0:02 on the 28th of June
0:06 1914 a man and his wife were murdered in
0:10 Saro Bosnia as their car stopped at this
0:13 intersection an assassin shot them both
0:18 at close range it was just two shots yet
0:20 they sparked a global war one of the
0:22 bloodiest and most destructive in
0:27 history the first world war at least 25
0:30 million people died on Battlefield from
0:33 the Arctic Circle to Zambia Millions
0:36 more lives were lost in the disease the
0:39 dislocation and the Civil Wars that had
0:41 unleashed the map of the world was
0:42 completely redrawn as some of the
0:46 world's Mightiest Empires collapsed it
0:48 was a war that shaped everything that
0:50 was to come after that without the first
0:52 world war there would very likely have
0:55 been no Great Depression and no World
0:58 War II no musolini no Hitler no Stalin
1:01 no maong as as we know them today so why
1:05 was the world plunged into gigantic
1:08 conflict what were the real causes of
1:10 World War I I'll show [Music]
1:16 [Music]
1:19 you first things first this was a world
1:23 of Empires and they saw themselves as
1:26 being locked in competition Europeans
1:31 ruled over 84% of the Earth's surface
1:33 the biggest empire in the world was the
1:36 British stretching from Canada through
1:38 the Caribbean much of Africa and large
1:42 SES of South Asia into
1:44 australasia Britain also dominated the
1:46 world's oceans with the largest and most
1:49 powerful navy on Earth the French
1:52 controlled big chunks of Africa and Asia
1:54 the Russians ruled from Finland to the
1:56 Pacific and America had extended its
1:59 Frontiers across the continent and Beyond
2:00 Beyond
2:03 the Middle East was ruled by the ottoman
2:06 Turks much of Central and Eastern Europe
2:09 was controlled by the austr hungarians
2:11 and then we have the newest Empire on
2:14 the scene the Germans Germany had only
2:17 been a unified country for less than 50
2:19 years but it had exploded onto the
2:22 world's stage in that short lifespan it
2:24 had one of the world's biggest economies
2:27 and amassed the third largest global
2:31 Empire after Britain and France so and
2:33 this is a big underlying reason for the
2:36 first world war this was a world where
2:39 Conquest competition seizing territory
2:42 defeating your Rivals was an accepted
2:47 part of life from 1899 to 1902 the
2:49 British had fought a major war in
2:51 southern Africa to conquer the bore
2:54 republics the Germans had imposed their
2:58 rule on Namibia between 1904 and
3:01 1908 in 1911 11 the Italians had invaded
3:04 Libya part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire
3:07 Greece Serbia and its allies had also
3:10 attacked the otoman Turks in 1912 and 13
3:12 and captured much of the Turkish
3:15 territory in the Balkans War wasn't
3:18 something unfortunate a last resort but
3:20 something that was inevitable and could
3:24 even be positive not only could Empires
3:26 amass more territory and resources
3:29 overseas but War might serve a purpose
3:32 at home too across Europe new ideas were
3:34 on the March many people were calling
3:37 for political rights for democracy for
3:40 socialism for the breakup of Empires and
3:41 there was this very dangerous sort of
3:43 application of darwinian ideas to human
3:46 societies and social Darwinism believed
3:48 or argued that the human race could be
3:50 divided up into species and in their
3:52 natural state species tended to have
3:54 natural Predators tended to struggle for
3:56 survival and these ideas were applied to
3:59 societies and so there was an idea that
4:01 the French were the hereditary enemies
4:02 of the Germans and the Germans were the
4:04 hereditary enemies of the French and of
4:06 the Russians you these are dangerous
4:07 ideas because then you begin to think
4:10 well war is bound to happen and also
4:12 that whole notion that that that phrase
4:14 the struggle for survival acquires a
4:15 moral connotation if you don't struggle
4:17 for survival as a people you don't
4:18 deserve to survive what's wrong with you
4:20 you know you're weak you're feeble these
4:22 ideas were deeply dangerous to those in
4:25 charge insecure leaders thought that war
4:28 might bolster their rule by ramping up
4:30 patriotic rhetoric celebrating the
4:33 military emphasizing traditional
4:34 military values rather than new
4:37 Democratic ones the old Elites hope to
4:40 cling to power Kings and Emperors and
4:43 their children were shed in military
4:45 uniforms fictional bestsellers imagine
4:48 the next War soldiers wielded enormous
4:50 political influence a lot of these
4:53 rulers thought that war could be an
4:55 opportunity if we get a good War it'll
4:57 bring the nation together we won't have
4:59 all these internal divisions which you
