World War I: The Seminal Tragedy - The Final Act - Extra History - Part 4
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- čas přidán 10. 10. 2014
- 📜 The Seminal Tragedy of World War I - European History - Part 4
Serbia responded to Austria-Hungary's ultimatum after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and the pretext for war grew thinner and thinner. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Austrian Foreign Minister Leopold Berchtold makes a desperate decision to declare war. Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany and Czar Nicholas II of Russia call upon their family ties to each other in a last-ditch effort to avert the war, but their previous inattention has left their prime ministers Bethmann-Hollweg and Sazonov in impossible positions. With their forces mobilized, unable to back down, Russia must accept Germany's declaration of war from Ambassador Pourtalès - and as our series ends, the Seminal Catastrophe begins.
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Part 1 - • World War I: The Semin...
Part 2 - • World War I: The Semin...
Part 3 - • World War I: The Semin...
Part 4 - • World War I: The Semin...
Series Wrap-up & Lies Episode - • World War I: The Semin...
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"And a month later, a million men are dead."
What an ending...
This whole story is one of the saddest things I've ever heard.
This entire set of episodes is by far one of my favorites that Extra Credits has done
@@swordsmancs Couldnt agree more, the ending of this is so strong.
Then the song In Flanders fields puts the final nail in the coffin
@@kousand9917
The coffin of peace
i cried
I'll admit, I cried like a bitch during that closing song. Fuck man, my feels are all over the place...
+ProfOmnom These are manly tears.
+ProfOmnom It reduces me to tears everytime I watch it, you aren't alone
Me too. I dont know if anyone have something like: I know it happend, but at the end od the series there is hope it wont. it is weird vrry weird.
TankedPrune5
Oh, totally. It's like as it goes on, you can see so many ways to stop this thing in its tracks, and one by one everything goes wrong....
+Brian_the_Fuzzy yeah exactly. I also cant understand the stupidity of the ww1 mostly why didnt Austrians use the oportunity and whaited a whole month. I mean thats a lot of time. What did in it? Crying for a month? it is painfull to lose someone but a month? Yes there were talks but it isnt an explanation.For me
“War does not determine who is right, only who is left” - Bertrand Russel
Lest we forget... lest we forget.
Amen
The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must. This isn't a new proposition, read Thucydides.
"The thing we learn about history is that no one learns from history." -Otto von Bismarck
@@GiordanDiodato true
"The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic" -Stalin I think
28th june 1919, at the signing of the Treaty of Versailles
Ferdinand Foch: "This is not peace. It is an armistice for 20 years".
20 years, 2 months and 5 days later, Germany invaded Poland. WW2 began.
How true it is.
It's almost comical how these two men were able to predict the two most devastating conflicts in human history.
@@davehoffman4659 Some context needs to be offered alongside the Foch quote. Namely that he thought that Versailles was far too weak and would piss Germany off enough to cause them to want revenge, but not enough to prevent them from growing strong enough to get it.
@@Jamie-kg8ig To be fair, the actual execution of the Treaty of Versailles and the idea of appeasement is a big contributor to the scale of WW2. So in a way, the treaty was a bit too weak.
@@ManiacalClone Oh yeah I'm not saying that Versailles wasn't at fault. If it were harsh enough to remove Germany's capacity to make war(like the peace after WW2, then even if the Nazis rose, they'd fundamentally limited)
Extra History WWI Drinking Game:
Drink every time the war could have been averted
Drink everytime Conrad von Hötzendorf makes a stupid decision
***** :D
That'd be more alcohol wasted on my liver than Russia celebrating their victory in WWII and ran out of vodka the next day...
New Recruit LOL
Yeah, maybe we'll be feeling less depressed while we're having a migraine. For which staves it of until we remember what were watching.
Its crazy how someone can say "and a month later, 1 million men are dead" and actually mean it. Its completely insane how thats an historical fact. Just goes to show how bloody the First World War was I suppose.
What's even more sad that only 20 years later the world would be at war once more only this time with triple the number of dead all because of the first war
Todd Crane there is only hoping that some..the world..LEARNS from it....and not repeat it again..and..again...and again..and...again and..
TheOrangeType By some estimates, one hundred men died every minute for three years during the battle of Ypres and there were sixtyfive thousand British casualties on the first day of the Battle of the Somme. It was slaughter on a scale no one could have imagined and no one today can truly comprehend. We can only pray to any power that listens, that our children will never have to see anything like that kind of horror.
weldonwin That is the Western front. But if remember most of the German and the entire AH army were having a showdown with the Russians in the East, think on those casulty rates.
TheOrangeType As one man puts it, "World War I started with an act of terrorism." Think about that! Scary, doesn't it?
I'm not ashamed(as a man) to say that "In Flanders Field" always brings tears.
Bearded Canadian21 don’t let toxic masculinity make you feel bad
Bearded Canadian21 same here
Your username is perfect, considering Flanders Fields was written by a Canadian.
Gets me every time.
Me too
I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I teared up at the end with the rendition of "In Flanders Fields" and the WW1 photos.
Peace To The Fallen.
Why should you feel embarrassed? If you cried its because you actually feel bad for all the miserable souls that had to go through this hell. You actually feel bad for the soldiers, and dont glorify them like governments like to do. That shows you care for others and your love for life. In such a brainwashed society from all fronts, you should feel proud to be one of very few individuals which the world needs.
Me too.. but I am not embarrassed. The realisation that these millions of people could have lived if some people in authority had a soul makes me sad.
Dillon Crowe I always cry when I hear this song, so many god men on both sides were slaughtered, either by a machine gun or by disease, we must never forget their sacrifice
I teared up to. That song always gets me.
Why are you embarrassed? I cry every single goddamn time.
It's eerie how whimsical this tale is. Almost like a fairy tale, or an old Greek legend.
yes it us eerie how it's so much like a great story, but it's up to us to make shure this will NEAVER happen again. with the WMDs we have we will destroy the entire race over something we could have talked out of
If it happens again it will mean the end of our race our nation's and the planet itself.
If civilization survives long enough without such a catastrophe to occur and destroy humanity, maybe they will look back, centuries - perhaps even millennia - into the future, and think of the First World War as a myth of sorts. An age old tale to trump all others.
Greek legends usually have a god come down and say "okay, I've decided it ends this way...". After WW1, I can only imagine God looking down and saying, "what the fuck happened while I was drinking?"
Yes, because all fairy tales and Greek legends are based off history
"War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other's children."
-Jimmy Carter
Carter’s words are true, and so are Reagan’s.
“Admittedly there is a risk in any choice we follow other than this [surrender], but every lesson in history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement”
War is messy and evil, but true peace can never be obtained through simple appeasement. Both world wars have taught us valuable messages. WWI taught is how truly destructive war can be. WWII taught us how truly destructive appeasement can be.
If we ever plan to avoid a World War III, we need to listen to both Carter’s message and Reagan’s message.
@GenericGamer no.227 Watch the EH episodes on The invasion of Poland. WW2 would have ended right there if the French and British has upheld their treaty obligations fully. All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
@@gavin60 valid argument.
