WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.980 Welcome to this deep dive. It is so great to 00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:04.639 have you with us today. Yeah, really glad to 00:00:04.639 --> 00:00:06.639 be here. Whether you are brushing up on your 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:09.179 history for a class, prepping for a big meeting, 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.400 or you are just, you know, one of those insanely 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:15.660 curious people who loves to understand how global 00:00:15.660 --> 00:00:18.019 geopolitics actually ticked beneath the surface, 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:20.539 you are in the exact right place. Absolutely. 00:00:20.760 --> 00:00:23.600 Today we have a massive, truly global topic. 00:00:23.690 --> 00:00:27.410 We're diving into an extensive, incredibly detailed 00:00:27.410 --> 00:00:30.649 stack of historical data and comprehensive Wikipedia 00:00:30.649 --> 00:00:33.789 records covering the allies of World War I. And 00:00:33.789 --> 00:00:36.009 it really is an enormous amount of material. 00:00:36.310 --> 00:00:39.090 It is. And our mission for you today... is to 00:00:39.090 --> 00:00:41.130 give you the ultimate shortcut to understanding 00:00:41.130 --> 00:00:43.950 this colossal conflict, but doing it without 00:00:43.950 --> 00:00:47.409 leaving you feeling overwhelmed by just a dry 00:00:47.409 --> 00:00:49.369 list of dates and treaties. That is the goal. 00:00:49.570 --> 00:00:51.390 Because when you look at the sheer scale of the 00:00:51.390 --> 00:00:53.689 First World War, it is incredibly easy to get 00:00:53.689 --> 00:00:56.310 lost in the volume of information. The historical 00:00:56.310 --> 00:00:58.450 records we are working from today are dense. 00:00:58.609 --> 00:01:01.340 Very dense. We are talking about demographics, 00:01:01.939 --> 00:01:04.239 industrial economics, secret treaties, global 00:01:04.239 --> 00:01:07.000 troop movements. But we are not here to just 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.480 recite a timeline at you. We want to synthesize 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:13.200 all of this so you walk away with a real firm 00:01:13.200 --> 00:01:15.780 understanding of the underlying forces that were 00:01:15.780 --> 00:01:18.260 actually at play. OK, let's unpack this. Yeah. 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:20.739 Because the story I always had in my head, and 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:23.099 I think the story a lot of us get, is a very 00:01:23.099 --> 00:01:25.819 simple good guys versus bad guys narrative. Yeah, 00:01:25.959 --> 00:01:28.760 a heroic team up. Exactly. But looking at the 00:01:28.760 --> 00:01:30.340 notes you pulled together, it reveals something 00:01:30.340 --> 00:01:33.420 completely different. We are going to look beyond 00:01:33.420 --> 00:01:36.780 that simplistic view to understand the surprising 00:01:36.780 --> 00:01:39.200 and frankly sometimes completely contradictory 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:41.859 motivations that actually glue the Entente powers 00:01:41.859 --> 00:01:44.480 together. Yeah, to understand the Allies or the 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:46.819 Entente, we really have to establish a baseline 00:01:46.819 --> 00:01:48.719 of what Europe looked like before the powder 00:01:48.719 --> 00:01:51.319 keg went off. Before 1914. Right. Before the 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:53.599 summer of 1914, Europe was largely split into 00:01:53.599 --> 00:01:56.260 two major power blocks. You had the Triple Entente, 00:01:56.420 --> 00:01:58.000 which was made up of the United Kingdom, France 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.060 and Russia. And on the other side, you had the 00:02:00.060 --> 00:02:02.680 Triple Alliance, originally composed of Germany, 00:02:03.379 --> 00:02:06.239 Austria, Hungary and Italy. But as we are going 00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:09.879 to see. These alliances were incredibly fluid. 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:11.919 They weren't set in stone. They were practically 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:14.240 written in pencil. I always thought Britain jumped 00:02:14.240 --> 00:02:17.259 in simply to back up France against Germany. 