Why World War 1 happened? | The Real Reason | Dhruv Rathee
World War 1, or the First World War is considered one of the first great wars in World History in which over 14 million people lost their lives. It changed the geopolitical situation of the world forever. But why did this Great War take place? Which major countries were involved in this? Who were the allies and the enemies? What was the immediate cause of the war? What were the consequences? I explain all these things in this video.
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00:00Hello, friends.
00:01On 28th June 1914,
00:02a 19-year-old student
00:05shot and killed the prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
00:10And because of this one incident,
00:12a war breaks out.
00:13A war that lasts for four years.
00:16In which more than 2 crore lives are lost.
00:19A war in which many ancient empires are destroyed.
00:22A war that is fought on many countries and continents.
00:27Today, we know this war as World War I.
00:31It sounds sensational, doesn't it?
00:33Because of this one single incident,
00:35World War I broke out.
00:37If we could go back in time
00:39and prevent this assassination,
00:41wouldn't there be a World War?
00:43The reality is not that simple, friends.
00:45A war of this magnitude
00:47is due to a long and complex chain of reasons.
00:50And then there is an incident that sparks it.
00:54Imagine, there is a mountain of dynamites here.
00:57And I use a small match to break this mountain of dynamites.
01:01The explosion that happened here
01:03wasn't due to my match.
01:05It happened because there was a mountain of dynamites here.
01:09Come, let's understand World War I in today's video.
01:24In the morning, the bombardment switched to the fifth line.
01:29In 1914, the map of Europe looked like this.
01:32There was a large Austro-Hungarian Empire in the middle.
01:35Much larger than today's Austria and Hungary.
01:38The German Empire was also much larger than today's Germany.
01:42There was no country of Poland.
01:43Russia had the Russian Empire.
01:45Today's Turkey had the Ottoman Empire.
01:48Apart from this, there were the United Kingdom and France.
01:51It's interesting to know that
01:53most of the European countries were monarchies at that time.
01:56That is, a king and queen ruled there.
01:58In fact, there were only three countries in Europe
02:00that were democracies, not monarchies.
02:02France, Switzerland and San Marino.
02:05There are some countries in Eastern Europe
02:07like Serbia, Bosnia, Romania and Bulgaria.
02:09We call them Balkan countries.
02:11Remember, this is very important in our story.
02:13Let's start our story with the year 1878.
02:17There was a war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
02:21The Ottoman Empire was on one side.
02:23The Russian Empire was on the other side.
02:25It was helping the Balkan countries
02:27to separate from the Ottoman Empire.
02:29At the conclusion of this war,
02:31the Treaty of Berlin was signed in 1878.
02:34According to this treaty,
02:35the Austro-Hungarian Empire was given the right
02:38to administer the regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina
02:43temporarily.
02:44But officially, this area would be a part of the Ottoman Empire.
02:47But in October 1908,
02:49the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina.
02:53Invaded it.
02:54There is a political cartoon of that time
02:56which is very interesting to watch.
02:58The Ottoman Sultans are holding their hands
03:01and feeling helpless.
03:02Because internal problems were emerging in the Ottoman Empire.
03:05There were revolutions.
03:07At that time, Bulgaria was freed from the Ottoman Empire
03:10which you can see in the middle.
03:12It became an independent country.
03:13On the left, you can see that the Austrian King,
03:16Franz Josef,
03:17started taking over Bosnia and Herzegovina.
03:20Tore it apart.
03:22The country of Bosnia and Herzegovina
03:24remained under the Ottoman Empire for 400 years.
03:27But instead of freedom,
03:29another empire came and captured it.
03:32Obviously, the people of Bosnia were very angry with it.
03:36They wanted to be free.
03:37Their neighbouring country, Serbia,
03:39was also very angry at this.
03:41The Serbian people had not only a geographical connection
03:46but also an ethnic connection.
03:48Actually, all these countries in Eastern Europe
03:50have a Slavic ethnicity.
03:53Many people in these countries feel this connection.
03:56In fact, if you look at the bottom side of this map,
03:59the countries in dark blue,
04:01the people of these countries call themselves South Slavs.
04:05And many people in these countries
04:07also demanded a South Slavic nation.
04:10Serbia complained that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
04:14was not only invading Bosnia
04:16but was also invading the South Slavs.
