History Summarized: 1900 – The World before the War

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The First World War was Europe’s most destructive single event since the Black Death, so uh… why on earth did they do it on purpose? Let’s unpack the state of affairs at the turn of the 1900s to understand the World Before the War and see how it could only lead to conflict.

Special thanks to Jonny and Billy from our Discord community, who kindly looked over my script.

SOURCES & Further Reading:
“Smithsonian World War 1: The Definitive Visual History” published by DK & Penguin Random House, edited by Hugo Wilkinson
“Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes To War” by Max Hastings
“Hubris: The Tragedy of War in the Twentieth Century” by Alistair Horne
Great Courses lecture series “World War I: The ‘Great War’”, lectures 1 through 4, “The Century’s Initial Catastrophe”, “Europe in 1914”, “Towards Crisis in Politics and Culture” and “Causes of the War and the July Crisis, 1914”, by Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius
Great Courses lecture series “The African Experience from Lucy to Nelson Mandela” lecture 20 “European Conquest and African Resistance” by Kenneth P. Vickery

MUSIC:
“There Is Only War” from Space Marine II OST by Nima Fakhrara and Steve Molitz
“The Reliquary” from Stray Gods OST by Austin Wintory
“On Father’s Watch” from Assassin’s Creed Unity OST by Chris Tilton
“Follow My Lead” from Assassin’s Creed Unity OST by Chris Tilton
“48 Hours” from M. Son of the Century OST by Tom Rowlands

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Date: September 12, 2025
History #german #russian 1871 1900 1900s 1914 analysis Archduke austria Austria-Hungary Austro-Hungarian Balance of Powers Belle Britain BRITISH Causes Classics Concert of Europe diplomacy Empire Epoque europe Ferdinand France Franz french funny Germany history Industrialization ITALIAN Italy Legends Literary Analysis Literature mythology Myths Nation Nationalism OSP Ottoman Overly Sarcastic Productions prewar Russia Serbia state stories storytelling Summary technology Unification World War

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40 thoughts on “History Summarized: 1900 – The World before the War”

  4. Well quite easy.
    Britian and France were jealous of German success (Britian even created "Made in Germany" because they wanted that nobody buys the cheap German sruff, which didn't go as planned because Germany was OP with their craftmanship)
    So they wanted to bring Germany down.

    5:23 Kaiser Wilhelm typical history doesn't work anymore.
    Kaiser Wilhelm was in fact the Peace Kaiser and tried everything to stop a potential war. It was Bismarck who wanted oversea colonies, not Wilhelm.
    Guy's are we serious.. How can this be a "Serious work of History" and we still get Kaiser Wilhelm II wrong.

  6. I feel like one point blue missed on his brief summation of the potential causes for WW1 is the inreased and often outsized power military leaders began to accrue in their colonial and modernization efforts, alongside technolgocial advancements that allowed for mass mechanized mobilization.

    When amassed armies could be shuttled across the continent at speeds unheard of thanks to rail, every nation calcualted that whoever was fastest to deploy with the most amount of troops would be the victor.

    That strategic assumption was disastrously wrong as it lead to nations fully commiting massive amount of manpower to the conflict that truly commited every nation to a long and bitter fight.

    WW1 is a fine showcase for how once the modern machinery of war starts it is extremely hard to stop.

  9. I notice you skip the growing powers outside of Europe. Specifically, Japan, China, Brazil, Venezuela, Canada, Mexico, and the USA, which had been the silent major players at the time, and they would become the major powers of a post-World War.

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