This guy made ww1 video every week. He covered the entire war, for FOUR YEARS, each week from the first day of the war in 2014(1914) to 2018(1918) This guy is a legend!
Hi Chris, this is Indy here (for real). This was nice to watch, partly for your commentary, but also partly because I haven't watched the original video in several years and that certainly brings back memories. Thanks for covering it, and I really appreciate it that you like my stuff (by the way, if you haven't seen it yet, I've doing world war two week by week like I did the Great War for the past three years- we're in December 1942 now). / Indy
Holy cow! Thank you so much for the kind words. I'm just getting into the WW2 stuff. HUGE fan. Covid willing I'm making my first trip to France to visit the WW1 battlefields, in large part because of your videos.
@@VloggingThroughHistory When is your trip? We'll be in Normandy next summer filming stuff for our 24 hour real time coverage of D Day extravaganza (we're idiots and we aim high). Would be nice to meet if you're around then. Hey, what's your channel email? Might be easier to communicate there.
I replied a couple times but it keeps disappearing. Anyway... vloggingthroughhistory@gmail.com I'm going to Eastern France for WW1 battlefields Feb 1-8 but hoping to go back for Normandy at some point during the year. That sounds like an amazing plan. Can't wait to see how you guys cover it.
Indy is one of the best and most productive European history RUclipsrs. His work in all, the Great War, WW2, Time Ghost History and Sabaton History is nothing short of remarkable!
Let's also give a shout-out to the team behind him. Not to take away how great he is but he is the face of a larger group of researchers who help to put the content together.
@@Mr10johnny10 I am not sure how much of it is HIS work. He surely is the face of the project(s) but the actual work is done primarily by unpaid interns that they cycle through every few months. If you follow their work outside of just videos, you'll see when they have a call for a fresh batch. They have a number of enthusiasts that dig through the books and archive material until they are completely drained after a few months of unpaid work, that hand over the facts and stories to Indy (and other hosts in their most recent project) who then adapts it into a script for the video. That is how they can create so much content - basically slave work force. Well, not really slaves as they are voluntary... because they don't know what they get themselves into. Last year there was quite a large backlash when they asked for the next batch of "interns", because they required 6+ hours of work and commitment for a few months (I don't remember a precise number, 2 or 3) with no pay. People were really pissed, and some of the former interns came out to comment on the working conditions. Yeah, the content is good - but it is like with the sausage - it tastes better if you don't see how it is made. I sort of phased out their content in the last year - leaves a bitter aftertaste I am afraid.
I don't think people really understand the tremendous importance of WWI and just how it shaped the path of humanity more so than any other conflict, even WW2t. The Treaty of Versaille pushed Germany towards becoming the 3rd Reich. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the Sykes-Picot agreement reshaped the entire Middle East and gave rise to the conflicts we still see today. The US became a world industrial power through the money gained by selling arms to Britain and France. Russia turns communist due to the discontent and issues caused by the war. It's just insane how a war 100 years ago still directly affects us today.
True, a lot of people in the states at least really don't understand the significance of WW1. Mostly because for the longest time American schools barely covered it, and rushed ahead to cover WW2 where America had a more significant role. For all I know they still do this. Thing is, that really gives a terrible foundation for which to learn considering how much of WW2 is rooted in WW1, and even going as far back as the Napoleonic era, which my school at least legit never taught us anything about whatsoever. The history curriculum in the US is kinda garbage. Mostly because it focuses heavily on insignificant American history. >__>
Indy's work on World War 1 week by week, and now World War 2 week by week, are amazing. Strongly recommend TimeGhost History's Between 2 Wars series, and the WW1 and WW2 content. Absolutely excellent work and arguably the best 20th century history content on RUclips.
Respect to the Great War channel. They pretty much cover every event and many times in extreme detail. That must be a hell of a work to accomplish and present it so well. As a greek, i love that they also covered some of the often ignored events in Greece during WW1, that played a big role in Greece joining the war in 1917. Like the National Schism, as well as the special video on King Constantine I
10:40 I’ve heard a British veteran’s interview about ww1 and the thing he said was the war had 4 years that were all completely unique and different to the rest of them. If a guy left the trenches in 1915 and returned in 1917 it would have been like starting again, nothing was the same.
What is also often forgotten is that German submarine warfare, if adjusted for scale of shipped tons by the allies was at times more effective than in WW1 than in WW2.
To be Honest...i believe The Great War IS the singlemost important Event in Human History. As you see what followed still haunts us today. Its a war nobody...not even future generations truly ever recovered from
The day after I watched this, I went to The Great War channel, subscribed, and started watching from the first video . I’ve watched about 40 so far plus 5 WW1 movies and a couple of documentaries. I knew almost nothing about WW1 until about 10 days ago and have binge learned so much! Thanks for the recommendation! 👍🏻
The unrestricted submarine warfare issue is an interesting one. IIRC, when the US complained for the first or second time about Germany using subs to attack merchant shipping after the British had expanded the list of contraband to include food, the German ambassador to the US asked what the difference was. Yes, civilians would die when ships they were on would be sunk, but so would German civilians, who'd starve because no food was reaching Germany. Now, I don't want to excuse the unrestricted submarine warfare, but I always thought there was something to that.
The problem was the "unrestricted" part. It was legal for Germany to sink the shipping, but in the case of vessels carrying neutral crews and civilians, cruiser rules were to be followed. Eg. notice was to be given to the ship to abandon before it was sunk. In many cases I don't blame the Germans for straight up attacking merchant ships without warning. That's kind of the point of subs at the end of the day. But when the target was a cruise liner full of neutral passengers - including American women and children... well if ever there were a reason to follow cruiser rules, that was it. Although all sides had their share of dirty tactics, it was the scale at which Germany played fast and loose with the conventions that so blacken their reputation: tearing up treaties, enslaving civilian populations, bombarding non-military targets, terror bombing, first use of chemical warfare... After all that, them turning around and playing the "pity us, we have no food!" sympathy card is a bit rich. They deliberately picked the fight with Britain when they violated Belgium. They deliberately picked the fight with the United States when they treated all shipping as fair game. It's their own fault for not having a proper game plan for dealing with the blockade they knew would result.
It shouldn't surprise anyone. Nation basically respond to similar situation, alike how USA respond here - think only about yourslef and your citizen or shipment, but can't see the big picture.
@@CountScarlioni Take the Lusitania. It was packed with civilians yes. But also stuffed with ammunition and other mitlitary supplies. So whos fault would it be. The Germans for torpedoing the ship or the Brits who did use american civilians as human shields and had no scruple to starve german citizens to death.
I love every time you Pause and have, what you say, be said immediately after un-pausing. Its always a good show of knowledge and a good source for a chuckle every time.
If someone is interested in learning more in depth about World War II as well, Indy Neidell and his team are currently about halfway through making a week-by-week video series about World War II as well. Definitally recommend it.