@@gavin60 uhh you might want to re-read what he said. Pretty sure he said the exact opposite of what you're implying
@@howardbaxter2514 This is true, but it's just as much worth noting that a good portion of appeasement also was a result of some cold analysis on the part of the British: they knew that they could not have gone to war in '37 or even '38 with any realistic hope of victory. Industrially, Britian didn't have production mobilized or the resources in reserve to fight. Socially, the population wasn't accepting of war as an inevitability or something that was needed to halt Germany. The abandonment of Czechoslovakia and Poland were cold and cowardly acts, at best visibly followed through by half-hearted attempts of support. But at the same time, at that moment at least, the ability to do more was just as critically lacking.
I still wonder how Wilhelm felt when he learned of the possibility of Tsar’s execution, and knowing that his government had facilitated Lenin back into Russia through Finland via Sweden from Switzerland. Knowing to be responsible for not only the death of your third cousin, but your first cousin (the Empress Alexandra was a close relative) and their children. The emotional toll that must take on a person....
Never thought of that
I think Wilhelm wasn't a bad person, Wilhelm didn't really want to fight against russia and britain he just did a huge mistake in giving the blankocheck to austria-hungary...Rest in Piece family of Nicholas (not Nicholas himself I think he was a very bad human) and all fallen soldiers in World War I. Can't imagine how cruel the people were that killed Nicholas' children just because he was their father
@@siempresonrie5924 I think Wilhelm didn’t expect Austria to immediately jump for war. Franz Joseph was not known to be the most fiery or ill-tempered of monarchs
@@Edmonton-of2ec No he didn't. Also I don't see why after the war germany was seen as the main warmonger. It's clearly the fault of austria and russia and later also britain. You can't just find germany guilty because they gave austria-hungary the promise to help them because russia did the same with serbia.
The Kaiser never wanted this to happen he simply wanted to defeat Russia.He hoped that Lenin would start a revolution that will cause Russia to sue for peace and exile the imperial family he NEVER knew of Lenin s true barbaric intentions.
It really is amazing how the moments before war came down to something as simple as a man begging on his hands and knees to stop this now. No shrewd plan no power no peace deal. Just sheer human desperation
@@thewafflehouse841 Think of it from his perspective, if Austria-Hungary decided to, instead of stopping, annex Serbia and move into Russia while they were weak, who would be at blame; or if Serbia, an ally of Russia, pressured them to join, they would have had to remobilize giving the central powers a chance to invade Russia before it happened. Diplomacy can be a bitch, and sadly this is one example of it.
If the rest of them knew the consequences, they would have all begged for peace.
For fuck sake, how did my history teachers manage to fuck up so much as to make this topic boring? Seriously, were I taught this in school as opposed to the bland version I got, I would have been far more interested in this topic.
delusionnnnn Well said. I personally have found that any time period (even those not related to war such as the railroads in the US or the Great Depression) is every bit as fascinating when you look at causes and effects rather than the forgettable trivia.
I can say that History class didn't get good until I was in College. By then you are beyond the standard tests and the Professors get a lot more leeway.
at least here in the US we don't cover ww1 much. partly because over here the events seem more removed and partly because of how depressing it was. ww2 can be painted as a noble narrative, but ww1 is just tragedy.
can we have a TV series of the months prior to ww1?
there is enough drama for 3 seasons
Look for The Great War channel.
It's enough drama to possibly squeeze out four but that is with major stretching of course but totally there is enough material to make at least 3 seasons
That would be too depressing. I look at 19 year olds today and think about those kids in the trenches. 19 year olds are kids.
@@johann242 sadly, we have to accept, that in war, its the young men who will pay for their country and leaders decision.
@@johann242 That's why Vonnegut subtitled Slaughterhouse Five "The Children's Crusade"
The first time I ever heard "In Flanders Fields" was watching this video. That song, just following the line where 1 million men would die and the last meeting between Portales and Sazonov just hit me really hard. In punctuates the tragedy and folly of World War I better than any textbook I've ever picked up.
I agree. I wish history was taught in our schools and colleges by telling stories rather than by learning disassociated facts and dates. What an ending to this video and this series!
@@DonnaBrooks That's why historical fiction is so underrated. For us to learn from history, we have to see the people who lived in that era as people like you and me.
9:43
@@azimisyauqieabdulwahab9401 I cried.
same here, the song sent shivers down my spine
I never beforeheard a telling of the start of WWI that made me -want to- break down sobbing.
The Brennan same
Same too.
Same bro same
Maybe if war was told as tragedy instead of glory history would be different
I always tear up for: the death of Ferdinand, the end of this video, the sinking of Bismark, the death of admiral Yi, and the Christmas day truce.
There is definitely something to be said for humanizing history.
the death of suleiman
@@AzoiatheCobra *the death of Mustafa, his son.
To be fair, without WW1, I wouldn’t be into history
I tear up more on the sinking of the yamato. 400 planes against just one battleship and its brave crew.
some serbian that couldnt work up the heart eating a sandwich.
100 years. 100 years today to the end of this war. This war that shaped our modern history up to today. This war that we so nearly avoided. Rest in Peace all of those who lost their lives in this conflict. We will never forget.
10 million souls had gave there lives from 1914 to 1918 then 70 million lives were cut short about 20 years later in WW2
We will never forget but unfortunately, we also have never learned from this disaster or any other.
The current tension in the world today is akin to the tension in the world right before WWI. I fear that there may be another Seminal Tragedy very, very soon. And by soon, I mean one month from now.
It seems so long ago, yet we are still feeling the effect of it today. To think all those people had to die, only 20 years later for more to die.
@@Thoralmir well it has been a fucking month, where is your world war 3?
"I must not allow myself to dwell on the personal but I do not want to die.
Not that I mind for myself. If it be that I am to go, I am ready. But the thought that I may never see you or our darling baby again turns my bowels to water.
My one consolation is the happiness that has been ours. Also my conscience is clear that I have always tried to make life a joy for you. But it is the thought that we may be cut off from each other which is so terrible and that our babe may grow up without my knowing her and without her knowing me. It is difficult to face. And I know your life without me would be a dull blank.Yet you must never let it become wholly so, for you will be left with the greatest challenge in all the world; the upbringing of our baby. God bless that child, she is the hope of life to me.My darling, au revoir. It may well be that you will only have to read these lines as ones of passing interest. On the other hand, they may well be my last message to you. If they are, know through all your life that I loved you and baby with all my heart and soul, that you two sweet things were just all the world to me. I pray God I may do my duty, for I know, whatever that may entail, you would not have it otherwise"
Captain Charles May wrote this to his wife and died the next day in the battle of the Somme.
Thank you, this is a bit of a bitter beauty in the fact that in this indirect message, this woman who I do not know, and none of us ever shall, may have had solice in her days, I hope that their daughter still walks and breathes among us, and that this saddness may not define her life. I will pray for you and your family to my faith, you unknown lads and lassies of this tragedy and catastrophe. I hope you found your hope.
Don't make me cry anymore than I already am
@@OptimisticNihilist15 same.
Oh Bismarck if only we had heeded your warning
We wouldn't have phones, the internet, space exploration, and so many things we have now. We as humans have for some reason decided that major innovation only happens during the times of war.
