@@kasadam85 Technically Spain got it worst initially. Spain lost nearly its entire colonial empire in less than 20 years, had terrible monarchs (only 1 was alright in the entirety of the 19th century) and overall lost its entire prestige and honour in 1 century, never to regain it again.
Fun fact: even being neutral, during World War One the spanish merchant navy lost more than 80 vessels, sunk by german submarines. After the war, the Weimar Republic give some steamers in compensation. One of that steamers became the "Dédalo", the first seaplane carrier of the Spanish Navy.
A seaplane carrier? Not just why but how is that a thing? Literally how? Does it have seaplanes along with lifeboats? Or a hidden bay full of seaplanes? I'll have to look up more about this... This is intriguing...
It even has jokes in the newspaper text! I wonder how many I have missed in past videos. "People who disagree with you are morons, a survey by this very paper has found. We asked people who have different political opinions to our readers whether or not they're evil idiots and 100% replied yes. "'I vote for a different party to you because I like to be cruel and ruin everything' replied Ramón whilst drowning a kitten in a lake. "'I exercise my democratic rights out of sheer spite' said Luis from Barcelona. 'There's literally no nuance to me, I'm just vile'."
Imagine if covid is called "taiwanese flu" or something like that in the future They should be saying "ungrateful bastards, i should've let you all die instead" lol
Hahaha, what a great joke that I completely understand! Still, you should probably explain it, for like, the dumb people who don't get it. Which I, of course, am not one of.
I had totally forgotten that WW1 started only 15 years after the Spanish-American war. Between that the Gibraltar issue, I can see where Spain would not be inclined to get friendly with the Anglosphere side of things. But making enemies with them would not be a good idea either with British-leaning Portugal right next door. Sometimes the only way to win, is not to play :)
There is also the issue of Spain asking for support in the Spanish-American war and getting the "not my problem" answer, so there was no reason whatsoever to have sympathies towards any side.
Another reason Spain remained neutral was that the king at the time was related to both sides, since his mother was Austrian, but his wife was British. Taking part on either side would have been an affront to either side of his family.
On the other hand, the ruling monarchs of England, Germany and Russia were even more closely related, and that didn't stop WWI from happening in the first place...
@@Hudpix16 George V and Wilhelm II were cousins! Wilhelm's mother was Victoria, the eldest daughter of queen Victoria of England. Nicholas II and George V were also cousins; in fact there are pictures of them together where they practically look like clones of each other.
Its very hard to explain Spain situation at wwi and wwii without understanding what happened in the XIX century at Spain. XIX century is one of the most important periods in spanish history with 6 constitutions, 9 coups d'etat and more than 10 wars from where 4 of them are civil wars and 1 independence war from France. In a century Spain passed trough absolute monarchy, republic, dictactorship and constitucional monarchy, and not only once.
Spain: "We need you safeguard our gold reserves." Stalin: "Not to worry! I'll treat your gold like it was my own." Spain: "Wait a minute...Was he speaking metaphorically or literally?"
I just love the reference of Stalin appearing when the gold reserves in Spain started to grow. For those that dont know, those same reserves were sent to the URSS by the Republican Government at the start of the Spanish Civil War for "safe keeping" as well as to pay the weapons purchased from there. Its said that Stalin laughed and said " The Spanish will never see their money back again!"...
Course they wasted some money by sending some “volunteer” troops and supplies to the republican side (specifically the socialists factions within it) during the Civil war as did the facist governments of Germany and Italy with the Nationalist side.
Some video suggestions: Why did Portugal join WW1? How did India acquire nuclear weapons? Why were the Dutch invaded during WW2? How did the name Netherlands come about? How did Japan industrialize so quickly compared to China?
Nether = low/under, like in the Netherworld...so it is litterally named Low Country. Le Pay Bas (French) = also litterally Low Countries. Nederland (Dutch), again Low Country. Because of the elvation of the country being zero and even negative, because river delta.
in order 1. Britain asked for help, and Portugal owed it. 2. Made their own, losing the 1962 sino-india war really made them kick it up a notch 3. was part of the "go through ardennes plan" AKA plan yellow , didn't want to get hit in rear while invading belgium 4. it means "low lying country" , netherlands are very low lying 5. they Embraced the west after commodore Perry as they didn't want to be a colony or be humiliated like china was.
@@robertthompson737 Britain didn't want Portugal in the war. Instead, Britain asked nicely if the Portuguese could seize the German fleet docked in Lisbon. They agreed, nicely, which made Germany DoW Portugal. Portugal was the belligerent one.
@@robertthompson737 well enough as a single sentence answer but point 5 needs a story. Japan became an industrialized world power merely decades after westernization and that's fascinating.
Can we just take a moment and be amazed at the fact that Spain managed to avoid both world wars along with it`s millions of deaths and probably trillions in economic damages and still managed to come out of it poorer and with less population than France, Germany and the UK.
While both World Wars were huge conflict with an insame human and economic cost, not all participant suffered the same way. Spain saw itself more damaged from the Spanish Civil War prior WW2 than France was in WW2, since France just got rolled over in less than a month and then stayed occupied paying reparations to Germany but without it population suffering much compared to other places. Similarly, Germany wasn't as damaged after WW1 as France because even though both fought the war to their limits the fighting happened in France and Germany surrendered before being invaded, unlike in WW2. Also, avoiding war is just a part of economic development, there are many historical and geographical reasons that help other European countries be more economically developped than Spain and have a higher population, for example, in geography the other countries win over Spain because they have more rain, so they can have a higher farming output compared to Spain, Spain has historically been less populated than France, Germany, the UK and Italy just as it is today. Spain also staggered after other European countries after WW2 because the Franco dictatorship was closed to most of the world, once the Opus Dei economist Franco appointed to the government opened up Spain its economy grew massively but it still lagged behind after about a decade of trying autarky.
Spain was kinda already poorer than all of them and if anything World War One helped the British economically and World War Two gave Germany a complete restart of industry and therefore had an economic boom. Still cool.
