WWI: The War That Changed Everything | 5 Minute Video

Think of all the horrors of the 20th Century: The Holocaust. The Bolshevik Revolution. The Cold War. Were it not for the assassination of one Austro-Hungarian archduke in 1914, none of those events would have ever happened. Historian and author Andrew Roberts explains.

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Script:

As an historian, I’m often asked if I could stop one event in modern history from happening, what would it be?

My answer is World War I.

If there had been no World War I, there would have been no Russian Revolution, no World War II, no Holocaust, no Cold War.

And that doesn’t even consider the millions who died in the war itself.

Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Europe experienced an unprecedented period of economic growth. Brought about by the Industrial Revolution, this new prosperity spawned rapid developments in science, medicine, art, and political philosophy.

The future of civilization never looked brighter. And then, suddenly, it all went up in flames.

The fuse was lit in June 1914, in a street in Sarajevo, Bosnia. It was there that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist. It should have been no more than a sad footnote in history. Instead, it changed history.

Austria-Hungary, seeking to avenge the Archduke’s murder, declared war on Serbia. But before taking this drastic step, it asked for—and received—a blessing from its powerful ally, Germany.

Serbia, knowing that it had no chance against Austria-Hungary, called on its ally, Russia, to defend it. Russia agreed.

To strengthen its hand, Russia solicited French support should war break out. France, ever suspicious of German intentions, assented.

Germany then made a pre-emptive move to take France out of the war. The German command, having long planned this war, invaded France through neutral Belgium. This prompted Britain to join France against Germany. Suddenly, the entire continent was engulfed in war.

The key player was Germany. Their strategy was to punch through Belgium and France and capture Paris before the French had time to react. This was the so-called Schlieffen Plan, named after the German general who conceived it. With France conquered, they would turn their attention to Russia.

That Germany thought it would actually work comes down to one man, Germany’s leader, Kaiser Wilhelm II. The Emperor of Germany from 1888 until his forced abdication in 1918, Wilhelm was a profoundly unpleasant, unstable and vicious personality, who suggested that Jews could be dealt with by gas. By 1914, he believed that Germany should not only dominate Europe, but the entire world.

Had the Schlieffen Plan worked, Germany most certainly would have. But it didn’t work. The British and the French put up stiff resistance in the west. Russia did the same in the east. The losses incurred by all sides were immediate—and appalling.

[piyushbanerjee]

"Someday, a great European War will breakout over some stupid thing in the Balkans".
Von Bismarck.

[michanycz]

As much as I respect Mr Roberts, his narrative here is simplistic. WW1 happened very much because all the governmenments of Europe wanted it to happen. Two massive political blocks were locked in a stalemate long before the war.
The French wanted revenge for the Franco-Prussian war. The Brits were afraid of German navy and colonial ambitions. The Ottoman Empire was slowly dying and everyone squabbled for the leftovers. Look up the Picot-Sykes agreement. It will change how you look at the mess in the Middle East. And it wasn't the Germans, but Britain and France.
Japan was expanding, China was falling into chaos, everyone wanted a piece of the everything.
As for the Germans - Germany itself was forged in war. Bismarck saw to that. And it's not like the Kaiser was a pariah of Europe.
He was queen Victoria's grandson - her favourite grandson. I mean, George V changed his family name to Windor to hide the fact that they are German and he was the kaiser's cousin.
Without WW1, the Germans, Austrians and Russian would continue to enslave Poland and its people (and many other nations in Europe and elsewhere). The colonial empires like Germany, France, Britain or even Belgium would continue to exploit Africa.
The wasn't a war of heroes vs villains.
This was a mess brought about by corrupt and morally bankrupt politicians on both sides.
Nobody learnt from it and so we ended up with WW2.
Nobody learnt from that either, so we ended up with the cold war.
Nobody learnt from that either, so now we have what we have.

Watch the Great War channel. 4 years worth of analysis, details and research.

[mswayner]

Ironically enough, WWI was called the "War to End All Wars" after it ended.

[SoloTravelerOffTheBeatenPath]

I highly recommend the movie "They Shall Not Grow Old." It's an absolutely amazing look into WWI.

