American Reacts to Europe Prior to World War I: Alliances and Enemies I PRELUDE TO WW1 ( Part 1)
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- Опубліковано 18 чер 2024
- Hello! I'm an American on a quest to learn more about history, geography and the universe in general. In this video Indy Neidell introduces me to what Europe looked like leading up to WWI, and why the certain countries allied themselves with others. If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe!
00:00 - Intro
02:22 - Comment Time
11:43 - Reaction
27:33 - Outro
Link to original video: • Europe Prior to World ...
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@Stop Censoring Right, I'll just add Austria had the honor to be the "Defender of the Faith" for the Catholic church. The reason the Austrian Empire was as large as it was and included 15 nations within, is because Austria was protecting these small Catholic nations from originally just the Islamic Ottomans. Later when it came to the Poles from the Orthodox Russians and Protestant Prussians. Croatia, Hungary, Czech rep, and so on. It was a union based on defense, with the leader of the Holy Roman Empire the Austrian Hapspburg at the top, who can call on German Mercenaries to help out. Vienna being a massive not just city but FORT. .. Cracks start to form when the Czech republic tries to become Protestant leading to 30 years war.
Don't forget to react to the Christmas Truce 1914 when you are getting deeper into that matter. It was a remarkable day... Maybe the most heartwarming in the history of warfare... 🤔
There is something you seem not to have noticed. You ask less questions than half a year ago and these are different questions, too. Not everyone makes such a progress. I hope you will comment on other historical topics in the next years, too. And I hope, you will not forget Otto von Bismarck.
@@jorgbecker5028 That would be a great video for a certain time in December.
Now, I guess, you know more on Napoleon, Alexander the Great and some other topic than most Europeans. It is tought in school, but only those interested in history don't forget the most of it.
Romance languages - wine Europe.
Germanic languages - beer Europe.
Slavic languages - vodka Europe.
Finno-Ugric-Magyar languages - Food Europe.
@@andrewcharles459 I am starting to be interested in those...
Slavic languages - rakja Europe
Celtic languages - whisky Europe
Greek languages - Ouzo Europe
Prussia basically became the core of Germany. Its King became Germany’s Kaiser. Its military tradition became Germany’s military tradition. “Prussian” became a marker of culturally strong institutions in northern Germany.
it also was a province within unified germany till 1945
Germany =military tradition ? I think this tradition was much stronger in france and the uk.
@@beateschoendelen2378 All countries have a military tradition. France has one, England has one, Prussia had one, and a lot of the Europeans exported there’s to other countries. For example, The Prussian tradition was replaced in Germany when each side of the Cold War reimagined German Armies after their complete abolition for a number of years, but it lives on in Chile of all Places, who had hired Prussian Advisors. Likewise, before it became increasingly distinctly “samurai” in the Shówa era, Westernized Imperial Japan was strongly influenced by the French Army tradition instilled by French advisors.
This has nothing to do with how “militaristic” the whole of cultural tradition in a country is.
@@beateschoendelen2378 I mean all of them had military traditions. But the Kaisers wore military uniforms rather than royal garb (this tradition predates the unification of Germany as well, Prussian monarchs had been doing this for several generations by this point and were basically among some of the first in Europe to do it if not the first) and the unification of Germany was secured by an utter defeat of France. At the time war broke out the German Empire was widely believed to be the strongest land power so the claim of their military tradition isn’t really all that ridiculous
@Hay Bell Feldgrau is actually a recent innovation at the time of WW1. Prussia’s uniforms had been a special shade of dark blue known as Prussian Blue.
Prussia was it’s own country for hundreds of years, similar to Saxony,Bavaria and so on, in 1871 Prussia united all of the German states into the German Empire after the defeat of France. After unification each German state was still around, they were just under the German Empire.
All but Austria anyway.
@@chrisbovington9607 Wasn't switzerland part of the HRE?
@@Panteni87 Hapsburg family came from Switzerland. Just to complicate things even more ;-D
@@Panteni87 Switzerland was its own sphere, with the different cantons. The French invaded Switzerland during the war of the first coalition in 1798 and setup the Helvetic Republic. In 1803 when the 3rd coalition was standing inside Switzerland they refused to fight as the Helvetic Republic, and became more independent with 19 cantons, becoming officially independent in 1815.
The eastern cantons were doing business with HRE and Austria, and thus speak German, while the western cantons were doing business with France.
Lichenstein would become a part of the HRE as it was just an unclaimed valley on the other side of the rhine, and the Emperor gave it to some guy basically. The Swiss were abit annoyed about that post 1815, it became independent and not a part of Switzerland, so Lichenstein would do all diplomatic and business stuff with Austria. That went to helm after WW1, and today the official currency in Lichenstein is Swiss Franc instead of Austrian Marks.
@@TrashskillsRS Switzerland was part of the HRE but gained its independence in the 16th century. The independence was internationally recognized in the peace of westphalia in 1648.
“Bosnia is Right on the coast right there”
Bosnia, having one tiny corridor of coast between a mostly Croatian Coastline : “Well, no, but actually yes.”
Bosnia: Croatia do you like the coast?
Croatia: Yes, all of it.
It wouldn't have been considered Croatian at this point though, more likely Dalmatian.