Hey VTH, you really sparked my interest in history. I liked learning stuff about history in general but your videos are top shelf stuff! I've learned so much from your videos and i love the input you have on all the different subjects and timeperiods. I wish you did this when i went to school :D keep doing what you do!
A great man once said: "Only an idiot would fight a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts." Really puts both wars into perspective
13:02. Especially with the blatant hypocrisy on the part of Wilson especially when he turned a blind eye to Britain using civilian shipliners to carry munitions including the Lusitania which the German embassy warned in American newspapers that British ships were not safe, so getting on a British ship carrying weapons was a stupid idea. Anybody who says the US was neutral in the war does not know what they are talking about.
The most interesting naval story of WWI was Felix von Lucknow's commerce raiding in the sailing ship 'Seeadler.' It didn't have a lot of impact in the grand scheme of things but the fact that it worked at all is a testament to German ingenuity.
Because you said that WW1 was the last real war where cavalry played a big part, I just wanted to point to the different Soviet invasions of eastern European countries, escpecially the Polish-Bolshevik war with the famous miracle at the Vistula.
This is when they basically displayed a cavalry (forget which victory of which city) but they basically just kept going in circles to make it look like there were far more soldiers.
I've watched the entire great war series I heartily recommend it to everyone. I learned a helluva lot. Even grudgingly moderating my opinion of Haigh. Witness I didn't say butcher Haig as I might have previously. My lasting impression was of the imperious disregard, on all front by all sides of the lives of soldiers and civilians alike.
My personal favourite misconception about WW 1 and kind of "fun fact" is an entirely german one. We in Germany have something called "Schaumweinsteuer" which translates to "Tax on sparkling wine". It literally is a little bit of money you pay for sparkling wine and some other alcohol on top. It was meant to finance the "Kaiserliche Kriegsflotte" ("Emperors war fleet"), the Imperial German Navy. Many people in Germany believe that it was made during the early stage of WW 1 when in fact it was made in the early 1902. But the tax lives to this day which leads (at least in my family) always to the toast "Auf die kaiserliche Flotte" ("For the emperors fleet").
15:30 While not a massive front or highly active one. Australian troops fought Germans in New Guinea (which has a huge impact on ww2’s events) the New Zealander expeditionary force takes an island or 2 from Germany in the South Pacific as well again ending up playing roles in ww2. So the South Pacific front while almost completely ignored and only having 2-3 flare ups in 1914 is still technically a front.
I love the Great War channel as well. I've watched the whole weekly series, but hadn't seen this video yet. Indy inspired me, I'm reading Martin Gilbert's The First World War right now.
It takes lots of time to watch week by week episodes but it actually helps you learn things that you may never unless you follow WW1 week by week; which is tons of useful and nice information.
I wish I could go back and be as excited for the new weekly episode easily one of the best channel Ideas ever. You really felt a connection being exactly 100 years out from the events he's talking about.
Since 1871 and the end of the franco-prussian war, the Germans were considered the bad guys by the french. Another misconception is that the French and British won the war by themselves. Until the mid-1970s the credit for the victory in 1918 was taken by the French mainly. The overseas troops (including US) were quoted in history books as sympathetic but not very helpful, from the french point of view.
One of my favourite stories from WW1 was the cruise of HMS Doris in the Levant and her adventures that included diplomacy with an American go between in blowing up two steam locomotives
In regards to the “bad guys” thing - the allied use of indiscriminate bombing is something we should not be proud of as a tactic. We talk about it as a necessity, but the number of civilian casualties were inflicted to cause despair and terror, not for direct military objectives. The axis powers used the same tactic, to be sure (e.g: the Blitz), but whataboutism doesn’t make it moral.
The channel C&Rsenal has a long series of in-depth episodes covering the small arms used during the Great War, if anyone is interested in how all of the equipment came about.
C&Rsnenal fill in a lot of interesting gaps that rarely get touched on in addition to there excellent weapons tutorials. Like the byzantine politics of the weapons manufacturing prior to WW1. Or that at the beginning of the war the US had like five machine guns. And not good ones. Excellent channel.
This year I've been on Monte Grappa by Bassano in Italy. It was a fortress of the Italian Mountaineers and Frontline during WW1. They have a cemetery up there with thousands of italian and austrian graves. When you come to Europe and you get the chance you should check it out. In Bassano itself and all the villages around are just really interesting historically speaking
My father served from 76-95 in the USAF and we got stationed in Bitburg West Germany from 87-91. Dad and I are WWII history fans and we visited many battlefields and historic sites. I, as a 13 yr old, was more horrified when we bopped over to Verdun and visited that battlefield. More horrified than my visit to Dachau! I just couldn't comprehend at the time of a battle lasting that long and areas of the landscape TO THAT DAY you couldn't walk through since there is/was un-exploded/live munitions (HE and various gas).
Greetings from Bitburg/Germany:-) sad that the Airforce leave Bitburg! Have a lot of friends and good times with our us friends:-) Loved to watch the 36TFW's F15 C Eagles take of and landing in Bitburg Airbase as a kid:-) But still a lot of friends are here at Spangdahlem Airforce Base!!
Regarded unrestricted submarine warfare: What made the use of this tactic to paint Germany as bad guys so unfair, is not only that they (as you mentioned) hardly had any other choice, but two other factors: 1. The US was not only sending civil supplies, but also tons and tons of weapons and ammunition to UK, and did so to a big part on Civil (including passenger-) ships (like the Lusitania). So basically, they used human shield tactics even then. And 2: Germany in that case did everything in their power to minimize civilian casualties. They even spent loads of money (that they did not have) to drop leaflets over every major east coast city, warning civilians to not board ships to UK, because Germany due to the type of weapon delivery, they had to start unrestricted sub warfare.
I know "The Great War" series is too long to react to, but may I advise reacting to "Glory and Defeat: The Franco-Prussian War" by the channel Real Time History? It's the same team as the one behind TGW, with the same week-by-week format, and from what I've watched so far, it does a similarly great job of following the conflict.
That's a really nice series. Maybe not the whole thing, but it's much shorter than the World Wars and I found it really educational. I guess Battle of Sedan being the most standout event of the war.
you should watch any video on the Yugoslav wars it’s a really interesting topic with some aspects of ww1 and ww2 being some of the causes. My father was in the Yugoslav wars and eventually immigrated when it was over. It’d be really cool to see :)
"Just because somebody is the enemy, doesn't mean they're the bad guys." This hits harder than it should as schools and media generalized everyone during the war. Both of my grandfathers fought in the Pacific theater...on opposite sides. And they say the same thing. They only fought to stay alive. They also saw the atrocities that both sides committed during the war.
@@VMohdude- oh get off your moral high horse. I don't even get where you got that idea. And why do I got this feeling you will start calling me a Nazi for pointing against you?
It was Personal for my Grandfather, he fought in the Pacific, was in Hawai'i when the war started and was a marine on the Island of Midway during the battle and saw action at other islands. He never let it go, he hated the Japanese and refused to ever own anything made in Japan. the only time I ever heard him swear was about the Japanese and he used every slang word for them until the day he died.
