Why Did The First World War Break Out? (July Crisis 1914 Documentary)

Watch 16 Days in Berlin on Nebula: nebula.tv/videos/16-days-in-berlin-01-prologue-the…

Warmongering is so easy when you're not the one who's going to actually fight on the battlefield.

I think the craziest thing about WWI is how all the leaders of all the countries were all related to each other in some way. Most of them were 1st or 2nd cousins. I know Britain, Russia, and Germany were the grandsons of Queen Victoria. And some of her granddaughters married other royal families in Greece, Denmark, Romania, Sweden, and Spain. So basically, all they needed was a family dinner to squash this business before it went down the way it did. (I know there's more to it, but still!) They couldn't pick up a telegraph and talk it out? lol

This is one of the finest programs on WW I that I have seen. The writing is lucid and succint, and the presentation itself is quite professional. Viewing this program has led me to greater study of the conflict and new appreciation of its complexity.

2:20 - Empires Threatened by Germany 3:08 - Triple Entente and the Morocco Resolve 4:35 - German Ambition or British-France Resistance to sharing? 4:57 - The Serbian Context 5:30 - Serb Nationalist and Arch Duke Ferdinand's (heir to Austro Hungary) Assassination 9:42 and 10:52 - Triple Entente vs Triple Alliance perspectives 11:50 - The July Crisis; Ultimatums and Mobilizationj 13:38 - The Austrian Ultimatum to Serbia 15:30 - Partial Mobilization, and Austria's Declaration of War to Serbia 16:50 - Russian full mobilization. German Involvement (Kaiser WIlhelm II) 19:05 - The Schlieffen Plan and State of Threatening Danger of War 21:00 - French General calls to Stop Passivity 21:40 - Germany Calls War with Russia 22:00 - Brits Neutral if Germany doesn't attack France; Kaiser Wilhelm II can't stop the Schlieffen Plan 23:00 - Belgium, the Final Red Line ---- Interpretting the War ---- 25:19 - 1960s Fritz Fischer (German Historian) 'Germans preplanned war' 25:50 - Sean McMeekin (Russia made Balkan Conflict international) and Nial Ferguson (Britians Naivety) 25:57 - Christopher Clark's 'Sleepwalker Theory' (unintended, perceived insecurities, miscalcs, etc) 26:20 - Was it Inevitable? Alliance System did not force anyone to fight. 26:50 - James Joll's cultural, infrastructure and military zeitgeist theory 27:35 - "War is politics by other means" challenged. Belgium-German test case

Franz Ferdinand's "Take Me Out" - I caught that.

"Well... Possibly. But the REAL reason for the whole thing was that it was just too much effort NOT to have a war. You see, Baldrick, in order to prevent war in Europe two super blocks developed: us, the French and the Russians on one side and the Germans and Austria-Hungary on the other. The idea was to have two vast opposing armies, each acting as the other's deterrent. That way there could never be a war." "But, this is a sort of a war, isn't it Sir?" "Yes, that's right, you see, there was a tiny flaw in the plan." "What was that, Sir?" "It was bollocks." "So the poor old ostrich died for nothing..."

This is very clearly explained and makes a very complex situation understandable. Thanks very much!

You guys are absolutely great. Thanks for this work that help us understand our history. It is the only way to avoid this type of crisis in our times.

I personally believe that a lot of it had to do with the mindset of military leaders at the time, all of whom subscribed to the "Cult of the Offensive." Basically, if you're on defense in war, you've already lost. As we found out in WW1, that was a ridiculous notion as modern warfare had made it so being on defense was often where you wanted to be, but at the time it was taken as gospel. Always be on the offensive. Austria-Hungary moving on Serbia was just the first chess piece, but everyone immediately started moving to make sure they wouldn't get caught on defense, and then that turned into a snake eating its own tail. Why is Russia mobilizing? Because Austria is mobilizing. Why is Germany mobilizing? Because Russia is mobilizing. Why is France mobilizing? Because Germany is mobilizing. Etc. "If there's going to be war, then we'd better win it, and if we're going to win it, we need to attack." - every general in 1914

I was just last week in Sarajevo and saw the spot the archduke was killed and visited the museum on the corner. Was really fascinating to be finally here.

Excellent approach and development, as unbiased as possible, plenty of info, bata, graphs and images. And narration is also Excellent. Congratulations

Great video. Educational without being boring and provides information from all sides.

Lets take a moment to appreciate the narrator's attention to detail when pronunciating any name no matter where it came from, albeit being Austrian, German, French, Russian, etc. Solid video 👍

my grandfather was a sapper in the Portuguese army, and he fought against the germans in WWI on the border between Mozambique and what was then Tanganyika (Deutsch-Ostafrika). Even though this conflict was a minor blip in comparison, it would be interesting if you could do a show on the various skirmishes that took place throughout the African continent and why they took place.

Brilliant video that highlights the complexities involved in this.

If you're ever in Vienna, Austria be sure to visit the Bundesheer museum - you can view the shirt and jacket Franz Ferdinand was wearing when he was killed, complete with bullet hole and dried blood. Pretty fascinating and eerie to see the physical damage which caused his death and led to 75-100 million killed in wars over the next 30 years or so

I can't believe i haven't found this channel earlier. This is by far the best war channel i've even seen!!

Fascinating account! Thank you very much!

Thank you for such an excellent presentation. The narrator too was excellent. It was the first time I have heard a North American narrator pronounce a non-English word accurately. German, Hungarian, French and Russian names and places were all enunciated clearly and correctly. I was stunned.