@@DaDunge That’s kind of correct. The unique Dalmatian romance Language I believe was already dead (it’s known to have literally gone out with a bang), but the populations there were a mix of Croatian and Italian and the region was just Dalmatia.
That said, she was talking about where modern borders would be on the map.
@@DaDunge croatian and croatia its old european country and people
@@ostojamartrix Yes but before all non slavs were removed from Yugoslavia the coastal areas were in large part inhabited by an italian speaking people called the Dalmatians.
Kindly advice: when you learn history, always start with the historical maps. They helps a lot to understand, even in geopolitical way, even in alliance and military placements :)
i think it's a great advice . Maybe i say that because i'm french (in france , geography class and history class are the same , in shorts because we lose alsace-lorraine in 1870 )
anyways , it work well , especialy if you have visual memory .
@@Eldiran1 In Hungary, we have a history geoatlas near the books on the history lectures in the school ;)
Don’t feel small. Your videos are educational for us over in Europe too. We don’t know as much as we should about our history. It’s a fascinating subject and you present it well. It is like we are all kind of learning together. Well done. 😊
This is so exciting! My jaw dropped when I first noticed the great war channel in 2017 and followed it religiously (and the WWII one now obviously).
The Between 2 Wars series Time Ghost did is jawdroppingly amazing as well
German battleships didn’t sit in harbour all the time. They tried to break the British blockade at Jutland and failed despite sinking more British ships than they lost. The blockade did remain intact for the entire war as the Germans realised they had no hope of defeating the Royal Navy.
Yeah, that comment got my back up a bit.
Yeah, I feel he was making a good point overall but leaving out the Battle of Jutland is a bit of a mistake!
The thing about Jutland is that there is substantial evidence that many of the British -battleships- battlecruisers sank themselves. There is evidence that British officers and men adopted a Trafalgar mentality and attempted to win through increased rate of fire. This led to them cutting through safety procedures by leaving magazine doors open to speed up transfer of ammunition.
Several British -battleships- battlecruisers sank due to their magazines exploding, which could as easily have been caused by a spark from the firing of the ship's guns as being hit by an enemy.
Personally I think he has a point though. The Battle of Jutland was a pretty big slugfest, but in a strategic sense did nothing to change the status quo. The British Grand Fleet continued to maintain the blockade on Germany, and the Germans never again committed their surface fleet to further action that threatened the British.
@@zarabada6125
Have to admit I haven’t heard that one before. Cheers.
Prussia was at that period one (the biggest and most important) state of the German empire. Like California or Texas are states of the US. Germany has never been a centralized state like france but consisted of powerful states.
Not sure those two are best examples. Texas is basically bribed to stay in union, and California is always looking for ways out - secession with fellow west coast states. 🤣
Pennsylvania or Massachusetts or Virginia is probably the best.
Like the USA the German Empire consisted of several states. Prussia was one of them. But it was the biggest state, containing half the territory and also half the population of Germany. Many scholars have pointed out the irony: Prussia reached its political aims with the foundation of the Empire, but got lost itself not only as a major power, but also as an idea.
On the contrary! The rest of Germany was pretty much "prussified", the infamous prussian militarism being the most significant effect. This was what Bismarck had envisioned: A Germany under prussian hegemony. He didn't care at all for german nationalism, he just used it to ensure Prussias military, political, cultural and economic dominance in the inevitable unified Germany. The "German Empire" was pretty much a "Prussian Empire".
Well, this is an old debate. Prussia wasn't only Bismarck and the military. In the last decade other aspects were emphasized more than these two. Like we both wrote the German Empire, of course under prussian dominance, was the aim of Prussian politics. But Bismarck knew and said, that politics are the art to achieve the most possible. There are two points to think about: Mostly the german Kings, Dukes, Princes and City States joined, because it was of benefit for their countries. Okay, some got bribed, but that's how things worked in the centuries before and it doesn't mean, that they acted against their duties. The second and more important point is the question, what Prussia lost. If you use your old narrativ from the times of the Cold War, you have the problem, that Prussia was more than an Army with a state. Even in Voltaires time he left a lot aside, to form this words. Read a book, which uses more than stereotypes, e.g. Christopher Clark, Iron Kingdom. The Rise and Fall of Prussia, and you will see, what Prussia had to give up. For example they had to give up there religous tolerance and they accepted different narratives regarding history. The latter did not change until today. For me the view, that Prussia simply took over command, is an explanation too simple. (Furthermore Prussia had no cultural dominance in Germany. That's just a stereotype again.)
@@fraso7331 True, but the prussian influence WAS in fact quite great. Not only did the other states integrate their armies in to the prussian one (or copied it almost exactly), but they also imitated the structure of the prussian state and bureaucracy. To this day, the traditional levels of administration in Germany are Gemeinde, Kreis and Land - a prussian invention. The same is true for the basic structure and concept of the school system, for example. The prussian value of punctuality has even become a german stereotype.
Another point is that Prussia was by far the most important state in Germany, even after 1918. Prussia had two of the three most important industrial regions in Germany (the Ruhr Area and Upper Silesia), was the economic powerhouse of the whole country and had an enourmous political influence,thanks to its large population. It overshadowed the other states in almost every aspect. The other states, even Bavaria, were pretty much marginalized. Also, the religious issue was far less important after the 1890s.