I owe Indy and his partner in crime a huge thank you for all the great videos. I learned a lot from the work the put in, I’m a huge fan of his. My favorite series was certainly the WW1 but his of series is just as good but it didn’t have a video game to go with it lmao bf1. For those of you that don’t know Indy was actually hired by Dice to do all of the information sections in BF1. Go check it out
Fun fact:The German,French and British pow camps operated according to the laws for humanitarian treatment in during war times.The Russian,Austro-Hangarian and Turkish camps didn't
Gonna just throw in my thoughts on the Russian army - the soldiers themselves were pretty decent, especially the national units of the smaller nations within the Empire (such as the Latvian riflemen battalions, who formed the basis for both the Latvian national army, and in part, sadly - the elite of the Red Army later on), however the issue was that the officers just weren't up to the task. Also, while the skill of the soldiers was good enough, the morale wasn't quite there. Sure, even with these issues, the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman armies were defeated, but it was too much against the Germans.
Honestly, I don't feel like Russia is considered a weak belligerent of WW1. They were considered weak by the contemporaries of WW1, those people that lived back then (mainly because of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905), but today ? Really not, I feel like France's role is more underestimated. Also regarding Russia, the difference between 1905 and 1914 should really be emphasized, that defeat (though it was at the other side of the world) really woke up Russia which borrowed money to develop faster and reform the army.
There’s a really interesting book called “the rise and fall of great powers” by Paul Kennedy. And he goes into the economics of Germany in ww1 and talks about how on an economic level Germany could not have one the war (more or less)
The Great War is a great channel. They do a good series on countries in the war. The first 3 are great The first on a neutral country the second on a colony and the 3rd on the anzac
I think I would take issue with the idea that Germany had no other option in 1917 but to restart unrestricted submarine warfare. As Gary Sheffield puts it: "Germany won World War One Part One" by defeating Russia. We now know the British foreign office's greatest fear was that Germany would offer France and Britain peace on the basis of Brest-Litovsk plus status quo in the West. On those terms it was felt the British and French public would not consent to continue the conflict. Therefore it was OHLs insistence on going for total victory that both brought in the USA and wasted their manpower in offensives. This led directly to the the abject surrender of the 'armistice'. Ludendorff had options and as Indy might have said: he chose poorly.
Great video. Love watching The Great War series. Always love to learn more about WW1 and history in general. Speaking of, there is a movie on Netflix called "The Professor and the Madman" about the formulation and printing of the 1st edition Oxford English Dictionary. Was very interesting. Good luck with your travel plans.
8:02 But you can't discard the aggressive policy of Germany that lead to the war. In that sense, which, I think, should be the main criterion, it WAS a bad guy.
I don't know if you still read all your comments, but the series of the videos you need to react to the most is the Extra History retelling of the South Sea Bubble. A fascinating look at 18th Century economics, market manipulation, financial black magic, and the Web of Intrigue surrounding the Wigs and Tories that got even the king sucked into the financial Black Hole that put the Crown in debt until a handful of years ago when they made the last payment!
Comment regarding the “bad guy”. Travel around Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands and they will tell you the Imperial German army of WW1 was more brutal than the Nazi German army of WW2. I’m talking about as the invading army went through the towns, and how they treated the general population.
The Army went out of control when Germany invaded Belgium. The invasion of Belgium and France was nuts and the leaders and commanders lost all comtrols and coordinate of the army.
Regarding "bad guys" in WWI. I think there is something that people often overlook about the killing of civilians in Belgium (and Serbia as well) by the Central Powers. This is a reality of the escalation of breaking the rules of warfare leading into total war doctrine. There was a point where people generally followed the rules that civilians were not to be targeted or unduly oppressed etc. However, that was predicated upon the reciprocal rule that civilians were non-combatants. By the time you get to WW1 in many of those cases civilians were carrying out resistance and sabotage attacks against occupying enemy forces. We tend to view this as normal and heroic, but it is, in fact, something that changes the whole basis for the previous rules of war. Civilians begin to take up these kind of tactics because they don't want to lose... but the attackers don't want to lose either, and when confronted by these tactics, what do you think they are going to do? The inevitable evolution of civilian resistance is that civilian populations become a viable target. If you want armies to follow the rules of war and not to target civilian populations, then the civilians themselves also need to follow the rules and not become combatants. I want to make clear that I'm not talking about a moral justification here but a simple reality of human nature. I'm not saying it is ever moral to target civilian populations. I am saying that if civilian populations take up arms to oppose an enemy, they will be targeted because only heroically virtuous people are moral enough to allow someone to attack them and kill them, without fighting back. I would also point out that this is the most common defense used by people I have talked to about the morality of the USA using the atomic bombs on Japan. IE. that the entire Japanese population were combatants because of their military cult. Therefore it was not immoral to wipe out entire cities full of civilians. (I disagree on moral grounds, but again the reality of human nature there is understandable). On the note of responsibility for the war, obviously there is plenty to go around to all parties. However, At the very top of the list must be the names Conrad Von Hotzendorf, Von Moltke, Tsar Nicholas II, and Gavrilo Princip. In perhaps the most German thing in history, Kaiser Wilhelm tried to prevent the war by not signing the orders for military mobilization in the summer of 1914, only to be told by his high command, that he couldn't call off the war by not mobilizing, because it would wreck havoc with their transportation logistics and make the troops arrive late.
12:32 "That's like the third time in this video that I've said something when I paused literally seconds before he said it. I swear it's not intentional." But it's humorous.
He forgot to tell in The part of The war fought arround The world that a lot of volunteirs from Spain,USA, México and another countries fought un The french foregin legion
5:45 reminds me of Blackadder goes forth George - The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building. Blackadder - George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front. Also one thing. If you say unrestricted submarine warfare is "Evil". WEll. At the nuremberg trials the Allied tried to use the Laconia Order (the whole incident is rather interesting imho) against Dönitz because "unrestricted Submarine warfare" blabla. A certain Admiral Chester W. Nimitz then provided a statement that basically boiled down to "We've been doing that in the pacific since the moment we entered the war." And how did it come to unrestricted submarine Warfare in WW1 and on anyway? Because in part the submarine was demanded to surface and call out to the ship it was attacking. Which lead to a load of cases where the submarine was getting retaliated against (duh). Including ships that were camouflaging as undefended ship. Can anyone blame the submarine crews that they were sick of such stuff? Also the stories of the crews of SMS Emden and Dresden are interesting as well. Emden is reasonably well known but Dresden's cat and mice game against a big showing of hte Royal Navy? And then Wilhelm Canaris - the later head of the Abwehr in WWII - escaping from the PoW Camp and travelling across South America ALONE and making it back to germany? Quite a story. Navies didn't play much of a role? Light Cruiser SMS Emden had a choke hold on shipping in the South Pacific for a while. You had daring commerce raiders like SMS Seeadler and I can't remembe the name but there was a daring commerce raider who managed to get a load of gold.