A little detail: for the scene in the Belgian parliament you show our national motto (unity makes strength) in French and Dutch. However at the time our country's politics were dominated by the French speakers, and the flemmish were often sidelined. It's only during the war where French speaking officers had to deal with flemmish soldiers, fighting in Flanders, that the flemmish question became central. Flemmish would become a national language during the inter war.
"a tiny bit"? You might want to rephrase that. To be clear, I'm not saying that Portuguese troops were the best ones in the war (which I will admit, we weren't; we were often times under supplied, had low morale and took heavy casualties on the Western Front; also not to mention the vonflicts in the colonies in Africa and the battles at sea, where the latter was a lot of times not in our favor due to German submarines). However, back in the trenches, most of the times the Germans tried an offensive against the positions that were filled with soldiers of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (PEC), they always took heavy casualties themselves and in most attempts they got pushed back. To give you a great example, there's literally a story about one lone Portuguese machine gunner who held back entire waves of enemy soldiers by himself. I'm not making that up; his name was Aníbal Augusto Milhais. You can look it up for yourself if you want.
@@alexandrearaujo2877 I will not rephrase that, when you mobilise 100,000 troops and your allies mobilise 42,500,000 troops, you become just a tiny, minor part of the conflict, to put the numbers into perspective the Portuguese made up about 0.235% of the allied war effort, Portugal was the second smallest allied power in ww1 with Montenegro being the only nation to mobilise less troops (50,000). I'm not trying to discredit Portugal's contribution to ww1 but to call it anything but tiny is a little bit of fiction
Q - Why didn't Spain join WW1? A - They were super messed up from a previous war. Q - Why didn't Spain join WW2? A - They were super messed up from a previous war.
Fun fact: Greece was also neutral for the most of the part during WWI. In the beginning both the Entente (particularly Russia) and the Central Powers favored neutrality, but the horrors of WWI drove the British to force the Greeks in joining the war on their side, with the benefit being to incorporate lands that were home to ethnic Greeks (Thrace, Cyprus, and Western Anatolia), but were controlled by other nations (Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire). It was by 1917 when a provisional government (headed by Eleftherios Venizelos) in northern Greece prevailed over the Germanophile royalists, leaving them as the legitimate government in Greece and leading the country to WW1 on the side of the Entente. But despite that, only Western Thrace was obtained in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish war and the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne.
This is a rather simplified explanation. Entente troops were in N. Greece by 1915 and the whole north was basically separated from the central government. As to which parts were colonised by whom - historically greeks always occupied the seaside of certain areas with the hinterland being occupied by Bulgarians/Turks - therefore its bit of a stretch to call out these lands "Greek" . Modern North Greece population is a product of the huge influx of Anatolian Greek refugees from 1920, with a lot of Bulgarians having to flee their homes. Of course it gets even more complicated - some greeks from the Black Sea seaside were exchanged for Bulgarians from Thrace. In a nutshell the whole concept of historic lands in the context of the Balkans is a very long and controversial topic
@@kosjomir That depends on the culture and language of the nation. Before the Turks could rule Anatolia and the Balkans, the people living in the Balkans and Anatolia were overwhelming Greco-Romans. Yes, the archaic Greeks colonized the seaside shores, but in Alexander's era and the Roman Empire, the lands that composed of Macedonia, Thrace, and Anatolia were hellenized. The Bulgarians and Serbians enter the Balkans during the 8th-11th century, but there were pushed out by the Byzantines (e.g. Basil II) on several occasions. It was at the moment of the Ottoman Empire when the Sultan and the Ottoman government addressed all Orthodox Christians of the Balkans as one (Rum), disregarding the culture and the language they spoke of (whether it would have been Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, or Armenian). So it makes sense for the other foreigners to see that the territories composed of North Macedonia and Thrace are not Greek, despite the fact that the terminology of the words have been descended from Greek by default.
Greece wanted the eastern coast of the Aegean, but the Turks repelled them. p.s. there was a joke about turkish homeland being carved up the last 2 comments i made but it's been twice removed. is the word of a certain turkish dish banned on youtube? wtf?
Great video, I would add that Alfonso XIII is the only king in history to be nominated for a Peace Nobel prize for creating the "Oficina Pro Cautivos" (Pro-Captives Office) which During the time of the war m, they managed to help approximately 200,000 people, saving a large number of soldiers from being shot, repatriating many families to save them, organizing hospital ships and ensuring that they would not suffer attacks, as well as put thousands of prisoners in contact with their families.
the principles of his action were "active neutrality, helping men, not states, helping families, not companies that trade in war, and rejecting the general vision of nothing can be done until the war is over"
Not true. Nicholas II of Russia and the diplomat Friedrich Martens were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the initiative to convene the Hague Peace Conference and contributing to its implementation
Funny thing about the failure in Morocco, there was an investigation about how it happened, and an immense case of corruption was found where even the king was a part of it, this was why the Spanish soldiers only got old weaponry and food that wasn't exactly in the best condition, which lead to said failure
the interesting thing about these non-happenings in history is getting to know just how bad or convinient were these countries' situations at the time of great historical events. Keep it up, man, great video!
@@mrapple2544 It was the reason in WWII, and in the colonisation of Africa, and in any event that happens after 1800, because Spain have been broke almost always since then.
I like how the Madrid Times attempted to interview the mine that sank Kitcheners ship, thats quality journalism. Also I think it should be mentioned that the British had significant control over large parts of the Spanish economy at that time
Two things that remain constant in both World Wars: - Germany losing - Spain wanting nothing to do with the war - Russia getting bodied at the beginning of the war - Italy switching sides
Italy got backstabbed by Germany in WW2 after signing an armistice with the Allies, google operation Achse. It also didn't actually switch sides in WW1 since Austria-Hungary violated article 7 the Triple Alliance so there was no treaty saying Italy couldn't declare war on Austria-Hungary. If AH didn't want Italy to declare war, they shouldn't have annexed Bosnia or declared war on Serbia without Italy's explicit consent, as article 7 specified that prior consultations between the two powers before expansion/war in the Balkans were mandatory.
