940 on, yes. Ships like the SMS Emden had some spectacular 00:29:28.940 --> 00:29:31.380 successes sinking Allied merchant ships around 00:29:31.380 --> 00:29:33.960 the globe. But the Royal Navy's dominance was 00:29:33.960 --> 00:29:36.160 too great. The surface raiders were hunted down 00:29:36.160 --> 00:29:38.559 fairly quickly. So Britain controlled the surface, 00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:42.519 and they used that control to blockade Germany. 00:29:42.740 --> 00:29:45.700 A naval blockade, yes. It was hugely controversial. 00:29:46.140 --> 00:29:48.940 Britain declared the North Sea a military area. 00:29:49.319 --> 00:29:52.099 mined international waters, and stopped and searched 00:29:52.099 --> 00:29:54.819 neutral ships heading for Germany, seizing goods 00:29:54.819 --> 00:29:57.579 they considered contraband, including food. Which 00:29:57.579 --> 00:30:00.059 arguably violated international law at the time. 00:30:00.119 --> 00:30:02.680 It did, but it was incredibly effective. Over 00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:05.140 time, the blockade caused severe shortages of 00:30:05.140 --> 00:30:07.500 food and essential raw materials inside Germany 00:30:07.500 --> 00:30:10.059 and Austria -Hungary, contributing significantly 00:30:10.059 --> 00:30:12.799 to domestic unrest and weakening their war effort. 00:30:13.059 --> 00:30:15.279 And Germany's response to the blockade led directly 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:17.960 to U .S. entry, didn't it? It did. Their main 00:30:17.960 --> 00:30:20.039 weapon against the blockade was the U -boat, 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:23.220 the submarine. Initially, they tried to follow 00:30:23.220 --> 00:30:25.859 prize rules warning ships before sinking them. 00:30:26.160 --> 00:30:28.380 But to be truly effective against the British 00:30:28.380 --> 00:30:31.059 blockade, they felt they needed to attack without 00:30:31.059 --> 00:30:34.240 warning. Unrestricted submarine warfare. Exactly. 00:30:34.539 --> 00:30:37.740 They first tried it in 1915, sank the Lusitania, 00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:40.819 caused outrage in the US, and backed down. But 00:30:40.819 --> 00:30:43.640 by early 1917, Germany was getting desperate. 00:30:44.000 --> 00:30:46.059 The war was dragging on. The blockade was biting 00:30:46.059 --> 00:30:48.599 hard. So they decided to gamble. A massive gamble. 00:30:48.819 --> 00:30:51.140 They announced they would resume unrestricted 00:30:51.140 --> 00:30:54.259 submarine warfare, sinking any ship, neutral 00:30:54.259 --> 00:30:56.579 or allied, found in the war zone around Britain. 00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:59.460 They knew this would almost certainly bring the 00:30:59.460 --> 00:31:02.170 United States into the war. So why do it? They 00:31:02.170 --> 00:31:04.049 calculated that they could starve Britain into 00:31:04.049 --> 00:31:06.769 submission by sinking ships faster than they 00:31:06.769 --> 00:31:09.089 could be replaced, forcing Britain out of the 00:31:09.089 --> 00:31:11.170 war before the U .S. could mobilize its army, 00:31:11.329 --> 00:31:14.230 train it, transport it across the Atlantic, and 00:31:14.230 --> 00:31:15.990 make a difference on the battlefield. A race 00:31:15.990 --> 00:31:17.849 against time. A desperate race against time. 00:31:17.950 --> 00:31:19.690 They thought they could win the war with the 00:31:19.690 --> 00:31:22.269 U -boats before America arrived in force. But 00:31:22.269 --> 00:31:25.269 the gamble failed. It failed. The U -boats initially 00:31:25.269 --> 00:31:28.130 caused huge losses, but the Allies eventually 00:31:28.130 --> 00:31:30.980 countered them effectively. mainly by adopting 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:33.680 the