The Roads to World War I: Crash Course European History #32

Summary

In this engaging episode of Crash Course European History, John Green explores the multifaceted causes leading to World War I, delving beyond the traditional narratives of alliances and imperialism. The episode examines the significant social and cultural shifts at the turn of the century that fueled widespread tensions across Europe. These tensions manifested in various forms, such as strikes, violence against minorities, and a buildup of military powers. The narrative highlights the complexity of factors, including the Balkan Wars and the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which together created an environment ripe for conflict. Through an exhaustive recounting of pre-war events, the episode challenges the inevitability of war and questions how different actions might have altered the course of history.

Highlights

• John Green breaks down the complex causes of WWI, moving beyond traditional explanations 📘.
• The episode highlights the massive social shifts in Europe around the 20th century's start that fueled war tensions 🔄.
• There's an exploration of how strikes and violence erupted across Europe, showcasing pre-war unrest ⚒️.
• Military build-ups and secret alliances played a critical role in edging towards WWI 🛡️.
• The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand is discussed, not as the sole cause, but as part of a broader tension-filled landscape ⚰️.

Key Takeaways

• World War I wasn't caused by a few simple factors, but by a complex web of social and political changes 🌍.
• Europe was grappling with massive social changes, creating tensions similar to today's world 🌐.
• Strikes, assassinations, and ethnic violence were rampant across pre-war Europe ⚔️.
• The build-up to war was marked by militarization and the creation of massive alliances 🛡️.
• Even when it seemed avoidable, a series of events and decisions made war more and more likely ⚠️.

Overview

John Green dives into the intricate causation of World War I in this episode of Crash Course European History. The narrative challenges the oversimplified blame on alliances and militarization, delving into the radical social changes of early 20th-century Europe. As tensions ballooned from shifting family dynamics, scientific advancements, and the push for greater rights, Europe teetered on the brink of disaster.

The build-up to war is illustrated through vivid historical accounts, including striking workers throughout Europe and violent ethnic tensions. Key events such as the Dreyfus affair and the Boer War set the backdrop for an already violent pre-war Europe, which historians suggest was a battlefield well before 1914. The complexity of international relationships and the burgeoning empire ambitions are given spotlight, stressing how they paved the path toward global conflict.