@@venom_colada1512 so it's okay for a lot of people to die? And innovation would happen anyway because the powers at that time were very eager to outdo one another if anything I would think there would be more progress
@@nukebarbarbarian3735 Ah, my bad. I didn't mean forgot to sound like those deaths were equal. Innovation happens slowly outside of times of need. If I were to guess? If we didn't have the world wars, we would have just invented the internet. Are the world wars good? Not at all. Countless lives were ruined. There were no winners. Only survivors. That being said, innovation has sparked a lot from them. This really isn't the space to have a debate about this lol
@@venom_colada1512 If I had a time machine, I would still not stop ww1.
@@nukebarbarbarian3735 great powers trying to outdo each other will always lead to war
9:40: The particular collection of elements contained in this second is so shockingly effective its practically a masterpeice, the simplified almost childlike art of the grim reaper and the pile of skulls, with the music and the line 'a month later, a million men are dead', serving as the tragic punchline to the previous very emotional scene. I thank you extra credits for this this series and will watch every history segment you do.
CellSpex It was very powerful. I can only imagine how much better the world would be if everyone were taught history with such emotional resonance, instead of the cherry-picked, revisionist way most school systems use to teach history
CellSpex Didn't expect to see you here. But yes, few people still remember what horror the Great War brought, and sadly my country was caught in the middle of it. And then another time, the exact same way, the the only 50 years of peace in a history of almost an entire millennium and then we couldn't help ourselves but rip ourselves apart once more.
I am saying this now to everyone currently living in North America or any relatively peaceful place on Earth: Cherish it, for as long as you can because you never know what terrors the future may bring, and how many of them can come from your very own people. I truly wish none of you people have to go through what we've been through, and I can only wish you the best of luck.
CellSpex Didn't expect to see you here. But yes, few people still remember what horror the Great War brought, and sadly my country was caught in the middle of it. And then another time, the exact same way, the the only 50 years of peace in a history of almost an entire millennium and then we couldn't help ourselves but rip ourselves apart once more.
I am saying this now to everyone currently living in North America or any relatively peaceful place on Earth: Cherish it, for as long as you can because you never know what terrors the future may bring, and how many of them can come from your very own people. I truly wish none of you people have to go through what we've been through, and I can only wish you the best of luck.
CellSpex
i was gonna say the ending was very moving....
but what you said is much better.
sabin97 I notice something awfully weird. Both Valiant hearts and this series are based on WW1. Both Valiant hearts and this series have sad endings. Both Valiant hearts and this series have sad music
Manly tears were shed watching this.
I feel you. That war was the end of my grandpa's home.
anedcav agreed especially when the czar and kaiser reffered to each other as willy and nicky
+anedcav My great grandfather was shot during this war. He was only 19. He had me with his 21 year old wife when he was 17. I cannot forget it.
anedcav Remember This war it shaped us , My word it be , Remember.
"In that case, sir, I have the honor to inform you that we're at war"
The last few words before the greatest disaster of human history
I was about to say WW2 but then I realized WW2 happened because of WW1
"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
between the crosses, row on row,
that marks our place, and in the sky
the larks, still bravely singing, fly,
scarce heard amidst the guns below."
My Great-Grandmother had the poem hung on her wall, and I'll never forget the words
Ah I thought I found a sabaton fan
The end is kinda tear jerking
_We are the dead. Short days ago_
_We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow_
_Loved and were loved, and now we lie_
_In Flanders fields_
_I want to die_
_I want to die_
_Somebody kill me_
Ruby Mapper "My friend don't tell such high zest to children ardent for some desperate glory."
OMG!!! That's one of my favorite poems EVER!!! Jeffrey Owen's "Dulce et Decorum Est"
You're not kidding!
All of this because of one sandwich
The irony
Great nations fall
Millions dead
Because of a sandwich.
Because of these assasins the world is a chaotic place nowadays
SemiPlayzMC - JJ Ehh if not for Princip something else would have ignited the war. For example Russa was undergoing a painfull but quite quick modernization and restructuring, and Germans knew that. They knew they HAD to go to war with the Russians quite soon or the upgraded Russia would have been unstopable. Maybe that war would have slightly different sides, but inevitably it would have come down to as a France & Russia vs Germany fight. The Europe was a barell of gunpowder left open just waiting for a spark.
So basically no matter what world war looked inevitable
SemiPlayzMC - JJ Kind of yeah. Simply that generation had to get the war out of theri system.
Anyway european leaders knew europe was crumbling since the 1870s with the formation of new nations and 2 huge alliances
It's almost a decade since this episode aired.
The last ~4 minutes of this episode might very well be the strongest piece of media I've consumed in my life.
Why has this not been made into a full length feature film? A tragedy like this being played out on the big screen is certainly Oscar material
No this is better
Movie becomes propanganda , bad acting and stuff
Narratives like this force to story to play in our imagination
Also given how many people screwed up due to their incompetence or misunderstanding no country comes out of this looking good.
Because the main characters aren’t British or American and not traditional heroes either.
Yeah I know of a absolutely fantastic WW1 movie (All quiet on the.western front) but I haven't really heard of any movies that really describe the leading events to WW1.
Because it can't be turned into a cinematic universe
This should be made into a HBO miniseries. Imagine how epic it would be if the first episode ends with Franz Ferdinand slowly dying in his car, as the camera slowly pulls up and away, then you can see in the background the police and bodyguard tackling on to Gavrilo Princip, and fade to black. Credit rolls and you can hear some period appropriate Serbian song.
nice one, i can totally imagine that scene.
daylight shines into the hotel room, but it's not particularly bright and also with a bluish hue that show off the cold russian weather while bringing a sense of futility.
also, it should be shot on film instead of digital to give that faded and grainy feel.
Yeah imagine pourtales saying that we are now at war with words 1000000 men died the next month with Flanders fields starting to play with images of the war and the men who fought in it
***** YOU MY FRIEND ARE A GENIUS the world needs this
Sir, start a GoFundMe. The world needs to see your vision.
Dominic Sosa And after the song finish, the screen flickering. The scene skips ahead to 1918. People in either London or New York cheer after an announcement that the war is over. The camera goes down and down and down, and the scene changes a military hospital. There, we see a wounded soldier crying. Next to him, a newspaper with a main heading reads "Germany Surrender". The camera, then, move to a doctor clipboard on a table stand next to the young man's bed. It says "Corporal Adolf Hitler".
P.S. My English is not good. Sorry.
This is something like the 5th time I've watched this through and I still want to see an actually play of these events in a theater.
Read "Fall of Giants". It's basically that, but for the whole war.
Vito G. Yes. I totally agree
Or a movie
It does really feel like a great play could be made out of this. I almost want to try writing it myself.
I'm actually in the middle of writing it right now! Still looking for title suggestions.
History is a comedy whose audience is not yet born.
Comedy made from tragedy
Its also a drama
That doesn't makes sense at all
@@gerhardsmith7892 The audience that will live to see history's end, have not yet been born.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the Armistice. Lest we forget.
Never forget, always remember the cost of war.
Lorenzo Pulmano, 105 years From the start of WW1, 101 from the end of WW1, 1918. 100 years from 1919, the treaty of Versailles.
November 11, 1918
My god I never imagined I would cry so hard to this, I cried to the entire recollection of the "Nicky and Willy" thing between the Kaiser and Tsar but they decided to play Flander's Fields
;_;
pussy
nah im jokin i dont blame you, history is fucked
Aerunn Allado
I find it funny how most Empires that came before had rulers that were related and they would go to war on a whim. But ww1 was a different story. Nicky and willy like you described them tried by all means to avoid war all the way to the end they did try. Family nearly won, love almost triumphed. I find it sad how all this came to pass.
