Ah, yes. railroads. One of my favorite quotes of the era was spoken by Jackie Fisher. He expected a major war to come but had no idea when it might come, except that he was certain that it would start on a bank holiday. It did. This is because all the mobilization plans needed to maximize usage of the railroads, and the best time to do this was when it was easiest to halt commercial traffic on the rails. Obviously that would be a holiday.

@joeymurdazalotmore6355

6 ай бұрын

Never new that I been alive along time, ty for knowledge

@TheLucanicLord

5 ай бұрын

Don't buy this. Mobilization took weeks. One day being a holiday makes a negligible difference.

@JarthenGreenmeadow

5 ай бұрын

@@TheLucanicLord You're kidding right? Having an entire day where the rail lines are empty is a massive strategic benefit even if its just for a day.

@jameswoodbury2806

4 ай бұрын

Russia's mobilization would take longer than Germany's. So they believed that they needed a head start. 😢😢

@timedraven117

12 күн бұрын

@@JarthenGreenmeadow Not to mention that while mobilization takes week, having the rail lines empty of commercial traffic when you start means they *stay* empty of commercial traffic.

Love his way of talking about history. I'm very glad I am part of his class. The way he speaks is very informative and doesn't make you feel dumb for not knowing. Teaching at his core

"We want to make sure Baby stays in power" has got to be one of the most wild historical statements I've ever heard of.

If you ever have any doubts as to whether your style and depth is appreciated, worry not. Fantastic content.

An excellent presentation! The one important thing I think is missing is the Anglo-German naval arms race and its vital role in causing the UK to seek an understanding, if not an alliance, with France to oppose German territorial expansion in western Europe. While the Belgian treaty may have been the cause that roused the common people to support war, the vital interest the cabinet was most concerned with was keeping the German battleship fleet bottled up in Kiel - a German navy mostly limited to operating in the Baltic was not an existential threat to the British Empire, but a German battleship fleet based in Belgium or northern France, with free access to the Channel and the North Sea, absolutely was. This is something the German government apparently failed to appreciate in the slightest: they expressed surprise that the UK would go to war over a "scrap of paper" (the Belgian treaty) without realizing that the UK was NOT going to war over Belgium, Belgium was just an excuse the Germans had given the British government to enter a war that they already knew they had to fight over the German naval threat. Many historians regard that naval race as a terrible strategic mistake on the part of Kaiser Wilhelm (who had read Alfred Thayer Mahan's book more than was good for his limited intellect) because it transformed Germany from a continental power that was not much of a threat to British world interests into a potential world power that was the greatest threat to those interests. In the late 19th century, when Germany had no oceangoing navy to speak of, the British had regarded Russia as its main potential enemy, fearing a Russian push from its Central Asian provinces towards India. The prospect of German battleships poised to descend on the Home Fleet at a moment's notice made the Russian threat seem insignificant in comparison. But because the Germans had to spend most of their resources on their land army, while the British did not, it was inevitable that the British would win the naval race and consequently that the German navy would be just powerful enough to force the British to fight a war to keep it out of the Atlantic, but not powerful enough to win the war at sea or to deter the British from going to war.

@karlkarlos3545

7 ай бұрын

Put simply, Britain believed it had a claim to global dominance, albeit begrudgingly acknowledging France's imperial pursuits. They expected all other nations to defer and stay in their designated roles. It's no wonder that any emerging power was viewed as a threat and potential adversary. Why does the prevailing interpretation of the events leading up to WWI still seem to absolve Britain and France from their role in this?

@taomaster123

6 ай бұрын

Great comment. The last sentence is 🔥

The depth is refreshing. So many 10-minute explanations. A true historian!

I love channels like this. All information, no hype, to the point.

another banger drops

@bernjobi

7 ай бұрын

a FOUR hour banger! your work is greatly appreciated

I'm writing double shifts and i put this on every night just to fall asleep to it... I still haven't got past chapter 3 but i wake up every morning with it finished.

I love your work Sean, you're a fantastic teacher, especially through the video-form. Always look forward to your videos!

There are two thoughts crossing my brain: It looks like a family feud. The kings, queens, tsars, dukes and the lake are all closely related to each other. The infamous charge of the light brigade at Balaclava sort of happened due to an “accident” and misunderstanding, very much like the big war.

as a German Biologist - this is THE most important Lesson to Learn. We are right back there and it will get Worse

Thank you, I've been curious about the July Crisis and the Frontiers battle ever since Dan Carlin made basically an audiobook about WWI. I find the whole conflict fascinating.

This is fantastic work. This is unfortunately skipped over very quickly in school when teaching the rise to ww1. Fantastic work, and thank you for explaining the complicated and interconnected family connections during ww1.