00:02:18.060 --> 00:02:21.379 But the research highlights this wild detail 00:02:21.379 --> 00:02:24.300 about how their entry was actually triggered 00:02:24.300 --> 00:02:27.520 by something way older. It was. Because for much 00:02:27.520 --> 00:02:29.860 of the 19th century, Britain had this policy 00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:32.319 called splendid isolation. Right. They wanted 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:34.219 to stay out of it. They essentially wanted to 00:02:34.219 --> 00:02:36.490 maintain the balance of power in Europe. from 00:02:36.490 --> 00:02:39.110 afar without getting dragged into messy formal 00:02:39.110 --> 00:02:41.610 alliances. Yeah. So how did that isolation actually 00:02:41.610 --> 00:02:43.449 fall apart? It fell apart because of a legal 00:02:43.449 --> 00:02:46.110 commitment made decades earlier. Britain joined 00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:48.650 the war largely because of the 1839 Treaty of 00:02:48.650 --> 00:02:52.110 London. Specifically, Article 7 of that treaty 00:02:52.110 --> 00:02:54.729 guaranteed Belgian neutrality, and it committed 00:02:54.729 --> 00:02:57.289 Britain to defend that neutrality by force if 00:02:57.289 --> 00:02:59.569 necessary. Wait, 1839? So they went to war in 00:02:59.569 --> 00:03:02.569 1914 over a piece of paper signed 75 years earlier. 00:03:02.689 --> 00:03:06.020 They did. And that brings us to Germany's catastrophic 00:03:06.020 --> 00:03:08.900 miscalculation. Germany had a nightmare scenario 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:11.580 fighting a two -front war against Russia in the 00:03:11.580 --> 00:03:14.340 East and France in the West. So they needed a 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:17.479 fast solution. To avoid this, they devised a 00:03:17.479 --> 00:03:20.259 strategy. Is that the Schlieffen Plan? I saw 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:22.699 that term in the notes. For those of us who haven't 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:24.639 sat in a European history classroom in a while, 00:03:25.219 --> 00:03:27.840 what exactly was the Schlieffen Plan? Simply 00:03:27.840 --> 00:03:30.259 put, the Schlieffen Plan was Germany's ticking 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:33.000 clock strategy to knock France out of the war 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.719 rapidly before the massive Russian army could 00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:38.659 fully mobilize. But to get to Paris quickly, 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:40.819 the German army had to march through neutral 00:03:40.819 --> 00:03:44.439 Belgium. When they did that in August 1914, they 00:03:44.439 --> 00:03:48.430 blatantly violated that 1839 treaty. Exactly. 00:03:48.889 --> 00:03:51.189 The German Chancellor at the time, Theobald von 00:03:51.189 --> 00:03:53.729 Bethmann -Halvig, famously dismissed this binding 00:03:53.729 --> 00:03:56.629 international law as a mere scrap of paper. A 00:03:56.629 --> 00:03:59.770 scrap of paper? Yes. He genuinely could not believe 00:03:59.770 --> 00:04:02.150 the British Empire would go to war over it. It 00:04:02.150 --> 00:04:04.610 is wild to think about a head of state saying 00:04:04.610 --> 00:04:07.349 that out loud, completely dismissing the foundational 00:04:07.349 --> 00:04:09.770 rules of international diplomacy. If we connect 00:04:09.770 --> 00:04:12.689 this to the bigger picture, this shows just how 00:04:12.689 --> 00:04:15.009 fatal underestimating the rule of international 00:04:15.009 --> 00:04:18.339 law can be. Germany assumed Britain would stay 00:04:18.339 --> 00:04:20.959 out. They misread the room completely. Completely. 00:04:21.279 --> 00:04:24.079 They expected a short war and believed that domestic 00:04:24.079 --> 00:04:26.680 troubles, specifically the brewing crisis in 00:04:26.680 --> 00:04:29.519 Ireland, would keep the British completely distracted. 00:04:29.839 --> 00:04:33.459 But it didn't. No. Violating that treaty presented 00:04:33.459 --> 00:04:36.019 the British government with a stark moral and 00:04:36.019 --> 00:04:39.500 strategic choice. That so -called scrap of paper 00:04:39.500 --> 00:04:42.660 brought the entire British Empire into the conflict. 00:04:42.879 --> 00:04:45.600 And that empire was huge. At the time, that empire 00:04:45.600 --> 00:04:49.480 had a population of over 446 million subjects. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:54.319 446 million people mobilized over a border violation. 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:57.279 That changes the scale of the war instantly. 00:04:57.439 --> 00:04:59.879 It really does. Now, crossing the English Channel, 00:05:00.079 --> 00:05:02.279 France's motivation seems entirely different. