WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.379 Welcome to this deep dive. And if you are joining 00:00:03.379 --> 00:00:06.160 us right now, we actually know exactly who you 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:08.519 are. We really do. You are the learner. You're 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:11.939 someone who wants to genuinely understand massive 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:14.859 complex topics. You want those aha moments. Right. 00:00:15.140 --> 00:00:17.920 And you know, you want a real grasp of history 00:00:17.920 --> 00:00:20.480 without feeling completely overwhelmed by just 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:23.780 an avalanche of information. And today we are 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:26.149 tackling an absolute mountain of history. We 00:00:26.149 --> 00:00:28.629 really are. We're looking at a highly detailed 00:00:28.629 --> 00:00:32.369 historical timeline of World War I. And I know 00:00:32.369 --> 00:00:34.450 what you might be thinking, a timeline, just 00:00:34.450 --> 00:00:36.509 a list of dates. Yeah, it sounds like a textbook. 00:00:36.929 --> 00:00:39.270 Exactly. But timelines are fascinating because 00:00:39.270 --> 00:00:41.549 they reveal the terrifying speed at which human 00:00:41.549 --> 00:00:44.590 history can unravel. You can literally see the 00:00:44.590 --> 00:00:47.270 dominoes falling one by one, just cascading from 00:00:47.270 --> 00:00:50.649 a single localized event into a global catastrophe. 00:00:50.770 --> 00:00:52.369 And that's exactly our mission for this deep 00:00:52.369 --> 00:00:54.570 dive. The goal isn't to read you a textbook list 00:00:54.570 --> 00:00:57.420 of dates. We're going to decode that dizzying 00:00:57.420 --> 00:01:00.539 domino effect. We're going to extract the surprising 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:04.079 global connections, the terrifying leaps in technology, 00:01:04.400 --> 00:01:06.680 and the geopolitical earthquakes that fundamentally 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:10.219 reshaped the modern world we live in today. OK, 00:01:10.400 --> 00:01:12.540 let's unpack this. We have to start with a spark 00:01:12.540 --> 00:01:16.439 in 1914. Right, the spark. June 28, to be exact, 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:21.450 in Sarajevo. That is the day Archduke Franz Ferdinand, 00:01:21.590 --> 00:01:24.390 the heir to the Austro -Hungarian throne, and 00:01:24.390 --> 00:01:27.790 his wife Sophie are assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, 00:01:28.250 --> 00:01:30.989 a Bosnian Serb. Which is, this is the single 00:01:30.989 --> 00:01:33.810 event that lights the powder cake. But the explosion 00:01:33.810 --> 00:01:35.849 isn't immediate, you know. What follows is a 00:01:35.849 --> 00:01:38.650 period historians call the July Crisis. Right. 00:01:38.750 --> 00:01:40.810 It culminates in a black week starting on July 00:01:40.810 --> 00:01:43.769 23, when Austria -Hungary sends this deliberately 00:01:43.769 --> 00:01:46.489 unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia. They knew it 00:01:46.489 --> 00:01:48.500 would likely lead to war. While looking at the 00:01:48.500 --> 00:01:50.140 events of late July, there's a detail that just 00:01:50.140 --> 00:01:52.840 feels completely surreal to me. On July 29, there 00:01:52.840 --> 00:01:54.859 is a record of the Willie -Nicki correspondence. 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:57.519 You have Wilhelm II, the German Emperor, and 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:59.959 Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia, communicating 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:01.959 via telegram. And they are literally cousins. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:04.719 First cousins, yeah. Are they just casually telegraphing 00:02:04.719 --> 00:02:07.180 each other as their respective massive empires 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:09.500 are hurtling toward an all -out war? I mean, 00:02:09.659 --> 00:02:12.319 it is one of the most tragic ironies of the entire 00:02:12.319 --> 00:02:14.939 conflict. They are indeed cousins, and their 00:02:14.939 --> 00:02:17.860 telegrams are surprisingly informal. They're 00:02:17.860 --> 00:02:20.000 pleading with one another to stop the military 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:23.740 buildup. Wow. But it's the surreal moment of 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:27.120 personal diplomacy, utterly failing to stop the 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.219 machinery of mobilization. The generals had their 00:02:30.219 --> 00:02:32.800 timetables. And once the orders to mobilize millions 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.620 of men and horses were given, the emperors themselves 00:02:35.620 --> 00:02:38.240 couldn't stop the trains. That is terrifying. 