Regarding your first point: The other states had no choice - more or less - but to accept the prussian hegemony. Some northern states were allied with Prussia before 1866 because of their insignificance and the others were allied with Prussia after 1866 because they had lost the war and were effectively forced to join the North German Confederation or to be annexed like Hannover or Hessen-Kassel. As Bismarck had planned, the 1870 war led to an atmosphere that made it impossible for the 4 southern states NOT to join the NGC/Empire.
@@untruelie2640 Luxemburg didn't join, which is a proof, that there was a choice. And that Prussia was the most dominant state, didn't mean, that there were no changes and losses for Prussia. Some things of the very core of Prussia were lost, which are so important, that most modern scholars say, what I wrote on this above. Definitly not all scholars. Especially in Germany many have other view. And a topic, whole books are constructed around, is, of course more than difficult to discuss in comments on UA-cam, which we have to admit. And will, of course, admit that there are both aspects, which I never denied. For me it's more interesting how much Prussia lost.
The prussian administration levels were Gemeinde, Amt, Kreis (a little bit like a county), Regierungsbezirk and Provinz. Städte (cities) could replace Gemeinde (municipality, town) and Amt. Furthermore Gemeinden, Ämter, Städte and Kreise were not typically prussian, but german. Regarding Regierungsbezirke and Provinces not every german state or Land had both. They are more typical prussian. Today only some countries have Regierungsbezirke and even the states / Länder with former prussian territories went mostly to Gemeinde (or Stadt) and Kreis. I know, old german administration is very complicated and a little bit terrifying for students, but it is a very interesting story for every historian and lawyer, once they sailed around the first cliffs. (The school system is also more complicated and it was copied before the foundation of the Empire, not only in Germany, but also in the World. The economic role of Upper Silesia is debated, but in this case I favour, what you said.)
The greater armies like the Bavarian one maintained there traditions. But as it is done by many members of the Nato, it is more effective if you organize your army to fit to the most powerful ally. And therefore this was a clear matter. What Prussia lost here, was that even the little states like Lippe didn't through away their whole tradition. Suddenly there were narrations of fighting against Prussia, which strengthened german nationalism and sometimes weekend the minorities, which did so much benefit for Prussia before.
Well, yes, the 'German values' like punctuality, mostly were Prussian values first. But I have to remember, that this values were favoured by poets like Schiller long before 1871.
The religious staid important. In a real prussian Germany, there the Jews would have been protected better from anti-semitism. Yes, in its' history Prussia did sacrifice tolerance and Jewish rights for political reason before. But in 1871 it was nearly given up completely to change society in direction of tolerance.
@@fraso7331 Is it possible that we are both German? In that case, It would be more efficient to continue this debate in German...
You need to watch this whole channel it’s absolutely amazing
I have soo been looking forward to this.
can't believe you are going to be watching this tbh there is four years of content so if you're watching one episode a week you arent going to finish this for four years lmao (not that i wont be happy to watch it anyway :p)
Same I’ll love to watch her reaction to this series but she is either gonna go through it for an extremely long time (not that it bothers me) or she needs to upload the episodes more often like 3 times a week.
But by the time she gets there, the WW2 week by week will be finished, too.
@@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t that's true, lmao
Glad to see your getting into this series !!!
Bismark deliberately excluded Austria when he created Germany because he wanted Prussia to dominate the country but Prussia was a distant second to Austria in influence so Bismark decided on a "little Germany". He united all the other German states but argued that Austria was too influenced by Hungary to be included.
Correct, but this topic is a bit more complex and there is more to it. Especially the difficult situation in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire regarding its non German parts was concerning even 40 years before WW1. Bismarck already knew about specific ethnic groups living under the Austrian-Hungarian flag aiming for independence and causing an alarming situation, dangerously close to civil war, for the Austrians. Inheriting these problems wasn't a good idea, if you can choose otherwise. He personally didn't like the Austrians, but he wasn't against the Austrian part joining the German Empire. Of course, giving up their bigger part outside of Austria, just to join a German Empire, wasn't an option for the Austrian Empire, so it had to be the "Little German" solution.
Extra Credits is the channel, which originally was about videogame design and other related stuff, but then a videogame company was releasing a historical strategy game and they contacted Extra Credits to sponsor an episode about the historical context of the game (it was about Rome). And so, they did the episode and then decided to make it into a whole series, and so the Extra History series was born within the Extra Credits channel.
And then they made "suddenly you're a Nazi" video. This is when I stopped watching them.
@@dzejrid I've watched every episode of Extra History there is and I am not sure which one you are talking about? Can I ask you to provide the title, so I can judge by myself?
This is a really good series!
You do you. Always great to see your new content.
One of your best video, thanks.
Congratulations on the multi-year commitment, I guess. It'll be just like college but without the diploma and the fancy hat at the end.
Yes these prelude episodes look interesting but a week by week, blow by futile bloody blow? Too much!
@@jasonvardy991 Some of us are elderly-and health not great- might not make Four Years-and i'm serious here.