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:05.060 The data points to this concept of revanchism, 00:05:05.379 --> 00:05:07.839 which literally translates to revenge. Revenge 00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:11.139 was a massive cultural driver for France. They 00:05:11.139 --> 00:05:13.939 were still stinging from their humiliating defeat 00:05:13.939 --> 00:05:17.040 in the 1870 Franco -Prussian War, where they 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:19.980 lost the heavily industrialized provinces of 00:05:19.980 --> 00:05:22.279 Alsace -Lorraine. And that loss was a big deal, 00:05:22.519 --> 00:05:24.459 right? It didn't just hurt their pride, it deprived 00:05:24.459 --> 00:05:26.819 them of their natural geographic defense line 00:05:26.819 --> 00:05:29.160 on the Rhine River. And reading through the demographics 00:05:29.160 --> 00:05:31.879 from the time, it wasn't just about lost land. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.319 There was a genuine existential panic happening 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:37.040 in France, wasn't there? A profound demographic 00:05:37.040 --> 00:05:40.540 panic. By 1911, Germany's population was booming, 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:44.000 sitting at nearly 65 million. France, meanwhile, 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.160 had stagnated at under 40 million. Oh, wow. That 00:05:47.160 --> 00:05:49.500 is a huge gap. They had the lowest birthrate 00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:51.939 in Europe. The French military command knew they 00:05:51.939 --> 00:05:55.019 were at a severe, perhaps insurmountable, numerical 00:05:55.019 --> 00:05:58.420 disadvantage. So they needed help. Exactly. This 00:05:58.420 --> 00:06:01.639 terror of simply being outpopulated is why a 00:06:01.639 --> 00:06:04.500 democratic republic like France desperately cultivated 00:06:04.500 --> 00:06:06.759 an alliance with the autocratic Russian empire. 00:06:07.050 --> 00:06:09.290 They needed Russian bodies to balance the scales. 00:06:09.730 --> 00:06:12.689 The cost of that numerical disadvantage was horrific. 00:06:13.629 --> 00:06:16.269 The historical data gives a staggering, tragic 00:06:16.269 --> 00:06:18.949 statistic that I had to read twice. The casualties 00:06:18.949 --> 00:06:21.329 were immense. Just between August and December 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:24.550 of 1914, the very first months of the conflict, 00:06:25.329 --> 00:06:27.870 France lost nearly 300 ,000 dead on the Western 00:06:27.870 --> 00:06:30.649 Front. Think about that for a second. It is hard 00:06:30.649 --> 00:06:34.069 to even picture. That is more dead in a few months 00:06:34.069 --> 00:06:35.790 than Britain suffered in the entirety of the 00:06:35.790 --> 00:06:38.740 Second World War. Yeah. is incredibly grim. It 00:06:38.740 --> 00:06:41.019 is a staggering human cost, and it perfectly 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:43.500 explains why France was utterly reliant on its 00:06:43.500 --> 00:06:45.899 allies to keep fighting. Which naturally brings 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:48.480 us to Russia. Right. Now, Russia's entry into 00:06:48.480 --> 00:06:50.860 the war is often framed around their self -appointed 00:06:50.860 --> 00:06:53.620 role as the grand defender of the Slavs. Because 00:06:53.620 --> 00:06:56.600 of Serbia. Yes. When Austria -Hungary threatened 00:06:56.600 --> 00:06:59.240 Serbia after the assassination of Archduke Franz 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:02.259 Ferdinand, Russia mobilized to protect their 00:07:02.259 --> 00:07:04.819 fellow Slavic people. But the research reveals 00:07:04.819 --> 00:07:07.139 there was a deeply strategic, long -held motive 00:07:07.139 --> 00:07:10.139 operating just under the surface. It wasn't just 00:07:10.139 --> 00:07:13.220 about cultural solidarity. Far from it. Russia 00:07:13.220 --> 00:07:16.439 had a longstanding, relentless objective to gain 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:19.680 control of the Bosporus Straits. The geographic 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:22.040 choke point. If you look at a map, the Russian 00:07:22.040 --> 00:07:25.800 empire was massive, but it lacked reliable year 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:28.920 -round access to the global oceans. Gaining the 00:07:28.920 --> 00:07:31.600 Bosporus would give their Black Sea fleet a warm 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:33.720 water route into the Mediterranean Sea. Which 00:07:33.720 --> 00:07:35.860 was heavily dominated by the British at the time. 00:07:36.220 --> 00:07:38.899 Exactly. It is like owning a massive mansion 00:07:38.899 --> 00:07:41.680 but not having the keys to the front door. Russia 00:07:41.680 --> 00:07:44.029 needed that maritime choke point. That makes 00:07:44.029 --> 00:07:46.449 perfect sense. So when you look at the big three 00:07:46.449 --> 00:07:49.069 of the Entente, you have Britain fighting to 00:07:49.069 --> 00:07:52.649 uphold a treaty and global balance, France fighting 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:55.470 for literal survival and territorial revenge, 00:07:55.930 --> 00:07:58.129 and Russia fighting for ethnic solidarity, but 00:07:58.129 --> 00:08:01.129 also pushing for a critical geographic prize. 