Was very upsetting, the whole thing. So many lives destroyed, so many hearts broken, so many families ripped apart, so many broken, destroyed men coming back trying to piece a semblance of a life together while masking the fact that they died inside thousands of times out there in the trenches..... what an incredible tragedy, shows you how utterly stupid men in power can generally be to allow such a thing to happen.... at least this event led indirectly to the downfall of most monarchies lol
I cried inwhen 'In flanders fields' Occured. It just reminded me that this was saddening.
Somebody put tears in my eyes!
9:20 am I the only one hearing Dan trying to stifle cry while reading the next sentence?
I look at the number of likes, and I say "Nice."
He always sounds like that
I have studied WW2 for 15 years. I have written dozens of papers, read 100s of books, seen 1000s of hours of documentaries, spent years speaking in class, on stage, and online about everything from technology to personal stories. I have toured the sites of the war. I have stood at the sites of genocide. Despite my humility and horror, In 15 years I have never cried. But this masterpiece of tragedy has made me cry twice.
its kinda like the Famous quote
"one death is a tragedy a million is a statistic "
I know I’m like 5 years late to the party here, but I just watched through the series and I can’t help but feel each hair stand up knowing that every time a domino was placed through the video, a more drastic event would follow, placing another domino itself. Thank you Extra Credits for all your hard work through the years.
Sgt. Soda I feel ya.
Yup, same
Yeah
im very late too, don't feel bad about that, sometimes that's just how it is. were all late to something.
Well we are 8 years late! It’s okay, we all got a little emotional :)
As a Canadian when I heard that last bit with the music kicking in it made my hair stand. You don't get this kind of personal view of history with two emperors writing letters to each referring to each of as Willy and Nicky. Damn its heavy.
I know it's cliché to say, but that's damn well said...
The song at the end was written by a Canadian at the battle of Ypres and it's played every remembrance day. It just kinda hit hard when it started playing.
Slaeowulf In Flanders Fields was written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, who was with the Canadian expeditionary force.
Slaeowulf Because it added significant meaning to the song that would not have been present otherwise.
Slaeowulf
Canada is part of the Commonwealth and was part of the British Empire.
Unlike USA which just takes the role of the "Cavalry" the rushes in at the last minute to "killsteal" and whatnot, Canada was just as affected by this slaughter in Europe (maybe not by falling bombs, but by loss of men) as Britain and France.
When I think about it this series actually pisses me off. Immensely.
When I was in school the only thing that was explained to me was that Franz Ferdinand got assassinated while visiting another country and the allies of his country went to war with the allies of the country he got killed in -which roped everyone into WWI. Knowing only that made almost zero impact on my view of the world -or anything else for that matter.
This series is about 40 minutes sectioned into 10 minute chunks and has actually changed the way I view my own world, especially global politics. I'm glad I watched this but it comes as a sour reminder of the magnitude of important things that could be conveyed in the education system but aren't. Anything that can be learned from such an immense number of preventable deaths is completely lost by our focus on test scores rather than teaching. It's like we're pissing on the ashes of every single person that died horribly and needlessly in world war 1 and 2. There is absolutely no excuse that this topic should be covered as poorly as it currently is in public schools. Thank you for taking the time to make this.
I agree. In all of my school age exactly ONE history lession has been focused on WW1. Guess which day I missed because of sickness. I knew absolutely nothing about the cause of the first world war except that some prince or something was assassinated somewhere in eastern Europe. Extra Credits is education the way education should be.
KaptenN History keeps piling up, as it were. There's only so much they have time to teach in schools. Rather than teaching facts, I wish they'd focus on trying to impart a desire to learn. All this information is out there; you just have to want to discover it all.
**Casually watches the video till the end**
**Listens to the song**
**Cries**
"We are the dead. Short days ago, we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow. Loved and were loved and now we lie in Flanders Fields."
i cried at the end of this episode. i didn't cry for got, i didn't cry when han solo died, i cried at this. the power of history.
Good . Your tears were placed were tears truly belong.
How do u not cry for got tho
same, same
cos this actually happened. the human suffering is real and tragic
Normally I click off of a video after the main part is over (I skip the outro) but I stuck around for "In Flanders Fields." Very good timing with the sudden "1 million men are dead" followed by the song.
I cried
9:44 In Flanders Fields
" Declaring war doesn't necessarily mean 'being at war' " Oh dear, that gave me real "special military operation vibes"...
Stand amongst the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters, the silence is your answer.
~ Javik , Mass Effect Referencing the total annihilation of his species
While sad,Only 111 billion humans ever lived,and 104 billion got ded,not exactly trillion
@@sentientlemonbattery In the Mass effect universe Javik is specifically talking about his galaxy wide race which was wiped from existance.
There is no peace amongst the stars...
tears are literally rolling down my face. I remember seeing the WW1 Museum in Kansas City, a thousand souls for every poppy. There must have been a thousand poppies.
More than that.
I think that the memorial was just counting military deaths.....
Gilhelmi And still, more than that.
well, the First World war didn't have too much in the way of civillian casualties. sure, there obviously were some, but most of the fighting was taking place far from centers of population. the second world war was far more devastating in that regard, as most of the fighting then was in cities and towns, and the battle lines were constantly shifting, instead of the trench warfare stalemate in WWI.
Gilhelmi over 11,000,000 deths. sorry if that is upsetting
Extra History should have its own playlist on your channel, just to make the episodes easier to find. I love a well categorized inventory/gallery/movie shelf/whatever.
It does have its own playlist, but CZcams does a very poor job of making the playlists visible. I can help with that, though - link below! -Soraya
czcams.com/play/PLhyKYa0YJ_5Aq7g4bil7bnGi0A8gTsawu.html
Extra Credits
It doesn't show up on your channel among "all playlists" for some reason...
Maybe at least put the link in the description for each video?
Extra Credits I want your thought on this extra credits , do you think these people have the highest death toll on there head, that they are the worst of the worst earth has ever seen, bescuse in my mind they most likely have over a billion deaths on there hands . it is sooo sad some of them try so hard to save the world. so do you think these people are the worst in history ex?
+kkirschkk I'm not extra credits XD but I've thought on this before and here's what I think. Saying that they are the worst in history and every death of the 20th century is on their shoulders I think is a bit unfair. No one knows to what extent their actions will have on history and through that logic, you can blame any man or woman who has EVER changed history for all the deaths that followed. It might as well all be Julias Ceaser's fault. That all being said, I have a feeling that these diplomats had a very heavy burden to bear for the rest of their lives. It's just tragic in every sense of the word since pretty much no one in this story wanted this to happen. Principe and the other Assassin's didn't want to cause a World War. Neither did any of the other diplomats or leaders. They just acted foolishly at times or selfishly at others. I think it's wrong to assign blame to this war in particular personally since it's ultimately a story of how badly we as a species can mess up when the people don't think about what impact their actions will have on the world.