@@steveclarke6257 Fair point, but I’m fairly sure Leyte Gulf is larger than Jutland in all of those criteria. Unfortunately, I don’t have the actual numbers. I’ll have to find out.
@@Rocketsong Well, the smaller battles were all part of one single Japanese battle plan. Perhaps the Americans didn’t know it at the time, but for the Japanese, all four major actions were dependent on each other.
The surprise about WW1 is the massive distance it covered , miles upon miles each inch fought over, mind-blowing. Hope you know about the Commonwealth war graves commission, still maintaining all the graves and monuments. Edith Cavell from Norwich, local to me, local heroine.
Yes! If the trip happens I'm planning to visit some Commonwealth War Graves. I have a 2nd cousin who is buried in the La Brique Military Cemetery #02 in Ypres. He was in the 8th Btln (Prince Consort's Own) Rifle Brigade.
I believe a majority of the cavalry was actually mounted infantry. Dragoons, as they were called earlier. The horses were for moving troops fast across the battlefield, but I think mounted charges were very rare.
WWI can be kinda unrelatable. There are two huge empires right in the middle of it that no longer exist, Austria-Hungarian and Ottoman. Today these are a plethora of independent states that most people can’t identify on a map. There is no real bad guy. Victoria maybe, for having some entitled ass grandchildren. No Nazis, Blackshirts, or sympathizers, and relatively few “hero’s” to fantasize (Rommel/Patton/Monty).
Hope you can come to France! Winter and presidential elections are going to be ugly, but if you can ignore that, I wish you a future warm welcome ! The advantage is it'll be less tourist-crowded in January than in the summer, so you should be able to enjoy the visit. - A French subscriber
Just a note. Cavalry is still in use in warfare. Should not confuse "cavalry" and "horse cavalry" - it is horse cavalry which was made mostly obsolete in WWII, not cavalry - the mounts were changed.
For much of the general public, the word "cavalry" automatically implies "horse". Most won't think "tank". The units themselves may call themselves cavalry units, but if you mention that you're in the 2nd Cavalry unit, the average Joe isn't going to immediately picture you in a tank.
Another major misconception: the US was neutral at the beginning of the war. The US helped the allies financially and with supplies. One of the major influences for the US entry was to guarantee that our loans to the allies could be repaid.
I still can see the Germans as being the bad bad guys in world war 1 for a few reasons. First, they did the most to cause tensions to start the war by building up their military, giving Austria-Hungary a blank check, courting the Ottomans, and demanding Austria to give insane demands to Serbia. So Germany was basically responsible for war with Serbia, France and Russia right off the bat,and then they invade neutral countries like Belgium whichever brought Britain into the war. They also had the most power in stopping the war, but it didn't help that their Kaiser was one of the most unreasonable leaders of the war. Also Germany caused the most destruction on both fronts and have most devastating technology.
@@rmh941 When you call a side of the war *'Evil'* , you mean that that country needs to cease. N@zi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan needed to cease. But German Empire, for all it fault didn't yet it did.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
This guy made ww1 video every week. He covered the entire war, for FOUR YEARS, each week from the first day of the war in 2014(1914) to 2018(1918) This guy is a legend!
And now he's covering World War 2 every week. Going for three years, with three more to go.
@@Yora21 what's the name of the WW2 channel?
Thanks
@@identidem World War 2 I believe. It is part of TimeGhost History.
@@identidem Here is the link:
ruclips.net/user/WorldWarTwo
@@Yora21 And they're already planning to continue on to Korea afterwards.
Hi Chris, this is Indy here (for real). This was nice to watch, partly for your commentary, but also partly because I haven't watched the original video in several years and that certainly brings back memories. Thanks for covering it, and I really appreciate it that you like my stuff (by the way, if you haven't seen it yet, I've doing world war two week by week like I did the Great War for the past three years- we're in December 1942 now).
/ Indy
Holy cow! Thank you so much for the kind words. I'm just getting into the WW2 stuff. HUGE fan. Covid willing I'm making my first trip to France to visit the WW1 battlefields, in large part because of your videos.
@@VloggingThroughHistory When is your trip? We'll be in Normandy next summer filming stuff for our 24 hour real time coverage of D Day extravaganza (we're idiots and we aim high). Would be nice to meet if you're around then. Hey, what's your channel email? Might be easier to communicate there.
I replied a couple times but it keeps disappearing. Anyway... vloggingthroughhistory@gmail.com I'm going to Eastern France for WW1 battlefields Feb 1-8 but hoping to go back for Normandy at some point during the year. That sounds like an amazing plan. Can't wait to see how you guys cover it.
that email address is in the description of every video
@Beñat Badiola Really? I am, at the moment, preparing my best "Nigerian prince" act....
Indy is one of the best and most productive European history RUclipsrs. His work in all, the Great War, WW2, Time Ghost History and Sabaton History is nothing short of remarkable!
Dont forget indys tie collection channel!
The amount of work Indy does is mind blowing. despite churning out content, the quality does not suffer one bit. Been a fan for years now
Let's also give a shout-out to the team behind him. Not to take away how great he is but he is the face of a larger group of researchers who help to put the content together.
@@Mr10johnny10 I am not sure how much of it is HIS work. He surely is the face of the project(s) but the actual work is done primarily by unpaid interns that they cycle through every few months. If you follow their work outside of just videos, you'll see when they have a call for a fresh batch.
They have a number of enthusiasts that dig through the books and archive material until they are completely drained after a few months of unpaid work, that hand over the facts and stories to Indy (and other hosts in their most recent project) who then adapts it into a script for the video.
That is how they can create so much content - basically slave work force. Well, not really slaves as they are voluntary... because they don't know what they get themselves into. Last year there was quite a large backlash when they asked for the next batch of "interns", because they required 6+ hours of work and commitment for a few months (I don't remember a precise number, 2 or 3) with no pay. People were really pissed, and some of the former interns came out to comment on the working conditions.
Yeah, the content is good - but it is like with the sausage - it tastes better if you don't see how it is made. I sort of phased out their content in the last year - leaves a bitter aftertaste I am afraid.
@@Wustenfuchs109 Cool story
Good video. Too little is known and appreciated about WWI. Hope that you are able to make it over. It's getting a little uncertain over there.
People prefer the WW1 myths, the factually based history struggles to compete with "it is known" reinforced by cultural repetition.
I don't think people really understand the tremendous importance of WWI and just how it shaped the path of humanity more so than any other conflict, even WW2t. The Treaty of Versaille pushed Germany towards becoming the 3rd Reich. The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire and the Sykes-Picot agreement reshaped the entire Middle East and gave rise to the conflicts we still see today. The US became a world industrial power through the money gained by selling arms to Britain and France. Russia turns communist due to the discontent and issues caused by the war. It's just insane how a war 100 years ago still directly affects us today.
You could call it "The World War: Part 1"
@@Yora21 World war I has a good ring to it
True, a lot of people in the states at least really don't understand the significance of WW1. Mostly because for the longest time American schools barely covered it, and rushed ahead to cover WW2 where America had a more significant role. For all I know they still do this.