00:08:01.329 --> 00:08:03.779 Here's where it gets really interesting. Because 00:08:03.779 --> 00:08:06.259 the Allies weren't just this static group of 00:08:06.259 --> 00:08:08.300 three. The alliance has shifted in ways that 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:10.439 feel like a political thriller today. They really 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:13.839 did. Let's look at Italy. Going into 1914, Italy 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:16.120 was formally allied with Germany and Austria 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:17.740 -Hungary. They were part of the Triple Alliance. 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:21.040 So how on earth do they end up fighting on the 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.339 complete opposite side? It is one of the most 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.079 fascinating geopolitical flips of the era. When 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.959 hostilities broke out, Italy essentially hit 00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:32.289 pause. They just waited. They declared neutrality, 00:08:32.470 --> 00:08:34.409 arguing that the Triple Alliance was strictly 00:08:34.409 --> 00:08:37.429 defensive. Since Austria -Hungary was the aggressor 00:08:37.429 --> 00:08:40.350 making demands on Serbia, Italy claimed they 00:08:40.350 --> 00:08:42.309 weren't legally obligated to join the fight. 00:08:42.529 --> 00:08:45.309 A convenient loophole. Very convenient. But the 00:08:45.309 --> 00:08:48.990 underlying reality was entirely economic. What 00:08:48.990 --> 00:08:51.610 blew my mind in the research was the detail about 00:08:51.610 --> 00:08:54.480 their resource dependency. It literally came 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:57.080 down to coal. You cannot fight an industrialized 00:08:57.080 --> 00:09:00.120 war without coal. It powered the trains, the 00:09:00.120 --> 00:09:03.059 dreadnoughts, the factories, and Italy imported 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:05.360 90 % of its coal from the United Kingdom and 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:07.779 France. So Britain and France basically held 00:09:07.779 --> 00:09:10.429 the keys to Italy's survival. They controlled 00:09:10.429 --> 00:09:12.669 the very raw materials Italy needed to keep the 00:09:12.669 --> 00:09:15.190 lights on. Furthermore, Italian nationalists 00:09:15.190 --> 00:09:17.409 desperately wanted to annex territories like 00:09:17.409 --> 00:09:19.730 Trieste and Trento, which were held by Austria 00:09:19.730 --> 00:09:22.210 -Hungary. The problem was those territories were 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:24.090 controlled by Austria -Hungary, their supposed 00:09:24.090 --> 00:09:26.389 ally. The Italian prime minister at the time, 00:09:26.649 --> 00:09:30.169 Antonio Solandra, actually coined a phrase for 00:09:30.169 --> 00:09:33.990 this. cautious calculating approach. Sacred egoism. 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:37.070 Yes, he called it sacred egoism, which has to 00:09:37.070 --> 00:09:39.289 be the most incredibly honest way for a politician 00:09:39.289 --> 00:09:42.110 to say, we are going to do whatever serves our 00:09:42.110 --> 00:09:44.590 own interests. It really is. And what served 00:09:44.590 --> 00:09:47.750 them best was secretly signing the 1915 Treaty 00:09:47.750 --> 00:09:50.570 of London with the on time. promising them those 00:09:50.570 --> 00:09:52.509 Austrian territories in exchange for turning 00:09:52.509 --> 00:09:55.070 their guns on their former allies. It was a highly 00:09:55.070 --> 00:09:58.409 calculated, highly transactional alliance. And 00:09:58.409 --> 00:10:00.649 speaking of calculated maneuvers, we have to 00:10:00.649 --> 00:10:03.750 look at Japan. Yes, Japan's role is wild. Most 00:10:03.750 --> 00:10:05.710 people today, when they think of global conflicts, 00:10:06.129 --> 00:10:08.230 instantly associate Japan with the actus powers 00:10:08.230 --> 00:10:11.309 of World War II. But in World War I, Japan was 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:14.250 a vital entente ally. Completely vital. And they 00:10:14.250 --> 00:10:16.730 used an existing treaty, the 1902 Anglo -Japanese 00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:20.029 Alliance, to aggressively pursue their own regional 00:10:20.029 --> 00:10:22.269 dominance. They saw an opening. When Britain 00:10:22.269 --> 00:10:24.870 asked for help hunting down German naval units 00:10:24.870 --> 00:10:28.090 in Chinese waters, Japan saw a massive opportunity. 