Post-World War I Recovery: Crash Course European History #36
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- In which John Green looks at Europe's attempts to recover from the devastation of World War I and forge a lasting peace. The peace did not last. Today we're talking about the economic cultural recovery of the 1920s, and the economic depression of the 1930s, and the fragile state of Europe after the Great War. We'll also look at the rise of fascism via the auspices of populist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and we'll set the stage for the war to come.
Sources
-Smith, Bonnie G. Europe in the Contemporary World since 1900, 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
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#crashcourse #history #EuropeanHistory
“... but this isn’t crash course on the history of sports... yet....”
That, my children, is what we call in the industry: foreshadowing
Or daydreaming
We need Jon Bois to do it.
Please, please no.
Other then he missed out or they have no clue about soccers history.
Literature too!
Mussolini looks like he just realized that was not just a fart...
LMAO!
Pee
I have a friend who would call this “four sides white” to indicate utter madness.
xd haha
Bit of follow through 🤣
"Outsiders are not the problem. The urge to create outsiders is the problem."
Oof. Tell me why that sounds ominous.
Because that's been Americans biggest problem. Hating minorities.
Americans are not the only ones but yeah trumps wall policy for illegal immigrants and kkk rallies are concerning when he was campaigning and got into office. Here’s to hoping it dies down to that
I was about to comment "Oof" myself.
@@anthonywolf943 It isn't America's biggest problem, Latinos or African Americans already make a good chunk of the US Population
Trump didnt get elected because of his racist sentiments, but because of his focus on Jobs and Taxes
@@anthonywolf943 I think you totally missed the point. A person who declares that others are the problem because they hate minorities are are equally guilty. The issue is with looking outward to blame others. Sure others are guilty of being flawed, but so are we. It is our choice on how to respond to that - either by focusing on the flaws of others to build ourselves up or owning and admitting to our own flaws and the flaws of our friends and putting in the hard work to make ourselves (and the world we are in) actually better.
As someone who has for most of my life defined my identity in part by being "not into sports", I'm surprisingly excited about the idea of a Crash Course History of Sports, especially if it's more stuff along the lines of that relationship between sports and war.
I know! I was just about to write the same thing! I'm just a sucker for history; I care very little about the subject matter.
Calling Tifo Sports
Well the entire olympic games was basically just training exercises for the soldiers so there is a very close relationship between sports and war.
I agree, it would be interesting. :)
Pfhorrest I’d recommend a channel called Rabona tv. They have a series called root of the rivalry. It’s all soccer rivalries in Europe, and pretty much all of them are intertwined in their histories in regards to politics, wealth, foreigners, towns where they’re from. One thing with European sports clubs rivalries are fierce. Ultra groups are very fanatical.
@@tombrunetti3000 I'm West Ham and our rivalry with M...….. was pre-football. West Ham's supports were workers in the Royal Docks in Canning Town while M...….'s fans were from the rival India docks on the Isle of Dogs. Economical rivalry.
A four-day work week platform is what I am running on when I run for office some day.
Studying the politics and economic struggles of the Weimar Republic and how that was reflected in cultural output was my favourite part of my PhD. Also the use of technology in opera was pretty cool!
Can you elaborate on that "technology in opera" part?
@@DanielVCOliveira sure! In the Weimar Republic there were gramophones, radios, film projections, cameras, telephones etc used as props to portray everyday life. There were also factory scenes, including voiced machines and the production line. Technology also because part of the sound, such as music being played from records and telephone ringing etc.
it still baffles me that in a space of 20 years Germany managed to lose a Great War, be forced to pay a lot of money, have hyper inflation, rebuild its industry, survive the 1928 crash and ramp up military personnel in order to fight another Great War.
Watch Babylon Berlin, it goes in on the era of the post Great War Germany.
As The Guy Bloke pointed, paraphrased,
If society until now had been a monarchy, who do you think are they going to vote for, a proper democrat or an old war hero who wanted to see emperor back on the throne? Needless to say they voted Paul Avon Hindenburg.
My great-grandfather was a veteran of WWI on the German side. He had a lot of things that are talked about in this video, he (most likely) had shell shock, which drove him to alcoholism. He was not always a good father, beating his children, especially his sons, with a belt. He had a bullet stuck in his leg from WWI, so he could never use that leg again. He did have a job however, being a tram driver.