00:02:38.500 --> 00:02:40.740 By the beginning of August, that machinery is 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:43.479 unstoppable. Germany declares war on Russia, 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:47.039 then on France, and then on August 4, Germany 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:49.860 invades Belgium. Wait, but why is Germany invading 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:52.550 Belgium? automatically drag the United Kingdom 00:02:52.550 --> 00:02:54.949 into it. Weren't the British hesitant to get 00:02:54.949 --> 00:02:57.689 involved in a mainland European squabble at that 00:02:57.689 --> 00:03:00.389 point? What's fascinating here is the legal and 00:03:00.389 --> 00:03:02.449 diplomatic tripwire that Germany crossed. Belgium 00:03:02.449 --> 00:03:05.229 was a neutral country and its neutrality had 00:03:05.229 --> 00:03:08.090 been guaranteed by the major European powers, 00:03:08.490 --> 00:03:10.409 including Britain, under the Treaty of London 00:03:10.409 --> 00:03:14.740 way back in 1839. So decades prior. Exactly. 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:17.659 When the UK protests this invasion, the German 00:03:17.659 --> 00:03:20.520 Chancellor dismissively replies that the 1839 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:23.539 treaty is just a chiffon de papier, a scrap of 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:25.500 paper. He just couldn't believe Britain would 00:03:25.500 --> 00:03:27.560 go to war over it. Over a scrap of paper. But 00:03:27.560 --> 00:03:29.879 because of that scrap of paper, the United Kingdom 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:33.039 declares war on Germany. And crucially, that 00:03:33.039 --> 00:03:35.740 declaration automatically includes all the dominions 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:38.979 and colonies of the British Empire. Canada, Australia, 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:41.379 British India, they are all instantly pulled 00:03:41.379 --> 00:03:43.340 into the conflict. See, I was actually looking 00:03:43.340 --> 00:03:46.199 through the early August events, fully expecting 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:48.560 the first major battle for the British Empire 00:03:48.560 --> 00:03:50.580 to be somewhere on the French border. But I saw 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:53.020 something about Australia. How does Australia 00:03:53.020 --> 00:03:55.460 get involved on day two of the British declaration? 00:03:55.819 --> 00:03:59.240 That is an incredible detail that perfectly illustrates 00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:03.759 how quickly this localized Balkan conflict metastasized 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:07.280 across the globe. On August 5, literally just 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.879 hours after the declaration of war, the first 00:04:09.879 --> 00:04:12.400 weapon fired by the British Empire wasn't in 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:14.520 Europe. It wasn't. It was in Melbourne, Australia. 00:04:15.180 --> 00:04:17.800 Australian troops at Fort Nepean fired an artillery 00:04:17.800 --> 00:04:20.519 shot across the bow of a German merchant steamer, 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:23.879 the SS Vals. They forced it to surrender before 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:26.180 it could escape the harbor. It's mind boggling 00:04:26.180 --> 00:04:28.040 to think about an artillery shell in Melbourne 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.360 being a direct result of an assassination in 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:32.899 Sarajevo just weeks prior. It really is. Though, 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:35.779 as 1914 draws to a close, there's that famous 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:38.319 fleeting moment of humanity. Between December 