00:10:28.669 --> 00:10:31.110 They declared war on Germany and proceeded to 00:10:31.110 --> 00:10:33.450 systematically seize German colonies across the 00:10:33.450 --> 00:10:35.830 Pacific. The Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall 00:10:35.830 --> 00:10:38.490 Islands. Exactly. And they laid siege to the 00:10:38.490 --> 00:10:41.639 German port of Qingdao in China. What's fascinating 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:44.679 here is the statistical disparity of Japan's 00:10:44.679 --> 00:10:47.399 involvement. The historical record provides a 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:50.519 complete breakdown of mobilized personnel versus 00:10:50.519 --> 00:10:54.820 casualties. Right. Out of roughly 800 ,000 mobilized 00:10:54.820 --> 00:10:58.700 Japanese personnel, they suffered exactly 415 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:01.799 military fatalities. Wait, hold on. They mobilized 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:06.279 800 ,000 people, but only lost 415. How is that 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:08.840 even possible in a war known for its absolute 00:11:08.840 --> 00:11:10.840 meat grinder casualties? Because they fought 00:11:10.840 --> 00:11:14.120 a highly localized, largely naval and siege -based 00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:16.779 campaign against isolated German garrisons that 00:11:16.779 --> 00:11:19.299 had no hope of reinforcement. Oh, I see. It resulted 00:11:19.299 --> 00:11:23.379 in a casualty rate of around 0 .05%. It is the 00:11:23.379 --> 00:11:25.820 lowest of any of the major powers by a massive 00:11:25.820 --> 00:11:29.110 margin. Unbelievable. Yet, despite risking very 00:11:29.110 --> 00:11:31.769 little manpower, Japan used the distraction of 00:11:31.769 --> 00:11:34.269 the war in Europe to issue the 21 demands to 00:11:34.269 --> 00:11:37.250 China. They demanded extensive economic and political 00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:39.990 concessions, and they gained massive territorial 00:11:39.990 --> 00:11:42.549 leverage in the Pacific. An incredibly high return 00:11:42.549 --> 00:11:46.250 on a very low investment of human life. But that 00:11:46.250 --> 00:11:48.750 aggressive expansion actually started to worry 00:11:48.750 --> 00:11:51.110 the other allies. It certainly did. By the time 00:11:51.110 --> 00:11:53.250 the United States entered the war, they were 00:11:53.250 --> 00:11:56.610 already viewing Japan more as a potential Pacific 00:11:56.610 --> 00:11:59.509 threat than a trusted partner. Mm hmm. Which 00:11:59.509 --> 00:12:02.149 brings us to the U .S. A very late arrival. The 00:12:02.149 --> 00:12:04.570 United States didn't enter until April 1917. 00:12:04.809 --> 00:12:06.990 And even then, they refused to call themselves 00:12:06.990 --> 00:12:09.909 an ally. That is a crucial distinction. The U 00:12:09.909 --> 00:12:12.220 .S. entered as an associated power. This was 00:12:12.220 --> 00:12:15.139 a deliberate, very careful diplomatic choice 00:12:15.139 --> 00:12:17.460 by President Woodrow Wilson. Why did he do that? 00:12:17.659 --> 00:12:19.980 He wanted to avoid what George Washington had 00:12:19.980 --> 00:12:22.360 famously warned against foreign entanglements. 00:12:23.019 --> 00:12:25.259 The U .S. wanted to help defeat Germany, but 00:12:25.259 --> 00:12:27.639 they absolutely did not want to be bound by the 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:29.740 secret treaties and territorial promises that 00:12:29.740 --> 00:12:31.740 the British, French and Italians have been making 00:12:31.740 --> 00:12:33.960 to each other behind closed doors. And for anyone 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:36.240 wondering what finally pushed the U .S. out of 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:39.460 isolationism, it wasn't just sympathy. It was 00:12:39.460 --> 00:12:42.519 Germany's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare. 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:45.039 Sinking ships without warning. Meaning their 00:12:45.039 --> 00:12:48.120 U -boats were sinking American merchant and passenger 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:51.639 ships without warning. That combined with the 00:12:51.639 --> 00:12:54.500 infamous Zimmerman Telegram. For those unfamiliar, 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:57.580 the Zimmerman Telegram was a secret diplomatic 00:12:57.580 --> 00:12:59.919 communication where Germany actually proposed 00:12:59.919 --> 00:13:03.000 an alliance with Mexico. Just a crazy plan. They 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:05.159 suggested that if the U .S. entered the war, 00:13:05.440 --> 00:13:08.120 Mexico should attack America to recover territories 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.360 like Texas and Arizona. When British