+LEEboneisDaMan You're referring to the rulers of Europe by the comment about the "worst in history"? It's in comparison to the previous generation. After the Napoleonic Wars, Europe lucked out on its collection of rulers. It wound up with a series of superior statesmen - people on par with Gorbachev. People who wrought change in the world not for personal ambition, but because it was the right thing to do. Bismark kept Germany from breaking the balance of power throughout his reign by having the humility to accept a junior position in politics despite Germany's strategic advantages. Had their successors been of similar quality, it's entirely possible - probable, even - that World War 1 would have never taken place.
And the consequences of WWI, particularly the travesty of the Treaty of Versailles, are plain to see:
World War 2: the Treaty imposed harsh penalties on Germany, as it was the first of the major powers to attack another directly. This led to terrible economic conditions in Germany, fertile conditions for a fear mongering wretch like Hitler to get himself voted into power. (And yeah, that's the thing those of us in democracies need to remember. 1920s Germany was a democracy, and (somewhat) legitimately voted Hitler in.) Meanwhile the Treaty also snubbed Japan, who were forming the beginnings of a great Asian empire (largely because recognizing a non-European empire was something Not Done). This meant Japan nursed a grudge against the major powers behind the Treaty throughout the interwar period, and denied them the opportunities for diplomacy with the other powers on an equal footing (which may well would have worked; their attack on the US was over oil supplies - they had no intention of actually engaging with the US in a prolonged war in the immediate future. If they could have dealt with the US diplomatically as equals, they might have secured that desperately needed oil supply without resorting to war.
The Soviet Union: Russia fell to revolution during WWI. The food shortages at home (caused by shipping all of the food to the soldiers at the front) exacerbated pre-existing tensions between the government and its people, and, at the same time, the war meant Russia's army was off fighting a war and thus unavailable to stop rebellions as they sprang up. The situation was made worse by Germany's decision to grant Lenin safe passage home from his exile in Switzerland, along with substantial funding for his part in the revolution. Thus Lenin took over the revolution, Stalin at his side. Between Stalin being Stalin, and Communism being evil in the eyes of the western world, we got the nightmare of the Soviet Union, and the Cold War. (At least Stalin was around for WWII - Russia's victories in that war are (imo) the main reason for the ending to the war we got. I'd argue that Hitler's military incompetence would have led to Nazi Germany's downfall eventually anyway, but without the fanatic strength of Stalin's Soviet Union, it would have taken significantly longer)
The Middle East: The Treaty's dissolution of the Ottoman Empire necessitated the definition of new countries to take its place. Their lines were drawn by people with no understanding of what the local situation was like. Several regions were defined according to current relationships (Britain advocated a large and powerful realm for the Al Saud family, creating Saudi Arabia, and several other areas like Turkey were reasonably similar to the local situation. However, Iraq, Syria, Pallestine, Lebanon and Transjordan (now just Jordan) don't really reflect much of anything. This is why one can find Kurds in Turkey, Iraq and Syria; rather than forming a nation of Kurdistan, they found themselves balanced on the border between 3 nations. Transjordan became a monarchy that, like Saudi Arabia. Iraq and Syria were handed over to dictators who held their artificial countries together with an iron fist...both countries have since demonstrated how that winds up - either the dictator bites off more than he can chew, like Saddam Hussein, or the people eventually get sick and tired of dictators and everything goes to pot, like Syria. Pallestine has its own issues, largely based on the later decision to form Israel (nothing against Israeli people, but it was kinda a rude shock for the people who actually lived there). The Treaty didn't cause all the problems - there was major instability in the Ottoman Empire long before the Treaty was formed, and the Shia/Sunni thing is entirely independent of Western meddling. But it certainly didn't help matters much. (And it's the precedent for all the rest of our meddling in the region, which has made us ever so popular over there. Before Versailles, with a few notable exceptions like the Crusades, the Western world's strategy regarding the Middle East was largely studiously looking elsewhere.)
I don't know enough about the Balkans' conflicts to know how much of it can be pinned on WWI, but I wouldn't be surprised if many of the issues they have stem from the sudden absence of the Austro-Hungarian empire. (On the other hand, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand indicates that there was obviously a fair bit of conflict in the region already, so perhaps that's not entirely fair.)
It is very upsetting how ww1 is often overlooked by ww2 as at my school many people had never heard of ww1 but they all had obviously heard of ww2 even though none of the wars after ww1 would have happened if ww1 never took place
I agree. I was in my 40s watching a set of college lectures about WWI on DVD before I had any appreciation for the impact of WWI on the human psyche & the history of the world. I think a big problem is that people teach history as facts devoid of story or human drama so there's no understanding of the pathos and tragedy of pivotal moments or of the consequences of those moments in altering the entire course of world history. WWII gets all the attention b/c there were more deaths, more atrocities, more destruction of cities, and it's more recent. There is so little telling of history as STORY, which is where the powerful lessons are.
@@DonnaBrooks YOU ARE SOO RIGHT. recently, my teacher taught us about the first world war and while the facts were there, there was NO Emotion, no pathos to it, it was an understatement. world war 1 is 5% or 10% facts and the rest is like you said, story and human drama, the pathos and tragedy of pivotal moments or of the consequences of those moments in altering the entire course of world history.
Not sure where you are from, but as an American, we came into the war pretty late. I think that has at least a little to do with why it isn’t studied as much.
A war with so much lost...
A war that shook the world...
A war...that never quite ended
Though poppies grow...in Flanders fields
"Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives ... You are now lying in the soil of a friendly country.
Therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours ...
You, the mothers who sent their sons from faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well."
- Colonel Mustafa Kemal "Ataturk"
And that's why the Australians put a statue of him in their war memorial.
Wow
@Elite they were all a little brutal or a lot brutal. The brutality was almost necessary in a harsh world. To say something nice, even if it's only diplomacy.....well, compare this to Donald Trump-- who is not a brutal dictator, but who is also rude. How history works is this: Germany and Austria-Hungary will be forgiven for the Great War. Trump will not be forgiven for anything, even the most menial fault. And the Great War was possibly a worse diplomatic blunder than anything inside World War 2 itself: even the Holocaust.
World War 2 was wild extremists doing what comes naturally to them.
The Great War was responsible adults failing at their duly entrusted powers. WW1 was *preventable*, and bad luck. WW2 was the continued consequences of WW1. Properly understood they are the same war.
It is unfair to WW1 to be overzealous about WW2.
I, an American, am upset even about winning WW2 and am not sure how much I should respect the Allies.
I respect the Centrals, I think, and also bet the Centrals would be disappointed with their children the Axis.
Ataturk is interesting cause he kinda wanted separation of church and state, if only to an extent
@Elite Ha! Good joke! He definitely didn't help the Turkey stay out of the Powder Keg that is the model east
So many chances to end it. Its like it was all planned by some Machiavelli level villain.
*****
Troll 2 Oh my god scene here.
Do I detect a James Moriarty? *looks suspiciously at the causes of WW1.
Probably Walpole.
+RankoTheDark It was Frank Underwood.
+RankoTheDark The problem is that, the war WAS planed.
This is the best extra history episode ever
This is the best extra credits series without any doubt, a lot of them are great, but nothing matches the feeling of tragedy and fate that this series manages.
Dude I come back to it at least once a year and cry every damn time.
"And a month later, a million men are dead."
In every series, Dan says something like that, I get a chill, then remember this all happened.
Ex. Bolivar dying, Yi's death and the Chinese admiral falling, e.t.c.
I remember reading a quote that was written sometime in the 1930's.... it went something like...