convoy system. Grouping merchant ships together 00:31:33.680 --> 00:31:36.839 with warship esports. Precisely. It made it much 00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:38.980 harder for U -boats to find and attack targets 00:31:38.980 --> 00:31:41.839 without being detected and counterattacked, especially 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:44.579 once escorts got better anti -submarine weapons 00:31:44.579 --> 00:31:47.799 like depth charges and listening devices called 00:31:47.799 --> 00:31:50.890 hydrophones. The U -boat threat was contained, 00:31:51.170 --> 00:31:53.990 Britain wasn't starved out, and the U .S. entered 00:31:53.990 --> 00:31:57.549 the war. So 1917 becomes this absolutely pivotal 00:31:57.549 --> 00:32:00.130 year. You have the U .S. entry, but also the 00:32:00.130 --> 00:32:02.029 collapse of Russia. Right. Russia had endured 00:32:02.029 --> 00:32:04.109 staggering losses, the economy was collapsing, 00:32:04.269 --> 00:32:06.089 there were severe food shortages in the cities, 00:32:06.190 --> 00:32:08.250 and the Tsar's government had lost all authority. 00:32:08.609 --> 00:32:11.069 This led to the February Revolution in 1917, 00:32:11.430 --> 00:32:14.099 which overthrew the Tsar. The provisional government 00:32:14.099 --> 00:32:16.220 that took over tried to continue the war? They 00:32:16.220 --> 00:32:18.380 did, which was a disastrous decision. The army 00:32:18.380 --> 00:32:21.079 and the country were just exhausted. This paved 00:32:21.079 --> 00:32:23.380 the way for the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, to 00:32:23.380 --> 00:32:25.900 seize power in the October Revolution, promising 00:32:25.900 --> 00:32:29.240 peace, land, and bread. And peace meant getting 00:32:29.240 --> 00:32:32.700 out of the war. Immediately. One of the first 00:32:32.700 --> 00:32:35.039 things the Bolsheviks did was seek an armistice 00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:37.900 with Germany. The negotiations led to the Treaty 00:32:37.900 --> 00:32:41.339 of Brest -Litovsk in March 1918. Which was incredibly 00:32:41.339 --> 00:32:43.839 harsh on Russia, wasn't it? Extremely punitive. 00:32:43.980 --> 00:32:47.859 Russia lost vast territories. Finland, the Baltic 00:32:47.859 --> 00:32:51.400 states. Poland, Ukraine, basically a huge chunk 00:32:51.400 --> 00:32:53.440 of its most valuable industrial and agricultural 00:32:53.440 --> 00:32:56.519 land. Lenin accepted the terms because he believed 00:32:56.519 --> 00:32:59.220 revolution would soon sweep Germany anyway, and 00:32:59.220 --> 00:33:01.460 he needed to consolidate Bolshevik power within 00:33:01.460 --> 00:33:03.619 Russia. So Russia is out. This must have been 00:33:03.619 --> 00:33:06.259 a huge boost for Germany. On paper, yes. They 00:33:06.259 --> 00:33:07.940 could finally transfer hundreds of thousands 00:33:07.940 --> 00:33:09.720 of veteran troops from the Eastern Front to the 00:33:09.720 --> 00:33:11.900 West. They no longer faced a major two -front 00:33:11.900 --> 00:33:13.740 war. But they were racing against the clock. 00:33:14.140 --> 00:33:17.279 Absolutely. Because the other huge event of 1917 00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:19.940 was the United States declaring war in April. 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:22.680 Triggered by the resumption of unrestricted submarine 00:33:22.680 --> 00:33:25.160 warfare and also things like the Zimmerman telegram. 00:33:25.359 --> 00:33:27.759 Right. The U .S. entry was a massive turning 00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:30.279 point. Not immediately in terms of troops on 00:33:30.279 --> 00:33:32.339 the ground. It took time to raise, train and 00:33:32.339 --> 00:33:34.440 transport the American Expeditionary Forces, 00:33:34.640 --> 00:33:37.660 AEF. But psychologically and economically, it 00:33:37.660 --> 00:33:39.819 was huge. How many troops did the U .S. mobilize? 