intelligence 00:13:11.360 --> 00:13:13.480 intercepted that and handed it to the Americans, 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.360 public outrage made war inevitable. This raises 00:13:16.360 --> 00:13:18.419 an important question. Go ahead. When we talk 00:13:18.419 --> 00:13:22.370 about Britain, France. Russia, Italy, Japan, 00:13:22.409 --> 00:13:25.769 and the US. We're talking about the men in capital 00:13:25.769 --> 00:13:28.389 cities making the strategic decisions. But who 00:13:28.389 --> 00:13:30.549 actually did the bleeding? Right. If you look 00:13:30.549 --> 00:13:33.090 at the raw data, it becomes glaringly obvious 00:13:33.090 --> 00:13:35.450 that this wasn't just a European war fought by 00:13:35.450 --> 00:13:37.909 Europeans. This raises an important question. 00:13:37.929 --> 00:13:40.090 Who actually did the fighting? It wasn't just 00:13:40.090 --> 00:13:43.009 Europeans. Not even close. Because these were 00:13:43.009 --> 00:13:45.889 vast empires, a declaration of war in London 00:13:45.889 --> 00:13:48.370 or Paris echoed immediately across the globe. 00:13:48.490 --> 00:13:50.879 It pulled everyone in. Let's look at the British 00:13:50.879 --> 00:13:54.519 Empire. The British Indian Army mobilized 1 .4 00:13:54.519 --> 00:13:57.500 million soldiers. We are talking about over a 00:13:57.500 --> 00:14:00.360 million men from modern -day India, Pakistan, 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.059 and Bangladesh fighting in the trenches of France 00:14:03.059 --> 00:14:05.879 and the deserts of the Middle East. And logistics 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:08.200 won the First World War just as much as artillery 00:14:08.200 --> 00:14:11.340 did. The historical records highlight the incredibly 00:14:11.340 --> 00:14:14.100 overlooked contribution of the Belgian Congo. 00:14:14.399 --> 00:14:17.320 Yes, the numbers there are intense. They provided 00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:20.940 25 ,000 troops. But more astonishingly, an estimated 00:14:20.940 --> 00:14:24.840 260 ,000 porters joined the British forces in 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:26.929 the East African campaign. We really need to 00:14:26.929 --> 00:14:30.049 pause on that number. 260 ,000 porters. That's 00:14:30.049 --> 00:14:32.970 a massive labor force. In the East African campaign, 00:14:33.429 --> 00:14:35.929 the jungle terrain and diseases like sleeping 00:14:35.929 --> 00:14:39.250 sickness meant horses and mules simply died. 00:14:39.870 --> 00:14:42.389 So the physical labor of the war carrying heavy 00:14:42.389 --> 00:14:45.190 ammunition, food, and artillery shells through 00:14:45.190 --> 00:14:48.090 dense brush for hundreds of miles was carried 00:14:48.090 --> 00:14:51.389 entirely on the backs of human beings. Wow. largely 00:14:51.389 --> 00:14:53.730 colonial subjects who suffered terrible mortality 00:14:53.730 --> 00:14:56.450 rates from disease and exhaustion. France operated 00:14:56.450 --> 00:14:59.080 similarly, didn't they? because of that demographic 00:14:59.080 --> 00:15:01.480 weakness we talked about earlier, the panic over 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:03.879 their low birth rate. Yes. France relied heavily 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:07.600 on African colonial recruits. Over 500 ,000 colonial 00:15:07.600 --> 00:15:10.399 troops from places like Senegal and Algeria served 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:13.059 on the Western front, trying to plug the massive 00:15:13.059 --> 00:15:15.879 gaps left by the horrifying European casualty 00:15:15.879 --> 00:15:17.919 rates. And while we are discussing horrifying 00:15:17.919 --> 00:15:20.559 casualties, we have to highlight the tragic irony 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.159 of Serbia. Serbia's story is devastating. The 00:15:23.159 --> 00:15:25.259 entire mechanism of the war was triggered by 00:15:25.259 --> 00:15:28.139 the July crisis over Serbia. They successfully 00:15:28.139 --> 00:15:30.279 repulsed the initial Austro -Hungarian invasion 00:15:30.279 --> 00:15:33.419 in 1914, which was a massive upset. But it couldn't 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:36.379 last. No, they were eventually overwhelmed by 00:15:36.379 --> 00:15:40.059 a combined multi -front invasion from German... 