[elipadgett]

“For the average person, all problems date to World War II; for the more informed, to World War I; for the genuine historian, to the French Revolution.”
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn

[WWLinkMasterX]

"Germany wanted to rule the world."
So? Britain already did.
I love how how people from the Anglosphere always criticize German expansionism, when their colonies span the whole dang globe.

[kidicarus]

American "Merchant ships" blowing up like hell because they certainly weren't shipping weapons to Britain.

[blobskin]

If Hitler had been accepted to art school, we might have been talking about the latest bid on "an original Hitler!"

[JeremyWS]

WW1 is one of those type of events in history that if you traveled backwards in time to stop it, it would just happen again anyways (but slightly different). WW1 is a fixed point in time, it can't be stopped from happening (unfortunately).

[eric.]

"Merchaint ships"(that were exporting weapons to the entente)

[bucherbuddy]

2:50 i like how the entente propaganda is now fact in the history books. Everybody forgets, that before ww1 kaiser Wilhelm ruled for 26 years without Germany fighting a war in Europe or outside. And he was a war monger??? After Sarajevo, Wilhelm still didn't wanted any war, he's generals wanted. During the war, he repeatedly called for an armistice, but the entente refused every time, and again, he's generals wanted to continue the war (namely Hindenburg and Ludendorf). "Germany wanted to rule the world" everybody says that, without considering, that Britain, France and Russia had the biggest empires, Germany just wanted some colonies, because let's face it, german colonies are nothing compared to the french or british ones. And Wilhelm was not insane in any way, that's totally made up by the entente.

[murplesman]

Love Prager U, but there are some issues. 1. Failed to emphasize Russia and Serbia's responsibility. The Russian government had its sights on Galicia, and wanted it from from the Austrians. They supported Serbia militarily, who sponsored the Black Hand. 2. Kaiser Wilhelm was not some mad tyrant, in fact, Germany had many more limitations on the monarchy than the Ottomans or Russia, two other empires at the time. 3. Germany did not wish to solely dominate Europe, the Kaiser simply wanted it to "take its place in the sun" and was actually connected to many other European powers via familial ties. 4. Many American ships sunk by the Germans carried war supplies, violating the agreement they made earlier on with Germany. 5. The Zimmerman telegram was much more defensive in nature, as it asked Mexico to intervene should America attack Germany, and as such was intended to be more of a preventive measure to discourage America from joining the war. 6. The Kaiser and many Monarchists actually voiced opposition to the Nazis and Hitler despised Wilhelm, they were not at all the same.

[stepanotrisal]

Well, which European nation in WW1 didn't want world domination?

[aleksstosich]

1 in 4 Serbs died. Not just soldiers, everyone; war, typhus, starvation. All the result of a war made inevitable by Austria Hungary's list of untenable ultimata, which the Serbian government actually agreed to at the eleventh hour, yet was still invaded and attacked. I think that's worth mentioning.

[DUNDOM]

So let me get this straight, english kings and queens never had imperialistic and world domination tendecies? In this video only Wilhelm II was shiwn in that megalomaniac light yet english history is wolrd domination and colonialsm.

[skeetrix]

This was a great video. I'm a Conservitive so i love this channel but it's great to see brief, nonpartisan lessons like this as well. Please NEVER STOP!

[dwarvenmoray]

To be honest, I kinda feel bad for Kaiser Wilhelm II. Yeah, he was a little mentally unstable, but he wasn't a terrible person. He was depressed when he discovered that his cousin, Tsar Nikolas II, & his family was executed by the Bolshiviks. He resigned after the war after trying to help the economy. There was no good guy or bad guy in WWI. Only useless bloodshed by one side against the other side.

[claudesigma]

"Shared the same dream of world domination"
Factually untrue.

[TheIgnoredGender]

"merchant ships" more like belligerent ships carrying weapons of war travelling through declared war zones.

[Krilloan]

Not to mention the so called peace treaties that had been forced upon countries like Hungary who was not even directly responsible for the war. As a result, 2/3 of the country’s territory, that had existed as a coherent whole for more than 1000 years was given to neighbouring countries, forcing millions of Hungarian people to live in countries they never belonged to. It completely poisoned the relationships of the nations of Central Europe who had lived relatively peacefully together for centuries. Sadly, hardly anyone mentions or remembers this national disaster. I don’t think anybody from any other country would accept such an unjust decision, not even after 100 years.