You emotionally stunted little boys on this thread need to relax 😂
@@jasonmoore7223 What a humanitarian you are sir. I spoke quite true- i'm well in my 60s and health rather bad - so; I doubt i'll make Four years plus; on a project like that - but its nice to know there are folk around such as your kind self; to bolster me.
or the crippling debt
Thank you for reacting to this, I have started watching the series that this preceded.
In my opinion the World at War series was the best WW2 series and has never been equaled and is unlikely to be bettered and the wonderful voice of Laurence Olivier also hard to match.
It's debatable. Some of the info in it is outdated, but it was pretty good when I first saw it.
I still liked the Battlefield series by PBS better, because the information is structured better.
Super excited that you're starting this channel I just know you will enjoy the content if it's not too much to ask perhaps you should do both the 2nd and 3rd part together since the last part will just be recapping what you already know about the Archduke with some new bits here and there.
You pick a Very good channel to learn from 👏
I love your channel keep up the great stuff
Extra history has many facts wrong. Indy is on point with everything I saw from him so far.
He gets stuff wrong too, he overuses English sources. For an example he mentions the naval buildup in Germany by conventionally fails to ask why Germany wanted colonies and a navy. The reason is not prestige which he hints at but the fact that Germany could not feed it's own population without food imports and Britain was messing with their food imports.
But with Extra History they have the “Lies” episodes covering the stuff they got wrong and what they weren’t able fit into the video.
Love this series. Started watching in Spring 2015 and all the way to the end. I literally cried when the last episode came out because it was something I was tied to for four years and most of my time in high school.
Roger needs a ww1 helmet right now he is using a ww2 helmet
The history of helmets in World War 1 is quite interesting. Well, it is to a geek like me 😊
At the start of the war, most soldiers on all sides did not wear any sort of helmet. The British in particular had no head protection of any significance - the men wore peaked caps, forage caps and tam o'shanters. The Germans had a leather helmet referred to as the picklehaub. After about a year of action, Germany introduced a steel helmet which was pretty good and this survived, in modified form, right through to the end of World War 2. Britain introduced the flatter "dinner plate" type steel helmet in 1916 and that, in various forms, survived into the 1960s.
Celtic is pronounced with a hard C so Keltic(linguistic/ethnic group) not Seltic (that's a football team).
.... and the football team, being Scottish, really should know better than to mispronounce it like they do :)
You can call the fitba team 'pish'. Works too
@@ftumschk In fairness its a scottish team now but it was formed by irish workers.
@@andrewshaw1571 Same argument applies - the Irish are celtic (pronounced "keltic") people too.
As in 'Stalybridge Celtic', obviously.
Your curiosity and thirst for knowledge are astounding.
What you remember from the World at War is East Prussia, which post WW1 became an enclave of Weimar Germany surrounded by land from Poland after West Prussia was given to Poland.
Nice reaction. I love seeing how you slowly piece things together during the last few weeks. take your time to let it all sink in.
One thing you see on the map is, that there is no Poland or Lithuania. These had been great powers in the north-east, but where divided between Russia and Germany at the time of this map shown.
To answer your question about Prussia: When they defeated France during the Franco-Prussian war all of the german states, excluding Austria, came together to form the German Empire with the Prussian king at the helm. Germany at this point functioned more or less like a federation with each of the smaller states retaining their ruling families and a significant degree of autonomy.
After the war Germany was democraticised and restructured but Prussia was kept as an administrative unit until the Allies abolished it in 1945 after WW2.
The case of the Franco-British relations during this time are very interesting. Following the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war France started looking around for allies to counter a powerful Germany. The UK had for a while isolated itself and focusing more on its colonial developments rather than European affairs, but that ended after a treaty with France that resolved some colonial disputes and normalised relations between them, effectively ending almost a thousand years of hostility. Calling the two states allied would be a stretch though imo and you'd see the UK join the war not to defend France, but Belgium in the end.
It was a pleasure and privilege to see Indy present the Great War for 4 years every week without let up. I enjoy every episode.
WW2 week by week is currently done by Indy and is equally well written and presented :)
I really was looking forward for you to react to the Great War series
It was railways that hastened the start of WW1. Armies were quicker to mobilise. Previously governments had time to re-think and react.
Don’t worry about feeling ignorant most of us here are probably history buffs.
its hard she has an audience of History buffs and it looks like this is the standard knowledge but the normal history knowledge no matter in Europe, US or anywhere else is like 5-10% of what most People here know
And most of us were just as ignorant once upon the time
@@bilalwaheed1125 yup and then came EU4. lol With UA-cam stuff just blowing it up exponentially.
@@MarkVrem I actually prefer hoi4, war thunder and Anthony beevor books
@@bilalwaheed1125 I thought I'd enjoy HOI4 more than I actually did. Either I already by that point played too many WW2 games and the sandbox got played out too fast,... or it was just way too much micro-managing to really get into it. Either way, looking forward to the new Victoria game. I feel like that sandbox is gonna allow for quite a bit of interesting scenarios.
Balkan is a Bulgar/Turkish/Persian word for high above, and/or forested mountain. Bulgarians today are considered Slavic, but that is due to mixing with Slavs coming from the north and living in the area at the original arrival of the Bulgars. Bulgars originally being Turkic pastoral horsemen with their cattle coming in from Asia. Basically to graze the Balkan Mountains.