" 'I vote different party to you because I like to be cruel and ruin everything' replied Ramón whilst drowning a kitten in lake." made me actully laugh outloud, love these small touches.
I’m Spanish and I reckon that you explained the main reasons very well. Please make more videos about Spain, since Spanish history is often taught biased here in Spain.
Idk if it was my comment on your why Spain didn’t get more of Africa video that had you make this video but I’m thrilled you made it regardless and have the upmost respect for you as a creator
That and the “Spanish flu” although the pandemic was widespread Spain didn’t have media censorship (compared to the belligerent nations) so people thought that it was only in Spain that had this pandemic
Very good question I never thought to ask. Thank you History Matters for bringing educational content to everyone. Have you thought of doing an episode on Makhnovia during the Russian Civil War? the concept fascinates me
"I vote for a different party to you because I like to be cruel and ruin everything" replied Ramón whilst drowning a kitten in a lake These newspapers are absolutely hilarious.
1:48 Gotta love the little details in those newspapers. That actually was about when both those events happened. Also, I think Ramon and Luis' political leanings are quite relatable in these trying times...
"When Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo to try his hand at being assassinated". 🤣🤣🤣 This channel never disappoints and with lines like this one, you can see why.
Short answer: Spain has been in an endless parade of civil conflicts since the War of the Spanish Succession started in 1701. Actually, "endless parade of civil conflicts" also describes Mexico. And most of Central America. And Venezuela. And Argentina. Most Spanish speaking nations now that I think of it. I think Uruguay is having a good time of things at least.
this comment bothers me because I figured there's got to be more than Uruguay doing okay but now I can't think of any other Spanish speaking country that has been historically stable and that's mindblowing.
That's because Uruguay started as Portuguese territory, as a part of Brazil. And we all know that the Portuguese were far better colonizers than the spanish. No civilizations were extinct by them.
Great Video. At some point, could you please do a video about why France invaded Mexico in 1861 as it has always puzzled me ? You are my favourite RUclipsr. Thank You!
Just as a teaser: France, Britain and Spain invaded Mexico to collect debts that the Mexican government was unable/unwilling to pay. (The U.S. being too distracted by a spot of civil war to enforce the Monroe doctrine.) Britain and Spain packed up and went home fairly soon, but Napoleon III decided it would be fun to take over the whole thing and set up a client state.
Fourth reason: “The familiar quarrel” King Alfonso XIII had been born in 1886, before he was born, the previous king and his father, Alfonso XII, had had a mild case of the deaths. As such, the regency during the entirety of Alfonso’s infance was lead by his mother queen dowager María Cristina of Habsburg-Lorrein. She was Austrian and always had a good deal of influence on her son. When he married, he married princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, a princess of a morganatic cadet branch of the House of Hesse and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was born, raised in and loved the UK. When war broke out, María Cristina wanted Spain to join the Triple Powers (as Austria-Hungary was in them) and Victoria Eugenia, though until and after then apolitical, did want Spain to aid her homeland, the UK. They both tried to influence Alfonso and so he himself, not wanting to start a fight with any of the women in his life, decided not to favour any side publicly. Soo, a stereotypical relationship between Mother and Daughter-in-law ended up helping Spain’s neutrality…
2:13 lol love that little stalin cameo. In 1931 he went on a diplomatic mission to Spain personally and was caught along with his entourage trying to pocket gold bars in specially brought steal briefcases. History is crazy sometimes.
Spain during XVI, XVII and XVIII's - "What's the point of saving money? I wanna show everyone who is the boss!" Spain during XIV and XX's - "Why are we still here? Just to suffer?" Spain during XXI - "Bugger off! I'm watching La Liga. It's El Clasico day!"
It would have been crazy for them to join ww2, they had just ended their own civil war, the country was in ruins. Like the video said, by then they didn’t have any ties with those nations, although historically, the king was related to both sides, since his wife was British and his mother Austrian.
Spain had a vicious Civil War from 18th July 1936 to 1st April 1939, kinda used as a proxy war for Central Axis powers, so when WWII began on September 1939 (only 5 months later), the country was barely standing. Thus, they didn't join the Axis as it was intended because then again, they didn't have much to win in terms of land. Fun fact: When Germany was at the verge of crumbling and only Japan remained fighting, the Japanese entered the Spanish embassy in Manila killing 800 people and also destroyed Intramuros neighbourhood, where there were many Spaniards living since centuries. So in the end Spain was forced to declare war on the Axis. The Allies convinced them not to do so and when it all ended, Spain was able to apply for the Allies aid as any other war affected country.
@@Hudpix16 you are right and despite their geopolitical positioning at the end of the day while both sides wanted them to join, but like you said Spain just gains nothing even though you have the fascist leader in charge. Both sides sort of used Spain as a pawn since War would have destabilized the already unstable land.
2:14 The only reason I guess why Stalin is there, is as I learned from HOI4 that during the civil war, the republic of Spain relocated it's gold into the soviet union. So am I correct about this headpopup?
That was a deeper discussion than what i expected. P.s. it would be ironic for a entente spain to be gaining german possessions in the pacific, when the part of spanish east indies not ceded to USA was sold to germany in 1899.
Cool that you mentioned how the economic boom didn't really affect the workers, it's an important part of why it's destabilization continued though the first thirth of the XX century
This newspaper is a blast, kudos whoever designed it in so much detail despite knowing that only a fraction of people would read it and really appreciate its humour! 😍
“Spain wasn’t having a good time” is practically the subtitle for any book on Spanish history after 1800.