But, as my grandmother and her sisters have told me, he hated Hitler. He had seen war and hated everything to do with it. It became normal to have a picture of Hitler in your household, but he is supposed to have said: 'That man will not enter this house! Not even if he'd stop by himself!' I just want to say with this, that there were also veterans who were tired of war and tired of Hitler.
My great grandfather survived the entire duration of the war and had experienced so much on the many battlefields he fought on (he served in Mesopotamia, Egypt and France), he caught malaria, got torpedoed and then lost a lung due to mustard gas in the trenches. Yet when he returned back home to Croydon, England the world he had left was not the same to the one he returned to and for the majority of the 1920s and 1930s he worked in so many random jobs just so that he could support his family. I think a big misconception about the 1920s is that it was roaring, but for the normal person on the street, especially in Europe, it wasn't - they didn't have time to party much as they had nations and lives to rebuild.
It's terrifying how many of the circumstances that lead to the rise of extremist powers in the early 20th century are still an issue today. Especially the last 3rd of the episode made me realize this.
They were also a severe issue in ancient Rome, to put things in perspective. It's just we normally look at it differently since after the charismatic jerks overthrew the republic, they became the warlords of the empire that would become the glorious shining example of what all medieval monarchs aspired to, so we skim over the bits where political opponents were murdered in droves
Comparing to Caesar had its issue though.
Consider that he’s pretty much a walking anti-hero figure and Conan the Barbarian contradiction: a patrician who revived Gracchi-style reformist movement, a brutal general who was pragmatic enough to grant citizenship to loyal Gauls, and man who would eliminate his enemies as well as pardon as he see fit (remember the ides of March? Those guys were spared and even let them be senators.)
Also you can argue that Caesar’s death was the one that transformed into the Empire, due to Octavian taking his reign.
When you’ve only seen the US history series and John looks a lot older
Watch everything of his. It's all excellent.
Even the John from the past!
Everett Lewis ... John should now talk to his younger self who was his older self, talking to he’s much younger self. Basically he’s now an adult ;)
Yeah...
And speaks a lot slower
3:53 John says “y’all” and I love that so much.
He did grow up in Alabama and Florida after all :)
About sports (soccer, really): There's a quote that goes something like "football was the invention that allowed Europeans to keeping waging war without destroying each other". I think about that a lot.
And I forgot who said it but I'm damn sure they were European.
luisguillermojg
However, soccer has been around for 150 years or so, and can be traced even further back in history!
And in 1969 the Football War/Soccer War erupted in Central America between Honduras and El Salvador, after three matches with increasing violence among the fans....
Quite a spanning overview into the interwar years. A great blending of social, cultural narrative with context of big developments and big leaders.
Thank you Mr. Green, I enjoyed this.
This series taught me more about my history than all those years in school.
The Flaneur HUH?
John, I'm not into spectator sports myself, but I really admire your dedication and support for AFC Wimbledon and I enjoy hearing your reports on it in Dear Hank & John.
9:44 I walked past that statue of Bismarck in the Tiergarten last year. Amazing how different it looks without the trees surrounding the area, but it HAS been a hundred years.
@4:27 "One thing you may not know this about me: I sponsor a third-tier English soccer team, AFC Wimbledon"
Unless, of course, you listen to his Dear Hank and John Podcast (or as he prefers, Dear John and Hank), in which that's generally the first words out of his mouth. :D
Second, after his absence from Twitter.
very excited for history of sports! even if it’s not real
I'd watch that series.
I'm down as long as we get "Crash Course Ancient History" first.
Oh boy, WWII, we're getting there. Although I bet next episode will be more about Hitler's ascension to power and leave WWII as a cliffhanger
I'm guessing more of the culture of roaring 20's> Great Depression> Road to WWII.
There's so much to cover in this time period
@@grimelex Between Two Wars is a good series for the period. They've got to 1937 now I believe
Also Spanish Civil War
You know the human race is failed if it makes a video that has WWII as a cliffhanger
Unrelated note, I read looking for alaska a few years back I got it recommended and after a tough break up on my boarding school and must say, you really helped me cope and move on from my hard time. I binged the show today *God knows why there haven't been more advertising about it* and god was it amazing, after so many years of the show being canceled and all of that it finally happened and it surly lives up to the book! All I really have to say is that your work of art has shaped the way I deal with hardship in life. God speed
Excellent closing quote. Thank you!
You didn't mention the impact of the Spanish Flu, and did the Italians think that they were the same people as the Romans?
The Italian have Gothic blood.