00:33:40.660 --> 00:33:43.000 Eventually. Through the draft, the Selective 00:33:43.000 --> 00:33:45.339 Service Act, they mobilized about 2 .8 million 00:33:45.339 --> 00:33:48.279 men for the AES. Just getting them equipped and 00:33:48.279 --> 00:33:51.339 shipped to France was a colossal logistical undertaking. 00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:53.779 And the commander of the AEF, General Pershing, 00:33:53.940 --> 00:33:56.339 he had strong ideas about how his troops should 00:33:56.339 --> 00:33:59.119 fight. He did. John J. Pershing insisted that 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:01.680 the AEF operate as a distinct, independent American 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:05.140 army under American command. He resisted pressure 00:34:05.140 --> 00:34:07.440 from the British and French commanders to simply 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:10.019 feed American soldiers into their existing depleted 00:34:10.019 --> 00:34:12.440 units as replacements. Why was that so important 00:34:12.440 --> 00:34:14.719 to him? Pershing believed in what he called open 00:34:14.719 --> 00:34:17.659 warfare. He felt the static, attrition -based 00:34:17.659 --> 00:34:20.199 trench warfare practiced by the Allies was wrong 00:34:20.199 --> 00:34:22.480 and that the American soldiers' natural offensive 00:34:22.480 --> 00:34:25.159 spirit was better suited to maneuver in decisive 00:34:25.159 --> 00:34:27.900 attacks. He didn't want his fresh troops ground 00:34:27.900 --> 00:34:30.400 down on the same costly stalemate. Did that cause 00:34:30.400 --> 00:34:33.539 friction? It certainly did. The Allies desperately 00:34:33.539 --> 00:34:36.480 needed manpower, and Pershing's insistence on 00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:38.619 training and deploying as a separate army took 00:34:38.619 --> 00:34:42.179 time. But ultimately, the arrival of this large, 00:34:42.340 --> 00:34:44.960 fresh, and independently operating American army 00:34:44.960 --> 00:34:48.059 in 1918 provided the crucial edge the Allies 00:34:48.059 --> 00:34:51.099 needed. So Germany knows the Americans are coming 00:34:51.099 --> 00:34:53.260 in force. They have this window of opportunity 00:34:53.260 --> 00:34:56.699 after Russia's collapse. Their last chance. They 00:34:56.699 --> 00:34:58.840 had to win the war in the West before the American 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:01.610 presence became overwhelming. This led to the 00:35:01.610 --> 00:35:03.989 massive German spring offensive operation Michael 00:35:03.989 --> 00:35:06.730 launched in March 1918. And initially it was 00:35:06.730 --> 00:35:08.969 incredibly successful, wasn't it? Astonishingly 00:35:08.969 --> 00:35:12.809 successful by WWF pay standards. Using new stormtrooper 00:35:12.809 --> 00:35:14.809 infiltration tactics and overwhelming artillery, 00:35:15.130 --> 00:35:17.309 they broke through the British lines and advanced 00:35:17.309 --> 00:35:19.610 up to 60 kilometers in unheard of distance on 00:35:19.610 --> 00:35:22.429 the Western Front since 1914. It looked like 00:35:22.429 --> 00:35:24.329 they might actually win. But they couldn't sustain 00:35:24.329 --> 00:35:42.360 it. They couldn't. Logistics, again. They shot 00:35:42.360 --> 00:35:49.719 their bolt. They basically exhausted their last 00:35:49.719 --> 00:35:52.679 reserves. And this set the stage for the Allied 00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:54.639 counteroffensive. The Hundred Days Offensive. 