5:01 know we do have we have different
5:02 political divisions different classes
5:05 different ethnicities and it will so
5:06 some of them thought they certainly
5:08 thought in Germany in certain circles
5:09 around the Kaiser it will give us the
5:11 excuse to suspend the Constitution get
5:12 rid of the Reich stag which we don't
5:14 like um close down the unions who who
5:16 are Troublesome get rid of the Social
5:18 Democratic party we can go back to some
5:20 sort of idealized past where you know
5:21 you ruled with an Iron Fist and the
5:23 lower classes knew their places so it's
5:26 a complex I think of ideas and emotions
5:27 so it was a world where war was an
5:30 accepted part of life and if you believe
5:32 that war was going to happen anyway then
5:35 it made sense to strike first when you
5:37 were ready and your potential enemy was
5:41 not German leaders for example were sure
5:42 that they were going to fight their
5:45 neighbors Russia sooner or later one
5:48 senior German civil servant wrote in
5:50 1914 we were reconciled to the fact that
5:52 we would have war with Russia if the war
5:54 did not come now we'd have had it in 2
5:57 years time under worse conditions in
6:01 1912 at a meeting of the very top German
6:03 political and military officials
6:06 Germany's senior General said war the
6:07 sooner the
6:10 better so the great Powers thought that
6:13 war was coming and they wanted to win it
6:15 they invested vast amounts of money in
6:18 creating better weapon systems better
6:21 Railway networks ships and defenses and
6:23 if your neighbor's doing that well you
6:26 should too the result a massive arms
6:29 race the size of Europe's armies and
6:32 navies grew and grew there comes a point
6:34 though when you can't expand your forces
6:36 anymore you run out of men you run out
6:39 of money you need allies so as the power
6:41 and size of their neighbors armies
6:45 increased Nations sought allies to help
6:49 out if and when war came France and
6:52 Russia were both neighbors of Germany
6:55 Russia to the east France to the West
6:57 worried about the strength of Germany
7:00 they formed an alliance they agreed if
7:02 Germany attacked one of them the other
7:06 would come instantly to their aid that
7:07 meant Germany worried about being
7:09 squeezed between the two of them and
7:12 looked for support to its neighbor
7:14 Austria Hungary they formed a close
7:17 Alliance becoming known as the Central
7:20 Powers Britain had hoped to avoid
7:21 getting involved in a bloody and
7:25 expensive European War but Germany was
7:27 also making the British nervous
7:29 Germany's leader the Kaiser vilhm
7:31 was the grandson of Britain's queen
7:34 Victoria while visiting his grandma in
7:36 her favorite Palace on the aisle of
7:38 white he'd watched the naval ships of
7:40 the British royal Navy sailing in and
7:42 out of their main base in Portsmouth he
7:45 had dreamed one day of building a mighty
7:48 German Navy and he'd made that dream a
7:50 reality in the Years leading up to
7:52 1914 Germany had built a modern
7:55 technologically advanced powerful navy
7:57 but that had worried the British and
7:58 despite their desire to stay out of
8:00 European War Wars it made Britain much
8:04 more sympathetic to France and Russia
8:05 Britain did not want to see Germany with
8:08 its huge navy dominating Europe even
8:11 more so Europe was separated into
8:14 massive power blocks each deeply
8:16 suspicious of each other and all of them
8:18 assuming that there would be a big War
8:19 sooner or
8:22 later a few years earlier Germany's
8:24 greatest Statesman oton bismar had
8:27 summed it all up Europe today is a power
8:29 keg and the leaders are like men smoking
8:32 in an Arsenal a single spark will set
8:35 off an explosion that will consume us
8:39 all and what he said next was spookily
8:41 accurate I cannot tell you when that
8:43 explosion will occur but I can tell you
8:47 where some damned foolish thing in the
8:49 bulans will set it
8:53 off so let's have a look at that spark a
9:05 that man and woman who were assassinated
9:08 in Saro deep in the Balkans that was
9:12 Arch Duke France Ferdinand and his wife
9:14 Sophie he was heir to the throne of the
9:17 Ostro Hungarian Empire he and his wife
9:19 were on a visit to Saro the capital of
9:22 the Empire's Bosnian Province many
9:25 bosnians were ethnically Serbian they
9:27 wanted Bosnia to leave the austr
9:29 Hungarian Empire and join their nextdoor
9:32 neighbor Serbia Serbia encouraged these
9:35 Rebels Serbian officials had supplied a
9:38 group of Assassins with bombs and guns
9:40 with which to Target France Ferdinand on
9:43 his visit the arch juke's motorcade
9:46 drove right through the middle of Saro
9:48 he'd been advised not to visit but he
9:50 insisted despite the obvious security