04:18Before taking over this country,
04:20the Austrian-Hungarian Foreign Minister
04:22had already talked to the Russian Foreign Minister
04:25that Russia should not object to this.
04:27We're telling you first that we're going to take over this country.
04:30And Russia even listened to him.
04:32Because Russia wanted something else in return.
04:34Look at this map, this is the Black Sea
04:36and below it is the Sea of Marmara.
04:38The State of Bosphorus passes through the middle
04:41dividing Istanbul into two.
04:43This part was with the Ottoman Empire
04:45and Russia wanted to take it away.
04:47So Russia told the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
04:49that they would take it away and take control of it.
04:52And you don't say anything to us
04:54and you take control of Bosnia.
04:56We won't say anything to you. It's a good deal.
04:58But there was a problem.
04:59The problem was that there were a lot of Slavic people in Russia.
05:02And a lot of people in Russia started protesting
05:04after seeing this.
05:06How can we agree
05:08that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
05:10can take control of our Slavic people?
05:12The Russian Empire was already weak.
05:14It had to listen to its people.
05:16Despite this secret agreement,
05:18the Russian Foreign Minister
05:20started supporting Serbia.
05:22The year was 1909.
05:24The Austrian-Hungarian Empire looked at Germany
05:26and asked,
05:28if we take over Serbia
05:30and Russia interferes,
05:32will you help us?
05:34Germany said, why not?
05:36We're old friends.
05:38We'll definitely help.
05:40On the other hand, Russia asked France
05:42that the Austrian-Hungarian Empire
05:44took over Bosnia first.
05:46And when Serbia objected to it,
05:48the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and Germany
05:50were talking together
05:52about attacking Serbia.
05:54Let's do this together
05:56and fight against them.
05:58But France said, what does it have to do with Bosnia?
06:00Whatever happens there, let it be.
06:02I don't want to interfere.
06:04After France's refusal,
06:06Russia quietly sat down
06:08and said that they had to accept
06:10the annexation of Bosnia.
06:12So for now, any threat of war
06:14would stop.
06:16But then came
06:18the assassination of Ferdinand.
06:20Actually,
06:22the people of Bosnia
06:24will not sit quietly.
06:26They want their freedom.
06:28A new revolutionary movement
06:30started called Young Bosnia.
06:32It's a student revolutionary group.
06:34The Serbian people
06:36are helping them.
06:38Their purpose is to make a free country.
06:40In fact, their purpose is not only
06:42to make Bosnia and Herzegovina free,
06:44but also to unite with Serbia.
06:46They want
06:48to make a huge South Slavic country.
06:50Yugoslavia.
06:52What's the name?
06:54Yugoslavia.
06:56Yugo means South.
06:58A South Slavic country.
07:00Spoiler alert, it can be made later.
07:02Although, in today's world,
07:04these countries are very different.
07:06But anyways, on 28th June 1914,
07:08the prince of Austria-Hungary,
07:10Ferdinand,
07:12was travelling with his wife Sophie
07:14to the annexed territory of Bosnia.
07:16Although they wanted to
07:18travel in Hindi,
07:20they soon travelled in English.
07:22Six Bosnian revolutionaries
07:24planned to kill them.
07:26Around 10 in the morning,
07:28a revolutionary named Kambrinovic
07:30threw a bomb at Ferdinand's car.
07:32But the bomb bounced off the car
07:34and exploded on the side of the road.
07:3620 people were injured.
07:38Ferdinand managed to escape.
07:40He cancelled the meeting he was attending
07:42out of shock.
07:44He said to the Bosnian mayor,
07:46we came to visit your city
07:48and you welcomed us with a bomb.
07:50This is outrageous.
07:52After cancelling the meeting,
07:54he decided to go to the hospital
07:56to meet the injured people.
07:58On the way to the hospital,
08:00Kambrinovic took a wrong turn.
08:02When he was about to turn back,
08:04he realised that
08:06he was actually
08:08only 5 feet away from a revolutionary.
08:10A 19-year-old school student,
08:12Gavrilo Princip,
08:14whom I talked about in the beginning of the video,
08:16was the one who shot
08:18Ferdinand and his wife Sophie.
08:20And killed
08:22the prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
08:24Gavrilo Princip was immediately
08:26arrested.
08:28Gavrilo's sentence is less than 20 years.
08:30And according to the law,
08:32he cannot be hanged.
