How World War I Began

Patreon: patreon.com/OldBritannia

In 1914, Europe was at the peak of its powers. In everything from cultural to scientific achievements the continent was at the forefront of global innovation. Rich, ambitious and self confident, its Great Powers had expanded outwards to form world spanning colonial empire's.

And then it all came crashing down.

This documentary aims to explore how the First World War began. It looks at all of the Great Powers: the German Empire, the British Empire, the French Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire. It shows how tensions slowly crept up between these powerful nations, splitting the continent into opposing alliance blocks, sparking arms races' and leading to a series of crisis that all led to 1914.

Key figures such as Bismarck, Wilhelm II, Nicholas II, Sir Edward Grey, von Bulow and Lord Salisbury are sketched out with brief biographies.

The ultimate goal is not to tie everything together in a nice thesis, the documentary merely aims to let the events speak for themselves, though I do offer analysis. A full source list will be provided at the end of the series.

Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
2:31 Bismarck & the Unification of Germany
10:18 Bismarck's New Order
20:22 Twilight of the Habsburgs
37:41 The Fall of Bismarck
56:31 The Franco-Russian Alliance
1:10:19 Weary Titan: The British Empire 1897-1902
1:23:12 Risk Fleet: The Origins of the Naval Race
1:34:53 The Entente Cordiale
1:46:59 Imperial Russia 1894-1906
2:02:31 The First Moroccan Crisis 1905-1906
2:08:19 Dreadnought
2:22:36 The Lion & the Bear: The Anglo-Russian Agreement
2:31:44 Dress Rehearsal: Bosnia 1908
2:44:40 Ever Present Danger: The Naval Arms Race

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