00:04:38.319 --> 00:04:41.040 24th and 26th, the Christmas truce happens. Yes. 00:04:41.459 --> 00:04:43.379 German and British forces unofficially pause 00:04:43.379 --> 00:04:45.540 the fighting in some sectors, just stepping out 00:04:45.540 --> 00:04:47.920 of their trenches to exchange gifts and even 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:50.300 play football. It remains one of the most poignant 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:52.480 moments in modern history. These were men who 00:04:52.480 --> 00:04:54.360 had been shooting at each other days before, 00:04:54.680 --> 00:04:57.360 recognizing their shared humanity in the freezing 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:00.160 mud. But the high commands on both sides were 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:02.439 furious, and they ensured it would never happen 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:06.029 again. After that Christmas, the war hardened 00:05:06.029 --> 00:05:08.930 into something entirely unprecedented and horrifying. 00:05:10.029 --> 00:05:12.569 How exactly did it transition so quickly from 00:05:12.569 --> 00:05:15.129 a war of movement, you know, armies marching 00:05:15.129 --> 00:05:18.449 across borders into the static nightmare of trench 00:05:18.449 --> 00:05:22.029 warfare that we associate with 1915 and 1916? 00:05:22.329 --> 00:05:23.930 It comes down to the failure of the Schlieffen 00:05:23.930 --> 00:05:27.490 Plan. This was Germany's massive clockwork strategy 00:05:27.490 --> 00:05:30.029 to quickly sweep through Belgium and knock France 00:05:30.029 --> 00:05:32.589 out of the war before the massive Russian army 00:05:32.589 --> 00:05:35.250 could fully mobilize in the East. It relied on 00:05:35.250 --> 00:05:37.949 impossible railway timetables and sheer speed. 00:05:38.370 --> 00:05:40.509 But the French and British forces halted the 00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:42.629 German advance at the First Battle of the Marne 00:05:42.629 --> 00:05:45.850 in September 1914. So they get stuck. Exactly. 00:05:46.050 --> 00:05:48.050 Once the movement stopped, the armies literally 00:05:48.050 --> 00:05:50.209 dug into the earth to protect themselves from 00:05:50.209 --> 00:05:52.250 the devastating new artillery and machine gun 00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:55.439 fire. This created continuous line of trenches 00:05:55.439 --> 00:05:57.740 stretching from the Swiss border all the way 00:05:57.740 --> 00:05:59.980 to the North Sea. It's almost hard to wrap your 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:01.920 head around the numbers once those trenches are 00:06:01.920 --> 00:06:04.019 locked in place. Staggering numbers. Right, because 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:06.660 the events of 1916 ceased to look like traditional 00:06:06.660 --> 00:06:09.259 battles and become more like an industry of death. 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:12.480 You have the Battle of Verdun lasting from February 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:14.579 all the way to December. and the Battle of the 00:06:14.579 --> 00:06:17.519 Somme starting in July. Those names Verdun and 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:19.740 the Somme became synonymous with industrialized 00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:23.000 meat grinders. The logic of the war shifted from 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:26.240 capturing territory to simply bleeding the enemy 00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:29.000 white. Just a war of attrition. Millions of artillery 00:06:29.000 --> 00:06:31.759 shells were fired in a matter of days. It completely 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:34.579 altered the geography of the land, vaporizing 00:06:34.579 --> 00:06:37.660 forests and turning the earth into a lunar landscape. 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:41.160 The casualties on both sides were enormous, often 00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:43.839 with only a few miles of mud changing hands. 