I mean, Spain spend most of the 19th century is revolt
Very true
Spain surely had a better time than poor Ottomans that got nothing but less lands as time passed
@@kasadam85 Technically Spain got it worst initially. Spain lost nearly its entire colonial empire in less than 20 years, had terrible monarchs (only 1 was alright in the entirety of the 19th century) and overall lost its entire prestige and honour in 1 century, never to regain it again.
@@kasadam85 I think Spain had caught the same disease that made the Ottomans the sick man of Europe.
Fun fact: even being neutral, during World War One the spanish merchant navy lost more than 80 vessels, sunk by german submarines. After the war, the Weimar Republic give some steamers in compensation. One of that steamers became the "Dédalo", the first seaplane carrier of the Spanish Navy.
A seaplane carrier? Not just why but how is that a thing? Literally how? Does it have seaplanes along with lifeboats? Or a hidden bay full of seaplanes?
I'll have to look up more about this...
This is intriguing...
@@owennilens8892 L
RIPBOZO
@@owennilens8892 i imagine the ship has a crane to lower and retrieve planes from the water and put them back on board.
@@robertmoore6149 That's pretty much it for most seaplane tenders
“Is everyone else an idiot?”
I absolutely love the humour of this channel! It’s very often subtle but always makes me chuckle
"everybody except you, yes"
It even has jokes in the newspaper text! I wonder how many I have missed in past videos.
"People who disagree with you are morons, a survey by this very paper has found. We asked people who have different political opinions to our readers whether or not they're evil idiots and 100% replied yes.
"'I vote for a different party to you because I like to be cruel and ruin everything' replied Ramón whilst drowning a kitten in a lake.
"'I exercise my democratic rights out of sheer spite' said Luis from Barcelona. 'There's literally no nuance to me, I'm just vile'."
"Everybody except you, yes." xD xD
Herbert Kitchener (pictured) XD
The Mine in question has refused to comment and has asked for privacy at this trying time
A downside of being neutral was ending up with a deadly pandemic named after your country. All because you were more willing to report it.
South Africa knows the pain.
South Africa should have taken note 😐
It should have been called the Kansas Virgin Prarie Virus.
Imagine if covid is called "taiwanese flu" or something like that in the future
They should be saying "ungrateful bastards, i should've let you all die instead" lol
@@GarkKahn Taiwan is different from the People's Republic of China
"It's gold reserves increased massively"
Stalin: Allow me to introduce myself.
u r everywhere
HA!
Hahaha, what a great joke that I completely understand!
Still, you should probably explain it, for like, the dumb people who don't get it. Which I, of course, am not one of.
@@depayss2428 pls explain i'm stupid :'(
@@depayss2428 the republicans in the civil war gave a lot of the gold reserves to the ussr for support and lost the war anyway
Spain: "You can never be neutral in a war."
"So then why do you sell stuff to both sides?"
Spain: "Maybe I want both sides to lose."
said literally every weapons dealer in history
Red Flood: *"Allow me to introduce myself."*
Lord of War reference?
Switzerland entered the chat
@@tongsengpedas Yes, a reference to a very specific arms dealer
"the mine in question has refused to comment"
the explosive humor in this channel is always great
I love his newspapers
Pun intended?
I only just realised the newpapers have actual writing below the headline XD .
It's always worthwhile to pause to read the fine print.
@@BlizzardofKnives You've been missing out
"Franz Ferdinand visited Sarajevo to try his hand at being assassinated" - another gem by History Matters!
*r/Serbian 🇷🇸 Harmonika Music Starts*
His black hand ^_^
Well, he did give them 2 opportunities. If they missed once, they will miss the next time, too. Right?
I had totally forgotten that WW1 started only 15 years after the Spanish-American war. Between that the Gibraltar issue, I can see where Spain would not be inclined to get friendly with the Anglosphere side of things. But making enemies with them would not be a good idea either with British-leaning Portugal right next door. Sometimes the only way to win, is not to play :)
I see your Wargames reference. Would like to play a game of global thermonuclear War?
@@lxndrlbr Well spotted :)
There is also the issue of Spain asking for support in the Spanish-American war and getting the "not my problem" answer, so there was no reason whatsoever to have sympathies towards any side.
Another reason Spain remained neutral was that the king at the time was related to both sides, since his mother was Austrian, but his wife was British. Taking part on either side would have been an affront to either side of his family.
A lot of cold nights sleeping alone for the king.
On the other hand, the ruling monarchs of England, Germany and Russia were even more closely related, and that didn't stop WWI from happening in the first place...
@@ArkadiBolschek the Saxe-Coburg Gothas were related to the Habsburgs?
@@Hudpix16 George V and Wilhelm II were cousins! Wilhelm's mother was Victoria, the eldest daughter of queen Victoria of England. Nicholas II and George V were also cousins; in fact there are pictures of them together where they practically look like clones of each other.
@@ArkadiBolschek but I was taking about the Habsburgs, not the German Kaiser.
Its very hard to explain Spain situation at wwi and wwii without understanding what happened in the XIX century at Spain. XIX century is one of the most important periods in spanish history with 6 constitutions, 9 coups d'etat and more than 10 wars from where 4 of them are civil wars and 1 independence war from France. In a century Spain passed trough absolute monarchy, republic, dictactorship and constitucional monarchy, and not only once.
Ay, España. Menudo circo somos. Y con orgullo.
qué dictadura hubo en España en el siglo 19?
@@mateosanfitz9625 No tanto dictadura, más bien un régimen autoritario de los espadones, los grandes generales, durante la Gloriosa.
And don't forget the colonial losses at the beginning and the end of the 19th century
@@mateosanfitz9625 Espartero, Sagasta, Prim... Aunque bien como se ha dicho serían más que dictaduras "directorios" con los espadones
Spain: "We need you safeguard our gold reserves."
Stalin: "Not to worry! I'll treat your gold like it was my own."
Spain: "Wait a minute...Was he speaking metaphorically or literally?"
We can all agree that History matters never disappoints us with his content
Completely agree
Stop begging for subs spam bot!
@@jamesbissonette8002 Our emperor!