@DANIEL BIN OMAR - Yup you're probably right.. No written history prior to contact with the Byzantine Romans it is all guesses for the most part LOL.
23:20 You are basically correct, Prussia stopped being its own country when it united Germany in 1871 but still existed as a state within the German Empire, as did others, with its own state government like those in the US. But it dominated Germany to a crazy degree, imagine if the entire US east of the Mississippi was all one state. Prussia didn't cease to exist until first the Nazis abolished the state system, and then the Allies after WW2 decided not to restore it because they felt that the culture of 'Prussian militarism' had influenced Germany launching aggressive wars in the past.
I know I did another long comment, but this is kinda my take on Germany’s Naval Arms race with Britain and wether it was justified or not, and the one thing I disagree with Indie on this video was that Britain and Germany did not become enemies simply because of German military expansion, rather German and British foreign policies after the removal of Bismarck began to conflict with each other. Germany wanted a strong grip on Europe with access to it’s overseas colonies and trade partners, while Britain wanted to remain in control of it’s empire seeing a strong Germany akin to Napoleon’s dominance of Europe, and saw German expansion as a threat. In retrospect Germany saw expansion as a means to protect itself, while Britain saw German expansion as a threat to itself. This all culminated in an arms race that both empires would compete, not the ownership of the seas that is, but ownership of the North Sea, since in a case of a war with Britain, Germany could be cut off, and eventually starved out from this channel between England and Scandinavia. This is really one of the major reasons why Germany pushed for U-Boot development and circumvent traditional blockades set up by the British, that would eventually lead to American involvement in the war. But I personally believe American involvement in ww1 was more about bailing out the entente so they could repay their debts than any amount of civilian life lost.
I very much agree with your points.
It's fascinating to look at a map of Europe before the Napoleonic wars, then during the wars, and compare it to the map after 1815. The changes are immense!
I watched the weekly show from Feb (20)15 to the end. As a military aged male at the time, I was able to connect with this as one of the men who would have joined the call to arms if I was in one of the waring nations. My great grandfather fought for the Austrian Army and not sure about other family members.
About Prussia: The Kingdom of Prussia formed the German Empire. Prussia was not an empire but a kingdom. Empires can control several kingdoms inside them and the Emperor (or Kaiser in the German Empire) kept lower titles as well for prestige reasons. So the Kaiser of the German Empire was also the King of Prussia.
During the German Empire there were several other royal families as well like the King of Bavaria, who was basically a subject of the Kaiser. So, the German Empire (Almost like all empires) had kingdoms inside them that were either ruled by the Kaiser directly or ruled by a subject of the Kaiser in which the subject had some autonomy but was a part of the empire.
The Kingdom of Prussia ended in 1918 when the German Empire lost WWI and the monarchy ended. Prussia was then formed into a free state and the official title of the former Kingdom of Prussia became the Free State of Prussia which was one of the states in the new republic and was more or less the Republic version of the direct ruled territory of the Kaiser (So the places that were ruled by King-subjects became other administrative regions).
The Prussian Free State was basically a huge chunk of the Weimar Republic (The republic that was formed from the German Empire), with almost 60% of all the land of the republic being in this one state. So, it was unpopular by the rulers of the republic due to the huge territory it administered.
The Free State of Prussia ended in 1935, when the Nazis changed basically all the administrative divisions in Nazi Germany, and Prussia became just the part where the geographical region of Prussia is (Part of modern day Poland). This administrative region ended in 1945, when all of Prussia was given to Poland.
So, the end of Prussia could accepted as either of these 3 events:
1. The end of the German Empire, and so the dissolution of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1918
2. The new administrative division of Nazi Germany that ended the Free State of Prussia in 1935
3. The end of German rule for the geographical region of Prussia in 1945
But Prussia most certainly didn't end after the formation of the German Empire in 1871. During this time until 1918 the Kingdom of Prussia still existed and was on of the titles of the Kaiser.
The Channel is Extra Credits which is also their first format talking mostly about Game Design. Extra History is a Series on that Channel. They also have Stuff like Extra Mystery (exploring Myths around the world), Extra SciFi and more.
Prussia was the dominating force between unifing Germany. It was the Franco Prussian war that made the founding of the German Empire possible (and Germany directly took some border territory) The Prussiang King became the Kaiser of Germany but he was still the Prussian King as well since the old states still were present in a Federal System (think of Gouvernours and the Senate).
The "alliance" between France and Britain is way to complicated for a short YT video. Best way to put it is that they agreed that being outright enemies was wastefull. The alliance part was mostly about British gurantees so France would not have to defend it's Channel Ports and could concentrate it's fleet in the Mediterenian or use it around the world.
Please do more videos on the Great War Channel, they are amazing!
It really bugs me when he says “England” instead of the U.K. or at least Britain!!! 😂
Same here. It always annoys me when people do that and I'm English :P
I followed the great war channel religiously since the begging, it was amazing and left a big imprint on me
The Great War channel is one of the best if not the best documentary made about World War 1
Barbara Tuchman who wrote the classic The Guns of August about WW1 also wrote a great book about the socio-economic, cultural and political currents circulating in Europe prior to World War One called - The Proud Tower.