"In the year 2014 AD journalists will be reminiscing on the birth of the Great War. Unless an even greater war has already happened."
Not long after, World War 2 began. And truthfully... I haven't seen any comments, or articles, or anything talking about World War 1 all year except this. Truly that comment was true...
And thank you, at least, for reminding us of the War to End All Wars.
That's not entirely true.
Here in Belgium there is a daily section in the largest newspaper in the country which covers the events that happened during that day 100 years ago. From the fear and uncertainty before the war to the complete chaos during the war. There is a kids show on TV that tries to explain the drama of the war in a way children can follow and understand.
We still find several intact artillery shells every year in fields. There are massive graveyards all over the country, filled with white crosses. There is nobody who is immune to seeing rows upon rows upon rows upon rows of unmarked crosses. I recommend everyone to visit one of those graveyards at least once in their life to put some perspective on how many people died so we could live in like we do now.
We didn't forget.
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History series on the topic is the other big one that springs to mind for me.
My great grandfather lost his two brothers the first day in the trenches at Verdun. He survived the war, but he woonded hus leg during the war and he had problems with walking The rest of his life.
I ment his leg not hus leg
I'm sorry
@@nenggo2540 Thank you
@Agentes In Rebus May he rest in peace
My grandfather father fought the British at kout when they invaded iraq
My grandfather actually served in world war one for the american side, its amazing how people survived not just the gunfire, but the harsh conditions in the trenches
American had the kind part of the war
@@stalinethegreat2822 you aren't wrong
@@stalinethegreat2822 That's a bit unfair. It's like saying their contributions and suffering don't matter because other nations endured the war longer. As long as there is even one person traumatized and mangled by this war, we all share in its suffering.
but its not just the shooting and the trenches, it's also the effect to the mind which many soldiers lost to unfortunately.
Oh wow. That end. In me feels.
+SnappGamez Its the End Of the WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
If you watch the General Yi series you'll also get feels.
+Ichy Marie and Suleiman the Magnificent.
+Paul Der AS WE KNOW IT
I cried... By Sol, I cried watching the end of this video. Now I actually grasp how much The Great War *defined* this entire world we live in. The sheer horror and loss of this realization chills my heart and stills my breath. And still we suffer the scars... I would pray we never again make such mistakes, but I doubt we even _could_; We can't lose again what we've _already lost_. It's *still* lost. *Still* gone forever. We are helpless to wonder upon the shape of the world, had this tragedy never come and passed.
Agreed... in the battlefield, *nobody* wins.
Stonehawk More correctly, everyone loses.
Alen German Asterisks! One on either side of the word. You can _Italicize_ with Underscores the same way, I believe.
A hearty indeed to everything you said, sir, including the crying bit, and to everything that was said after. Even the whole text bit.
I would rather be enraged than sad. For this video speaks of people who tried to stop the war, but neglects to take into account the vast majority of people who were pushing for it.
All those Napoleons, and the few who use them for their interest, all those Voltaire who act as humanists when they sell weaponry and believe humanity should be enslaved.
And is all that over ? Well, Napoleon is often depicted as a great man, and Voltaire as a great thinker. So no... it's not over... it turns out there were some winners to these wars.
I probably watched the last 2 minutes of this video probably 5 times over and over again
I cried at the end
I am from Flander's fields... the ending song sends shivers down my spine.
The Great war destroyed nearly everything in Flanders. Entire cities were leveled, entire towns wiped off from the face of the planet. Millions of people fleeing to the Netherlands (neutral in WW1), France and the UK. Away from the war.
Those who stayed had a high chance of dying, along with the thousands of foreign soldiers.
Safe to say that this war still lives on over here. Heck, in this month (November) it's being thought about the most.
+MaJuV Of course the song was written by John McCrae in December 100 years ago this year.
Duh I mean the Dutch had been involved (in Flanders
Duh I mean the Dutch had been involved (in Flanders
Even though I had never been in Flanders, or even in war, it also sends shivers down my spine. I will always prefer the written version, but the vocal adaptation is amazing.
Thats not the only song in regards to the WWI, Hears are two song from my country that where made in the time of WWI one was written by a poet that was conscripted and the other no one really knows who made it czcams.com/video/_ckO9MBWJQA/video.html and czcams.com/video/WgrRyStu9yo/video.html
damn. i had no idea WW1 had so many coincidences and tragedies of timing. Always been more of a WW2 buff, but maybe i should study 1 more...
I think a lot can be learned from WW1 even if WW2 is more interesting for others. After all so much that lead to WW2 can be found in this conflict. How it was fought and how it concluded really planted the seeds for that next large scale conflict.
And make me sad that people dosent talk about WW1 has much WW2. Just to put your mind in how important to know about WW1, if the Great War, that Great have nothing beside size, never did happend, WW2 wouldnt happend. I said that because in how much shit Germany was after that WW1 and it was a matter of time for a second war to happend.
Check out Apocalypse World War 1 I'm not sure if it's out on DVD/Bluray yet but it's by a french company that also made a 6 part series for WW2 with restored and coloured footage.
*****
What documentery was been announced via the Game Valiant hearts?
mestre12 Nobody wants to talk about WW1 because it has no clear good or bad sides. It is so easier to talk about WW2 and heroic Allied forces, evils of Nazi Germany, how America saves the world...
But World War 1? There is no evil side, no good side. There is no great heroic epic to tell, no villain for the hero to defeat. Just normal people caught up in shit nobody actually wanted, but got steered into.
As what looks like WWIII unfolds I just went back to this....we are still seeing the effects of this conflict now.
One day. When our cities are abandoned and reduced to dust, this will look like a Greek epic. An almost comedic tragedy. How each mishap, each attempt at peace, each olive branch burned would lead to the fall of kings and slaughter of millions.
Came to rewatch this, together with the ones about the Cuban missile crisis, exactly for the same reason. Mankind still doesn't seem to have learned anything from its past mistakes.
It’s tragic. The callous murder of a man who, though not without fault, had not wronged Serbia and his innocent wife who had wronged no one. And now, the martyrdom of Ukraine on the alter of Putin’s ego. It’s infuriating
isn't ww3 yet
This is a really sad summation of the pain of the situation.
It is certainly frustrating.
Damn the ''In Flanders Fields'' outro music made me shed a tear. So many people tried to stop what would become the two deadliest war that changed the world. It's a shame that we don't learn this in school.
Lest we forget ...
The best and most effective way to learn history is through these emotionally-gripping stories. Unfortunately, history classes in school don't have time to get into these messy details. Instead, they must focus on the dry factual overview and move on.
this should be written as a screen play. I would watch that movie.
+Jeff Meadowcroft There is a mini series about it; '37 days: the road to ww1' actually a very good one.
I've never been the biggest fan of modern history, I'm often leaning more towards the ancient history of Greece, Egypt, Rome, nations in the South America, but this video series on WW1 altered my view. At this time I have binge watched Extra History for the third time I think, and The Seminal Tragedy has elevated from my least favorite to my absolute favorite. It was beautifully done, I think I speak for many more than myself when I say that I actually shed a tear in the final 10 seconds of it. I will delve deeper into WW1, at least refresh my memory from when I studied it in school. Also, I wish to thank you Extra Credits from the bottom of my heart for doing these videos on history. Not only are they great as starting points for studying history on our own, but they are entertaining, which I find a distinct lack of in most general education. Thank you
+Auclair36 If you want a really comprehensive history of the entire war, go to the "Great War" youtube channel, where they are literally covering the entire war, week by week.