To clarify Italy's role: when the TA came up for renewal in 1913, Italy inserted a clause (the TA was defensive). If a signatory waged aggressive war against a neighbor, the other two could expect compensation. Both Germany and Austria-Hungary reluctantly agreed. When war with Serbia was declared, the Italian Ambassador met with the Chancellor and inquired about compensation. He was rebuffed, making Italy declare neutrality and then withdrawing from the TA shortly afterward. Italy's switch to the Entente was almost complete.

Great teaching as always. I'm British and this was not taught in the 70's/80's. Hot heads, Serbian nationaliuand the Kaiser's mental health usually get the blame. I knew about the black hand gang from popular literature of the time, Conan Doyle, Buchan and books like Riddle of the Sands but his talk puts it into context especially with the different treaties in place at the time. Well done.

@ricktownend9144

3 ай бұрын

Yes - as another Britisher, my 'knowledge' about this important section of history also came from Childers, Buchan etc., all of which tend to focus on Germany, France and England/Britain; it's been great to get a better, more factual understanding from this excellent video. I more recently had another interesting glimpse ofsome of the issues from the opening chapters of 'Crown of Thorns' - a biography of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria, whose father Ferdinand (another Saxe Coberg-Gotha) took the Austrian/German side as they seemed most likely to give him back bits of territory he'd lost in the Balkan wars. Bulgaria came out of the WWI badly: Ferdinand abdicated, and Boris was left to cope with Agrarian and then Fascist politicians, with interruptions by Communist plotters.

So glad I found this channel last night! Thank you sir. Now back to the fall of the monarchies.

What a gem of a channel, thanks for the terrific content !

Oh man this came at a perfect time. Having a bad night and needed something to take my mind off of things. Thank you Sean for another wonderful video

nice treat to find this this evening

This is excellent. I like studying history and you taught me things I did not know. I have always been fascinated by all this. Frankly, this reminds me a little of the current situation in the world. History tries to repeat itself. I will watch this a couple of more times. You have really nailed this subject. Well done.

Well, that's some fantastic timing. I was hoping you'd get to the July Crisis at some point, honestly. Appreciate it.

11:36 Timezones 11:49 The Marine Chronometer by John Harrison 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ⏱️ 12:15 Railroads 🛤️ 🚂 Trains, Telegraphs 12:53 Standardized Time Zones 🕰️🕰️needed to schedule Railroad departures and arrival times. 14:40 The War Mobilization System. 15:04 + Many Well-Placed, Well Kept Railroads = Quicker Mobilization (and vice-versa) 15:16 Western Europe was quicker to mobilize than Russia. *Why are all these Europeans nations fighting each other?* 16:03 17:17 The Blank Check. 🇩🇪🤝🏻🇦🇹🇭🇺 *The Ultimatum from Kaiser Wilhelm to Serbia* 🇩🇪 🇷🇸 18:23 The Ultimatum 19:41 The Ultimatum 21:48 The Demands of The Ultimatum 1. Stop Publishing Serbian Anti-Austria-Hungary Propaganda 2. Get Rid of The Black Hand 3. Serbian Schools need to stop being anti-Austria-Hungary 4. Fire Officials who need to be fired 5. 6. Austria-Hungary will investigate The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand 🔍🕵️‍♂️ 7. Arrest Tankosic and Viconovic 23:00 8. Stop Serbian Smuggling of Weapons 23:46 Serbia 🇷🇸 agreed to almost all the conditions. War averted? 24:43 German Generals felt war was inveitable. 🫡🪖 25:27 July 25th, Serbia 🇷🇸 Mobilizes Austria-Hungary 🇦🇹 🇭🇺 slowly begins to Mobilize *War* 26:48 A moral victory for Vienna 🇦🇹 🇭🇺 27:17 Austria 🇦🇹 ignores the Kaiser and Launches War! In late July 1914. 28:31 Britain 🇬🇧 Neutrality. 28:56 Nicholas II 🇷🇺 29:25 Mobilization of Russia 🇷🇺 30:07 Alexis 🇷🇺 30:42 Wilhelm and Nicholas II Telegrams 📃📄 31:43 Chain Reaction 🇷🇺🇩🇪🇦🇹 *War Geography* 32:52 West Front, East Front, a 2 Front War weakens Germany 🇩🇪 33:40 Alfred Schlieffen’s Plan • Invade France 🇫🇷 by marching through Belgium 🇧🇪, Shift to Russia 🇷🇺 *World War I* 37:31 Go through Belgium 🇧🇪 38:44 Keeping Britain 🇬🇧 Out 40:23 Britain 🇬🇧 Mobilizes. 🪖🇬🇧🫡 Treaty Obligations🇬🇧🤝🏻🇧🇪 42:34 Withdraw, no, War

@ducktales1113

7 ай бұрын

holy hells, props to you

@j3dwin

7 ай бұрын

@@ducktales1113 He must be Professor Munger's TA 😁

@NormDeMoss

7 ай бұрын

Thank you for your efforts!