"The Great War" is a hugely interesting channel. I followed the series weekly in the 2014-2018 time-period. The show kept improving every few months and by the end they had a great team of writers and researchers and many sub-series.
The same team is currently running a WW2 channel as well where they are doing WW2 week-by-week which I am following now. It is equally excellent and has a tremendous sub-series called "War against Humanity" which is spine-chilling but oh so important. #NeverForget
Indy Neidell left the 'Great War' channel at the end of war (Armistice Day) but the channel has carried on.
Indy & Spartacus started 'Time Ghost' then branched out with the WW2 Channel.
WW2 is the same format as 'The Great War' and 'Time Ghost' covers a wider range (Between the wars/Cuban Missile Crisis/Suez Crisis to name a few)
And as he doesn't have enough to do he also does 'Sabaton History'.
They are all good (so far as I'm working my way through them all).
Extra Credits is a gaming channel, Extra History is their history show, it’s on the same channel and the Extra History label is to distinguish it from their normal gaming videos
This guy's stuff is incredibly detailed. His Cuban Missile Crisis is the best! My European ancestors leaving Europe as late as the 19th century, including Czechs under Emperor Franz Ferdinand, is how they avoided WW I and WW ii, though some of them went back there as US troop in both wars.
If you want to accelerate the process you may want to do the weekly episodes back to back to cover a month of the war at a time, which should help with clarifications, or if you want to condense it down massively, watch the channel's summaries that occur after every 3 months of the war. However the weekly episodes are best since they include all the relevant details
Extra Bistory is one of the more popular series on the Extra Credits channel. They also post a few other things (including some of the more infamous hot-takes on gaming culture in recent memory)
Hoping you will still be here in 4 years though who knows you may be finishing your history doctorate at that point . Please keeping doing your channel for as long as you can : )
Back then mobilisation was heavily dependent on railways, and trains have to run to pre-prepared timetables. So the whole thing is a ponderous complex machine which once it's wound up and set going cannot easily be stopped ...
The whole point in learning is to find out things you dont already know like many have said you shouldnt beat yourself up your going to be surprised sometimes and lets be honest thats a big reason to watch!
Another great song about WW1 is "The Green Fields Of France" by Eric Bogle. My personal favourite rendition of it is actually by the Dropkick Murphys, it's much more quiet and solemn than their usual style, while still carrying the emotional weight of the lyrics. Check it out if you enjoyed "In Flanders Fields".
18:30 I don't remember if he explains it in the next video about the Balkan before the war, but it wasn't just Franz Joseph saying "Oh look theres Bosina, let's annex it".
Bosnia was occupied by Austria Hungary since the Congress of Berlin "gave" that area to austria to occupy it. (Mainly to keep the balance of influence on the Balkan even i htink)
And after years of being there, the russian foreign minister told the austrian one basically that no one would have a problem with austria annexing it completely. But he underestimated the quickness in what followed. (Austria Hungaries bureaocratsim wasn't fast usually) And they annexed it pretty fast. This cost the russian foreign minister his job, and he "evolved" into an "austrophob" and later became russian ambassador to france.
We don't mind you not knowing stuff - a good You-tuber is always learning.
ho you started to look at the Indy Neidell channel that great stuff here.
and yes France and England relationship cooldown with "the entente cordiale" (1843) between french king Louis-Phillipe I and queen Victoria of the british empire.
extra credits is the channel. extra history are the videos eries on the channel dedicated to history.
Extra credits started out as a channel about the nature of video games but then started making videos on other topics including history.
We are all here to learn SoGal.
I think his WW1 stuff on UA-cam is the best. four years of a war, week by week
You could also watch the map of Europe every year. It goes from ancient times to today
Germany, like the US, is a federal State. Some of the 1871 original states still exists today, like Saxony and Bavaria (they had also been estates of the former Holy Roman Empire for 1000 years). After WW2 the allies dissolved Prussia, and created instead several States, many of them were just former prussian provinces (like Brandeburg). Other smaller states were merged by the allies, e.g. Baden and Wurttemberg, today Baden-Wurttemberg; or the 8 very small Thuringian states were merged as the State of Thuringia.
Extra Credits is the channel, it has a number of different series, Extra History is one of the series on extra credits. It's kind if like the Crash Course Channel who have crash course in a lot of different subjects. Also you should watch crash course world history 1 & 2 if you haven't already.
Flanders is in Belgium nothing to do with French Flanders, Flanders Fields is a poem by Canadian doctor Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae who is buried in Wimereux Communal Cemetery where all the gravestones are laid flat due to the ground, he wrote the poem at a dressing station next to Essex Farm Cemetery near Ieper. In Flanders Fields Museum is inside the cloth hall in Ieper.
A "unsinkable" German ironclad ship is legendary.
In one case it was pursued by British ships who tried to sink the ship, but the ship was faster and the armor prevented hits.
However, with luck a torpedo? (or bomb?) hit the steering gear of the German ship, where upon it could only drive in circles.
The ten British ships fired at the maneuverable ship for hours but the German was very well protected. Until a chance hit landed in the ammunition chamber.