No, the Italians did not consider themselves to be Roman. Modern Italy (post Unification) was and still is a diverse country. A Sicilian is not the same as a Venetian for example. They did and some still do, usually fascists, descendants of the Romans. Mussolini had a dream. His dream was to recreate the Roman Empire, but with modern Italy
It was a really stupid dream .....should of just fought wealth inequality and built more public works
It’s coming.
Anderson Andrighi and Italy, much like France before the Quarrel, strongly identified as the “heirs of Rome”.
The life expectany used to be very short because of high infant and child mortality,
if you survived your childhood, you had a good chance of reaching an age of 60 or 70
Not true. The first part is half true, the second part is very much not true.
@@imperator9343 No you can reach 60 or 70 but most people died by their 50s or less due to war and plague.
@@imperator9343 Yes it is true, I tried sharing a link, but it isn't shown for some reason, just google it
@@imperator9343 Actually no, this is true! Infant mortality was the reason why historical mortality statistics were so shockingly low. But survive past infancy and a person could just as easily live into old-age as they do today.
Wait.. is this about the 1920's or the 2020's?
Both, as history has a tendency to repeat itself. The manner in which Hitler framed his rethoric has some striking similarities with certain leaders that run certain powerful countries these days.
Yes
Rudy Bleeker
History doesn't repeat itself, but at times it tends to create loud echoes.....
It's not constructive to compare our time with the 1920s and 30s. The mechanisms and dynamics are quite different today. We are not goose stepping into disaster. Even if there are trends in current politics that you don't like you should not compare it to the very destructive climate of European politics in the 30s. It's not constructive and not an apt comparison.
It doesn't repeat itself but it kinda rhymes. Humans don't fundamentally change over a few generations. Many fears and urges are the same as back then, but our society and economy changed drastically. So it's easy to see parallels, but they don't necessarily have the same results
I watch u all the time In school you are so helpful and you have made my life so much easier. Thank you
You really bring the right thing into focus, it makes me feel smart relating yesteryear with right now
"Inflation is the most underrated historical force"
Disease: dude! Uncool
I don't think disease is underated...
@@torodido Definitely not today
*laughs in Corona virus*
I meant "coughs".
Probably should see a doctor, and avoid contact with people.
Druid 1000 he said “Decease”, as in DEAD
@@torodido You must not know any anti-vaxxers. Lucky you!
Can y’all make more Crash Course Histories on different continents or cultures? I appreciate the global focus of this European history
This is so good. Thank you, John!
Mr John Greens energy levels went floop
Thank you. Excellence as always. These types of videos are what makes UA-cam great.
Outsiders are not the problem. Its the urge to create outsides that's the problem.
"third tier English soccer", also known as League One. Why? 'Cause.
Ramshackle Alex A brief history of AFC Wimbledon. It was founded by supporters of the former Wimbledon club, who moved north and became MK Dons. It caused a stir back because such a move is unprecedented in Europe. Clubs in England are as much a part of communal fabric as universities in America.
@@martytu20 I'm confused as to why you would write this comment as a response to mine, instead of as a freestanding comment. It isn't really relevant to the comment I made and it conveys information that I already knew and I had made no indication that I needed or wanted it conveyed to me. Also, I find your last claim very odd and highly dubious. I have never lived in either England or the States but from what I know of their societies and cultures, I feel preeeety safe saying that the role univerisities play in American communal life is very different from the role football teams play in English communal life (or maybe I'm just salty because Leeds United rejected my doctoral thesis).
@@ramshacklealex7772 Remember you're a Womble!
Just once I'd love to see an American Football team face off against an English Football team in a game. I dont mean American soccer team against an English soccer team, but something like the Houston Cowboys against Arsenal FC. Giant 400 pound linemen tackling a 170 pound english striker whose just trying to score a goal before being hit by a human freight train, stuff like that!
I had a chemistry test today about chemical bonding, periodic table and lewis dot symbol and the electrochemistry ,galvanic cell
That quote at the end was fantastic, and overall, great episode yet again. I learned more details, which always helps to see both why and how the Nazis were always evil, and how other groups worldwide since then have followed their plans to rise to power.
Excellent timing. Goes right along with that quote regarding being doomed to repeat history...
Wow this is great love how crash course is still uploading after almost 3 or 4 years!(I didnt do my research for their oldest upload, I just guessed)
It's been posting for almost 11 years.