Hey bud. I just wanted to tell you I really appreciate your videos, and watching them is something I really looking forward to. Thank you.

Those 44 minutes sure flew by, I could listen to history like this for hours~

Thanks, Sean and team, for exposing this largely unknown history. It doesn't get much treatment and it's so much more complicated that the way it's usually presented. Back to the Fall of the Monarchies after this brief close-up.

I was so excited to finish my Friday and get home and rested to see this notification pop up and the other one. Good deal! Great job as always!

Hi Sean. Fantastic work you have up here. Love the long form content. Thank you.

your content is makes this history accessible while being very informational. can’t wait for future videos!

Thanks Sean. I find your videos to be very informative - even about subjects I already understand fairly well.

Your videos are soooo good! Thank you for compiling history in such an interesting and engaging way

Love the channel, dude! Thank you for your work!

Once again, another fantastic and informative video. Thank you Sean

Your presentation is incredibly and uniquely informative. Keep up the good work.

i already know this is gonna be a banger. thank you

This is great quality, thank you for making it

Thanks for another banger Doc, always enjoy these and your delivery of the history

I finally understabd this. Definitely works as a stand alone video essay. Off to watch the others. Thank you!

All I have to say is excellent work. Now I can go back to the Fall of Monarchies Video which I'm also enjoying immensely.

Love your work Sean, another great video!

Absolute fantastic work! A sub well earned 😊

You did a very good job of explaining a very complicated subject.

This is a great video, man! It's such an interesting topic.

This is so well-explained! Great teacher!

Outstanding video - I learned so much, thank you.

Great video. Really appreciate your work.

Superb analysis of the July Crisis.

Fantastic deep dive content...well done sir

Excellent always keep it interesting and engaging Sean

Awesome explanation & video Sean, thanks :)

Two new long videos about exiting topics? Well thank you so very much. I just ran out of videos of yours to watch.

Thank you for this,this is far clearer than anything they taught in any of my high school history classes 30 years ago.

Fantastic job on explaining this. Wish you had been my history teacher.

Thanks for a much greater understanding of the call-ups, mobilization of armies of the times, the atmosphere of the rattling of sabre's takes on a much more personal nature and explains headlong rush to war that occurred. The beginning of the last ' Noble ' war , although it would end much differently. ✌️👍🙏

Love this detailed simplification of history. Thank you

The video absolutely stands on its own. I learned a lot. Many thanks.

Love your videos!

Awesome video!! This was super interesting

Really well done analysis. I enjoyed the entire series

Thanks Sean. Love your work!

Fantastic video! Thank you so much!

Excellent, spectacular description.

Thank you so much! Very well explained. A damn good job.

26:46 - an important data point for anyone writing for or against the "war-guilt clause".

Excellent presentation.

Great job! I graduated from the Department of History in Moscow over 20 years ago. This video has refreshed my knowledge of WW1. Sean's style of speaking is awesome and can be easily understood by a non-native English speaker like me. I have definitely subscribed to the channel.

I’m new to this channel I found it very informative and easy to understand Thanks

Sean, you are a wonderful teacher

Great video. Thanks

You do a great job man 👍

Such a relevant peace of history in this time

GREAT plug for the full video. Have to learn about 1908. Often, the Russo-Japan war is used as the egg on Czar Nicky's face explaining why he couldn't back down in the July Crisis

Always love you're videos

Your videos are amazing

Anything being taught or conveyed w any sort of certainty because none of us we're there is always difficult to pull off. Even though i have a history degree, I need all the help I can get sometimes . I've written to you before Mr. munger and will always enjoy your efforts . Thanks ever much

Love the content! Huge WWI buff

i love the way you explain things so easily understandable ! i would love for someone like you to be my teacher. will you ever consider making a video about 9/11 and the war on terror ? i wasn’t alive then, not born until 2006, and i would love to finally get a grasp on the way it left a mark on this country and the world politically

Perfect timing - I've got a nice bottle of wine and am winding down for the night.

We gotta as a society get comfortable accepting that A-H was totally justified in demanding the right to investigate and arrest within Serbia A member of the Serbian general staff was directly involved in the assassination and the guns and Bombs used literally came from the Serbian national armory

Good video as usual

This comes at a significant moment...A reminder how things can spiral into a worldwide tragedy. Greetings from the Balkans🌹

Could this be an example of a kind of pre-nuclear Mutually Assured Destruction?