00:35:54.699 --> 00:35:57.949 Starting in August 1918. Now, the Allies had 00:35:57.949 --> 00:36:00.409 the advantage. More tanks, improved artillery 00:36:00.409 --> 00:36:02.869 coordination, incorporating sound ranging and 00:36:02.869 --> 00:36:05.489 flash spotting, air superiority, and critically, 00:36:05.630 --> 00:36:07.389 the growing strength and offensive power of the 00:36:07.389 --> 00:36:09.809 American Army fighting alongside the revitalized 00:36:09.809 --> 00:36:12.309 British, French, and Dominion forces. At this 00:36:12.309 --> 00:36:14.530 time, the German lines broke. They started to 00:36:14.530 --> 00:36:16.809 crumble. The Battle of Amiens on August 8th was 00:36:16.809 --> 00:36:19.489 called the Black Day of the German Army by Ludendorff 00:36:19.489 --> 00:36:22.070 himself. Allied attacks were now consistently 00:36:22.070 --> 00:36:25.230 breaking through. German morale... already low 00:36:25.230 --> 00:36:27.170 after the failure of the spring offensive and 00:36:27.170 --> 00:36:30.070 years of blockade, began to collapse. And things 00:36:30.070 --> 00:36:32.429 were falling apart for Germany's allies, too. 00:36:32.650 --> 00:36:35.670 Yes, it became a domino effect. In late September, 00:36:35.949 --> 00:36:38.849 an Allied offensive on the Mastonian Front, also 00:36:38.849 --> 00:36:41.769 called the Salonika Front, broke the Bulgarian 00:36:41.769 --> 00:36:45.429 lines, the Vardar Offensive. Bulgaria quickly 00:36:45.429 --> 00:36:48.349 sued for peace and capitulated on September 29th. 00:36:48.369 --> 00:36:51.349 Cutting off the Ottoman Empire. Exactly. Isolated. 00:36:51.690 --> 00:36:54.230 Facing British advances in Palestine and Mesopotamia, 00:36:54.289 --> 00:36:56.570 the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice at the 00:36:56.570 --> 00:36:59.690 end of October. Austria -Hungary, facing the 00:36:59.690 --> 00:37:02.730 Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto and completely 00:37:02.730 --> 00:37:05.469 dissolving internally as its various nationalities 00:37:05.469 --> 00:37:07.869 declared independence, signed an armistice in 00:37:07.869 --> 00:37:10.449 early November. So Germany was left completely 00:37:10.449 --> 00:37:13.349 alone. Completely isolated, its army being pushed 00:37:13.349 --> 00:37:15.929 back relentlessly on the Western Front and facing 00:37:15.929 --> 00:37:18.320 collapse at home. What happened inside Germany? 00:37:18.480 --> 00:37:20.780 Revolution broke out. It started in early November 00:37:20.780 --> 00:37:23.280 with sailors in the ports of Kiel and Wilhelmshaven 00:37:23.280 --> 00:37:25.420 mutinying, refusing orders to sail out for a 00:37:25.420 --> 00:37:27.820 final suicidal battle against the Royal Navy. 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:31.039 The unrest spread rapidly. Soldiers and workers 00:37:31.039 --> 00:37:33.780 formed councils demanding peace and the Kaiser's 00:37:33.780 --> 00:37:36.260 abdication. And the Kaiser finally went. Yes. 00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:39.079 Facing pressure from his generals who told him 00:37:39.079 --> 00:37:41.239 the army would no longer follow him. And with 00:37:41.239 --> 00:37:44.480 revolution spreading, Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated 00:37:44.480 --> 00:37:47.369 on November 9th. A republic was declared in Berlin. 00:37:47.590 --> 00:37:49.949 And the new government immediately sought an 00:37:49.949 --> 00:37:52.050 end to the fighting. Immediately. They signed 00:37:52.050 --> 00:37:54.670 the armistice with the Allies in a railway carriage 00:37:54.670 --> 00:37:57.409 in the forest of Compiègne. It came into effect 00:37:57.409 --> 00:38:01.769 at 11 .00 a .m. on November 11, 1918. The guns 00:38:01.769 --> 00:38:05.690 finally fell silent. Hashtag ChagShag7. Aftermath, 00:38:05.730 --> 00:38:08.469 consequences, and enduring legacy. The war is 00:38:08.469 --> 00:38:11.429 over. But the world is completely changed. The 00:38:11.429 --> 00:38:14.130 immediate