Unpacking the infamous assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, John reminds us that while it was a spark, the tinder had been accumulating for years. The episode leaves the viewer pondering Margaret Atwood's words on history's preventability, reflecting on how individual and collective actions have shaped world events. Through his engaging storytelling, John Green crafts a narrative that not just educates but prompts a reevaluation of what could have been in European history.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 01:00: Introduction and Causes of War In the introductory chapter of the Crash Course European History, John Green sets the stage for World War I by revisiting the commonly taught causes of the war during his high school years. These traditional causes include the alliance system, arms build-up, secret treaties, nationalism, and imperialism, all orchestrated by political leaders from above. However, recent historical perspectives offer a more nuanced understanding of the factors that led to the war, suggesting a complex road that encompasses more than just these elements.
• 01:00 - 02:00: Social and Cultural Changes This chapter discusses the significant social and cultural changes that occurred at the turn of the century, affecting tens of thousands, if not millions, across Europe. Key factors included changes in family structures, paradigm shifts in science, disruptions of traditional gender roles, the achievement of voting rights by working men, and ongoing economic advances. These led to feelings of disorientation, dislocation, deep resentments, and widespread tensions within society.
• 02:00 - 03:00: Political and Military Tensions This chapter discusses the political and military tensions in pre-war Europe, highlighting similarities to modern times. It points out that Europe appeared to be a battlefield even before World War I began, marked by numerous strikes that sometimes turned violent, particularly in the oil fields.
• 03:00 - 04:00: Dreyfus Affair and Anti-Semitism The chapter titled 'Dreyfus Affair and Anti-Semitism' discusses the widespread anti-Semitic atmosphere in Europe during the late 19th century. There were frequent acts of violence against Jewish people and other minorities, and incidents like assassinations were common. The chapter centers around the Dreyfus Affair, a major political scandal in France. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French military, was wrongfully accused and convicted of espionage in 1894, despite evidence being fabricated against him. His imprisonment on Devil’s Island continued even after further evidence suggested his innocence, as espionage activities continued unabated after his exile.
• 04:00 - 05:00: Colonial Tensions and Massacres The chapter discusses the explosive tensions surrounding the Dreyfus Affair, a controversial case that fueled anti-Semitic sentiments. Families and communities were divided, and violence erupted over allegations against Dreyfus, who was accused of crimes related to national security. The media became polarized, reporting on both sides of the issue. In 1898, the situation took a significant turn when Emile Zola, a renowned novelist, published an article titled 'J’accuse,' which unveiled falsified evidence against Dreyfus and garnered public support for him. Despite Dreyfus's eventual pardon in 1899, the affair left a lingering effect, as it did not quell the growing tide of hatred and antisemitism.
• 05:00 - 06:00: European Alliance System The chapter titled 'European Alliance System' discusses the mounting divisions and tensions in various parts of the world during the early 20th century. In Ireland, civil war seemed imminent as factions for and against British rule formed independent armies. This period also saw colonial tensions escalating, notably highlighted by the German army's massacre of the Herero people in southwest Africa between 1904 and 1908, resulting in the deaths of between 24,000 and 100,000 individuals, with survivors being displaced and facing starvation.
• 06:00 - 07:00: Militarization and Public Opinion The chapter discusses the impact of European militarization on public opinion, particularly in colonial regions. It highlights how European powers, such as the French, repressed local intellectuals and closed educational institutions like the University of Hanoi, exacerbating tensions and prompting rebellion. The narrative paints a picture of anti-colonial sentiment, illustrated by the disdain expressed by colonized people towards European colonizers, describing them as outsiders with no familial ties to the land. The chapter also touches on similar sentiments in South Africa, where Boer farmers of Dutch descent resisted colonial rule.
• 07:00 - 08:00: Local Wars and Revolution As the 20th century began, various regions around the world were uprising against colonial powers, particularly the British. In a notable struggle, civilians were severely affected, many perishing in concentration camps due to disease and starvation. Concurrently, South Asians also showed their resistance against British colonial rule through demands for reforms and militant boycotts of British goods. The tumult didn't stop there, as in 1900, a coalition of colonial nations responded to the Boxer Rebellion in China by committing massacres against Chinese civilians. The Boxers were primarily targeting European and Chinese Christians in their uprising.
• 08:00 - 09:00: Tensions in the Balkans The chapter 'Tensions in the Balkans' highlights how, prior to the official commencement of World War I in 1914, the world was already embroiled in conflicts. It underscores the notion that war was a common state in human history, with peace being a rare and exceptional occurrence. The chapter examines the complex system of alliances in Europe, which, despite being designed by politicians to avert or control warfare, ultimately contributed to a disastrous outcome.
• 09:00 - 10:00: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand This chapter discusses historical events in Europe, focusing on the political strategies employed by Otto von Bismarck to ensure peace after helping to build Germany's empire through wars. The narrative particularly highlights the formation of alliances, such as the Dual Alliance between Germany and Austria in 1879, and later the inclusion of Italy, forming the Triple Alliance. The backdrop involves the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, a significant event leading up to World War I.
• 10:00 - 11:00: Lead-up to World War I Bismarck tried to prevent large wars by forming formidable coalitions, such as the alliances with Austria-Hungary (Dreikaiserbund) and Russia (Reinsurance Treaty). However, when Kaiser Wilhelm II came to power in Germany in 1890, he opposed Bismarck's diplomacy. He canceled the Reinsurance Treaty, which led Russia to seek alliances elsewhere, marking a significant shift in European power dynamics that contributed to the lead-up to World War I.
• 11:00 - 12:00: Conclusion The chapter discusses Germany's ambitions in the late 19th century to expand its influence globally, including the desire for tropical colonies. This expansionist vision was mirrored by tensions and alliances forming in Europe. Germany's interests threatened France, which led to strategic military alliances between France and Britain. The formation of the entente cordiale marked a significant military cooperation between these nations. Eventually, Russia joined, turning the entente into a triple entente, symbolizing the settling of colonial disputes between Britain and Russia and enhancing collective security measures in Europe.