6:59 ooh, saw what you did there! Make Italy great again (and nice work on the translation, it's correct)
Great video, the interwar years were some in my mind of the most interesting ones with so much change. The 'socialist' term of the Nazis however was more of propaganda to lure lower class and it is often used incorrectly in political discourse on the Nazis, in fact the Nazis actually invented privatization and worked with wealthy domestic capitalists.
The Gorb
So, you're telling me that there's no Russians in a Russian Salad?
I'm pretty sure 'the Nazis actually invented privatisation' is a gross oversimplification.
@@Gerishnakov Perhaps not "invented," but I seem to recall the Germany invested early and heavily in state industries, enough so that even though the U.K. led the industrial revolution in the 1800s Germany had taken the spot as top producer by the turn of the century. Whether any/all of this industry was industrialized before the first world war, well that I don't know.
@@Gerishnakov Germany sold a lot of its state industries to use the money to rearm and for there multiple projects.
@@thegorb2653 Therefore they invented privatisation?
thanks for all your good work with AFC Wimbledon and the supporters' trust. hope that the stadium troubles will be over soon and you get to watch the team at the new grounds. cheers
So, I’m writing this post-COVID and that ‘great unmixing of populations’ thing sounds a lot like what economists are calling ‘de-globalization’ as they theorize about post-COVID economies. That coupled with the rise of extreme right-wing leadership that has come to prominence in the last few years has me more concerned than ever.
9:00 Proving Wilson had no idea how Europe worked.
There's been a great deal of historical analysis of Wilson in recent years and they have, to put it bluntly, been rather harsh on the man. In nearly every respect Woodrow Wilson is perhaps one of America's worst president's. American interventionism and exceptionalism began under Wilson.
@@mlc4495 No it really did not, the US for an example backed the British in the Boer wars under Teddy Roosevelt. Which is terrible when you realize the second boer war was essentially a genocide.
@@mlc4495 Even a cursory understanding of American history would show that Wilson was absolutely not the beginning of either American interventionism or views of exceptionalism. There are so many things wrong with this view, I'm not even sure where to begin.
For one, the US was extremely interventionist in its involvement with Cuba's uprising against Spain, which eventually led to Spanish-American War, which was over a decade before Wilson's Presidency (or just look to the Mexican-American War to find more examples of American expansionism prior to Wilson).
Secondly, all you have to do to realize that Wilson was NOT the interventionist politician is to compare him to one of the opponents he beat during his campaign for President, Roosevelt. Roosevelt was pro-war in a way that most today would find disturbing. He saw war as a manly pursuit that kept the nation vital and strong. Wilson literally kept the US out of WW1 until little more than a year before it was over. Roosevelt, in contrast had been publicly criticizing Wilson's refusal to enter the war up until that point, and was so eager to get involved in the war he personally asked Wilson to let him serve in Europe.
@@garyermann Watch the video above in my previous comment here. It makes all my points without me having to try and explain them to you.
The battle of Waterloo was won on the playing field of Eton
Europe: finally, weve finished this war
Japan: were making a sequel!
Ngl, I would watch a History of Sports crash course series. I’m not even a sports person, but I love learning how the sports we have today came to be, and will even indulge in sports museums if given the chance.
That last quote is gold. I will need to remember that as it is very true.
Love crash course!
I was about to correct you on your pronunciation of “weimer” but then i remembered mispronunciation was kinda your thing
Sounds right to me. At least he doesn't pronounce ei like its ie like Hank does.
German native speaker here... nothing wrong with his pronunciation besides the English w sound. I might also point out it’s written correctly in the video...
Yeah but he must KNOW how wrong it is. Its like he's doing it deliberately.
@@annasteiner2931 Oh yeah right the german w is pronounced like the English v right because the German v is an f-ish sound.
@@DaDunge Exactly. Well, at least for most words.
A LOT of this sounds like I could be hearing it on tonight's news... 🤔
Crash Course History of Sports now or we riot!
I'm already sharpening my pitchfork
When is the revolutionary meeting again?
they kinda did that with a episode in crash course games
Haha! I love this! My brother lives in Surbiton in the UK and it's very close to where AFC Wimbledon played until they got Plough lane back. But what you did get me thinking is how football supporters in general often voted Brexit more often than not due to the similar conditioning you speak of. On the money.
that pose though haha 7:23
John: tolking how europe recovered after WW1.
Russia: Am i a joke for ya?
crash course is the best. they rlly know when to come in clutch
Adi was führious 😂😂😂 that's the best pun I heard this year.