08:34So Gavrilo was jailed for 20 years
08:36for this assassination.
08:38During the trial, he said that
08:40he was a Yugoslav nationalist.
08:42His goal was to unite
08:44all the Yugoslavs.
08:46And he didn't care which state
08:48Yugoslavia would become a part of.
08:50But for now, he wanted
08:52freedom from Austria.
08:54The king of the Austro-Hungarian Empire
08:56was furious.
08:58And in a fit of anger,
09:00he started a war against Serbia.
09:02Russia saw that Serbia
09:04was being captured.
09:06Russia went to save Serbia.
09:08Germany saw that
09:10Russia was going against
09:12the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
09:14So Germany went to save the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
09:16This time, France didn't back down
09:18and went in support of Russia and Serbia.
09:20An interesting
09:22chain was formed here.
09:24It's called the Chain of Friendship.
09:26It's an interesting cartoon
09:28describing this situation.
09:30Italy was in an alliance
09:32with Austria-Hungary and Germany.
09:34But Italy withdrew
09:36from its agreement to support them.
09:38Because the agreement said
09:40that if there is an attack on our country,
09:42then we can help you.
09:44But here, literally, Austria-Hungary
09:46and Germany are invading
09:48Serbia. They're attacking themselves.
09:50So we're retreating.
09:52Because the enemy of the Ottoman Empire
09:54was Russia,
09:56the Ottoman Empire went in support
09:58of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
10:00The United Kingdom is also involved here.
10:02Because Russia, France and Britain
10:04had an alliance treaty called the Triple Entente.
10:06And in this way,
10:08there is a great war.
10:10Where all these countries
10:12come to war with each other.
10:14Later, countries like the USA and Japan
10:16join to support Britain and France
10:18in this war.
10:20Countries that were ruled by the British,
10:22like India,
10:24are also involved in this war.
10:26Because the British needed soldiers.
10:28So the easiest option would be
10:30to use the countries
10:32colonised by the British
10:34like soldiers.
10:36A lot of Indians also go
10:38on behalf of Britain
10:40to participate in World War I.
10:42This is how World War I begins.
10:44But here,
10:46a very important question arises.
10:48Why were all these countries so eager
10:50to wage war against each other?
10:52If something like this happens today,
10:54there would be no war
10:56between so many countries.
10:58What was so special about these countries
11:00that they went to war?
11:02There are four main reasons for this.
11:04Nationalism, Imperialism,
11:06Militarism and Alliances.
11:08Nationalism means
11:10a nationalism without liberation.
11:12A nationalism without freedom.
11:14A nationalism based on race.
11:16A nationalism based on
11:18the fact that my country is the best country in the world.
11:20And the rest of the countries
11:22have an aggressive attitude against them.
11:24They look down on the rest of the countries.
11:26When Bismarck unified Germany
11:28in 1871,
11:30it was based on nationalism.
11:32But still, Germany was a
11:34constitutional monarchy,
11:36under the Prussian monarchy.
11:38These kings and emperors took advantage
11:40of the nationalism among the people.
11:42They misused it. They convinced the people
11:44to go to war for their country.
11:46And here, they declared war
11:48for imperialism.
11:50To occupy the rest of the countries.
11:52To take over them.
11:54Here, you'd think that managing your own country
11:56is such a difficult task.
11:58Why were they trying to expand
12:00the borders of their countries?
12:02Why were they trying to take over other countries?
12:04And raise their heads?
12:06The simple answer to this is
12:08looting.
12:10The kings and emperors used to take over other countries
12:12to gain power.
12:14Look, I have so many territories.
12:16I rule over so many areas.
12:18And secondly, to exploit the resources
12:20of those areas.
12:22They'd find gold and loot it
12:24to keep it in their treasuries.
12:26And by the 1900s,
12:28these capitalist companies
12:30were also involved.
12:32Like the East India Company.
12:34It was the East India Company that
12:36occupied the areas of India.
12:38And started draining the wealth of India.
12:40They call imperialism
12:42the highest stage of capitalism.
12:44That the capitalists take over other countries
12:46and take advantage of their raw material
12:48and cheap labour to earn their profits.
12:50A famous capitalist of that time,
12:52Henry Ford, who started the Ford Company,
12:54in fact,
12:56said a famous dialogue
12:58about war and capitalism.
13:00If you don't know the cause of war,
13:02it is capitalism, greed, the dirty hunger for dollars.