The Roads to World War I: Crash Course European History #32 Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 Hi I’m John Green and this is Crash Course European History, and things are indeed on course to crash, because World War I is coming. Decades ago, when I studied European history in high school, I learned there were precise causes of the war: the alliance system, arms build-up, secret treaties, nationalism, and imperialism. That set of causes, launched from above by political leaders, eventually led to war. But more recently, historians have started to lay out a more complex road to war: namely,
• 00:30 - 01:00 a road that passed through social and cultural change at the turn of the century. And those changes, which were experienced by tens of thousands if not millions of people, caused tensions across a broad swath of Europe. People’s lives were affected by changing family structures, by paradigm shifts in science, disruption of traditional gender roles, achievement of the vote by working men, and ongoing economic advances, and the result was disorientation, dislocation, deep resentments, and widespread
• 01:00 - 01:30 fear--which, of course, is not too dissimilar from how an array of changes are affecting people today. [Intro] Some might even say that pre-war Europe a battlefield before World War I started. Strikes, which at times grew violent, abounded across Europe—whether at the oil fields
• 01:30 - 02:00 of Baku, the farms of Hungary, or the factories of Italy. Assassinations were common--as was everyday violence against Jewish people and other oppressed ethnic minorities. In 1894, Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, was tried for espionage, convicted and imprisoned on Devil’s Island. The evidence against Dreyfus turned out to be fabricated, complete with forged signatures. Further evidence of his innocence was that the espionage continued, even after his exile.
• 02:00 - 02:30 Passions exploded over the case, and anti-Semitism flourished, families quarreled, and assaults took place around questions of whether Dreyfus had committed these crimes. Newspapers took both sides as violence grew. Then in 1898 famed novelist Emile Zola’s article “J’accuse,” exposed trumped up evidence against Dreyfus and helped build support for him. Dreyfus was eventually pardoned in 1899, but facts were not enough to stop the growing hatred and antisemitism.
• 02:30 - 03:00 Intense divisions within and between communities were growing elsewhere, too. Ireland, for one, was on the brink of civil war, with both those opposing British rule and those favoring it establishing independent armies. The distant colonial world was increasingly tense too. Between 1904 and 1908 the German army massacred between 24,000 and 100,000 Herero people, who refused to surrender their lands in southwest Africa. Those who weren’t massacred were driven into distant territory to starve.
• 03:00 - 03:30 Some say that slaughter was a training ground for European soldiers who would soon engage in further war. Around the same time, the French closed the University of Hanoi and arrested or killed prominent teachers and intellectuals. and open rebellion escalated. As one opponent said of the French: “Look at those men with blue eyes and yellow beards. They are not our fathers, nor are they our brothers. How can they squat here, defecating on our heads?” and the Boers--that is, farmers with Dutch heritage-- of South Africa likewise rebelled
• 03:30 - 04:00 against the British as the 20th century opened. They were only defeated after many civilians, confined to concentration camps, died of disease or starvation. South Asians demanded reform too. They became more militantly anti-British and launched boycotts of British goods. In 1900, a conglomerate of colonial nations massacred Chinese civilians involved in the Boxer rebellion. Boxer activists had themselves assassinated European and Chinese Christians in an attempt
• 04:00 - 04:30 to take back their empire from white invaders. All these events suggest that the world was already at war before 1914, although if you’ve been following this series, or our other series in history, you’ll know that war was often happening-- if anything, peace, to whatever extent humans have experienced it, is very much a historical exception. And that’s important to remember when thinking about the ultimately disastrous system of allegiances Europe had developed. That system was created by politicians to try to prevent wars, or at least to manage
• 04:30 - 05:00 any on the continent. Foremost among these politicians was our old friend Otto von Bismarck, who’d had no qualms about starting wars to help Germany build its empire but then declared Germany a “satisfied” nation. Oh, the adjectives that haunt us. Bismarck wanted peace in Europe and so organized an alliance system to that end, binding Germany and Austria in the Dual Alliance of 1879, then adding Italy to a Triple Alliance in