I completely agree
ALL HAIL
1:48 I have no idea how long it takes you to make these, but just know that we definitely appreciate the awesomeness that is these news articles.
"The Mine in question has refused to comment and has asked for privacy at this trying time" 😂😂
Its pure art!
I just love the reference of Stalin appearing when the gold reserves in Spain started to grow. For those that dont know, those same reserves were sent to the URSS by the Republican Government at the start of the Spanish Civil War for "safe keeping" as well as to pay the weapons purchased from there. Its said that Stalin laughed and said " The Spanish will never see their money back again!"...
Wow. Thanks for the context! I did not get the reference 😅
And he was right, the spanish gold is still in Russia nowadays
Course they wasted some money by sending some “volunteer” troops and supplies to the republican side (specifically the socialists factions within it) during the Civil war as did the facist governments of Germany and Italy with the Nationalist side.
Wow the colonizers got south america'd
@@asai6201 referring to Spain as simply colonizers is such an understatement and stupid statement. If you mean Savior of Europe
Some video suggestions:
Why did Portugal join WW1?
How did India acquire nuclear weapons?
Why were the Dutch invaded during WW2?
How did the name Netherlands come about?
How did Japan industrialize so quickly compared to China?
Nether = low/under, like in the Netherworld...so it is litterally named Low Country. Le Pay Bas (French) = also litterally Low Countries. Nederland (Dutch), again Low Country. Because of the elvation of the country being zero and even negative, because river delta.
in order
1. Britain asked for help, and Portugal owed it.
2. Made their own, losing the 1962 sino-india war really made them kick it up a notch
3. was part of the "go through ardennes plan" AKA plan yellow , didn't want to get hit in rear while invading belgium
4. it means "low lying country" , netherlands are very low lying
5. they Embraced the west after commodore Perry as they didn't want to be a colony or be humiliated like china was.
@@robertthompson737 Britain didn't want Portugal in the war. Instead, Britain asked nicely if the Portuguese could seize the German fleet docked in Lisbon. They agreed, nicely, which made Germany DoW Portugal. Portugal was the belligerent one.
@@robertthompson737 well enough as a single sentence answer but point 5 needs a story. Japan became an industrialized world power merely decades after westernization and that's fascinating.
Nuclear Ghandi, that's how India got them
Can we just take a moment and be amazed at the fact that Spain managed to avoid both world wars along with it`s millions of deaths and probably trillions in economic damages and still managed to come out of it poorer and with less population than France, Germany and the UK.
Italy too
Civil wars and coups and massive amounts of expropriations will do that to you
While both World Wars were huge conflict with an insame human and economic cost, not all participant suffered the same way.
Spain saw itself more damaged from the Spanish Civil War prior WW2 than France was in WW2, since France just got rolled over in less than a month and then stayed occupied paying reparations to Germany but without it population suffering much compared to other places.
Similarly, Germany wasn't as damaged after WW1 as France because even though both fought the war to their limits the fighting happened in France and Germany surrendered before being invaded, unlike in WW2.
Also, avoiding war is just a part of economic development, there are many historical and geographical reasons that help other European countries be more economically developped than Spain and have a higher population, for example, in geography the other countries win over Spain because they have more rain, so they can have a higher farming output compared to Spain, Spain has historically been less populated than France, Germany, the UK and Italy just as it is today.
Spain also staggered after other European countries after WW2 because the Franco dictatorship was closed to most of the world, once the Opus Dei economist Franco appointed to the government opened up Spain its economy grew massively but it still lagged behind after about a decade of trying autarky.
Spain was kinda already poorer than all of them and if anything World War One helped the British economically and World War Two gave Germany a complete restart of industry and therefore had an economic boom.
Still cool.
spanish flu go brrrrr
History Matters never fails to come up with hilarious new ways to say “they died”
"And so when Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo to try his hand at being assassinated, World War I was well on its way."
another one was "cough a case of death" "caught a case of the deads" and "his tenure was cut short by a case of mortality".
A little detail: for the scene in the Belgian parliament you show our national motto (unity makes strength) in French and Dutch. However at the time our country's politics were dominated by the French speakers, and the flemmish were often sidelined. It's only during the war where French speaking officers had to deal with flemmish soldiers, fighting in Flanders, that the flemmish question became central. Flemmish would become a national language during the inter war.
In Dutch it says: syrupwafles/stroopwafels are delicious.
The National motto in Dutch is: Eendracht maakt macht.
Considering that stroopwafels were made in Gouda (Netherlands) makes this motto a bit ironic..
@@restingmoose7042 r u american?
*translation* : can i roast you?
Was thinking the same thing about the waffles 😅
Belgium was always just a fabricated state to expand French influence northwards.
Just pointing out a little inaccuracy there: Portugal wasn’t neutral in WW1, it was part of the Entente, fighting along side the British.
Did the Portuguese do any fighting?
@@Hudpix16 a tiny bit
So did Montenegro and it was not coloured blue
"a tiny bit"? You might want to rephrase that.
To be clear, I'm not saying that Portuguese troops were the best ones in the war (which I will admit, we weren't; we were often times under supplied, had low morale and took heavy casualties on the Western Front; also not to mention the vonflicts in the colonies in Africa and the battles at sea, where the latter was a lot of times not in our favor due to German submarines).
However, back in the trenches, most of the times the Germans tried an offensive against the positions that were filled with soldiers of the Portuguese Expeditionary Corps (PEC), they always took heavy casualties themselves and in most attempts they got pushed back.
To give you a great example, there's literally a story about one lone Portuguese machine gunner who held back entire waves of enemy soldiers by himself. I'm not making that up; his name was Aníbal Augusto Milhais. You can look it up for yourself if you want.