Are you going to do middle east history or Asian history
Israel has such a complicated history... you're only telling it right if EVERYONE is mad at you. I'd love to see John try though.
I would love a series in either or both settings. So much good content to cover!
Wow that’s my team there at 4:45 (Estudiantes de La Plata) playing our clásico against Gimnasia
The two thing I found most interesting was that after war their was a lot of people who had a lot of problem which made a lot of people become hand less and leg less and hurting
evil rival teams ... *cough* MK Dons*cough*
+
To paraphrase Andy Zaltzmann, who was paraphrasing Orwell, all sport is war minus the shooting...except for the shooting competition. And the rowing, which is fleeing the war in a small boat facing backwards so you can keep an eye on anyone who might try shooting at you.
"Germany had been the war's most wounded nation"
*laughs in Hungarian*
Dies in Armenian
I think that was meant as a matter of the treaty and/or reparations, or even in pride, not in body count. Poorly chosen phrasing looking back, perhaps...
Not to mention Russia.
@@Lawrence330 The phrase we're looking for is "most whiny".
Although the War was far from only Germany's fault, when reparations are brought up, I can't help remember the reparations Germany intended to impose on France, and did in fact impose on Russia and Bulgaria (in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and the Treaty of Neuilly.)
@@Lawrence330 I also meant the treaty. The Treaty of Trianon was a lot harsher, I don't think Hungarians will ever stop complaining about it...
Dear John, you know I’m going to pester you into making a Crash Course Sports series now. This is your doing, but I thank you for suggesting it because I didn’t think I needed to see that till you mentioned it.
Amazing content
20th century Italians in war: Hey guys I got an idea!
*Italy has left the game*
Looks like it's going to be a really cheery episode next week ...!
Honesty and kindness… thanks for the video
Last time i was this early Mr.Hohenzollern was still kaiser.
I did, Not See, that coming...
@@Zakiriel Nobody does.
"The Lost Generation" is sadly a very appropriate name
writing a paper about the Treaty of Versailles right now, godsent timing :)
So I am very much not a sports person, but I would really love a "Crash Course Sports History."
So good! Thanks for this series.
This series is excellent!
Is there any hope of seeing a Crash Course African History or Crash Course Chinese and/or East Asian History?
I rarely hear details of these places and I'd be so interested to hear the team's viewpoints on either topics.
John: **describes Mussolini**
Me: Why does this sound familiar?
Is it because you learnt about Mussolini in history class?
Or it could be the parallels between the period and today. There's a saying that history never repeats itself, but it does rhyme.
Because orange man bad!!!!!
*Video Correction: at 11:16 it says that Hitler was born in 1898. He was born in 1889.
Actually, a crash course history of sports would be awesome! Please, John, Please!
Thank you for keeping making these videos💫
For a really good book on the German economy from the late 20's - 1945, I suggest Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze.
Once again very well and balanced summarised!
Very interesting video with many new facts I didn’t know👍🏼
Amazing informative video thank you so much!!!
Good last quotation. Wish more and more people could hear it.
Oh boy! I got a feeling that the guy on 1:07 is gonna learn the hard way on don’t look away when using equipment
Warsaw was not destroyed during WWI, that was during WWII. Still, huge fan of the show.
Could you please make a podcast with all of these episodes
Like you dont need to actively do anything
Cos I would actually love to listen to these but I never have time
crash course sports history sounds class
wish i had you for history classes back in high school etc
Don’t tease me Green! I think a history of sport would a great crash course!
I love all things crash course. Thank you! :)
"Make Italy great again..." Subtle.
Yeah there's a lot of that isn't there...
Churchill said that the wars on the on the battle fields were fought on the rugby pitch. ( or something to that effect)
Reminds me of today..
Been hanging out for these new eps.
I love it! Thank you so much!!
I would very much like to see Crash Course Sports History! Will buy appropriate merch to support the idea!
Crash course sports!?!? Can’t wait!!!!!
Crash course history of sport needs to happen!
scary, history does repeat itself,
and I will keep this qoute " outsiders are not the problem, the urge to create outsiders is the problem "
We are currently facing down what is shaping up to be the worst pandemic we've had in a long time. The inability to understand why we make outsiders, and why it is important we do, is to everyone's detriment.
Speaking of someone who doesn't even really follow sportsball, I think I'd still watch a crash course History of Sports.
I don't know if John realizes this but CrashCourse already did sports history in History of Games with Andre. I actually think John did one of the episodes for it.