13:04Take away the capitalists
13:06and you will sweep war from earth.
13:08Imperialism was not possible
13:10without militarism.
13:12These countries had to spend a lot of money
13:14on the military.
13:16So that they could take over other countries
13:18simply by brute force.
13:20The British Royal Navy was the world's
13:22largest navy at that time.
13:24With the help of which, Britain could run
13:26its huge imperialistic empire.
13:28The six great powers of that time,
13:30Britain, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary,
13:32Russia and Italy,
13:34their combined military spending in 1870
13:36was around £94 million.
13:38And by 1914,
13:40it had increased fourfold.
13:42All these countries were spending a lot of money
13:44on the military.
13:46All these countries were
13:48very interested in imperialism.
13:50To take over as many countries as possible.
13:52To expand their empire.
13:54And the most interesting thing is
13:56when I talk about the country,
13:58I mean the monarch of that country.
14:00The king of that empire.
14:02Because there was no democracy.
14:04People's will was not heard.
14:06Only the will of the person
14:08who was at the top.
14:10And there were very cruel kings here.
14:12In Germany, there was Kaiser Wilhelm II.
14:14He was considered a very cruel king.
14:16He was always afraid
14:18that France, Britain or Russia
14:20might attack Germany.
14:22In Russia, there was Sir Nicholas II
14:24who was not able to handle the power.
14:26He was the last emperor of the Russian Empire.
14:28And the head of state of Britain was
14:30King George V.
14:32An interesting fact,
14:34these three kings were each other's first cousins.
14:36They were literally of the same family.
14:38The kings of three countries.
14:40Can you imagine?
14:42So World War I was like a Game of Thrones.
14:44Literally.
14:46You can consider it a family fighting.
14:48It is said that Queen Victoria
14:50tried to stop the war between the three.
14:52But after her death,
14:54it was not possible.
14:56The fourth reason is alliances.
14:58Among all these countries,
15:00so many political alliances were seen.
15:02In 1882,
15:04a triple alliance was formed between
15:06Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy.
15:08These three countries had promised
15:10mutual support to each other
15:12if any great power was attacked.
15:14A second major alliance was formed
15:16in 1907
15:18between Great Britain, France
15:20and Russia.
15:22The original reason behind these alliances
15:24was imperialism.
15:26All these countries occupied other countries
15:28and were jealous
15:30that this country
15:32has occupied this African country.
15:34This country has occupied this country.
15:36Now we have to expand our empire here and there.
15:38These things were going on.
15:40In such cases, what was the state of the common people?
15:42Why did the common people
15:44start fighting each other
15:46because of these kings?
15:49The answer is,
15:51mostly not.
15:53But still, the common people were pushed into this war.
15:55The first reason is
15:57a soldier's job at that time
15:59was for the poor.
16:01Why would a common man
16:03risk his life for the greed of a king?
16:05Why would anyone want to do this?
16:07For money.
16:09Because of the lack of employment.
16:11People who couldn't get employment anywhere else
16:13would look for a job like a soldier
16:15in these countries.
16:17Fighting for security is a different matter.
16:19But here,
16:21to occupy another country,
16:23to invade another country,
16:25why would anyone want to fight?
16:27Where would the motivation come from?
16:29The answer to this is the propaganda that was spread at that time.
16:31Jingoistic Nationalism.
16:33In the newspapers of that time,
16:35the media made such an image
16:37that enlisting in the army
16:39is a very noble profession.
16:41It is a selfless service for the country.
16:43Soldiers were shown to be
16:45disciplined heroes.
16:47The war was glorified by the media.
16:49For example,
16:51Britain went to the Crimean War with Russia at one point.
16:53And because of a failed military action,
16:55200 British soldiers were killed.
16:57But the newspapers
16:59highlighted this issue.
17:01The article that was printed
17:03in The Times in London
17:05said that the British soldier
17:07will do his duty even to certain death.
17:09And is not paralysed by the feeling
17:11that he is the victim of some
17:13hideous blunder.
17:15The top leadership took a wrong decision
17:17and the soldiers lost their lives.
17:19Yet this was shown as a heroic act.
17:21The monarch of Britain
17:23had appointed an official poet.
17:25Alfred Tennyson.
17:27He wrote a poem
17:29Charge of the Light Brigade.
17:31It was one of the first poems in the world
17:33that shows a soldier as a hero.