@@alexandrearaujo2877 I will not rephrase that, when you mobilise 100,000 troops and your allies mobilise 42,500,000 troops, you become just a tiny, minor part of the conflict, to put the numbers into perspective the Portuguese made up about 0.235% of the allied war effort, Portugal was the second smallest allied power in ww1 with Montenegro being the only nation to mobilise less troops (50,000). I'm not trying to discredit Portugal's contribution to ww1 but to call it anything but tiny is a little bit of fiction
Switzerland: *evades global conflict*
Spain: teach me your ways
Lmao Spain didn't join because it couldn't, not because it didn't want to.
@@l.c.7955 Emmm this entire video is about Spain not entering WW1 because they did not want to xD
Q - Why didn't Spain join WW1?
A - They were super messed up from a previous war.
Q - Why didn't Spain join WW2?
A - They were super messed up from a previous war.
second spanish civil war before WW3 confirmed?
@@ninlog It wouldn't be surprising, given how many civil wars spain has had
@@Mrkabrat just taking look at Catalonia uprising🔥
@@afdalridwan3813 Catalans don’t honestly stand a chance. Either Spain just hand them independence or they’re Spanish for as long as Spain lives
@@afdalridwan3813 arab troll lol
Spain managed to be out of both World War despite them staying in Europe.
Good for them!
They where influenced by Switzerland
“Them staying in Europe” implies they could’ve left Europe
@@NotThatPerson95 Spexit
@@riyanmuhammad4598 by Liechtenstein
But it participate (as a main actor) in World War 0 (the 30 years war)
Fun fact: Greece was also neutral for the most of the part during WWI. In the beginning both the Entente (particularly Russia) and the Central Powers favored neutrality, but the horrors of WWI drove the British to force the Greeks in joining the war on their side, with the benefit being to incorporate lands that were home to ethnic Greeks (Thrace, Cyprus, and Western Anatolia), but were controlled by other nations (Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire). It was by 1917 when a provisional government (headed by Eleftherios Venizelos) in northern Greece prevailed over the Germanophile royalists, leaving them as the legitimate government in Greece and leading the country to WW1 on the side of the Entente.
But despite that, only Western Thrace was obtained in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish war and the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne.
This is a rather simplified explanation. Entente troops were in N. Greece by 1915 and the whole north was basically separated from the central government. As to which parts were colonised by whom - historically greeks always occupied the seaside of certain areas with the hinterland being occupied by Bulgarians/Turks - therefore its bit of a stretch to call out these lands "Greek" . Modern North Greece population is a product of the huge influx of Anatolian Greek refugees from 1920, with a lot of Bulgarians having to flee their homes. Of course it gets even more complicated - some greeks from the Black Sea seaside were exchanged for Bulgarians from Thrace. In a nutshell the whole concept of historic lands in the context of the Balkans is a very long and controversial topic
@@kosjomir That depends on the culture and language of the nation. Before the Turks could rule Anatolia and the Balkans, the people living in the Balkans and Anatolia were overwhelming Greco-Romans. Yes, the archaic Greeks colonized the seaside shores, but in Alexander's era and the Roman Empire, the lands that composed of Macedonia, Thrace, and Anatolia were hellenized. The Bulgarians and Serbians enter the Balkans during the 8th-11th century, but there were pushed out by the Byzantines (e.g. Basil II) on several occasions. It was at the moment of the Ottoman Empire when the Sultan and the Ottoman government addressed all Orthodox Christians of the Balkans as one (Rum), disregarding the culture and the language they spoke of (whether it would have been Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, or Armenian). So it makes sense for the other foreigners to see that the territories composed of North Macedonia and Thrace are not Greek, despite the fact that the terminology of the words have been descended from Greek by default.
Bulgaria is the biggest loser, attacking all its neighbors then joining the losing side in both world wars.
Now that would make for an interesting video
Greece wanted the eastern coast of the Aegean, but the Turks repelled them.
p.s. there was a joke about turkish homeland being carved up the last 2 comments i made but it's been twice removed. is the word of a certain turkish dish banned on youtube? wtf?
0:35 Franz Ferdinand with the "Still alive" sach killed me lmao, bloody brillant
"I exercise my democratic rights out of sheer spite."
The parallels to 2022 are frightening.
This is actually a topic I've always wondered, thank you :)
At 1:38 it says in Dutch: "Stroopwafels are delicious", this channel is just the best at sneaking in little jokes like that. Love it!
This is actually a question I always think of but never look up.
An amazing video overall, but that shot of Stalin after you said “Spain’s gold reserves increased massively” was absolutely brilliant
Great video, I would add that Alfonso XIII is the only king in history to be nominated for a Peace Nobel prize for creating the "Oficina Pro Cautivos" (Pro-Captives Office) which During the time of the war m, they managed to help approximately 200,000 people, saving a large number of soldiers from being shot, repatriating many families to save them, organizing hospital ships and ensuring that they would not suffer attacks, as well as put thousands of prisoners in contact with their families.
the principles of his action were "active neutrality, helping men, not states, helping families, not companies that trade in war, and rejecting the general vision of nothing can be done until the war is over"
Wow that actually really nice
Not true. Nicholas II of Russia and the diplomat Friedrich Martens were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the initiative to convene the Hague Peace Conference and contributing to its implementation
@@ezefinkielman4672 Thats true. I change it to the only king that got nomitaed Alone
I always love to read the historically really accurate newspapers. They‘re always pretty interesting and helpful to understand the topic better.
1:29. They shoot back.......this is the funniest thing I have seen in weeks.
Funny thing about the failure in Morocco, there was an investigation about how it happened, and an immense case of corruption was found where even the king was a part of it, this was why the Spanish soldiers only got old weaponry and food that wasn't exactly in the best condition, which lead to said failure
The WWI ended before the Picasso report was written.
Which ultimately led to Miguel Primo de Rivera's coup and dictatorship
Aint that the story of this our Spain in a nutshell
I’ve never heard about Spain doing anything in WW1 and I’ve never wondered why until now
the interesting thing about these non-happenings in history is getting to know just how bad or convinient were these countries' situations at the time of great historical events. Keep it up, man, great video!