00:06:44.540 --> 00:06:46.300 Here's where it gets really interesting though, 00:06:46.620 --> 00:06:49.920 in a profoundly dark way. Looking at the developments 00:06:49.920 --> 00:06:53.040 during this trench stalemate, human ingenuity 00:06:53.040 --> 00:06:55.500 was entirely focused on making that industry 00:06:55.500 --> 00:06:59.420 of death more efficient. We see terrifying new 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:01.540 technologies being unleashed for the very first 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:03.720 time. You are looking at the birth of modern 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:06.579 industrialized warfare. Human tactics tragically 00:07:06.579 --> 00:07:09.160 lagged behind mechanical slaughter. Generals 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:11.459 were still trying to fight a 19th century war 00:07:11.459 --> 00:07:13.920 using 20th century weapons. They were sending 00:07:13.920 --> 00:07:16.860 waves of unprotected men against fortified machine 00:07:16.860 --> 00:07:20.259 gun nests. So to break the stalemate, science 00:07:20.259 --> 00:07:24.019 was weaponized. Like the gas? Yes. Germany first 00:07:24.019 --> 00:07:26.500 used chemical weapons, specifically tear gas, 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.779 at the Battle of Bullemoff in January 1915, and 00:07:29.779 --> 00:07:32.620 then escalated to deadly poison gas at Ypres 00:07:32.620 --> 00:07:35.300 a few months later. And it wasn't just gas. You 00:07:35.300 --> 00:07:37.660 have the British desperate to cross no man's 00:07:37.660 --> 00:07:40.019 land, which leads to them rolling out armored 00:07:40.019 --> 00:07:42.500 tanks for the very first time in human history 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:45.500 at the Battle of Flurs -Courcelet in September 00:07:45.500 --> 00:07:48.699 1916. That's right. Plus, the horror isn't just 00:07:48.699 --> 00:07:50.899 confined to the land. Absolutely not. The naval 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:53.360 war introduces its own terrors with the devastating 00:07:53.360 --> 00:07:56.560 impact of unrestricted submarine warfare. Germany 00:07:56.560 --> 00:07:59.360 began using U -boats to sink merchant and civilian 00:07:59.360 --> 00:08:01.620 ships without warning, attempting to starve Britain 00:08:01.620 --> 00:08:03.959 of supplies. Which brings us to the Lusitania. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:07.160 The most infamous incident, yes, the sinking 00:08:07.160 --> 00:08:11.300 of the British ocean liner Lusitania in May 1915, 00:08:11.639 --> 00:08:13.920 which resulted in the deaths of nearly 1 ,200 00:08:13.920 --> 00:08:17.800 people, including over 100 Americans. This strategy 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:20.459 fundamentally changed the rules of naval engagement. 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:23.339 As the conflict drags on, the sheer geographic 00:08:23.339 --> 00:08:26.050 scope becomes staggering. It really does. We 00:08:26.050 --> 00:08:28.089 always call it World War I, but it's easy to 00:08:28.089 --> 00:08:30.370 fall into a Eurocentric view and forget the world 00:08:30.370 --> 00:08:32.929 part. The list of countries formally declaring 00:08:32.929 --> 00:08:35.429 war against Germany and the Central Powers is 00:08:35.429 --> 00:08:39.049 a dizzying global roll call. Give us a few. Japan, 00:08:39.610 --> 00:08:43.980 Brazil, Siam, China, Liberia, Guatemala. Haiti? 00:08:44.179 --> 00:08:46.580 It truly encompassed the globe. The British and 00:08:46.580 --> 00:08:48.620 French relied heavily on troops and resources 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:51.240 from their vast empires. Furthermore, actual 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:53.600 combat occurred far beyond the European continent. 00:08:53.899 --> 00:08:56.019 Like where? There was the Togelin campaign in 00:08:56.019 --> 00:08:58.379 West Africa, the Southwest African campaign, 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:00.759 and the Senussi, a religious order armed by the 00:09:00.759 --> 00:09:02.519 Ottomans and Germans attacking British -held 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:04.960 Egypt from the west. Even the Pacific Ocean wasn't 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:07.100 immune. I was amazed to learn about an event 00:09:07.100 --> 00:09:09.840 in April 1917 regarding the scuttling of a ship 00:09:09.840 --> 00:09:13.490 called the SMS Cormoran in Guam. Yes, the Cormoran. 