geopolitical impact is just enormous, 00:38:14.389 --> 00:38:17.409 isn't it? Irreversible. Four huge ancient empires 00:38:17.409 --> 00:38:19.949 simply ceased to exist. The Russian Romanov dynasty 00:38:19.949 --> 00:38:22.900 gone. The German Hohenzollern empire gone. the 00:38:22.900 --> 00:38:25.239 Austro -Hungarian Habsburg Empire shattered into 00:38:25.239 --> 00:38:27.619 pieces, and the Ottoman Empire finished. And 00:38:27.619 --> 00:38:29.739 in their place, a whole new map of Europe starts 00:38:29.739 --> 00:38:32.380 to emerge. Based, at least in theory, on President 00:38:32.380 --> 00:38:35.059 Woodrow Wilson's principle of national self -determination. 00:38:35.320 --> 00:38:37.880 You see the birth or rebirth of independent nations 00:38:37.880 --> 00:38:40.219 like Poland, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, 00:38:40.340 --> 00:38:42.280 which was formed around the core of pre -war 00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:45.420 Serbia. Romania expanded significantly too, didn't 00:38:45.420 --> 00:38:49.059 it? Yes, achieving Greater Romania, By incorporating 00:38:49.059 --> 00:38:51.239 Romanian -speaking territories from the former 00:38:51.239 --> 00:38:54.059 Russian and Austro -Hungarian empires, the whole 00:38:54.059 --> 00:38:56.639 political geography of Central and Eastern Europe 00:38:56.639 --> 00:38:59.239 was redrawn. But then came the peace treaties. 00:38:59.500 --> 00:39:02.360 And they were problematic, to say the least. 00:39:02.519 --> 00:39:04.800 Especially the Treaty of Versailles with Germany. 00:39:05.000 --> 00:39:07.179 Signed exactly five years after the assassination, 00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:11.079 June 28, 1919. Versailles is probably one of 00:39:11.079 --> 00:39:13.519 the most controversial treaties in history. And 00:39:13.519 --> 00:39:16.219 much of that controversy centers on Article 231. 00:39:16.300 --> 00:39:19.320 The War Guilt Clause. Right. Now, our sources 00:39:19.320 --> 00:39:21.860 make it clear its primary purpose wasn't just 00:39:21.860 --> 00:39:24.159 moral condemnation, though it certainly felt 00:39:24.159 --> 00:39:26.420 that way to Germans. It was more of a legal foundation. 00:39:26.920 --> 00:39:29.659 Exactly. It required Germany to accept responsibility 00:39:29.659 --> 00:39:32.860 for all the loss and damage caused by the war, 00:39:33.019 --> 00:39:35.460 which the Allies argued was imposed upon them 00:39:35.460 --> 00:39:37.989 by German aggression. This legal acceptance of 00:39:37.989 --> 00:39:40.869 responsibility was seen as necessary to justify 00:39:40.869 --> 00:39:43.369 the massive reparations the Allies intended to 00:39:43.369 --> 00:39:45.769 demand. But the effect in Germany was devastating. 00:39:46.250 --> 00:39:50.170 Utterly. It caused profound humiliation and resentment 00:39:50.170 --> 00:39:53.130 across the entire political spectrum. Germans 00:39:53.130 --> 00:39:56.289 universally rejected the treaty as a dictated 00:39:56.289 --> 00:39:59.190 peace they had no say in. And that sense of injustice 00:39:59.190 --> 00:40:01.849 was immediately exploited by nationalist groups. 00:40:02.250 --> 00:40:06.050 Fueling this stab in the back myth. Precisely. 00:40:06.349 --> 00:40:08.610 the idea that the german army hadn't actually 00:40:08.610 --> 00:40:10.730 been defeated in the field but was betrayed by 00:40:10.730 --> 00:40:13.730 weak politicians socialist jews and others on 00:40:13.730 --> 00:40:15.829 the home front who signed the armistice and the 00:40:15.829 --> 00:40:18.949 treaty It was a corrosive lie, but incredibly 00:40:18.949 --> 00:40:21.309 potent in post -war Germany. And the reparations 00:40:21.309 --> 00:40:24.070 themselves, the numbers were astronomical. The 00:40:24.070 --> 00:40:28.090 final sum was set in 1921 at 132 billion gold 00:40:28.090 --> 00:40:30.550 marks, which was just an impossible figure. Even 00:40:30.550 --> 00:40:32.769 Allied experts at the time knew Germany couldn't 00:40:32.769 --> 00:40:35.590 possibly pay that much. Some sources suggest 00:40:35.590 --> 00:40:37.849 the real expectation was closer to 50 billion. 