Thing is, that really gives a terrible foundation for which to learn considering how much of WW2 is rooted in WW1, and even going as far back as the Napoleonic era, which my school at least legit never taught us anything about whatsoever.
The history curriculum in the US is kinda garbage. Mostly because it focuses heavily on insignificant American history. >__>
@@planescaped I don't think Europeans do either, other than the Germans being ready for a rematch.
@@Yora21 We focus way more than the US does I think. Perhaps because it’s closer to us than the yanks.
Indy's work on World War 1 week by week, and now World War 2 week by week, are amazing. Strongly recommend TimeGhost History's Between 2 Wars series, and the WW1 and WW2 content. Absolutely excellent work and arguably the best 20th century history content on RUclips.
Excelsior!
Seconded!
I personally don't care for his melodramatic delivery, but I don't deny he does a good job.
@@planescaped same
Respect to the Great War channel. They pretty much cover every event and many times in extreme detail. That must be a hell of a work to accomplish and present it so well. As a greek, i love that they also covered some of the often ignored events in Greece during WW1, that played a big role in Greece joining the war in 1917. Like the National Schism, as well as the special video on King Constantine I
respect to their follow up channels too including world war 2. such great content
10:40 I’ve heard a British veteran’s interview about ww1 and the thing he said was the war had 4 years that were all completely unique and different to the rest of them. If a guy left the trenches in 1915 and returned in 1917 it would have been like starting again, nothing was the same.
What is also often forgotten is that German submarine warfare, if adjusted for scale of shipped tons by the allies was at times more effective than in WW1 than in WW2.
To be Honest...i believe The Great War IS the singlemost important Event in Human History. As you see what followed still haunts us today. Its a war nobody...not even future generations truly ever recovered from
“Just because somebody is the enemy doesn’t mean they’re the bad guy”
That quote will stick with me forever
7:28
@@giraffeman326 The Kaiser was very much a evil person and Imperial Germany was committing genocide even though Nazi Germany was much worse.
@@0816M3RC Did I mention the Kaiser?
Well, especiallyy if its u thats the bad guy.Sometimes you know wheen you are the bad guy
@@0816M3RC that happens in every war
The day after I watched this, I went to The Great War channel, subscribed, and started watching from the first video . I’ve watched about 40 so far plus 5 WW1 movies and a couple of documentaries.
I knew almost nothing about WW1 until about 10 days ago and have binge learned so much! Thanks for the recommendation! 👍🏻
Love to hear this!
The unrestricted submarine warfare issue is an interesting one.
IIRC, when the US complained for the first or second time about Germany using subs to attack merchant shipping after the British had expanded the list of contraband to include food, the German ambassador to the US asked what the difference was. Yes, civilians would die when ships they were on would be sunk, but so would German civilians, who'd starve because no food was reaching Germany.
Now, I don't want to excuse the unrestricted submarine warfare, but I always thought there was something to that.
The problem was the "unrestricted" part. It was legal for Germany to sink the shipping, but in the case of vessels carrying neutral crews and civilians, cruiser rules were to be followed. Eg. notice was to be given to the ship to abandon before it was sunk. In many cases I don't blame the Germans for straight up attacking merchant ships without warning. That's kind of the point of subs at the end of the day. But when the target was a cruise liner full of neutral passengers - including American women and children... well if ever there were a reason to follow cruiser rules, that was it.
Although all sides had their share of dirty tactics, it was the scale at which Germany played fast and loose with the conventions that so blacken their reputation: tearing up treaties, enslaving civilian populations, bombarding non-military targets, terror bombing, first use of chemical warfare... After all that, them turning around and playing the "pity us, we have no food!" sympathy card is a bit rich. They deliberately picked the fight with Britain when they violated Belgium. They deliberately picked the fight with the United States when they treated all shipping as fair game. It's their own fault for not having a proper game plan for dealing with the blockade they knew would result.
It shouldn't surprise anyone. Nation basically respond to similar situation, alike how USA respond here - think only about yourslef and your citizen or shipment, but can't see the big picture.
WW1 got quite ugly as it went on.
@@CountScarlioni You've a point, but still starve to death.... I'm glad it won't happen at future conflict
@@CountScarlioni Take the Lusitania. It was packed with civilians yes. But also stuffed with ammunition and other mitlitary supplies. So whos fault would it be. The Germans for torpedoing the ship or the Brits who did use american civilians as human shields and had no scruple to starve german citizens to death.
I love every time you Pause and have, what you say, be said immediately after un-pausing.
Its always a good show of knowledge and a good source for a chuckle every time.
Please react to Eastory, his animations are sooooo detailed he is really satisfying to watch.
Great vid. Love the great War channel.
The Great War is so complicated and I just love it
If someone is interested in learning more in depth about World War II as well, Indy Neidell and his team are currently about halfway through making a week-by-week video series about World War II as well. Definitally recommend it.
Hey VTH, you really sparked my interest in history. I liked learning stuff about history in general but your videos are top shelf stuff! I've learned so much from your videos and i love the input you have on all the different subjects and timeperiods. I wish you did this when i went to school :D keep doing what you do!
A great man once said: "Only an idiot would fight a war on two fronts. Only the heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Idiots would fight a war on twelve fronts."
Really puts both wars into perspective
I never expected to see a B5 fan here. But in retrospect it makes sense that fans of B5 would also be fans of history.
Not that anyone did this by choice
13:02. Especially with the blatant hypocrisy on the part of Wilson especially when he turned a blind eye to Britain using civilian shipliners to carry munitions including the Lusitania which the German embassy warned in American newspapers that British ships were not safe, so getting on a British ship carrying weapons was a stupid idea.
Anybody who says the US was neutral in the war does not know what they are talking about.
It’s like calling Sweden neutral in WWII.
That guy honestly only scratches the surface, full of misconceptions. His vision of Gallipolli and Churchill is a good example.
i need to finish the World War 1 channel, i stopped listening to them, but i need to restart and watch it till the end. I loved that channel!
I love his channel. Between Sabaton, him and you I’m learning so much and loving it. Thank you
2 of my 3 favorite historical content on RUclips. Love it
Who is your 3rd, The History Guy?
TIK is my favourite
@@sandybarnes887 I just stumbled across the Arm Chair Historian and he is doing really well
I’m glad to see, you both on the same page of history and it’s awesome!
Love Indy and his channels and teams. Love VTH also. So much better than owning a TV.
Easily the best WW1 channel on RUclips, Indy is a beast. Thanks for reviewing them
This guy is fantastic! Glad you found him whenever you found him
The most interesting naval story of WWI was Felix von Lucknow's commerce raiding in the sailing ship 'Seeadler.' It didn't have a lot of impact in the grand scheme of things but the fact that it worked at all is a testament to German ingenuity.
Von Luckner
Because you said that WW1 was the last real war where cavalry played a big part, I just wanted to point to the different Soviet invasions of eastern European countries, escpecially the Polish-Bolshevik war with the famous miracle at the Vistula.