• 05:00 - 05:30 1882. He also allied Germany with Russia in the Reinsurance Treaty, another attempt to build coalitions so formidable that large wars would become impossible. But all of this was about to change when William II, aka Kaiser Wilhelm, came to power in Germany in 1890. He rattled the sword, and called Bismarck’s alliances the work of an outmoded old man. Under William II, the treaty with Russia was canceled, which drove Russia to sign an alliance
• 05:30 - 06:00 with France in 1894. William also called for Germany to gain power around the world, expanding into tropical colonies to create a German “place in the sun.” Which if you wanna do, you could just try to take Southern France. Oh, right, you will. Try to take Southern France. Meanwhile, the French and British secretly built another alliance--the “entente cordiale” And I’ll remind you, I’ve had three years of high school French. It was based on military cooperation and even shared military plans. The entente became a triple entente when Russia and Britain settled their colonial differences
• 06:00 - 06:30 in 1907, uniting three very different powers. But as they were entente-ing, Europe’s powers were also growing their militaries. Standing armies grew to hundreds of thousands of troops. General staffs demanded larger stockpiles of weapons and got what they wanted. Most costly were the “Dreadnoughts” or massive battleships with unprecedented firepower. Britain launched the first of these in 1905; others followed.
• 06:30 - 07:00 The construction of battleships in these years employed tens of thousands of workers. So through their staffs of public relations experts, military hawks threatened that cutting the production of Dreadnoughts would lead to mass unemployment and revolution. “We want eight and we won’t wait” was a popular British chant for more ships. So, yeah, America didn’t invent the military-industrial complex. But we did perfect it. So, William II also wanted Dreadnoughts, because he hoped to win the British over to an alliance
• 07:00 - 07:30 of Teutonic peoples, including especially Germans, that could defeat the “Latins” or “Gauls” of southern Europe whom he considered inferior. William was the grandson of Queen Victoria and a staunch anglophile, much to the dismay of his generals. But rather than taking advice from experts in his government, William used another strategy. He avidly followed press coverage of himself and his regime, using that as a monitor of successful policy. He had tantrums and even months of nervous collapse when he was criticized in the press
• 07:30 - 08:00 and elsewhere, creating an atmosphere of turmoil in German policy through erratic militarism. So, despite all these attempts to control war through alliances, the early decades of the century were also deadly because of revolution and local wars in Europe itself. In 1905, the people of Russia rose up against the tsarist regime. They were hard pressed in their daily lives due to a conflict between Russia and Japan over competing claims in East Asia.
• 08:00 - 08:30 And the Japanese, who’d been developing a modern army and an industrial economy, attacked and crushed the Russian fleet in 1905. Ordinary people paid the price for these losses and rebelled, but then Tsarist promises of reform, combined with armed force, eventually restored calm and preserved the Romanov grip on power--for another decade or so. The Balkans also heated up, due to secret societies of Balkan peoples that collected arms and organized themselves against the Ottoman and Habsburg empires, and also had
• 08:30 - 09:00 amazing facial hair. Everything about that photograph is phenomenal, but the best part is that it vaguely resembles a cheerleading pyramid... Within these secret societies, people moved from safe house to safe house as they built networks of militiamen ready to sabotage, assassinate, and fight the imperial powers in order to gain independence. In the face of such resistance, Turkish nationalists demanded a strengthening of military and administrative institutions in the Ottoman Empire. Finally, in 1908 a group of officers called the Young Turks rebelled in the name of promoting
• 09:00 - 09:30 Turkish ethnicity. They ultimately pushed aside the sultan and replaced him with a pliable brother who was more submissive to the Young Turks, albeit guided by a constitution and parliament. The Young Turks responded to other people’s nationalist dreams by squashing demands for self-rule from Balkan ethnic groups. Even as the Young Turks inspired many groups both in Europe and around the world, Austria-Hungary used their revolt as distraction during which it scooped up Bosnia.