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:43.100 Austrian, and Bulgarian armies. The numbers for 00:15:43.100 --> 00:15:45.919 Serbia are just heartbreaking. Between 1914 and 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:48.840 1918, Serbia suffered the greatest proportional 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:51.980 losses of any combatant in the entire war. Over 00:15:51.980 --> 00:15:55.539 1 .2 million dead. Yes. That was nearly 30 % 00:15:55.539 --> 00:15:57.700 of their entire population. Nearly one in three 00:15:57.700 --> 00:16:00.700 people. The sheer scale of that devastation is 00:16:00.700 --> 00:16:03.639 almost impossible to comprehend today. It underscores 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:06.639 a harsh reality of this conflict. While the major 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.320 imperial powers debated grand strategy in London 00:16:09.320 --> 00:16:12.340 and Paris, the small affiliated states often 00:16:12.340 --> 00:16:14.720 bore the most intense concentrated destruction. 00:16:15.220 --> 00:16:17.259 Since we are looking at those affiliated states, 00:16:17.679 --> 00:16:19.799 the data is packed with amazing stories about 00:16:19.799 --> 00:16:21.740 the smaller nations that jumped into the fray. 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:24.039 I want to spend a moment on Romania, because 00:16:24.039 --> 00:16:26.629 their contribution was incredibly unique. Romania 00:16:26.629 --> 00:16:29.190 is a fascinating case study in making the most 00:16:29.190 --> 00:16:31.649 of limited resources. They entered the war in 00:16:31.649 --> 00:16:34.029 1916 on the Allied side and they ended up fighting 00:16:34.029 --> 00:16:36.509 on the longest front in Europe. Stretching 1 00:16:36.509 --> 00:16:38.789 ,600 kilometers. But what really stands out is 00:16:38.789 --> 00:16:41.090 their technological ingenuity. The historical 00:16:41.090 --> 00:16:43.889 records note that they built the Vlocu III, which 00:16:43.889 --> 00:16:46.509 was the world's first aircraft made of metal, 00:16:46.990 --> 00:16:49.299 and they didn't stop there. No, they got really 00:16:49.299 --> 00:16:51.899 creative with artillery. Facing a massive shortage 00:16:51.899 --> 00:16:55.379 of modern artillery, they took old obsolete fortification 00:16:55.379 --> 00:16:58.480 guns and naval cannons and mounted them on locally 00:16:58.480 --> 00:17:01.320 built carriages. They actually managed to create 00:17:01.320 --> 00:17:03.120 what was considered the most effective field 00:17:03.120 --> 00:17:06.140 howitzer in Europe at the time. It is a brilliant 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:09.619 example of a smaller power innovating under extreme 00:17:09.619 --> 00:17:12.519 pressure to punch well above its weight class 00:17:12.519 --> 00:17:15.119 against industrialized empires. Then you have 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.240 Greece. where the political situation was basically 00:17:18.240 --> 00:17:21.119 a geopolitical soap opera. The historical texts 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:24.099 describe it as a national schism. It quite literally 00:17:24.099 --> 00:17:26.259 tore the country's leadership apart. You had 00:17:26.259 --> 00:17:28.480 King Constantine, who was educated in Prussia 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:30.680 and was actually married to the German emperor's 00:17:30.680 --> 00:17:32.980 sister. Naturally, he was firmly pro -German. 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:35.200 Yes, and he believed the central powers would 00:17:35.200 --> 00:17:38.259 win the war. But his prime minister, Eleftherios 00:17:38.259 --> 00:17:40.799 Venizelos, who was wildly popular with the public 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:43.099 and had won multiple elections, was strictly 00:17:43.099 --> 00:17:46.289 pro -entente. So you have the king, Pulling the 00:17:46.289 --> 00:17:48.109 military one way, the prime minister pulling 00:17:48.109 --> 00:17:50.069 the government the other. Complete paralysis. 00:17:50.470 --> 00:17:53.789 It got so bad. that at one point there were literally 00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:56.210 two separate governments operating in Greece 00:17:56.210 --> 00:17:59.910 at the exact same time, a royalist one in Athens 00:17:59.910 --> 00:18:02.609 and an untaunt -backed one in Crete. It wasn't 00:18:02.609 --> 00:18:04.670 until the King was eventually forced into exile 00:18:04.670 --> 00:18:08.269 in 1917 by the Allies that Greece fully committed 00:18:08.269 --> 00:18:10.309 to the war effort. And we cannot talk about a 00:18:10.309 --> 00:18:13.009 world war without mentioning South America. Brazil 00:18:13.009 --> 00:18:15.710 is the only South American country to actively 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:18.250 participate in the conflict. That's a great point 00:18:18.250 --> 00:18:21.470 to bring in. They joined in 1917. And interestingly, 00:18:21.769 --> 00:18:25.029 they cited the exact same reasons as the US Germany's 00:18:25.029 --> 00:18:27.369 U -boats sinking their merchant ships in the 00:18:27.369 --> 00:18:29.849 Atlantic. And they didn't just declare war on 00:18:29.849 --> 00:18:31.789 paper to look supportive. They actually sent 00:18:31.789 --> 00:18:34.750 forces. They actually sent a naval division to 00:18:34.750 --> 00:18:37.029 operate alongside the British fleet. They deployed 00:18:37.029 --> 00:18:39.650 military aviators to the Western Front and they 00:18:39.650 --> 00:18:41.930 sent a massive medical mission of surgeons and 00:18:41.930 --> 00:18:44.630 nurses to staff the field hospitals in Europe. 