@Shadow Reptile the Italian Savoya Cavaleria won the Charge at Ibuchevski during ww2.
This is when they basically displayed a cavalry (forget which victory of which city) but they basically just kept going in circles to make it look like there were far more soldiers.
I've watched the entire great war series I heartily recommend it to everyone.
I learned a helluva lot.
Even grudgingly moderating my opinion of Haigh.
Witness I didn't say butcher Haig as I might have previously.
My lasting impression was of the imperious disregard, on all front by all sides of the lives of soldiers and civilians alike.
My personal favourite misconception about WW 1 and kind of "fun fact" is an entirely german one.
We in Germany have something called "Schaumweinsteuer" which translates to "Tax on sparkling wine". It literally is a little bit of money you pay for sparkling wine and some other alcohol on top. It was meant to finance the "Kaiserliche Kriegsflotte" ("Emperors war fleet"), the Imperial German Navy. Many people in Germany believe that it was made during the early stage of WW 1 when in fact it was made in the early 1902. But the tax lives to this day which leads (at least in my family) always to the toast "Auf die kaiserliche Flotte" ("For the emperors fleet").
15:30
While not a massive front or highly active one. Australian troops fought Germans in New Guinea (which has a huge impact on ww2’s events) the New Zealander expeditionary force takes an island or 2 from Germany in the South Pacific as well again ending up playing roles in ww2. So the South Pacific front while almost completely ignored and only having 2-3 flare ups in 1914 is still technically a front.
Pacific Theatre of WW1 outlasted the European theatre of WW1.
I love the Great War channel as well. I've watched the whole weekly series, but hadn't seen this video yet. Indy inspired me, I'm reading Martin Gilbert's The First World War right now.
It takes lots of time to watch week by week episodes but it actually helps you learn things that you may never unless you follow WW1 week by week; which is tons of useful and nice information.
I wish I could go back and be as excited for the new weekly episode easily one of the best channel Ideas ever. You really felt a connection being exactly 100 years out from the events he's talking about.
Since 1871 and the end of the franco-prussian war, the Germans were considered the bad guys by the french. Another misconception is that the French and British won the war by themselves. Until the mid-1970s the credit for the victory in 1918 was taken by the French mainly. The overseas troops (including US) were quoted in history books as sympathetic but not very helpful, from the french point of view.
Ever since I had to write a research paper in college on the battle of the somme, I have been obsessed with WWI. Its so fascinating
One of my favourite stories from WW1 was the cruise of HMS Doris in the Levant and her adventures that included diplomacy with an American go between in blowing up two steam locomotives
In regards to the “bad guys” thing - the allied use of indiscriminate bombing is something we should not be proud of as a tactic.
We talk about it as a necessity, but the number of civilian casualties were inflicted to cause despair and terror, not for direct military objectives.
The axis powers used the same tactic, to be sure (e.g: the Blitz), but whataboutism doesn’t make it moral.
The channel C&Rsenal has a long series of in-depth episodes covering the small arms used during the Great War, if anyone is interested in how all of the equipment came about.
Othias the Baptist and Mae the Cowboy Dinosaur hunter Pirate Goddess
C&Rsnenal fill in a lot of interesting gaps that rarely get touched on in addition to there excellent weapons tutorials.
Like the byzantine politics of the weapons manufacturing prior to WW1.
Or that at the beginning of the war the US had like five machine guns. And not good ones.
Excellent channel.
Yes! More Great War! Their videos are so informative on a topic that doesn't get enough attention.
I learned more about WW1 playing Battlefield 1 than I did in school
I like to see:
1: You mentioned doing a video about "edith cavell"
2: Something on the battle of Jutland
I have been learning more about WW 1 and I have Recently Purchased a world undone and I can’t wait for the Great War content
A World Undone is my favorite book on the Great War.
@@VloggingThroughHistory I am only about 2:30 hours in so I still got a long way to go with it and I am liking it so far
stop now then, love your chanel, love to hear his and hear we go, loved yours more and first
This year I've been on Monte Grappa by Bassano in Italy. It was a fortress of the Italian Mountaineers and Frontline during WW1. They have a cemetery up there with thousands of italian and austrian graves.
When you come to Europe and you get the chance you should check it out.
In Bassano itself and all the villages around are just really interesting historically speaking
My father served from 76-95 in the USAF and we got stationed in Bitburg West Germany from 87-91. Dad and I are WWII history fans and we visited many battlefields and historic sites. I, as a 13 yr old, was more horrified when we bopped over to Verdun and visited that battlefield. More horrified than my visit to Dachau! I just couldn't comprehend at the time of a battle lasting that long and areas of the landscape TO THAT DAY you couldn't walk through since there is/was un-exploded/live munitions (HE and various gas).
Greetings from Bitburg/Germany:-) sad that the Airforce leave Bitburg! Have a lot of friends and good times with our us friends:-) Loved to watch the 36TFW's F15 C Eagles take of and landing in Bitburg Airbase as a kid:-) But still a lot of friends are here at Spangdahlem Airforce Base!!
Keep it up. Love your videos
Regarded unrestricted submarine warfare: What made the use of this tactic to paint Germany as bad guys so unfair, is not only that they (as you mentioned) hardly had any other choice, but two other factors: 1. The US was not only sending civil supplies, but also tons and tons of weapons and ammunition to UK, and did so to a big part on Civil (including passenger-) ships (like the Lusitania). So basically, they used human shield tactics even then. And 2: Germany in that case did everything in their power to minimize civilian casualties. They even spent loads of money (that they did not have) to drop leaflets over every major east coast city, warning civilians to not board ships to UK, because Germany due to the type of weapon delivery, they had to start unrestricted sub warfare.
Supplies to Europe were so important that it led directly to the explosion that nearly took out the Canadian port city of Halifax.
Love to your work Edith
You watch these once beforehand. That's why you always anticipate what he says
I definitely do not, unless I say so. I actually hate when I say stuff before the video does.
I know "The Great War" series is too long to react to, but may I advise reacting to "Glory and Defeat: The Franco-Prussian War" by the channel Real Time History? It's the same team as the one behind TGW, with the same week-by-week format, and from what I've watched so far, it does a similarly great job of following the conflict.
TimeGhost History I think you mean. Not entirely the same team, but the same original creators: Spartacus and Indy Neidell.
That's a really nice series. Maybe not the whole thing, but it's much shorter than the World Wars and I found it really educational.
I guess Battle of Sedan being the most standout event of the war.
Something about that war would be interesting. It’s not one that commonly talked about.
@@Tuning3434 Nope. Glory and Defeat is made by the Indy's old team with a new presenter.
I really hope that guy can do a good Michael Caine impression
you should watch any video on the Yugoslav wars it’s a really interesting topic with some aspects of ww1 and ww2 being some of the causes. My father was in the Yugoslav wars and eventually immigrated when it was over. It’d be really cool to see :)
"Just because somebody is the enemy, doesn't mean they're the bad guys."