Only then did the German ship explode and sink fast. The ship and crew were lost, only a handful survived.
After that, no German warship left the port.
There was basically not really much of a difference between „Austria“ and „Germany“ until 1866/1871.
Austria had always been a part of the same political entity as „Germany“.
It was part of the Holy Roman Empire and for much of the time the Austrian Habsburgs ruled the HRE and thus „Germany“.
It was after the end of the HRE also part of the German Confederation from 1815 to 1866.
Only in the German War (Austro-Prussian War) of 1866 the Austrians lost together with their German allies (e.g. Bavaria, Saxony, Baden, Württemberg, Hanover etc.) against Prussia, Italy and a few small German states that were allies of Prussia.
It was basically this war of 1866 which decided that Germany would be united under the hegemony of Prussia and that Austria wouldn’t be part of „Germany“.
After this war there was the North German Confederation (dominated by Prussia) and the remaining southern states Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg and Hesse had defensive treaties with Prussia.
When France declared war on Prussia in 1870 the southern states joined the fight against France and in 1871 the countries of the North German Confederation together with the southern German states became the German Empire.
Austria was thus no longer part of „Germany“.
P.S.
And if we go a really long time back then Austria was basically a part of Bavaria until 1156 😂
The Entente Cordiale of 1904 between Britain and France happened in the period after Napoleon's defeat and WWI. This resolved several outstanding areas of colonial conflict between the two empires and laid the basis for friendly negotiations moving forward. However, it was not a formal alliance. It basically led to friendly relations and the intent to try to work harmoniously together to solve problems rather than continually going to war with each other, as had happened between the two countries on and off for many hundreds of years.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entente_Cordiale
An excellent series was "The World at War" which Laurence Olivier narrated [what a voice] There were 26 episodes and i watched them all.
Looks like it might be an interesting series. However 4 years is lengthy but should be in detail. The World at War documentary is excellent i remember watching it on its original release.
23:40 You asked what happened between the Napoleonic Wars and WWI to make France and UK allies. The simple answer is Germany!
Omg you're actually gonna watch the great war series. This will take some time
Indy is great. His team's hour-by-hour of Pearl Harbour is fascinating, educational and - well - think of something and add it. It really is an outstanding oeuvre and should be shown in all schools and colleges.
And when this finishes you can go straight into the same team's weekly World War Two videos! They're almost at Stalingrad, so about halfway done.
Great observation about modern US bases! That is why we study history, to understand the present.
It's not only language groups, they are ethnically different.
The Triple Entente was basically Britain teaming up with its old enemies France and Russia against a new rival which was, as others have pointed out, the strongest European power which could rule the continent, just as France had been. I raised my eyebrows at Neidell saying the German fleet was built "to attack Britain", though - although there were undoubtedly contingency plans for that, indications are that Germany's primary aim was to be taken seriously as a great power, not just on land but also on the seas. Remember that video from Extra Credits about Germany being a young nation trying to get its own share of colonies and resources, which most other powers already had.
In WW2 Britain had Two Generals killed in warfare; in WW1 it was 48. Britain, France and Austria Hungary suffered the largest fatalities in the field in their history. 1st July 1916, the first day of the `Battle of the Somme` turned out to be the bloodiest single day in British warfare history.
Sal, looking early in the lecture at the pre 1914 map of Europe note the present day countries not there at that time.
Why isn’t Roger wearing a WW1 “Tommy” helmet or is he trying for the spiked Prussian helmet minus the spike 😅
Prussia, having expanded and formed the German Empire remains a geographic region of Germany/Poland.
Although it's been somewhat reduced, ala Königsbeg/Kaliningrad.
It existed as a state until 1945. Then its eastern parts were occupied by Russia and Poland after ethnic cleansings. The western parts of Prussia were dissolved and Germany was divided in several countries, sometimes without regard to history.
@@fraso7331 The East Germans did try to appear with army customs/parades/uniforms and stuff more "German or Prussian" then the West German army who took on the appearance of the American army after WW2. Just part of their desperate propaganda attempt.
Actually, this reminds me, My Great Grandfather on my mother's side was Prussian in the Danzig/Gdansk area. The Nazis still confiscated his house and kicked him out to be homeless. They wanted to use the house as some sort of HQ. Anyways, the only difference is if he was Polish they would have shot him, but because he had Prussian roots they let him live. To be fair tho after the war, he didn't get the property back from the Polish government either lol.
@@MarkVrem What I wrote took place befor the GDR and BRD existed. Furthermore it doesn't mean, that Prussia still existed within the GDR. I responded on the views of Erik TD and sang froidian, who stated, that Prussia still exists. I just explained - okay, simplified - how it ended and why there is no region called Prussia today.
The Great War channel is probably the best way to learn about WW1.
Probably the best imho.
This is simplified and tbh I could be wrong but this is what I understand. The reason for the strange relationship between Britain and France is in the name of the "Entente". This is not an official alliance rather an understanding between the 2 nations (later 3 when Russia was involved) and they were basically saying they were friends but because of this informal alliance they weren't obliged to join in a war for each other and the natural suspicions were still there.