Thanks so much for this! So interesting to hear the details and not just "Franz Ferdinand died and then everyone was at war for some reason." Onto the main vid!

The importance of Time and Timekeeping has been coming up a lot lately. Historia Civilis did an excellent video on how the invention of clocks radically changed the concept of labor.

great job an a complex topic

perfect timing, just came up

Thank you for some clarity on this mess.

The more you look into just about anything, the more complex it gets. Not just in history.

This is the most lucid and cogent treatment of the Great War's outbreak and early events I've seen since Barbara Tuchman's majesterial "The Guns of August". If you ever deliver a lecture in Ann Arbor I'll be in the first row.

❤very well explained. A complex back story well explained well done good history Lesson 👍👏👏👏

A very impressive explanation

I've commented about Dr. Munger's excellent content, but today I want to mention something that is secondary, but nevertheless, important. It is how pleasant his manner and voice are. The voice is mostly good luck on his part, but it is our good luck, too.

@SeanMunger

3 ай бұрын

Thank you!

Excellent commentary… complicated good ol days indeed!

Driving to ski in Canada and then my favourite ytb’r drops! 😗👌

I love your work.

Really enjoyed this, thank you for a great introduction to your channel. As someone who’s studied this era up to Master’s level, it’s all so depressing how many missed opportunities there were from the British perspective to avoid escalation. The second part of the Churchill quote at the beginning is key, the reservoirs of power were full but Sir Edward Grey and the Foreign Office I am sad to say (and I say this as an admirer of the man) completely failed to insert Britain and British power into the dispute until it was far too late. Watching this also reaffirms my belief that Germany, specifically the German General Staff, were responsible for escalating the crisis beyond the Balkans into a world war. Despite all the projections of doom that said by 1917 the Russian Army would be superior to the German Army (boy oh boy how wrong could they have been), in 1914 the Germans still had the advantage over the Russians. One can only curse the Clausewitzian concept of decisive battle in guiding the Germans towards launched an offensive into France through Belgium when they should have relied on (and in fact did rely on when the French attempted to execute Plan XVII) the local topography of Alsace-Lorraine to wage a defensive war and dare France to invade Belgium (which could easily have brought Holland and Belgium to say nothing of Britain onto Germanys side) all the while employing the concept of decisive battle (and battle of annihilation) against the Russians in the East where the terrain was much more suited to this concept of warfare. All this could’ve very much have limited the conflict and the death toll that inevitably followed. But again I go back to my first point Britain was very much asleep (as were all party’s save the German and Austrian General Staffs) during the crisis until it was too late and we are still dealing with the tragic consequences to this day.

Great material ❤

Just couldn't help but notice the Billboard Top 40 Hits book in your stack, Sean. 😉👍

It was a great and really detailed video but there are a few things missing regarding the actions of germany throughout july. In my mind austria wanted the war with serbia and I think germany wanted it too or at least didn't mind it. But a world war or conquering europe was not so much a thing. Not only was Kaiser Wilhelm on vacation but simultaneously also Erich von Falkenhayn (war minister) and Helmuth von Moltke (Chief of the gerneral staff). You'd think, if one plans a great war you wouldn't go on vacation and plan it from your hotel miles away from Berlin and the rest of the administration. Wilhelm came back on the 27 of July but on the 26 France already ordered the soldiers back from a maneuver into the barracks and the french military took over important bridges and trainstations, put it under the control of the military. On the same day, while George V talked about the neutrality of Albion, Winston Churchill (first lord of the admiraly) mobolized the fleet stationed in portland for a "test mobilization". This should only be temporary but on the 28 of July he ordered the fleet to take up battlestations in scapa flow. (The same day austria declared war on serbia, so nothing that really concerned britain) One could make an argument that ordering the biggest fleet in the world to battlestation, is for britian the same as mobolizing the army. Germany mobolized the army on the 1st of August after intense diplomatic debattes about the neutrality of france and a ridicoulos ultimatium, that if france stays neutral they would have to give germany the control over verdun as security. In my mind none of the great powers did enough to stop the war and most of all, austria was too stubborn to cancel an attak on serbia, though one could make an argument that austria had enough of the constant "terror attacks" of serbias black hand. The shooting of Franz Ferdinand wasn't the only shooting or bombing that happend in austria-hungary supported by serbian natinonalists. That's my two cents on the subject and btw sorry for the bad grammar but english isn't my native tongue.

Great One! Thank you! 34:00 Attacking Through Belgium. They did it again in WW2? Eager to see more! Thanks!