00:09:13.610 --> 00:09:16.149 It was the only hostile action between American 00:09:16.149 --> 00:09:19.289 and German forces in the Pacific during the entire 00:09:19.289 --> 00:09:22.179 war. It highlights how naval dominance and colonial 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:25.059 possessions turned local European rivalries into 00:09:25.059 --> 00:09:28.100 global flashpoints. But perhaps the most impactful 00:09:28.100 --> 00:09:30.559 non -European theater, especially regarding the 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:32.659 world we live in today, was the Middle East. 00:09:33.259 --> 00:09:36.159 Absolutely. It is crucial to examine this region's 00:09:36.159 --> 00:09:38.500 complex web of political maneuvers and military 00:09:38.500 --> 00:09:41.379 campaigns completely objectively as it really 00:09:41.379 --> 00:09:44.360 set the stage for modern geopolitics. Let's lay 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:46.690 out exactly what was happening there. In May 00:09:46.690 --> 00:09:50.250 1916, there is the signing of the secretive Sykes 00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:52.690 -Picot agreement between Britain and France. 00:09:53.029 --> 00:09:54.710 Correct. They're essentially drawing lines on 00:09:54.710 --> 00:09:57.490 a map defining their proposed spheres of influence 00:09:57.490 --> 00:09:59.750 and control in the Middle East should the Ottoman 00:09:59.750 --> 00:10:02.830 Empire be defeated. Then just a month later in 00:10:02.830 --> 00:10:07.049 June 1916, the Arab revolt in Hejaz begins with 00:10:07.049 --> 00:10:09.850 Arab forces rising up against Ottoman rule. The 00:10:09.850 --> 00:10:12.009 momentum in the region shifts dramatically the 00:10:12.009 --> 00:10:15.070 following year. By December 1917, British and 00:10:15.070 --> 00:10:17.269 Indian troops under the command of General Allenby 00:10:17.269 --> 00:10:20.370 capture Jerusalem. Which is massive. It's a monumental 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:23.610 event that officially ends 400 years of continuous 00:10:23.610 --> 00:10:26.309 Ottoman rule in the city. And right around that 00:10:26.309 --> 00:10:29.769 same time, in November 1917, the British government 00:10:29.769 --> 00:10:33.450 issues the Balfour Declaration. Right. Formally 00:10:33.450 --> 00:10:35.629 stating its support for the establishment of 00:10:35.629 --> 00:10:38.210 a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. 00:10:38.409 --> 00:10:40.110 It's incredible to think that all of this is 00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:42.700 happening simultaneously. While the trenches 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:45.980 in France are frozen in a brutal stalemate, the 00:10:45.980 --> 00:10:48.679 map of the Middle East is being entirely redrawn 00:10:48.679 --> 00:10:51.379 in real time through a mix of secret agreements, 00:10:51.779 --> 00:10:54.639 local uprisings, and sweeping declarations. If 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:56.700 we connect this to the bigger picture, these 00:10:56.700 --> 00:10:59.039 specific events laid the absolute groundwork 00:10:59.039 --> 00:11:02.039 for a century of future geopolitical conflict 00:11:02.039 --> 00:11:05.320 and negotiation. The borders drawn and the declarations 00:11:05.320 --> 00:11:08.500 made during this short window from 1916 to 1917 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:11.419 dismantled an ancient empire and directly shaped 00:11:11.419 --> 00:11:13.580 the modern nations of the Middle East. It really 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:15.539 puts the immense gravity of these historical 00:11:15.539 --> 00:11:17.820 records into perspective. Now we have to talk 00:11:17.820 --> 00:11:20.019 about 1917 because this feels like the ultimate 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:22.139 tipping point of the entire war. It certainly 00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:25.110 was. In January. The German foreign secretary 00:11:25.110 --> 00:11:27.870 sends the Zimmermann telegram to his ambassador 00:11:27.870 --> 00:11:31.450 in Mexico. But what exactly was in that telegram 00:11:31.450 --> 00:11:34.509 that caused such a massive uproar? The Zimmermann 00:11:34.509 --> 00:11:36.690 telegram wasn't just a friendly diplomatic note. 00:11:37.070 --> 00:11:40.269 In it, Germany explicitly proposed a military 00:11:40.269 --> 00:11:42.870 alliance with Mexico against the United States. 