Why The First World War Failed to End in 1914 (WW1 Documentary)

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Published 2024-07-12
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In the summer of 1914, following the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand the July Crisis, the Great Powers of Europe went to war. Everyone expected a short war "over by Christmas" but instead the war turned into a colossal struggle on multiple fronts and trench warfare set in.


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» SOURCES
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Clark, Alan. The Eastern Front 1914-1918. Suicide of the Empires. Windrush, 1999 (1971).
Hart, Peter. The Great War 1914-1918. Profile Book, 2013.
Holzer, Anton. Das Lächeln der Henker. Der unbekannte Krieg gegen die Zivilbevölkerung 1914-1918. Primus, 2008.
Le Naour, Jean-Yves. 1914. La grande illusion. Perrin, 2016.
Lloyd, Nick. The Eastern Front. Penguin, 2024.
Palmer, Svetlana and Sarah Willis. A War in Words. Pocket Books, 2003.
Watson, Alexander. Ring of Steel. Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918. Penguin, 2014.
Addington, Larry. The Patterns of War since the Eighteenth Century. 2nd ed. Bloomington, 1994.
Ashworth, T. Trench warfare, 1914-18 : The Live And Let Live System. 2000.
Doyle, Peter and Robin Schaefer. Fritz and Tommy: Across the Barbed Wire. 2016.
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»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Philipp Appelt, Toni Steller
Motion Design: Philipp Appelt, Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: above-zero.com/
Research by: Jesse Alexander
Fact checking: Mark Newton, Florian Wittig
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig
Channel Design: Yves Thimian

Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3
All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2024

All Comments (21)
  • @Masada1911
    You guys never really got a chance to dig into this subject a lot back in 2014 besides the prelude to war series so I am glad that you guys are getting a chance to really give it the attention it deserves. Any other 2014/1914 vets out there?
  • @handleous
    I have to comment on your narration - the perfect speed, cadence, consistency and pronunciation. I hear every word that is being said, with enough time to take it in, and never need to rewind because something has been sped through. This is an amazing skill and I had to comment to commend it! Thank you and the team for another great vid
  • @roguefiend
    The great war is the most interesting modern conflict in my mind!
  • @georgedheeraj
    A Serb shot an Austrian so an Indian had to fight a Turk in Iraq
  • The early episode definitely lack in the visual department, so I'm glad you guys have gone back to 1914 to give them far more visual flare!
  • Nothing like a fresh cup of coffee while watching another great documentary from The Great War.
  • @BeukendaalMason
    "I heard it was because some bloke named Archie Duke shot an ostrich because he was hungry." - Baldrick
  • "We are guessing you are a fan of detailed military history documentaries." Yeah hard to deny 1 hour and 10 minutes into this gem!
  • @LouseGrouse
    Whenever watching someone describe preludes to horrible events like this there’s always a part of me hoping it’ll somehow go differently and be avoided.
  • @jebbroham1776
    The weirdest part of WW1 is that it was essentially a massive family feud that just happened to engulf the world, since all of the warring nations were cousins of each other and the descendants of British King George II.
  • The anecdote of Parisians looting a suspected German shop that ended up being Swiss at 28:10 mark gave me a slight chuck. Man, humans have not changed one bit in the last 110 years ago, have they?
  • @talpark8796
    how many have read: The Guns of August (B.W. Tuchman)? tyvm for another upload 🦇🇨🇦😁
  • It's curious that the German plan for war was called the Schlieffen plan by historians after the war ended. It wasn't Schlieffen's plan; it was von Moltke (the younger)'s plan since he was chief of the German general staff. From what I've read, when he was chief of the general staff, von Schlieffen considered a massive attack against France, similar to what was actually done, if Germany was only at war with France, and another approach if only at war with Russia. If at war with both countries, von Schlieffen intended a defensive war of attrition which is completely the opposite of what von Moltke (the younger) chose to do.
  • Always the most engaging historical content I've come across on YouTube - the quality of Jesse's writing & narration never fails to sustain a truly exciting, breathless pace over the course of long and exhaustively detailed videos. And as is often mentioned, special Kudos for both the inclusion of intimate accounts of the events and Jesse's outstanding pronunciation of seemingly every known language. Will eagerly devour whatever you fine folks are cooking up!
  • @owen1079
    Never stop guys. I think I speak for all of us here, when I say we're all very appreciative of your hard work on these documentaries 👍.
  • The current situation between countries is startling similar to what the narrator describes in 1914. In fact everything is repeating itself. All that is needed is a single spark to ignite the next world war.
  • @robertherm8381
    It is worth noting that a substantial amount of the Triple Entente’s July Crisis notes have been destroyed or withheld. a) France apparently destroyed notes of the Poincare-Czar Nicholas meeting (Sleepwalkers page 443) although it was possible to reconstruct most of the discussions. b) Poincare destroyed his notes regarding the French mobilization (Sleepwalkers page 504) and the notes of the Council of Ministers discussion that day are also somehow missing. c) Sir Edmond Grey destroyed his personal notes of the July Crisis (do not have a citation but read that several times). d)There are astonishing gaps in Britain’s Public Record Office List of Cabinet papers for 14 July – 20 August (Hidden History page 352) and a news article several years ago stated that Britain again delayed releasing certain Jully documents (it has been 110 years!). This obviously paints a damning picture of The Triple Entente’s activities during this period. Perhaps I missed it, but did this video mention that Poincare was from the Alsace region that was lost to Germany during the Franco-Prussian war and he wanted that region back? What better way to achieve that than to fight Germany while Germany was also fighting Russia.