+Auclair36 Read "A World Undone" it's fantastic, covers basically every single day, event, battle, telegram of the war.
Auclair36 i
Yes, the vocal version of “In Flanders Fields” is heartwrenching.
If you want to think about it this way, the First World War is what truly propelled the world into the modern age. The old guard of the Victorian age, still infatuated with their notions of military glory and unbridled nationalism, failed to keep pace with the inevitable march of technology and ignored the warning signs of a catastrophic collision of nations due to their own hubris and fragile pride. It also instilled in millions of young men the horrors of modern warfare, and forever destroyed the idea of war as a desirable and prestigious gentlemanly affair. The war serves as an abrupt and violent transition between the old, romanticized understanding and the bitter reality of the modern age.
I love how they show Wilhelm and the tsar isn't portrayed as the bumbling fools, but instead as people, they make mistakes, they might not be the best but they still try to stop this calamity that causes 2 of the most costly wars in the world..
There was no one big idiot. There was lots of generally competent people making small, but significant bad calls and it all added up to war.
"declaring war isn't necessarily the same as being at war"
If there's an afterlife, I hope spirits still hound him over this monumental stupidity!
To be fair Mohandas Gandhi proved him right a few decades later.
@@ragingsun1615 Mahatma*
@@xDCAxNexus mahatma is a title
Technically, veeeeery technically, he is right, but he failed to understand that if only one side is absolutely trigger happy then that enough causes war.
@@ragingsun1615 How come?
The last part, where the guy got on his knees to implore for peace really got me in to tears...
"If I should die, think only this of me: That there’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever England."- Rupert Brooke.
Wow. Just wow. I am in awe. How could thid channel could bring a new amazing perspective to an event which had been told countless times ? I have read this one from Wikipedia, to Oversimplified to actual books but only now found that no one actually want WWI, even Princip. You earned a new fan.
This, is how history should be taught, not as facts to puke back out onto exams only to be forgotten before the ink has dried, but as all the heartbreak, humanity, and consequences that drive the world.
Friedrich Pourtales, the man who struggled so hard to stop what he knew was coming. I cried at the end. None of this needed to happen. What a senseless, horrifying tragedy.
This is what happens when dumb, young idiots believe they're patriots.
Dan's narration really sells this.
Every time I see this I get so mad and sad and I cry.
"And do you know what you do with all that pain? Shall I tell you where you put it? You hold it tight... Til it burns your hand. And you say this -- no one else will ever have to live like this. No one else will ever have to feel this pain. Not on my watch."
In a weird way, this is like a reverse Cold War. I think more people should be crying over how many times war between all these major powers could have been avoided (as I did), and I think more people should be proud at how many times a war between the Soviet Union and the USA WAS avoided despite everything between them pointing to war.
Thanks to everyone who's watched this mini-series with us. We hope you've learned a lot more about the beginning of World War I. Please consider supporting us on Patreon if you want more content like this!
bit.ly/EHPatreon --- (More Below)
What's next for Extra History? On October 25, James will present an afterword going into more detail about the scholarship for these episodes. Then on November 8, we will begin a new mini-series on the topic chosen by our Patreon supporters: Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States period of Japan!
I didn't know that the war didn't start immediately. I was always taught "a famous person died then everyone went to war" with no other explanation. Thanks for taking the time and effort to create an interesting history lesson that anyone who could care less would otherwise not know.
Awe, I wanted more WW1 stuff. Ah well, I love the Sengoku Period so that'll be exciting!
I've learned more from this than from my history lessons, keep up the good work!
As a recent History major WWI was always mostly glanced over in my previous education. I now think it's kind of sad that our education system focuses more on WWII instead of WWI. Anyway I am loving every bit of this series I'd love to see some stuff from American History at some point, or even King Richard I's Crusades.
At least humanity got their aggression out of their system. If conflict had boiled unresolved for three more decades, the war could have been an atomic one.
This was a pretty damn awesome series. You've managed to turn a normally dry lesson in history into a proper freaking drama - A story of people and their flaws, their mistakes and their hopes. A tale of tragedy, that now at the end of this 4-episode road in part thanks to the song, has me feel sympathy and regret.
Don't know why, but at the very end, the "Never thought I'd be leaving russia like this" somehow really worked to highlight the tragedy of the situation and what was to come.
Massive props for making history personal.
(And what a contrast to the glorious final stand of admiral Yi, lol)
I just finished reading “All quiet on the Western front” and then revisited this series, and know i cry even more than when i first watched this. Just knowing the sheer hopelessness felt by the soldiers and the melancholy attitude held by its soldiers, watching their friends die and just running past them without a second thought, in a simple attempt to not end up like them... it really was the seminal catastrophe of the 20th century that was only bested in numbers by the 2 world war, and bested horrors by the holocaust and rape of nanking combined. Though flanders fields may recover, the world will never forget. I hope.
It left me and maybe many others in tears... madness of a handful of men brought millions of brave men to their death 💔
I really can't empathize how much I love how Extra History tells history, it's a style I myself try to use when I write alternate histories. History isn't just a simply a series of events coming one after another, it is a truly never ending story with characters interacting with each other. These characters are as small as individuals such as citizens, leaders, diplomats, scientists, among so many other things, to as large as nations themselves, whom as a collective can love or hate any other nation.
The key lesson of writing is that a story is what happens to, and is seen through, your characters. So, given that history is basically just the biggest and most interesting story ever, that focus on the 'real characters' should still persist, and I like that.
Nobody gives a shit about your fan fiction
jchin1117 Question
The only thing humanity remembers from history is that humantiy doesnt remember anything from history. (it sounds better in german ^^)
TheLPMovie I like Douglas Adam's rendition of this hard learned lesson: "Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn form the experience of others are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."
+TheLPMovie I can see the potential for a History webseries created along similar lines to the Angry Video Game Nerd, where the History presenter would be a bitter, sarcastic teacher who is fed up with humanity's bullshit and unwillingness to learn anything.
+TheLPMovie
"Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others."
-Otto "why the fuck was I fired!?!" Von Bismarck
Moltke
Ooh. You nailed it! You nailed it!
Das einzige, woran sich die Menschheit aus der Geschichte erinnert, ist, dass die Menschheit nicht aus der Geschichte lernt.
I will admit that I used google translate for this as I am still in the early stages of learning Deutsch
“Only the Dead have Seen the End of War”
-George Santayana
Extra History is always good, often great, but for these 4 episodes, it was incredible
It has had no equal.
"Stand amongst the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer." - Javik, Mass Effect
A small and silent yes.
Why be honorable, you'll die regardless.
Why not be honorable, you'll die regardless.
And if everyone eventually dies, then what matters is HOW you get there.
man that song at the end. always makes me cry a little just a little.
Go listen to The Green Fields of France by Dropkick Murphy's.
It hurts so god damn bad I Just want Franz and Sophie back
'In that case, sir, I have the honor to inform you that we're at war'
Those words along with everything that has happened leading up to the Great War can really make anyone feel guilty. Seeing countries and people spilling all off the blood in the field...it's hard to describe if you haven't experienced that tragedy...