This hits harder than it should as schools and media generalized everyone during the war.
Both of my grandfathers fought in the Pacific theater...on opposite sides. And they say the same thing. They only fought to stay alive. They also saw the atrocities that both sides committed during the war.
Right both sides committed war crimes but let’s not do a false equivalence here.
@@VMohdude- uhuh...sure I'm definitely trying to downplay the war crimes committed the war...suuuure.
@@darkkira1332 didn’t say you’re doing that, just generally warning against it
@@VMohdude- oh get off your moral high horse. I don't even get where you got that idea.
And why do I got this feeling you will start calling me a Nazi for pointing against you?
@@darkkira1332 the assumptions man…
Was that u-boat movie with Matthew McConaughey based on world war 1? Great movie I might have to watch it again
WW2. U-571
@@VloggingThroughHistory thanks!
15 18 Conrad Von Hotzendorf vs Luigi Cadorna. Indy made these two into a meme.
Honestly his ww1 videos are, probably, the greatest war documentary channel
Been hitting gold with your new videos
It was Personal for my Grandfather, he fought in the Pacific, was in Hawai'i when the war started and was a marine on the Island of Midway during the battle and saw action at other islands. He never let it go, he hated the Japanese and refused to ever own anything made in Japan. the only time I ever heard him swear was about the Japanese and he used every slang word for them until the day he died.
It's funny that people argue whether WWI was a world war or not. Even the Seven Years' War is considered a world war by most.
Winston Churchill considered 'WWI' as the 8th world war in history.
the 2 best history channels
I owe Indy and his partner in crime a huge thank you for all the great videos. I learned a lot from the work the put in, I’m a huge fan of his. My favorite series was certainly the WW1 but his of series is just as good but it didn’t have a video game to go with it lmao bf1. For those of you that don’t know Indy was actually hired by Dice to do all of the information sections in BF1. Go check it out
keep up the good vids
Fun fact:The German,French and British pow camps operated according to the laws for humanitarian treatment in during war times.The Russian,Austro-Hangarian and Turkish camps didn't
Gonna just throw in my thoughts on the Russian army - the soldiers themselves were pretty decent, especially the national units of the smaller nations within the Empire (such as the Latvian riflemen battalions, who formed the basis for both the Latvian national army, and in part, sadly - the elite of the Red Army later on), however the issue was that the officers just weren't up to the task. Also, while the skill of the soldiers was good enough, the morale wasn't quite there. Sure, even with these issues, the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman armies were defeated, but it was too much against the Germans.
Honestly, I don't feel like Russia is considered a weak belligerent of WW1. They were considered weak by the contemporaries of WW1, those people that lived back then (mainly because of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905), but today ? Really not, I feel like France's role is more underestimated.
Also regarding Russia, the difference between 1905 and 1914 should really be emphasized, that defeat (though it was at the other side of the world) really woke up Russia which borrowed money to develop faster and reform the army.
Their ww2 channel is absolutely incredible!
The Emden with their Captain von Müller really became legends in just a few weeks.
There’s a really interesting book called “the rise and fall of great powers” by Paul Kennedy. And he goes into the economics of Germany in ww1 and talks about how on an economic level Germany could not have one the war (more or less)
The Great War is a great channel. They do a good series on countries in the war. The first 3 are great The first on a neutral country the second on a colony and the 3rd on the anzac
VTH and the Great War... this is gonna be good! 🧨
I think I would take issue with the idea that Germany had no other option in 1917 but to restart unrestricted submarine warfare. As Gary Sheffield puts it: "Germany won World War One Part One" by defeating Russia. We now know the British foreign office's greatest fear was that Germany would offer France and Britain peace on the basis of Brest-Litovsk plus status quo in the West. On those terms it was felt the British and French public would not consent to continue the conflict. Therefore it was OHLs insistence on going for total victory that both brought in the USA and wasted their manpower in offensives. This led directly to the the abject surrender of the 'armistice'. Ludendorff had options and as Indy might have said: he chose poorly.
Great video. Love watching The Great War series. Always love to learn more about WW1 and history in general. Speaking of, there is a movie on Netflix called "The Professor and the Madman" about the formulation and printing of the 1st edition Oxford English Dictionary. Was very interesting. Good luck with your travel plans.
I can assure you the war against fascism was personal and for many of us still is
8:02 But you can't discard the aggressive policy of Germany that lead to the war. In that sense, which, I think, should be the main criterion, it WAS a bad guy.
*A* bad guy
@@mohdadeeb1829 i mean worse guy
I don't know if you still read all your comments, but the series of the videos you need to react to the most is the Extra History retelling of the South Sea Bubble. A fascinating look at 18th Century economics, market manipulation, financial black magic, and the Web of Intrigue surrounding the Wigs and Tories that got even the king sucked into the financial Black Hole that put the Crown in debt until a handful of years ago when they made the last payment!
Comment regarding the “bad guy”. Travel around Northern France, Belgium and the Netherlands and they will tell you the Imperial German army of WW1 was more brutal than the Nazi German army of WW2. I’m talking about as the invading army went through the towns, and how they treated the general population.
The Army went out of control when Germany invaded Belgium. The invasion of Belgium and France was nuts and the leaders and commanders lost all comtrols and coordinate of the army.
Indy's Great War channel is amazing.
Regarding "bad guys" in WWI.
I think there is something that people often overlook about the killing of civilians in Belgium (and Serbia as well) by the Central Powers. This is a reality of the escalation of breaking the rules of warfare leading into total war doctrine.
There was a point where people generally followed the rules that civilians were not to be targeted or unduly oppressed etc. However, that was predicated upon the reciprocal rule that civilians were non-combatants. By the time you get to WW1 in many of those cases civilians were carrying out resistance and sabotage attacks against occupying enemy forces. We tend to view this as normal and heroic, but it is, in fact, something that changes the whole basis for the previous rules of war.
Civilians begin to take up these kind of tactics because they don't want to lose... but the attackers don't want to lose either, and when confronted by these tactics, what do you think they are going to do?
The inevitable evolution of civilian resistance is that civilian populations become a viable target.
If you want armies to follow the rules of war and not to target civilian populations, then the civilians themselves also need to follow the rules and not become combatants.
I want to make clear that I'm not talking about a moral justification here but a simple reality of human nature. I'm not saying it is ever moral to target civilian populations. I am saying that if civilian populations take up arms to oppose an enemy, they will be targeted because only heroically virtuous people are moral enough to allow someone to attack them and kill them, without fighting back.
I would also point out that this is the most common defense used by people I have talked to about the morality of the USA using the atomic bombs on Japan. IE. that the entire Japanese population were combatants because of their military cult. Therefore it was not immoral to wipe out entire cities full of civilians. (I disagree on moral grounds, but again the reality of human nature there is understandable).
On the note of responsibility for the war, obviously there is plenty to go around to all parties. However, At the very top of the list must be the names Conrad Von Hotzendorf, Von Moltke, Tsar Nicholas II, and Gavrilo Princip.