If you think back to the Extra History episode where the Russian asked the French and British ambassadors if they were gonna support them in a war with Austria the French Ambassador said France was behind him 100% while the British Ambassador said Britain sympathises but they will basically not be helping. This is an example of the Entente at work at the beginning of the war. Britain only joined the war on the 4th of August when German troops had invaded Belgium which Britain was obligated to protect
Extra history is from the chanel extra credits. Extra credits is a chanel specalizing in video game mechanics. CA, the developers of the total war series sponsered the chanel to produce a series on roman history in order to advertize teir new game "Total war; Rome 2". The rest is history as they say.
The series was on Hanable and the punic wars ifn you are interested.
Oversimplified Napoleonic Wars pt. 2?
Also don't feel bad I asked about 20 odd people from my work the other day when ww2 started and only one of them knew (not even a rough answer like the 30's), and that's in Britain, its terrible but trust me people just plain refuse to engage in history here..
Younger people I'd have to guess. Most elderly people have a certain deal of notions regarding the war. Which makes me feel very old at times.
A quick update on GB/ France.
In the 1850s G B and France had fought together as allies in the Crimean war, to stop the Russians moving down towards the eastern Mediterranean, taking ex-Ottoman land on the way. One of the reasons the Balkans was so sensitive. It was strategically placed at the end of the med. the western countries didn't want Russia moving in there.
Despite fighting together GB and France continued to be suspicious of each other. Many in the UK felt friendlier towards Germany..Britain tried to stay out of Europe, concentrated on its empire pursuing a policy called Splendid Isolation. By 1900 and with tbe growth of German industrial power, Britain had become feeling very vulnerable, also over the universal condemnation of its actions in the Boer war. It was alone and friendless. Germany was definitely seen as a competitor by this point. A treaty was arranged between Britain and France, in 1904 called The Entente Cordiale. It was partly smoothed by King Edward VII who made frequent trips to Paris, primarily to enjoy the raunchy night life, and was well liked over there. One of the agreements was that the British navy would protect France's northern coast, while the French protected British interests in the Mediterranean. That saved duplication of effort. As Indy said in the video, Russia joined in to form the Triple Entente in 1906. Effectively creating two power blocks in the continent.
You seemed surprised that Britain & France were allies as WW1 began. This goes back to the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars. After basically centuries of animosity, they decided that it would be better to work together to maintain stability in Europe, especially as the upheaval of that war had given many other countries in Europe the urge to become (or return to being) independent sovereign nations, which would cause turmoil in the other "Great Powers" - Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. And the shifting alliances before WW1 can be seen by the alliance between France, Britain and the Ottoman Empire against Russia in the Crimean War in the 1850s.
Britain's stance since the early 1700s was to prevent a pan-European domination by any one power, which might try to prevent Britain trading with Europe (which is what Napoleon actually achieved), so Britain always tended to side with the weaker powers/countries against the stronger one.
At the beginning of WW1 Russian & France had a formal alliance. When Great Britain joined it was called an Entente Cordial, not a formal alliance as we understand it today. Britain didn't declare war on Germany because of Germany's declaration of war on France, but because of its violation of neutral Belgium. These are perhaps all minor points because Britain would probably have become involved in the Great War at some point, but it wasn't under any treaty obligation to support France.
The maps of Europe have been re-drawn at least twice in just over 100 years shifting borders in a major way
In 1889 the British had passed the Naval Defence Act which legally required the Royal Navy to match the next two largest navies (at the time France and Russia), when Germany started what was known as the Dreadnought race it was the Forth largest but after the race it jumped to second place, however as the German fleet grew so did the Royal Navy in responce and the British just had more docks and infrustructure to easily match and outrun the German plan. As an example in 1912/13 the Germans built two ships the SMS Barden and Bayern at the same time British built 5 ships of the R-Class, HMS Revenge, Resolution, Royal Oak, Royal Soverign, Ramilles and earlier that year had just the five Queen Elizabeth class which were considered the most powerful warships afloat at the time of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Warspite (The Grand Old Lady), Barham, Valient and Malaya the Germans by contrast had only finished one around the same time.
arriving late to the party.. check out the clip "how the war started" from the british comedy series Black Adder
yaaay roger got his hat back :)
For the countries of Europe it might be good to see a map pre 1988, including Yugoslavia as was: then use a current map to see the up to date map, with 6 or now 7 ( Kosovo) countries which replaced Yugoslavia. Austria is much smaller than your pre WW1 map.
Also, Poland has moved post 1945 , other countries exited the USSR ( Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia & Estonia). Seeing these changes might help with past maps too.
There's a whole giant backstory for Germany and Austria as well.
The short version is that of the many small German countries in central Europe, Prussia and Austria came out as by far the biggest ones. There was a widespread popular movement to unite all the states into one Germany, but it was clear that the Prussians and Austrians would not share power between them. So Prussia became the leading power in the new German nation, and Austria stayed out and did it's own thing.
A 150 years ago, Germans and Austrians were not separate groups. It was only after a German nation was created that did not include Austria, that Austrians first became considered as something else than German.
I guess in a way, Germans and Austrians are related almost the same as Americans and English speaking Canadians. It's just how the border ended up being drawn.
They started with Extra Credits and added Extra History later.