17:35There was another famous English poet
17:37called Rupert Brooke.
17:39His poems The Soldier and The Dead
17:41show war and death
17:43as glorious things.
17:45He died in World War I.
17:47And Winston Churchill
17:49used his poem
17:51as a death note
17:53to recruit other people.
17:55This type of war-mongering propaganda
17:57was spread at that time.
17:59It was shown that going to war
18:01is a good thing for the country.
18:03I'm saying the country because
18:05the country was not a democratic country.
18:07The country was ruled by a king.
18:09And you were basically going to war
18:11for that king.
18:13But not everyone was influenced by this propaganda.
18:15There were a lot of people in these countries
18:17who were completely against war.
18:19The Socialist Party of America,
18:21the Socialist Party of Italy,
18:23the British Labour Party,
18:25the Bolsheviks in Russia,
18:27Karl Liebknecht in Germany,
18:29and Rosa Luxemburg in Russia.
18:31There were also anarchists and syndicalists
18:33who believed in internationalism.
18:35Some people opposed war
18:37like Henry Ford
18:39and Valentin Bulgakov.
18:41There were also intellectuals and poets
18:43like Rudyard Kipling who were against war.
18:45You might know him, he is the author of The Jungle Book.
18:47Against the poem The Charge of the Light Brigade,
18:49he wrote a counter-poem
18:51The Last of the Light Brigade.
18:53It highlights the bad situations
18:55that soldiers have to go through
18:57while fighting a war.
18:59Similarly, there were some poems by Wilfred Owen
19:01that showed the bitter truth of war.
19:03Poisonous fumes.
19:05Wounds.
19:07Vomiting blood.
19:09If you really understand the situations
19:11that a soldier has to go through in a war,
19:13you will never see war
19:15in the way of enthusiasm.
19:17Perhaps the most legendary anti-war poem
19:19was written by Thomas Hardy in 1909.
19:21The Man He Killed.
19:23In this poem, he shows that a soldier
19:25kills another soldier with a bullet.
19:27Because both were unemployed people.
19:29They had no work.
19:31To earn some money for their family,
19:33they joined the army like soldiers.
19:35They fought for their country
19:37and shot each other in the face.
19:39But if these two people
19:41met each other
19:43in a restaurant
19:45in another country,
19:47they would happily sing
19:49and eat together
19:51and celebrate.
19:53These are the reasons that every soldier
19:55who fought in World War I
19:57did not come under the influence
19:59of this bad war-mongering propaganda.
20:01We have seen many such cases
20:03where there were many mutinies.
20:05In France, there was a case
20:07where a battalion raised its hand
20:09and said that they were not fighting this war.
20:11In Russia, the soldiers
20:13fought against their own kings.
20:15And the most interesting case is
20:17the Christmas Truce of 1914.
20:19When the war was going on in 1914,
20:21it was Christmas time.
20:23On one side were the British soldiers
20:25and on the other side were the German soldiers.
20:27They came together to celebrate Christmas
20:29in the front line.
20:31We were about 300 yards
20:33from the Germans.
20:35And we had, I think,
20:37on Christmas Eve, we'd been
20:39singing carols
20:41and this, that and the other.
20:43And the Germans
20:45had been doing the same.
20:47Eventually, a German said,
20:49tomorrow, you no shoot,
20:51we no shoot.
20:53They exchanged food
20:55and started singing together
20:57and started celebrating.
20:59Because literally, these common people
21:01had no reason to go to war.
21:03But then they got an order from their commanders
21:05to stop all this and start the war again.
21:07Then the soldiers were punished.
21:09That if someone didn't fight,
21:11we'd shoot him down
21:13the same way.
21:15Even if someone ran away from the war,
21:17we'd punish him.
21:19Such punishments were given to the soldiers
21:21to force them to fight.
21:23Eventually, World War I happened.
21:25World War I happened.
21:27And what exactly happened?
21:29We'll talk about it in a future video.
21:31In Part 2 of this video,
21:33we'll talk about which countries
21:35fought in World War II and who won.
21:37And what was India's involvement
21:39in this geopolitical game.
21:41I hope you found this video informative.
21:43If you liked it, watch the Kargil War video.
21:45And I've made many other
21:47historical education videos.
21:49You can watch the entire playlist here.
21:51See you in the next video.
21:53Thank you very much.