• 09:30 - 10:00 That caused outrage among Serbs as they had wanted to add Bosnia to a “greater Serbia” while all Balkan people’s anger against the Young Turks boiled over. Building on this anger, the Balkan governments of Montenegro, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece unleashed the First Balkan War in 1912 against the Ottoman Empire. They quickly won, only blocked when they tried to march on Constantinople. But there was jealousy among the victors over the splitting up the territorial gains, as
• 10:00 - 10:30 there so often is, so in spring 1913 the Second Balkan War erupted. The main issue this time was the territory awarded to Bulgaria in the settlement. Serbia, which was backed by Russia, gained territory from this second war, making Austria-Hungary and Germany anxious, not least because the Habsburgs were nervous that Austria-Hungary’s Slavic population might want to be part of this exciting new Greater Serbia. German public relations people swung into action, planting hysterical stories on the
• 10:30 - 11:00 growing and lethal threat from Slavs. So if you’re wondering if misinformation can contribute to a global sense of dis-ease, confusion, and polarization: Yes. Yes, it can. The heir to the Habsburg imperial throne, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, had a solution for all these problems: restore absolutism as it had existed before the revolutions of 1848 and the general liberalization of politics. “The parliamentary form of government has outlived its usefulness,” an advisor to
• 11:00 - 11:30 Franz Ferdinand had written as early as 1898. “The so-called individual freedoms must be curtailed.” Let’s Go to the Thought Bubble 1. In June 1914, a nineteen-year-old Bosnian bookworm named Gavrilo Princip 2. became one of history’s more famous teenagers. 3. Princip thrived on reading Sherlock Holmes mysteries 4. and Sir Walter Scott’s heart-pounding stories of heroic medieval knights. 5. And he dreamed of his beloved homeland joining Serbia, 6. and the Habsburgs had blocked that dream by annexing Bosnia in 1908.
• 11:30 - 12:00 7. Princip, along with several friends, decided something had to be done, 8. and when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie came to Sarajevo on June 28th, 1914, the conspirators saw their chance. 9. The Archduke and his wife were traveling unprotected in a convertible 10. --a perfect assassination opportunity. 11. Some of Princip’s co-conspirators were too afraid when the moment arrived to actually try to kill the Archduke; 12. another had a gun malfunction.
• 12:00 - 12:30 13. One co-conspirator did manage to throw a grenade at the Archduke’s car, 14. but he missed. 15. Later in the day, Princip mourning the failure of his crew’s plan over lunch. 16. The Archduke and Sophie were on their way to visit victims of the grenade attack in the hospital 17. when their driver took a wrong turn 18. and happened to drive past, of all people, Gavrilo Princip, 19. who proceeded to shoot dead both Franz Ferdinand and his wife. Thanks Thought Bubble. Some people celebrated the death of the opinionated, radical heir to the Habsburg throne and others
• 12:30 - 13:00 were not surprised at the murder, given that assassination was an occupational hazard of leadership in these decades. After the assassination, heads of state and high officials still went on planned vacations, because everyone expected a diplomatic solution. Again, assassination was pretty common, and diplomatic solutions always followed. People were gripped not by the assassination but by a scandal in France--the trial for murder of Madame Caillaux who had shot a newspaper publisher for exposing her husband’s extra-marital
• 13:00 - 13:30 affairs. Seems like the wrong guy to shoot. And yet the European powers moved almost imperceptibly toward war. General staffs and some officials had been planning for it, as we have seen, while competition for empire and the conduct of empire itself were warlike, and overall social and cultural change had made people tense and even violent toward one another. Moreover, wasn’t Europe—from Ireland to Russia—simply a violent place where individuals
• 13:30 - 14:00 and governments alike were always primed for war? As the chief of the German General Staff put it in 1912, given Europe’s track record, “I consider a war to be inevitable. And the sooner the better.” We can wonder what might’ve happened if the Archduke’s driver hadn’t taken that wrong turn. Or we can wonder what might’ve happened without Europe’s particular configuration of alliances, or if militarization hadn’t made war seem unavoidable.
• 14:00 - 14:30 As Margaret Atwood writes in The Testaments, “Very little in history is inevitable.” But the lead up to the war was marked not by one cause, or even by a few politicians making a few decisions, but by many people making many decisions--from spreading fake news stories to pressing for more battleships--that altogether contributed to an environment that made war progressively more likely. In short, it wasn’t only the Archduke’s driver who made a wrong turn.
• 14:30 - 15:00 Thanks for watching. I’ll see you next time.