9:52 risk the street was not lined with
9:56 troops security was pretty lack the
9:59 route was lined with wouldbe assassins
10:02 as the AR sho's car drove past the first
10:04 them he failed to act the second member
10:06 of the group threw a bomb at France
10:08 ferdinand's car it bounced off and blew
10:11 up wounding a dozen people the moade
10:14 sped off to the town hall the other
10:16 assassins only glimpsed it as it whizzed
10:18 past after a ceremonial event at the
10:21 Town Hall the moade headed back through
10:24 the city after the drama on the way
10:25 there was confusion about which way they
10:28 should take on the way back the arch
10:30 juke's car turned down a side street an
10:32 official shouted the driver was going
10:34 the wrong way the driver stopped
10:37 attempted to reverse and stalled the car
10:40 by extraordinary coincidence standing on
10:42 that exact street corner was one of the
10:46 plotters gillo princip he had almost
10:49 given up hope and yet now here was his
10:52 Target in a stalled open top car a
10:55 couple of meters away from him he raised
10:58 his pistol and fired two
11:01 shots he couldn't miss both the arch
11:04 chuk and his wife Sophie were hit and
11:16 minutes France ferdinand's Murder set
11:19 off a chain reaction the Austrian Empire
11:20 wanted Revenge they were terrified of
11:23 looking weak if they did not act they
11:25 were worried their empire might break up
11:29 they had to take a stand they knew that
11:31 ibia had sent the gun used in The
11:32 Killing it was just another example of
11:35 Serbia undermining the Austrian Empire
11:37 encouraging its peoples to Rebel so for
11:38 Austria Hungary Serbia was an
11:41 existential threat if Serbia had its way
11:42 and the South slaves began to be pulled
11:44 out then the Poes in the north would
11:46 want to leave the ruthenians were
11:47 beginning to develop a national
11:48 Consciousness they might wanted to join
11:50 with with with the Russian Empire the
11:52 Czechs and the slovaks were already very
11:53 very well the Czechs particularly were
11:55 already very much demanding more and
11:58 more power so Serbia meant to Austria
12:01 Hungary the end now the austrians had an
12:03 excuse to deal with Serbia once and for
12:07 all but there was a problem with this if
12:10 Austria wanted to invade and punish
12:14 Serbia Serbia could call on its Ally the
12:17 giant of the East Russia Russia and
12:19 Serbia saw themselves as part of the
12:21 same Slavic people they shared a
12:23 religion language was similar Russian
12:26 leaders just like those in Austria were
12:28 also terrified of looking weak if they
12:30 let their all I Serbia get steamrolled
12:32 it would make them look impotent on the
12:33 world stage and encourage their
12:36 opponents at home so the Russians made
12:39 it clear that they would stand by
12:42 Serbia so Austria Hungary would now have
12:44 to contend with the huge Russian army if
12:47 it dealt with Serbia the austrians would need
12:59 help before the austrians did anything
13:01 they checked in with their key Ally
13:04 Germany the German Kaiser vilhelm was
13:07 not a fan of important members of royal
13:09 families getting killed in the street he
13:11 also did not want his austr Hungarian
13:14 allies to get pushed around also the
13:15 Germans were convinced they'd have to
13:17 fight the Russians and the French
13:19 eventually if it was
13:22 inevitable perhaps now was the time now
13:24 in 1914 things were looking better for
13:25 Germany than they would in a few years
13:27 time when the Russian army might have
13:29 upgraded its weapons and its War
13:31 Industries the Kaiser sent the austrians
13:34 a message of support known as the blank
13:37 check a week after the assassination on
13:39 the evening of the 5th of July Austrian
13:42 diplomats in Berlin reported back to
13:44 their masters in the austr Hungarian
13:48 Capital Vienna the Kaiser had said if we
13:50 really saw the necessity for military
13:52 action against Serbia he would think it
13:55 regrettable if we did not take advantage
13:58 of the present moment which is favorable
14:00 from our point of of view now with
14:03 German backing the austrians felt bold
14:06 they issued a tough ultimatum to the
14:08 serbs the serbs would have to allow
14:10 Austrian investigators to work inside
14:13 Serbia to track down anyone who
14:15 conspired to kill the arch chuk anti-
14:17 austr Hungarian messaging had to be
14:19 removed from the press and the education
14:22 syllabuses nationalist groups in Serbia
14:24 were to be shut down reading the
14:26 ultimatum in London the British Minister
14:28 for the Navy one Winston Churchill was
14:30 shocked the Austrian alternatum to
14:33 Serbia he thought was one of the most