00:11:43.289 --> 00:11:45.649 Seriously? Germany offered that if Mexico declared 00:11:45.649 --> 00:11:48.570 war on the US, Germany would help them militarily 00:11:48.570 --> 00:11:51.610 reclaim the territories of Texas, New Mexico, 00:11:51.750 --> 00:11:55.159 and Arizona. Wow. British intelligence intercepted 00:11:55.159 --> 00:11:57.259 and decoded this message. And when they handed 00:11:57.259 --> 00:11:59.620 it over to the Americans, it sparked absolute 00:11:59.620 --> 00:12:02.419 outrage. So it was this audacious threat right 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:04.679 on America's own borders that finally tipped 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:06.860 the scales for Washington. Exactly. It pulls 00:12:06.860 --> 00:12:09.220 the United States out of isolationism, leading 00:12:09.220 --> 00:12:11.419 them to officially declare war on Germany in 00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:14.620 April 1917. But just as the Americans are preparing 00:12:14.620 --> 00:12:17.720 to mobilize their massive industrial might, another 00:12:17.720 --> 00:12:20.000 global superpower is collapsing on the Eastern 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:22.899 Front. That superpower was the Russian Empire. 00:12:23.179 --> 00:12:26.500 The sheer logistical strain of fighting an industrialized 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:29.720 war had completely broken the Russian home front. 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:32.139 Millions of soldiers were dead and the civilian 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:34.700 population was starting. Which leads to the revolution. 00:12:35.139 --> 00:12:37.559 Right. This culminated in the February Revolution 00:12:37.559 --> 00:12:41.159 of 1917, sparked initially by women protesting 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:44.399 bread shortages in Petrograd. The unrest was 00:12:44.399 --> 00:12:47.840 so profound that by March, Tsar Nicholas II was 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:50.240 forced to abdicate, ending the Romanov dynasty. 00:12:50.490 --> 00:12:53.350 How does a massive empire navigate a war while 00:12:53.350 --> 00:12:56.029 its government is dissolving? The answer seems 00:12:56.029 --> 00:12:58.309 to be that it couldn't. The czar and his family 00:12:58.309 --> 00:13:00.789 are imprisoned and eventually executed the following 00:13:00.789 --> 00:13:03.409 year. The Russian military effort completely 00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:05.389 falls apart. The provisional government tries 00:13:05.389 --> 00:13:07.690 to keep fighting, but the populace is exhausted. 00:13:08.309 --> 00:13:11.029 This allows the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:13.409 to seize power in the October Revolution. And 00:13:13.409 --> 00:13:15.840 then they pull out of the war. By early 1918, 00:13:15.980 --> 00:13:18.399 the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest -Litovsk 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:21.320 with Germany. This is a massive geopolitical 00:13:21.320 --> 00:13:23.480 shift because it officially takes Russia out 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:26.240 of the war. It allowed Germany to move countless 00:13:26.240 --> 00:13:28.379 troops from the east to the western front for 00:13:28.379 --> 00:13:31.899 one massive final push. Amidst all this global 00:13:31.899 --> 00:13:34.279 political chaos, there is a jaw -dropping event 00:13:34.279 --> 00:13:38.019 on December 6, 1917 that occurs far away from 00:13:38.019 --> 00:13:41.159 any trenches. The Halifax explosion. Yes, in 00:13:41.159 --> 00:13:43.730 Nova Scotia, Canada. Why was there a massive 00:13:43.730 --> 00:13:45.830 explosion on the North American coast? It is 00:13:45.830 --> 00:13:48.370 the ultimate illustration of how the unprecedented 00:13:48.370 --> 00:13:50.870 scale of transatlantic logistics required to 00:13:50.870 --> 00:13:53.389 feed the Western Front's meat grinder inevitably 00:13:53.389 --> 00:13:55.970 brought the horrors of the war to civilian shores. 00:13:55.990 --> 00:13:59.230 Right. In the narrows of Halifax Harbor, a Norwegian 00:13:59.230 --> 00:14:02.509 supply ship, the SS Imo, collided with a French 00:14:02.509 --> 00:14:05.559 cargo ship, the SS Mont Blanc. The Mont Blanc 00:14:05.559 --> 00:14:08.000 was packed to the brim with high explosives destined 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:09.879 for the battlefields of Europe. The resulting 00:14:09.879 --> 00:14:12.799 blast leveled the Richmond district of Halifax. 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.639 It left roughly 2 ,000 people dead and 9 ,000 00:14:15.639 --> 00:14:17.919 injured. It was the largest manmade explosion 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.120 in history before the invention of atomic weapons. 