As a Spaniard I told you without seeing it: Spain was broken. Totally without money.
Understandable. He makes same shit, 10 minute history back...
@@paranoidandroid6095 Write a complete sentence.
I think that's in WW2, but i don't know. Still, it could be true, Spain was broke like half of the time after the colonisation of South America
@@mrapple2544 It was the reason in WWII, and in the colonisation of Africa, and in any event that happens after 1800, because Spain have been broke almost always since then.
@@JoseManuel-is4yc Ok, thanks you
The video, I never knew I needed, on a topic I’ve looked into before!! Now this is A+ content!! Another great video man!!
That pronunciation at 2:35 was epic. Keep it up. 👍
I like how the Madrid Times attempted to interview the mine that sank Kitcheners ship, thats quality journalism. Also I think it should be mentioned that the British had significant control over large parts of the Spanish economy at that time
Two things that remain constant in both World Wars:
- Germany losing
- Spain wanting nothing to do with the war
- Russia getting bodied at the beginning of the war
- Italy switching sides
That's four things.
World War 2 was the sequel we didn't ask for
Italy didn't switch sides
Italy got backstabbed by Germany in WW2 after signing an armistice with the Allies, google operation Achse.
It also didn't actually switch sides in WW1 since Austria-Hungary violated article 7 the Triple Alliance so there was no treaty saying Italy couldn't declare war on Austria-Hungary.
If AH didn't want Italy to declare war, they shouldn't have annexed Bosnia or declared war on Serbia without Italy's explicit consent, as article 7 specified that prior consultations between the two powers before expansion/war in the Balkans were mandatory.
Allow me a little correction: "Spain wanting nothing to do with the war BECAUSE Spaniards were too busy hating each other's guts"
" 'I vote different party to you because I like to be cruel and ruin everything' replied Ramón whilst drowning a kitten in lake." made me actully laugh outloud, love these small touches.
I noticed that in your maps you included the Republic of the Rif in northern Morocco which shows a great attention to details
1:45 how many Details and Jokes you put in there unbeliveable!
You Sir, are just wonderful!
‘I don’t care if you’re not having a good time, fight in the clan war or you’ll be demoted’
really appreciated the extra context in the last minute, great video as always :D
I’m Spanish and I reckon that you explained the main reasons very well. Please make more videos about Spain, since Spanish history is often taught biased here in Spain.
Idk if it was my comment on your why Spain didn’t get more of Africa video that had you make this video but I’m thrilled you made it regardless and have the upmost respect for you as a creator
"Saw Spanish gold reserves rising"
Stalin: "Our gold reserves."
i sometimes watch your videos over and over again. this channel is my favourite one on youtube and i don't think it ever disappointed me
Some topics I find interesting:
The Red Gaurd , Operation Condor, "The Emergency" in India, Sri Lankan Civil War,
That and the “Spanish flu” although the pandemic was widespread Spain didn’t have media censorship (compared to the belligerent nations) so people thought that it was only in Spain that had this pandemic
A shame we don't name Covid the "Wuhan flu". But we all know who pays off the World Health Organization...
@@scottanos9981 Are we still obsessing about that? I thought we agreed to simply say COVID instead of getting into these nonsense arguments?
Very good question I never thought to ask. Thank you History Matters for bringing educational content to everyone.
Have you thought of doing an episode on Makhnovia during the Russian Civil War? the concept fascinates me
Love the “you quit” sign at 2:40
Because it was after 1800, I’m guessing the answer is “They were broke af.”
2:00
Called it 😂
Maybe a video on why Switzerland exists? It's sandwichiched between three culturally influential/similar nations which could easily conquer the Swiss.
"I vote for a different party to you because I like to be cruel and ruin everything" replied Ramón whilst drowning a kitten in a lake
These newspapers are absolutely hilarious.
1:48 Gotta love the little details in those newspapers. That actually was about when both those events happened.
Also, I think Ramon and Luis' political leanings are quite relatable in these trying times...
Your channel is one of the best on RUclips right now tbh.
"When Franz Ferdinand went to Sarajevo to try his hand at being assassinated". 🤣🤣🤣
This channel never disappoints and with lines like this one, you can see why.
"ONE TWENTIEH OF THEIR NUMBER" wow that really tell something about the Moroccans in battle
Hehehe those newspaper columns! The level of detail you go into for a gag that goes on screen for half a second.
Running through the flowers to the word “machine guns” is an instant classic
I love the quality and quantity of these videos. I also love the jokes that are added, it makes history way better
Short answer: Spain has been in an endless parade of civil conflicts since the War of the Spanish Succession started in 1701.
Actually, "endless parade of civil conflicts" also describes Mexico. And most of Central America. And Venezuela. And Argentina. Most Spanish speaking nations now that I think of it. I think Uruguay is having a good time of things at least.
this comment bothers me because I figured there's got to be more than Uruguay doing okay but now I can't think of any other Spanish speaking country that has been historically stable and that's mindblowing.
I would actually say Charles III's reign was pretty good, after he died every spanish speaking territory went into chaos.
@@Steadyaim101 Costa Rica has been mostly quiet for the past 70 years. It didn't even have a military dictatorship, unlike Uruguay.
@@Steadyaim101 Look at the Triple alliance war, and you will see how much revolted politics were in XIX Uruguay
That's because Uruguay started as Portuguese territory, as a part of Brazil. And we all know that the Portuguese were far better colonizers than the spanish. No civilizations were extinct by them.
1:38 I cant believe youve put that text as the Belgium motto, wait actually I can believe it, this channels humour is always on point
Great Video. At some point, could you please do a video about why France invaded Mexico in 1861 as it has always puzzled me ? You are my favourite RUclipsr. Thank You!
Just as a teaser: France, Britain and Spain invaded Mexico to collect debts that the Mexican government was unable/unwilling to pay. (The U.S. being too distracted by a spot of civil war to enforce the Monroe doctrine.) Britain and Spain packed up and went home fairly soon, but Napoleon III decided it would be fun to take over the whole thing and set up a client state.