00:40:38.070 --> 00:40:41.590 So why set the figure so high? Politics. Largely. 00:40:41.880 --> 00:40:44.219 Yes, public opinion in allied countries, especially 00:40:44.219 --> 00:40:46.599 France and Britain, demanded that Germany pay 00:40:46.599 --> 00:40:48.800 for the immense costs of the war. The high figure 00:40:48.800 --> 00:40:51.159 was partly symbolic, partly political appeasement. 00:40:51.219 --> 00:40:52.659 And the way the payments were structured was 00:40:52.659 --> 00:40:55.079 also deeply flawed, wasn't it? Critically flawed. 00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:57.639 This is where it gets fascinatingly complex and 00:40:57.639 --> 00:41:00.760 shows the long shadow. Germany couldn't pay directly 00:41:00.760 --> 00:41:02.940 from its own economy, especially after losing 00:41:02.940 --> 00:41:05.699 territory and resources under Versailles. So 00:41:05.699 --> 00:41:08.090 a system evolved. particularly under the Dawes 00:41:08.090 --> 00:41:11.610 Plan, 1924, and Young Plan, 1929. Where the U 00:41:11.610 --> 00:41:14.429 .S. lent money to Germany. Exactly. American 00:41:14.429 --> 00:41:18.070 banks lent huge sums to Germany. Germany used 00:41:18.070 --> 00:41:20.230 that money to make its reparation payments to 00:41:20.230 --> 00:41:22.650 the Allies, primarily France and Britain. And 00:41:22.650 --> 00:41:24.289 what did France and Britain do with that money? 00:41:24.469 --> 00:41:26.570 They used it to pay back their own massive war 00:41:26.570 --> 00:41:29.480 debts. to the United States. So U .S. money was 00:41:29.480 --> 00:41:31.860 basically flowing in a circle. U .S. loans to 00:41:31.860 --> 00:41:34.659 Germany and German reparations to allies, allied 00:41:34.659 --> 00:41:37.119 debt payments back to the U .S. That's the essence 00:41:37.119 --> 00:41:40.119 of it. A highly unstable triangle of debt and 00:41:40.119 --> 00:41:42.659 payments completely dependent on the continued 00:41:42.659 --> 00:41:44.780 flow of American capital. Which stopped abruptly 00:41:44.780 --> 00:41:47.880 in 1929. When the U .S. stock market crashed 00:41:47.880 --> 00:41:50.480 and the Great Depression began, American loans 00:41:50.480 --> 00:41:53.300 dried up overnight. The entire circular system 00:41:53.300 --> 00:41:56.579 collapsed. Germany defaulted on its reparations. 00:41:56.579 --> 00:42:00.500 The Allies defaulted on their war debts. It deepened 00:42:00.500 --> 00:42:02.820 the depression globally and fueled political 00:42:02.820 --> 00:42:05.860 extremism, especially in Germany. But the debt 00:42:05.860 --> 00:42:08.559 didn't just vanish, did it? That detail about 00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:10.500 the final payment. That's incredible, isn't it? 00:42:10.519 --> 00:42:12.900 Even though the reparations themselves were effectively 00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:16.019 canceled or suspended in the early 1930s, some 00:42:16.019 --> 00:42:18.019 of the underlying bonds related to the loans 00:42:18.019 --> 00:42:20.280 taken out of the Dawes and Young plans remained. 00:42:21.340 --> 00:42:23.639 Germany finally paid off the last installment 00:42:23.639 --> 00:42:26.199 of interest on those specific bonds on October 00:42:26.199 --> 00:42:29.780 3rd, 2010. 2010, 92 years after the war ended. 