00:14:20.460 --> 00:14:22.620 This raises an important question about the hidden 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.840 casualties of war. The destruction wasn't confined 00:14:25.840 --> 00:14:29.279 to the battlefield. And as 1918 begins, we see 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:32.179 another force emerging that has nothing to do 00:14:32.179 --> 00:14:36.059 with bullets or bombs. Yeah. On March 4th, 1918, 00:14:36.460 --> 00:14:38.799 there is a record of the first known case of 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:41.620 what will later be called the Spanish Flu. The 00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:44.460 specificity of that record is chilling. It points 00:14:44.460 --> 00:14:47.000 to a private Albert Gitchell at Camp Funston, 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.129 Fort Riley, Kansas. Just one private in Kansas 00:14:50.129 --> 00:14:52.889 complaining of cold -like symptoms. But by August, 00:14:53.149 --> 00:14:56.190 this localized virus suddenly mutates into simultaneous 00:14:56.190 --> 00:14:58.870 deadlier outbreaks in places as far -flung as 00:14:58.870 --> 00:15:01.870 Brest in France, Freetown in Sierra Leone, and 00:15:01.870 --> 00:15:03.549 Boston in the United States. Because of the troop 00:15:03.549 --> 00:15:05.950 movements. Exactly. The mass movement of troops 00:15:05.950 --> 00:15:08.509 globally, crammed into ships and trains, provided 00:15:08.509 --> 00:15:10.929 the perfect vehicle for this plague. It spread 00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:13.690 rapidly through the exhausted, malnourished populations 00:15:13.690 --> 00:15:16.129 of the world, ultimately killing tens of millions 00:15:16.129 --> 00:15:18.850 of people. More than than the military casualties 00:15:18.850 --> 00:15:21.029 of the war itself. Which brings us to the final 00:15:21.029 --> 00:15:24.370 collapse in 1918. With Russia out, Germany tries 00:15:24.370 --> 00:15:27.250 one last massive push on the Western Front with 00:15:27.250 --> 00:15:30.149 the spring offensive. But the Allied lines hold, 00:15:30.490 --> 00:15:33.389 reinforced by fresh American troops. They counter 00:15:33.389 --> 00:15:35.809 with the 100 days offensive, pushing the German 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:38.210 army back relentlessly. And that's when it all 00:15:38.210 --> 00:15:41.389 falls apart. The logistical, economic, and military 00:15:41.389 --> 00:15:43.730 pressure proves too much for the central powers 00:15:43.730 --> 00:15:46.940 to bear. We see a rapid, sequential collapse 00:15:46.940 --> 00:15:51.360 of monarchs in late 1918. Who goes first? Sarfurdinand 00:15:51.360 --> 00:15:55.360 I of Bulgaria abdicates in October. Then, as 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:58.399 revolution brews in Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:01.039 abdicates on November 9th, and a republic is 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:03.799 proclaimed. The very next day, Kaiser Charles 00:16:03.799 --> 00:16:06.840 I of Austria -Hungary abdicates, dissolving a 00:16:06.840 --> 00:16:09.399 centuries -old empire overnight. The empires 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:11.379 that started the war are simply dissolving into 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:14.440 thin air. And then... We arrive at the date everyone 00:16:14.440 --> 00:16:17.919 knows, November 11th. Yes. In a railway carriage 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.220 in the forests of Compiègne, Germany signs the 00:16:20.220 --> 00:16:22.679 armistice at 6 a .m. The fighting is ordered 00:16:22.679 --> 00:16:25.259 to officially end at the 11th hour of the 11th 00:16:25.259 --> 00:16:27.460 day of the 11th month. But there's a fascinating 00:16:27.460 --> 00:16:30.000 footnote to that neat and tidy ending. The fighting 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:32.059 didn't actually stop everywhere on the 11th. 00:16:32.059 --> 00:16:34.639 It didn't. Down in East Africa, it took three 00:16:34.639 --> 00:16:37.659 days for the undefeated German commander, General 00:16:37.659 --> 00:16:40.740 von Leto Vorbeck, to even receive the telegram 00:16:40.740 --> 00:16:43.720 about Germany's surrender and agree to a ceasefire. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.799 And he didn't formally surrender his army in 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:49.659 present day Zambia until November 25. That's 00:16:49.659 --> 00:16:52.299 14 days later. It's a perfect example of how 00:16:52.299 --> 00:16:54.879 the dates we memorize in school rarely capture 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:56.960 the chaotic reality on the ground, especially 00:16:56.960 --> 00:16:59.799 in a war that spanned impenetrable jungles, vast 00:16:59.799 --> 00:17:02.779 oceans, and multiple continents. So what does 00:17:02.779 --> 00:17:05.619 this all mean? We've traced the dominoes from 00:17:05.619 --> 00:17:08.019 the spark in Sarajevo through muddy trenches, 00:17:08.319 --> 00:17:10.319 naval blockades, and the collapse of ancient 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:12.779 empires. But the story doesn't just stop when 00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:15.500 the guns go silent in 1918. No, because 1918 00:17:15.500 --> 00:17:17.799 wasn't a neat ending. It was just an intermission. 00:17:18.099 --> 00:17:20.220 The diplomatic and military maneuvering stretch 00:17:20.220 --> 00:17:22.740 right into the 1920s. Right. You have the Paris 00:17:22.740 --> 00:17:25.079 Peace Conference opening in January 1919, which 00:17:25.079 --> 00:17:26.599 leads to the creation of the League of Nations. 00:17:27.000 --> 00:17:28.559 There is a whole series of complex treaties, 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:31.299 Versailles, Trianon, Sevres, Lausanne, all attempting 00:17:31.299 --> 00:17:34.529 to bandage a profoundly broken world. And it 00:17:34.529 --> 00:17:37.109 was a very leaky bandage, wasn't it? Regional 00:17:37.109 --> 00:17:40.269 conflicts raged on well past the armistice. The 00:17:40.269 --> 00:17:43.069 Russian Civil War doesn't conclude until 1923. 00:17:43.750 --> 00:17:46.730 You have the Turkish War of Independence redefining 00:17:46.730 --> 00:17:49.200 the borders of Anatolia. which is the crucial 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:51.519 takeaway for you listening right now. Whenever 00:17:51.519 --> 00:17:53.859 you look at a modern map or whenever you read 00:17:53.859 --> 00:17:56.200 the daily international news, you are looking 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:59.180 at the direct echoes of the events we just discussed. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:01.819 The borders of the Middle East, the shifting 00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:04.640 dynamics of Eastern Europe, the modern mechanisms 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.380 of international diplomacy, they were all forged 00:18:07.380 --> 00:18:10.160 in the fires of this conflict. The trauma of 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:13.900 this war fundamentally altered human art. literature 00:18:13.900 --> 00:18:17.000 and psychology. It is truly the foundation of 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:19.839 the modern world. And to leave you with one final 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:22.359 mind -bending fact to mull over on your own, 00:18:22.859 --> 00:18:24.880 we often think of The Great War as ancient history, 00:18:25.220 --> 00:18:27.500 a black and white grainy film from over a century 00:18:27.500 --> 00:18:30.000 ago. But the financial ledger of that war remained 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:32.900 open for an astonishingly long time. Germany 00:18:32.900 --> 00:18:35.180 didn't make its final reparations payment for 00:18:35.180 --> 00:18:39.759 World War I until October 3, 2010. 2010. Long 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:42.220 after the empires fell, long after the individuals 00:18:42.220 --> 00:18:44.339 who fought in the trenches had passed away, the 00:18:44.339 --> 00:18:46.539 financial consequences of the Treaty of Versailles 00:18:46.539 --> 00:18:49.019 were finally settled just a little over a decade 00:18:49.019 --> 00:18:51.400 ago. It really makes you realize history is never 00:18:51.400 --> 00:18:54.339 as far away as it seems. Thank you for joining 00:18:54.339 --> 00:18:56.579 us on this deep dive into the dizzying events 00:18:56.579 --> 00:18:59.200 of the Great War. We hope you walk away with 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:01.039 a richer understanding of how these dominoes 00:19:01.039 --> 00:19:04.059 fell and shaped the world we live in today. Until 00:19:04.059 --> 00:19:05.339 next time, keep learning.