14:35 insolent documents of its kind ever
14:38 devised Serbia even gave in on most of
14:41 the points but not all of them if you
14:43 are an independent state can you accept
14:45 having the officials of another Power
14:47 monitoring your your bu bureaucracy and
14:48 your legal system I mean it it would
14:51 have been too much and and what what is
14:53 more Serbia was given the altimate matum
14:56 it was given 48 hours to answer it while
14:57 the serbs were desperately trying to
14:58 come up with an answer they asked
15:00 Austrian the Austrian Embassy in
15:02 Belgrade was burning its papers Austria
15:04 broke off diplomatic relations on the
15:06 24th of July and ordered its Army to
15:09 prepare for war at 11:00 a.m. on the
15:11 28th of July
15:26 Serbia the first shots of the first
15:29 world war were fired on the danu
15:31 by an austr Hungarian gun boat it
15:34 bombarded the defenses of the Serbian
15:37 Capital Belgrade Russia now had to
15:39 decide what to do it Zar Nicholas II
15:41 came under enormous pressure from his
15:43 generals to order the Army to mobilize
15:46 that is to prepare for war reluctantly
15:48 he agreed and signed the order on the
15:52 30th of July this was a huge moment in
15:54 Russia Nicolas II you had a man who was
15:55 weak who was determined to hang on to
15:58 the Roman of power who who who saw any concession
15:59 concession
16:00 to the new forces in Russia the new
16:02 Democratic forces new constitutional
16:04 forces as weakness who had been forced
16:06 to give a constitution and then had
16:08 spent the next 10 years trying to trying
16:10 to claw back the powers this is someone
16:12 who was weak but who feared that if he
16:15 didn't look tough in 1914 uh people
16:16 would would stop supporting him I mean
16:18 he he decided on War I think partly
16:20 because he was afraid of being weak
16:22 Germany decided it could not let the
16:24 Russian army Mass on their Frontiers in
16:27 position to invade and not respond so on
16:30 the 1 of August Kaiser vilhelm signed
16:32 the orders for the German Army to
16:36 mobilize and then ordered champagne to
16:38 celebrate now here's the crazy thing
16:41 German mobilization didn't just mean the
16:44 Army gathered itself ready for war it
16:46 meant that the Army went to war because
16:48 it expected to go to war with the
16:49 Russians and the French who were their
16:52 allies the German war plan was to invade
16:55 France first knock their army out occupy
16:57 Paris and then turn with all their
17:00 strength the deal with the East the
17:02 Russians who would be slower to get
17:04 going there was no way the Kaiser could
17:07 for example say let's gather an army to
17:08 keep an eye on the Russians but not
17:11 strike first by mobilizing the Kaiser
17:13 hadn't just told the Army to get ready
17:27 War by 700 p.m. on the 1st of August the
17:29 day the Kaiser signed the papers the
17:31 German Army invaded Luxembourg the
17:33 following day the first German troops
17:37 marched into France France had been
17:39 preparing for a German invasion for
17:41 decades on its border with Germany it
17:43 had created a vast series of
17:45 fortifications the Germans knew that
17:48 very well so the German plan was to
17:50 avoid all that and strike around the
17:52 flank of the French through Belgium and
17:54 take them from the north it was known as
17:57 the schen plan after the strategist who
18:00 came up with it on the 4th of August
18:02 German troops entered Belgium but here's
18:05 the problem Belgium was neutral its
18:08 security was guaranteed by Great Britain
18:11 if Germany invaded Belgium Britain would
18:13 be obliged to help Britain had been
18:16 confident it could avoid the War the
18:17 British prime minister Herbert aswith
18:18 had written to his girlfriend on the
18:22 24th of July we are within measurable or
18:25 imaginable distance of a real Armageddon
18:27 happily there seems to be no reason why
18:29 we should be anything more than
18:32 Spectators but now with German troops
18:34 invading Belgium everything changed
18:36 Britain felt it should honor its word to
18:39 Belgium also it didn't want a triumphant
18:42 Germany controlling Europe with Belgian
18:44 and French bases very near the English
18:47 Coast for its powerful navy Britain was
18:49 also worried that if Russia and France
18:51 won they might threaten the British
18:54 Empire in Asia and elsewhere perhaps it
18:56 was better to get involved and help
18:59 shape the outcome the British cabinet
19:01 spent hours locked in tempestuous
19:03 discussion two cabinet members resigned
19:05 but it was decided the British
19:08 government would issue an ultimatum to
19:11 Germany get out of Belgium or it's
19:15 war on the evening of the 4th of August
19:16 the British cabinet sat together in