00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:31.400 That really brings home the long -term financial 00:42:31.400 --> 00:42:34.420 consequences. It absolutely does. Beyond finance 00:42:34.420 --> 00:42:36.420 and politics, the human cost was just immense, 00:42:36.699 --> 00:42:39.619 leaving deep social scars. France, for example, 00:42:39.739 --> 00:42:42.659 lost around 1 .4 million soldiers, a huge chunk 00:42:42.659 --> 00:42:44.579 of its young male population. And there were 00:42:44.579 --> 00:42:46.820 the severely wounded. You mentioned the Galcasse. 00:42:47.139 --> 00:42:51.269 The broken faces, yes. An estimated 15 ,000 French 00:42:51.269 --> 00:42:53.869 soldiers suffered horrific facial disfigurements 00:42:53.869 --> 00:42:57.909 from shells, shrapnel, burns. Early plastic surgery 00:42:57.909 --> 00:43:00.710 was only just beginning. Many faced lifetimes 00:43:00.710 --> 00:43:03.489 of pain, operations, and terrible social stigma. 00:43:03.869 --> 00:43:06.349 How did society cope with that? It was incredibly 00:43:06.349 --> 00:43:09.869 difficult. Many were hidden away, unable or unwilling 00:43:09.869 --> 00:43:12.530 to face the public gaze. They were a brutal, 00:43:12.610 --> 00:43:15.510 visible reminder of the war's savagery, challenging 00:43:15.510 --> 00:43:18.360 the heroic narratives. Their presence forced 00:43:18.360 --> 00:43:20.980 society to confront the real cost of the conflict. 00:43:21.280 --> 00:43:23.360 But the war also brought about some positive 00:43:23.360 --> 00:43:25.320 social changes, or at least accelerated them, 00:43:25.440 --> 00:43:28.360 like for women. Definitely. With millions of 00:43:28.360 --> 00:43:30.340 men away fighting, women moved into the workforce 00:43:30.340 --> 00:43:33.360 in unprecedented numbers, in factories, on farms, 00:43:33.420 --> 00:43:36.059 in transport, even in policing. They proved they 00:43:36.059 --> 00:43:37.880 could do the jobs previously reserved for men. 00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:40.300 And that helped the suffrage movement. Immensely. 00:43:40.539 --> 00:43:42.739 How could governments deny the vote to women 00:43:42.739 --> 00:43:44.500 who had played such a crucial role in the war 00:43:44.500 --> 00:43:47.159 effort? In Britain, the U .S., Germany, and many 00:43:47.159 --> 00:43:49.280 other countries, women gained the right to vote 00:43:49.280 --> 00:43:51.659 either during or shortly after the war. It was 00:43:51.659 --> 00:43:54.139 a major step forward for women's rights. And 00:43:54.139 --> 00:43:57.400 outside Europe, the war forged new national identities, 00:43:57.559 --> 00:44:00.039 too. Yes, particularly for the Dominions of the 00:44:00.039 --> 00:44:02.940 British Empire. Gallipoli is the prime example 00:44:02.940 --> 00:44:05.980 for Australia and New Zealand. The ANZACs. The 00:44:05.980 --> 00:44:08.880 ANZAC acts. Although Gallipoli was a military 00:44:08.880 --> 00:44:11.679 defeat, the immense courage and sacrifice shown 00:44:11.679 --> 00:44:14.039 by Australian and New Zealand troops fighting 00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:16.780 so far from home became a foundational myth for 00:44:16.780 --> 00:44:19.960 both nations. It was seen as their baptism of 00:44:19.960 --> 00:44:22.199 fire the moment they stepped onto the world stage 00:44:22.199 --> 00:44:25.340 as distinct nations, not just extensions of Britain. 00:44:25.769 --> 00:44:28.210 Anzac Day, commemorating the Gallipoli landings, 00:44:28.210 --> 00:44:30.969 is still a hugely important national day in both 00:44:30.969 --> 00:44:33.730 countries. Hashtag tag Avio. Conclusion and final 00:44:33.730 --> 00:44:36.230 thought. So looking back across everything we've 00:44:36.230 --> 00:44:39.230 covered, if you had to distill the story of World 00:44:39.230 --> 00:44:41.789 War I, how would you frame it? It feels like 00:44:41.789 --> 00:44:44.150 a story of almost managed failure, doesn't it? 00:44:44.380 --> 00:44:45.900 That's a good way to put it. It's a story that 00:44:45.900 --> 00:44:48.659 starts with a fragile international system built 00:44:48.659 --> 00:44:51.679 on suspicion and flawed alliances. Then a diplomatic 00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:54.539 crisis that wasn't contained, but actively escalated. 