In perhaps the most German thing in history, Kaiser Wilhelm tried to prevent the war by not signing the orders for military mobilization in the summer of 1914, only to be told by his high command, that he couldn't call off the war by not mobilizing, because it would wreck havoc with their transportation logistics and make the troops arrive late.
12:32 "That's like the third time in this video that I've said something when I paused literally seconds before he said it. I swear it's not intentional." But it's humorous.
He forgot to tell in The part of The war fought arround The world that a lot of volunteirs from Spain,USA, México and another countries fought un The french foregin legion
5:45 reminds me of Blackadder goes forth
George - The war started because of the vile Hun and his villainous empire-building.
Blackadder - George, the British Empire at present covers a quarter of the globe, while the German Empire consists of a small sausage factory in Tanganyika. I hardly think that we can be entirely absolved of blame on the imperialistic front.
Also one thing. If you say unrestricted submarine warfare is "Evil". WEll. At the nuremberg trials the Allied tried to use the Laconia Order (the whole incident is rather interesting imho) against Dönitz because "unrestricted Submarine warfare" blabla.
A certain Admiral Chester W. Nimitz then provided a statement that basically boiled down to "We've been doing that in the pacific since the moment we entered the war."
And how did it come to unrestricted submarine Warfare in WW1 and on anyway? Because in part the submarine was demanded to surface and call out to the ship it was attacking. Which lead to a load of cases where the submarine was getting retaliated against (duh). Including ships that were camouflaging as undefended ship. Can anyone blame the submarine crews that they were sick of such stuff?
Also the stories of the crews of SMS Emden and Dresden are interesting as well. Emden is reasonably well known but Dresden's cat and mice game against a big showing of hte Royal Navy? And then Wilhelm Canaris - the later head of the Abwehr in WWII - escaping from the PoW Camp and travelling across South America ALONE and making it back to germany? Quite a story.
Navies didn't play much of a role? Light Cruiser SMS Emden had a choke hold on shipping in the South Pacific for a while. You had daring commerce raiders like SMS Seeadler and I can't remembe the name but there was a daring commerce raider who managed to get a load of gold.
Another great video :)
This was a good reaction and interested video. I'll drop a like 👍 on the original too. 😎
Yes please do. And thank you!
10:00 The last important war involving cavalry in an important role would probably be the soviet-polish war of 1919-1921
Great video and im hoping you can travel as well . would love to see Europe without going there myself . Keep up the good work. 👍
11:40 To my knowledge, the largest naval battle in history is actually the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
Yes but it was a generation later.
The question was ill defined what terms for largest?..... number of ships?, tonnage involved?, manpower involved?
Leyte is tricky. Is it even proper to call it one single battle as opposed to multiple ones?
@@steveclarke6257 Fair point, but I’m fairly sure Leyte Gulf is larger than Jutland in all of those criteria. Unfortunately, I don’t have the actual numbers. I’ll have to find out.
@@Rocketsong Well, the smaller battles were all part of one single Japanese battle plan. Perhaps the Americans didn’t know it at the time, but for the Japanese, all four major actions were dependent on each other.
My 2x Great Uncle was an officer on the HMS Nottingham in the battle of Jutland, Died a month or so after in a German Torpedo attack.
The surprise about WW1 is the massive distance it covered , miles upon miles each inch fought over, mind-blowing. Hope you know about the Commonwealth war graves commission, still maintaining all the graves and monuments. Edith Cavell from Norwich, local to me, local heroine.
Yes! If the trip happens I'm planning to visit some Commonwealth War Graves. I have a 2nd cousin who is buried in the La Brique Military Cemetery #02 in Ypres. He was in the 8th Btln (Prince Consort's Own) Rifle Brigade.
I believe a majority of the cavalry was actually mounted infantry. Dragoons, as they were called earlier. The horses were for moving troops fast across the battlefield, but I think mounted charges were very rare.
I know that's how the Soviets used their cavalry in WWII, as mounted infantry.
You should also react to their sub series of WW2 spies and ties
WWI can be kinda unrelatable.
There are two huge empires right in the middle of it that no longer exist, Austria-Hungarian and Ottoman. Today these are a plethora of independent states that most people can’t identify on a map.
There is no real bad guy. Victoria maybe, for having some entitled ass grandchildren. No Nazis, Blackshirts, or sympathizers, and relatively few “hero’s” to fantasize (Rommel/Patton/Monty).
Hope you can come to France! Winter and presidential elections are going to be ugly, but if you can ignore that, I wish you a future warm welcome ! The advantage is it'll be less tourist-crowded in January than in the summer, so you should be able to enjoy the visit.
- A French subscriber
Thanks Sam! Hoping it happens. 2nd trip to France probably in the spring to visit Normandy.
I don't think presidential will change much to his trip after all elections are in may and once you leave Paris there won't be many changes.
@@VloggingThroughHistory I would advise you to have a booster/3rd dose before coming, it would allow you to move fairly freely.
I love Indy.
Just a note. Cavalry is still in use in warfare. Should not confuse "cavalry" and "horse cavalry" - it is horse cavalry which was made mostly obsolete in WWII, not cavalry - the mounts were changed.
For much of the general public, the word "cavalry" automatically implies "horse". Most won't think "tank". The units themselves may call themselves cavalry units, but if you mention that you're in the 2nd Cavalry unit, the average Joe isn't going to immediately picture you in a tank.
@@strangeworldsunlimited712 Most of the people in the world are idiots. Just because they use language poorly doesn't mean we should.
Another major misconception: the US was neutral at the beginning of the war. The US helped the allies financially and with supplies. One of the major influences for the US entry was to guarantee that our loans to the allies could be repaid.
"Neutral" vs. "legally neutral".
I still can see the Germans as being the bad bad guys in world war 1 for a few reasons. First, they did the most to cause tensions to start the war by building up their military, giving Austria-Hungary a blank check, courting the Ottomans, and demanding Austria to give insane demands to Serbia. So Germany was basically responsible for war with Serbia, France and Russia right off the bat,and then they invade neutral countries like Belgium whichever brought Britain into the war. They also had the most power in stopping the war, but it didn't help that their Kaiser was one of the most unreasonable leaders of the war. Also Germany caused the most destruction on both fronts and have most devastating technology.
France invaded Neutral Switzerland during Napoleonic Wars yet no one called them bad guys.
@@mohdadeeb1829 Lol France was the bad guys during the Napoleonic wars.
@@rmh941 When you call a side of the war *'Evil'* , you mean that that country needs to cease. N@zi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan needed to cease. But German Empire, for all it fault didn't yet it did.
"Germany had no choice".
Isn't that kinda like saying the robber didn't have any choice but to shoot the hostage when he got surrounded by the police?
Didnt he talk about weird black and white thinking and hollywooodesque good and evil?
Its also a totally different situation
WW1 is way more interesting than WW2 because it happen all do to a bunch of tragic mistakes and alliances.