00:18:44.869 --> 00:18:47.609 A very real contribution. So what does this all 00:18:47.609 --> 00:18:50.220 mean? When we step back and look at the allies 00:18:50.220 --> 00:18:52.940 based on everything we've unpacked today, it 00:18:52.940 --> 00:18:55.380 becomes crystal clear that they were not some 00:18:55.380 --> 00:18:59.039 unified, morally simplistic superhero team fighting 00:18:59.039 --> 00:19:02.960 for a single righteous cause. They were a remarkably 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:06.240 messy, incredibly fragile coalition. You had 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:09.079 global empires fighting to maintain their maritime 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:11.859 dominance, nations fighting for sheer demographic 00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:15.500 survival, leaders driven by decades old historical 00:19:15.500 --> 00:19:18.069 grudges, and countries forced into into alliances 00:19:18.069 --> 00:19:20.970 based on pure unavoidable resource dependency? 00:19:21.069 --> 00:19:23.329 Like Italy's desperate need for coal. Exactly. 00:19:23.529 --> 00:19:25.670 It's honestly a miracle they held together long 00:19:25.670 --> 00:19:27.670 enough to actually win the war. And that is the 00:19:27.670 --> 00:19:29.349 crucial takeaway for you listening right now. 00:19:29.509 --> 00:19:31.670 When you look at modern geopolitical alliances 00:19:31.670 --> 00:19:34.549 today, when you read the international news or 00:19:34.549 --> 00:19:37.009 see new treaties being signed in capital cities, 00:19:37.490 --> 00:19:39.829 remember this deep dive. The history informs 00:19:39.829 --> 00:19:42.769 the present. Every international treaty, every 00:19:42.769 --> 00:19:46.430 grand alliance is backed by incredibly complex, 00:19:46.509 --> 00:19:49.630 often hidden domestic realities. The headlines 00:19:49.630 --> 00:19:52.150 might say one thing about shared values, but 00:19:52.150 --> 00:19:54.390 beneath the surface there is almost always a 00:19:54.390 --> 00:19:57.410 demographic anxiety like France had, or a resource 00:19:57.410 --> 00:20:00.029 dependency like Italy's. History doesn't repeat 00:20:00.029 --> 00:20:02.970 itself, but it certainly rhymes. That is perfectly 00:20:02.970 --> 00:20:05.730 said. It changes how you read the news, knowing 00:20:05.730 --> 00:20:08.670 that there is always a coal factor hidden somewhere 00:20:08.670 --> 00:20:11.269 in the fine print. Always. Before we go, we want 00:20:11.269 --> 00:20:13.210 to leave you with a final thought to mull over 00:20:13.210 --> 00:20:15.930 on your own. Toward the very end of our research 00:20:15.930 --> 00:20:18.470 materials, there is a small section detailing 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:21.549 non -state combatants. It lists the Armenian, 00:20:21.789 --> 00:20:25.250 Assyrian, Polish, and Czechoslovak legions. Think 00:20:25.250 --> 00:20:28.190 about what that actually means in practice. Exactly. 00:20:28.609 --> 00:20:30.990 These were volunteer forces fighting viciously 00:20:30.990 --> 00:20:33.710 alongside the Allies, but their own homelands 00:20:33.710 --> 00:20:35.569 were currently controlled by the enemy powers. 00:20:35.750 --> 00:20:37.829 They had no country of their own yet. Imagine 00:20:37.829 --> 00:20:40.170 the sheer willpower it must have taken to endure 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:43.430 the mud, the poison gas, and the absolute horrors 00:20:43.430 --> 00:20:45.849 of trench warfare fighting on behalf of someone 00:20:45.849 --> 00:20:48.109 else's empire. It's staggering. They were bleeding 00:20:48.109 --> 00:20:50.670 in the desperate hope that an allied victory 00:20:50.670 --> 00:20:54.109 might somehow miraculously birth a country for 00:20:54.109 --> 00:20:57.220 them that didn't even exist on a map yet. Imagine 00:20:57.220 --> 00:20:59.720 the world those surviving veterans stepped into 00:20:59.720 --> 00:21:02.099 when the maps of Europe and the Middle East were 00:21:02.099 --> 00:21:05.640 entirely redrawn in 1919. Such a powerful perspective. 00:21:06.119 --> 00:21:07.799 It is a heavy, incredible thought to end on. 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:10.019 We want to thank you for joining us on this deep 00:21:10.019 --> 00:21:12.319 dive into the sources today. We hope you learned 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:14.299 something new, and we wish you a great rest of 00:21:14.299 --> 00:21:14.599 your day.