@@kennethkellogg6556 Thank you for explaining it. Such an interesting era of history to delve into!
Please do a video on the Portuguese Colonial War. It is a seriously underrated event with an awesome history.
I like how the bottle of Ammonia at 2:09 says "Do not mix with bleach".
My favorite videos are the ones that discuss why certain nations avoided or entered WW1/WW2. Well done
I actually paused the video to read the paper. Historical in-jokes abounded and I didn't get any of them. Props to those who do.
Noticed Andorra was neutral on your map @1.25. Ditto the divided up Morocco at the end, really good attention to detail
Fourth reason: “The familiar quarrel”
King Alfonso XIII had been born in 1886, before he was born, the previous king and his father, Alfonso XII, had had a mild case of the deaths. As such, the regency during the entirety of Alfonso’s infance was lead by his mother queen dowager María Cristina of Habsburg-Lorrein. She was Austrian and always had a good deal of influence on her son. When he married, he married princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, a princess of a morganatic cadet branch of the House of Hesse and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was born, raised in and loved the UK. When war broke out, María Cristina wanted Spain to join the Triple Powers (as Austria-Hungary was in them) and Victoria Eugenia, though until and after then apolitical, did want Spain to aid her homeland, the UK. They both tried to influence Alfonso and so he himself, not wanting to start a fight with any of the women in his life, decided not to favour any side publicly. Soo, a stereotypical relationship between Mother and Daughter-in-law ended up helping Spain’s neutrality…
1:48 That newspaper was absolute gold!
Stalin eyeing up the Spanish gold reserves is such a good reference
Last 2 videos were things we actually asked, amazing, this is even better than before
2:13 lol love that little stalin cameo. In 1931 he went on a diplomatic mission to Spain personally and was caught along with his entourage trying to pocket gold bars in specially brought steal briefcases. History is crazy sometimes.
The subtle "Stroopwafels zijn heerlijk" joke cracked me up for 5 minutes.
3:05 The closing remarks gave me chills as I realized how accurately they reflect the current state of American politics
I love how at 1:38 you reference Belgium by showing German flags and referencing a Dutch food item (stroopwafels)
Spain during XVI, XVII and XVIII's - "What's the point of saving money? I wanna show everyone who is the boss!"
Spain during XIV and XX's - "Why are we still here? Just to suffer?"
Spain during XXI - "Bugger off! I'm watching La Liga. It's El Clasico day!"
Nice. Also, Spain right now: "Aint we due for another civil war?"
Can we just take a moment to appreciate how funny each section of the newspaper at 01:48 is? Amazing
This is probably the first video i’ve watched since the 10min long videos, and i remembered James Bissonette ; and mans is still there 2 years later 😂
It would be tough to leave now
@@jamesbissonette8002 Based. The prophet has spoken
The paper at 1:47 is the best thing I have ever read thanks
It is kind of crazy that Spain was able to sit out both world wars despite the fact it was waged all around them
It would have been crazy for them to join ww2, they had just ended their own civil war, the country was in ruins. Like the video said, by then they didn’t have any ties with those nations, although historically, the king was related to both sides, since his wife was British and his mother Austrian.
Spain had a vicious Civil War from 18th July 1936 to 1st April 1939, kinda used as a proxy war for Central Axis powers, so when WWII began on September 1939 (only 5 months later), the country was barely standing. Thus, they didn't join the Axis as it was intended because then again, they didn't have much to win in terms of land.
Fun fact: When Germany was at the verge of crumbling and only Japan remained fighting, the Japanese entered the Spanish embassy in Manila killing 800 people and also destroyed Intramuros neighbourhood, where there were many Spaniards living since centuries. So in the end Spain was forced to declare war on the Axis. The Allies convinced them not to do so and when it all ended, Spain was able to apply for the Allies aid as any other war affected country.
@@AlvaroGonzalez-pj2bg I did not know about the Japanese thing that's crazy!
@@Hudpix16 you are right and despite their geopolitical positioning at the end of the day while both sides wanted them to join, but like you said Spain just gains nothing even though you have the fascist leader in charge. Both sides sort of used Spain as a pawn since War would have destabilized the already unstable land.
If the Spanish-American War doesn't happen though, they probably end up fighting Japan.
0:26 Completely missed the chance to say "Spain lost its S"
That extra touch with the newspaper articles really was the icing on the cake this time! Great job.
2:14 The only reason I guess why Stalin is there, is as I learned from HOI4 that during the civil war, the republic of Spain relocated it's gold into the soviet union. So am I correct about this headpopup?
U r , u r. Apparently stalin is said to have laughed and said " the Spanish will never see thier gold again "
Honestly, the texts on the newspapers in your videos are so underrated. :D
That was a deeper discussion than what i expected.
P.s. it would be ironic for a entente spain to be gaining german possessions in the pacific, when the part of spanish east indies not ceded to USA was sold to germany in 1899.
Ceded is a very nice word. Try conquered or stolen lol
@@josereposo7043 from what i understand, ceded is a general term for areas that are officially handed over in a treaty, occupied or not.
Cool that you mentioned how the economic boom didn't really affect the workers, it's an important part of why it's destabilization continued though the first thirth of the XX century
This newspaper is a blast, kudos whoever designed it in so much detail despite knowing that only a fraction of people would read it and really appreciate its humour! 😍
Man this channel and Extra Credits are simply the best! Thanks for everything you do!
video idea:
Why didn't Hitler incorporate South Tyrol into the German Empire?
Amazing every bit. That newspaper was gold.
Gotta love the little Stalin that appears liking the Spanish gold reserves
The animation style is so simple yet it's so funny, compared with the commentary, I just can't get enough if it!
James Bisonette helped increase their gold reserves to keep them out of it.
Love the effort that was put into that newspaper front page.
3:09 oh look. Yugoslavia ♥ Country I was born in. :D