19:19 Downing Street waiting for Big Ben's
19:24 chimes at 11:00 or midnight Berlin time
19:26 the ultimatum ran out there had been no
19:29 response from Germany
19:32 reports made it clear that Germany had
19:34 certainly not stopped its invasion of
19:38 Belgium Britain declared war on Germany
19:40 I once came across this message sent out
19:42 by the British Naval High command at
19:45 1:00 a.m. on the 5th of August commence
19:48 hostilities at once against Germany the
19:52 great powers of Europe were now at War
19:54 but because of their huge Global Empires
19:56 that meant the world was at War Britain
19:59 had taken its Empire to war Canada South
20:01 Africa Australia India and many more
20:04 colonies these Imperial troops would
20:06 form some of the most effective units in
20:09 the British forces France brought its
20:12 colonies Morocco Algeria Cameroon they
20:14 would play an enormous role in the
20:16 French armies they tried to repel the
20:18 German Invaders Belgium brought its
20:21 Empire as well troops from Belgium's
20:23 enormous territories in the Congo
20:26 invaded German colonies in Africa the
20:28 war might have begun in Europe but the
20:30 fighting between these Global Empires
20:32 immediately spread all over the world on
20:34 the 6th of August British and German
20:36 naval ships clashed in the
20:39 Bahamas the first shot fired by a
20:41 British soldier in the war was in West
20:44 Africa on the 7th of August when alaji
20:48 guni of the British Gold Coast regiment
20:50 invaded German hell
20:52 togoland the next few years would see
20:54 terrible fighting on the so-called
20:57 Western Front in France and Belgium as
20:59 the Allies attempted to drive out the
21:01 German Invaders the static trench
21:03 warfare became Infamous for its enormous
21:06 casualties Giant offensives and little
21:10 movement for years on end the austr
21:12 hungarians did invade Serbia and
21:14 suffered a string of defeats at the
21:16 hands of the smaller country before
21:17 conquering them with the help of their
21:19 German allies the Russians fought the
21:21 Germans and austr hungarians on the
21:23 Eastern front in what is now Ukraine
21:27 Poland bellarus and mova the strain on
21:29 Russian Society would eventually lead to
21:32 the Empire's collapse it was fighting on
21:34 the world's oceans from the coast of
21:37 Chile to the North Sea as the war went
21:39 on other powers joined the fighting in
21:42 late August 1914 Japan agreed to enter
21:44 the war as an ally of Britain if it
21:47 could occupy all the German outposts in
21:50 East Asia Japan snapped up these German
21:53 territories which ignited its Ambitions
21:56 for a larger Chinese Empire later in
21:58 1914 the huge turkey Turkish Empire
22:01 joined the Germans and austr hungarians
22:03 tempted by the offers of captured
22:05 Russian territory they would be fighting
22:07 across the Middle East as the British
22:09 and French tried to knock turkey out of
22:13 the war Italy joined the Allies in 1915
22:16 likewise they were promised provinces of
22:18 the ustr Hungarian Empire if they joined
22:20 in the fighting in the mountains of
22:22 Northern Italy became Infamous for its
22:24 appalling conditions as thousands of men
22:26 died in Avalanches
22:30 alone the USA was determined to stay out
22:33 of it but in 1917 the Germans were
22:34 desperate to starve Britain into
22:37 submission and made the Fateful decision
22:39 to order their submarines to sink any
22:41 and All Ships heading towards British
22:44 ports that meant American ships carrying
22:47 grain oil and other supplies the
22:49 Americans could not stand by as their
22:52 ships were sunk and their Crews killed
22:56 in early April 1917 the USA declared war
22:58 on Germany the first American troops
23:01 arrived in France in June and by May
23:04 1918 over 1 million American troops were
23:06 in France to help deliver the final
23:17 Army the first world war radically
23:20 reshaped the course of history and we're
23:22 still living with its consequences the
23:25 Russian German Turkish and austr
23:28 Hungarian Empires collapsed although
23:30 they were victorious Britain and France
23:33 were weakened America had become a major
23:37 military power the map of eastern Europe
23:38 and the Middle East had been completely
23:42 redrawn the end of World War I didn't
23:44 lead to an end in the fighting as civil
23:47 conflict revolutions and Wars raged on
23:48 in the years that followed triggered by
23:50 the dislocation the rage and the
23:54 Ambitions ignited by the war the spark
23:56 that caused the War was the
23:58 assassination of the arch duuk but the
24:00 world with its Empires its competition
24:03 its arms race its insecure leaders was a
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