I feel like I have to say this.
This is one of the best short series I think has ever been created. I'm still not sure why, but the last few minutes had me *crying*. Call me a cry-baby, but it was a combination of surprise, horror and sadness. I genuinely had no idea World War 1 was this... well, bad.
This series has taught me more in less than an hour, what a teacher could teach anybody in months. It has shown me what happened, why it happened, and how truthfully horrible it was. Until now, I've had great difficulty doing anything but look back at World War 1 as a collection of numbers. Deaths. The song at the end gave me feelings, which no video has ever done - and I want to thank you for it. This is beautifully done. I guess the fact that you are game designers has given you knowledge of what is important.
I'm right there with you, both on the crying and the learning things. History books in schools tend to distill wars down the hard facts. This battle happened on this day. This many people died. School never teaches the very human stories that are behind the beginnings of these wars, so they never have any MEANING to the students. This is a massive disservice to young people in my opinion.
And yea... this video made water come out of my eyes. And you know what? I find that wonderfully appropriate and humanizing to a tragedy that's been so often glossed over both in schools and in media. I'm GLAD that this video made me cry.
I'm up there with the both of you.
Try Blackadder its funny and witty but the ending pulls at your heartstrings
Of course, the guy narrating is a very skilled storyteller.
It's absolutely heartbreaking....
This series was WAYYY too good stop here! Please, please, please make more! I can't donate any money, but seriously, for the sake of the viewers, I GUARANTEE EVERYONE LOVED IT!!!!
This series should be shown in classrooms around the world. It so elegantly explains such a complex topic and yet entertains the entire way. I love extra credits and they have done a wonderful job with this and they must, MUST, continue.
With our support on Patreon, Extra History will continue. Alas, this particular story has nothing left but mobilizations of armies and deaths of people. This is a good place to end it.
I am anxious to see what great program comes next though. I would love to see their take on the Space Race (an unfortunately forgotten part of history)
Extra Credits is going to cover Sengoku Jidai next, though it will probably be a few months until they start on that.
I wish their Patreon would each 10K dollars so that we would get this show EVERY WEEK! :(
Hjernespreng 8 November :D
Hjernespreng Aw, I'd like to see something on the war of two brothers/Spanish conquest.
This actually made me cry, so many lives lost in this war that was preventable.
This is what im learning and now i have to write an essay about what was the most significant cause of WWI
M - Militerisation
A - Alliance
N - Nationalism
I - Imperialism
A - Assassination
Meh, personally I'd say the assassination falls under nationalism. The attempts were due to nationalism.
I learned M-Militarism A-Alliances I-Imperialism N-Nationalism Main causes of World war 1.
This. This is exactly how history should be tought.
And after the dust settles, all the blame goes on the defeated germans, (because victors write the history books and would never admit fault) humiliating them and thus setting the stage for WW2 two decades later...
As for you guys, you did an extraordinary job of making history an engaging topic. A task that all my history teachers in school summarily failed.
I always belived that, if WW1 never happend, the second World War wouldnt to.
mestre12 I think war in Europe was inevitable at the time. Empires were weakening, and tensions were high anyway.
War is never inevitable. There are always voices of reason. The only question is, whether they are heard or not.
+mestre12 Yeah, because the NSDAP (the Nazi party) misused the feelings of the demonized Germans (who wouldn't want to be made responsible for the death of millions and felt betrayed by the other participants in the war) to become the strongest party in the "Weimarer Republik" and change the laws ("Verfassung", don't remember the English word) to take control over Germany and Austria.
I mean, the thing that kicked off WWII was the massive penalties for Germany and Elsaß-Lothringen being annexed because "it once was a part of the German Empire and was taken from them even though Germans live there"...(see the parallel to the Krim being annexed by Russia?)
Lon Shevu You are looking for "constitution".Yes, that was just one of the things the nazi party used for propaganda. (see: "Stab-in-the-back myth") Another thing was being held solely responsible for all war damages in the treaty of Versailles. However, the Nazis only became strong after the economic crisis of 1929ff hit germany extra hard, because they had to theoretically pay reparations until the year 1988. (around $350 billion total, modern value) Definitely not a fair deal.I look forward to the day, EC makes a video about the time between the wars.
Such tragedy. My grandfather fought in the Royal Canadian Engineers, was gassed, survived, and never forgot his time in the trenches
this is easily one of the saddest series on this channel, the tension is there, but we all know what happens next, 4 years of hell, revolution, fall of empires, death of friends, all because of some damn fool thing in the Balkans.
En the world as we know right now, with the tensions between the countries I’m worried that something similar can happen again
"Never thought id be leaving Russia like this".. "and a month later, a million men are dead... the seminal catastrophe has begun".
"In Flanders Fields the poppies blow..." ...
Wow, such a really elegant god damn ending.... fantastic imagery and construction, dramatic contrasting. That's art right there. all the feels
WWI
The death of the moustache...
The third worst thing to come of WWI. The first being the death of millions and the second being that Hitler wasn't one of them.
Hitler would have been some odd guy in a pub if he didn't have the war to ignite his hatred. Left this world a forgotten man rather than as the very word we use to describe a man of unspeakable evil.
The death of the classic moustache, the birth of the very narrow moustache
The last event in this video is recollected by the French ambassador to Russia, Maurice Paleologue, in his diary as such:
"His eyes were swollen and he was very red in the face and choking with emotion as he solemnly handed Sazonov a declaration of war, which concluded with this theatrical and mendacious phrase: His Majesty the Emperor, my august sovereign, in the name of the empire accepts the challenge and considers himself in a state of war with Russia.
Sazonov replied
:
"This is a criminal act of yours. The curses of the nations will be upon you."
Then, reading aloud the declaration of war, he was amazed to see between brackets two versions, a matter of slight importance in itself. For instance, after the words: Russia having refused to acknowledge ... there was: (not having considered there was any obligation to reply to ... ). And later on, after the words: Russia having shown by their refusal . . . there was: (by this attitude). It is probable that these two different versions have been suggested from Berlin and that owing either to inadvertence or haste on the part of the copyist they have both been inserted in the official text.
Pourtalès was so overcome that he could not explain this curious form which will for ever set the brand of ridicule upon the historic document which was to he the origin of so many evils. When he had finished reading, Sazonov repeated:
"This is a criminal act!"
"We are defending our honour!"
"Your honour was not involved. You could have prevented the war by one word: you didn't want to. In all my efforts to save peace I haven't had the slightest help from you. But there's a divine justice!"
Pourtalès repeated in a dull voice, with a look of desperation:
"That's true ... there's a divine justice ... a divine justice!"
He went on muttering a few incomprehensible words and staggered towards the window which is on the right of the door, opposite the Winter Palace. There he leaned against the embrasure and burst into tears.
Sazonov, trying to calm him, tapped him on the shoulders. Pourtalès stammered:
"So this is the result of my mission!"
Finally he rushed to the door, which he could hardly open with his trembling fingers, and went out murmuring:
"Goodbye! Goodbye!" "
I’m a little confused by the brackets bit.
@@norishimogawa6125 Germany was in such a rush to declare war on Russia and get mobilising that they accidentally put two different versions of the declaration into the official copy.
Tragic narrative expertly explained, but also with a dose of humor. The Kaiser's duck life preserver is priceless.