00:44:54.659 --> 00:44:57.280 Leading to a war defined by technology outpacing 00:44:57.280 --> 00:44:59.940 tactics, causing unimaginable slaughter. Exactly. 00:45:00.039 --> 00:45:02.980 And ending with a peace treaty that, while redrawing 00:45:02.980 --> 00:45:05.559 the map, was so punitive and poorly designed 00:45:05.559 --> 00:45:08.420 that it arguably sowed the seeds for the next 00:45:08.420 --> 00:45:11.539 world war just 20 years later. It's why historians 00:45:11.539 --> 00:45:14.380 sometimes struggle with WWI, isn't it? As one 00:45:14.380 --> 00:45:16.880 source noted, it often lacks that clear good 00:45:16.880 --> 00:45:19.460 versus evil narrative that many people see in 00:45:19.460 --> 00:45:22.219 World War II. Right. It feels more like a catastrophic, 00:45:22.320 --> 00:45:25.769 almost systemic failure. A tragedy born out of 00:45:25.769 --> 00:45:29.190 miscalculation, nationalism, imperialism, and 00:45:29.190 --> 00:45:31.869 a failure of diplomacy on all sides. It's morally 00:45:31.869 --> 00:45:35.130 complex and deeply unsettling. And the unsettling 00:45:35.130 --> 00:45:37.789 part isn't just historical. There's a final thought, 00:45:37.909 --> 00:45:40.389 a really stark reminder that the war isn't entirely 00:45:40.389 --> 00:45:42.989 over, even today. You mean the physical remnants. 00:45:43.289 --> 00:45:45.409 Yeah. The effects are literally still on the 00:45:45.409 --> 00:45:48.090 ground in France and Belgium. The Iron Harvest. 00:45:48.480 --> 00:45:50.719 It's astonishing. Every year, farmers in the 00:45:50.719 --> 00:45:53.800 old battlefield areas still plow up tons of unexploded 00:45:53.800 --> 00:45:56.480 ordnance, shells, grenades, mortars, sometimes 00:45:56.480 --> 00:45:58.559 chemical munitions. Still dangerous after more 00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:01.079 than a century. Absolutely deadly. Bond disposal 00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:02.960 teams are constantly at work. People are still 00:46:02.960 --> 00:46:05.260 killed or injured by WWI explosives every few 00:46:05.260 --> 00:46:08.500 years. And it's not just the explosives. The 00:46:08.500 --> 00:46:11.340 land itself is scarred. Deeply scarred. Some 00:46:11.340 --> 00:46:14.659 areas, particularly around Verdun, were so saturated 00:46:14.659 --> 00:46:17.539 with chemical residues and heavy metals from 00:46:17.539 --> 00:46:19.980 the millions upon millions of shells fired that 00:46:19.980 --> 00:46:23.019 the soil remains poisoned. Sources indicate that 00:46:23.019 --> 00:46:25.380 even now, over 100 years later, the original 00:46:25.380 --> 00:46:28.280 biodiversity hasn't returned. Certain zones are 00:46:28.280 --> 00:46:30.280 still considered unsuitable for normal agriculture 00:46:30.280 --> 00:46:32.900 or habitation. So the final thought for you, 00:46:32.960 --> 00:46:35.380 our listener, is this. What does it really mean 00:46:35.380 --> 00:46:37.980 for a war to be over? When its physical legacy, 00:46:38.300 --> 00:46:40.400 the unexploded bombs still waiting beneath the 00:46:40.400 --> 00:46:42.920 soil, the poisoned earth that struggles to recover 00:46:42.920 --> 00:46:45.519 continues to shape the landscape and even pose 00:46:45.519 --> 00:46:48.000 a threat to life more than a century after the 00:46:48.000 --> 00:46:50.219 armistice. It makes you think about the true 00:46:50.219 --> 00:46:53.519 lasting cost of conflict. A powerful and sobering 00:46:53.519 --> 00:46:55.500 thought to end on. Thank you for joining us on 00:46:55.500 --> 00:46:56.820 The Deep Dive. We'll see you next time.