WW1

WW1
1914 – 1918
Watch on YouTube (Part 1 • Part 2)
Date uploaded	October 21, 2016
Length	Part 1: 6:23 Part 2: 7:40
Sponsor(s)	none
Historical Event	World War I
Transcript
Belligerents
Allies: France British Empire United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Canada Australia British Raj British Ceylon New Zealand Newfoundland Union of South Africa Russia (until 1917) Serbia Belgium Japan Montenegro Italy (from 1915) United States (from 1917) Romania (from 1916) Portugal (from 1916) Kingdom of Hejaz (from 1916) Greece (from 1917) Siam (from 1917) China (from 1917) ... and others
Central Powers: Germany Austria-Hungary Ottoman Empire Bulgaria (from 1915) ... and others
Commanders
Raymond Poincaré Georges Clemenceau Herbert H. Asquith David Lloyd George Nicholas II Alexander Kerensky Victor Emmanuel III Vittorio Orlando Woodrow Wilson Emperor Taishō Albert I Peter I Ferdinand I and others ...
Wilhelm II Franz Joseph I Karl I Mehmed V Mehmed VI Three Pashas Ferdinand I and others ...
Episode chronology
Previous	N/A
Next	"Hitler (episode)"

World War I, also known as WW1, First World War or the Great War, was the first video and two-part series created by OverSimplified that covers the events that caused and happened during World War I.

Summary

Part 1

Before the war, there were numerous feuds between countries around Europe. Specifically, rivalries between Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia. Tensions were rising, technology was advancing, and another global war was inevitable. In Austria-Hungary's Sarajevo, many people hated living in the empire, so Archduke Franz Ferdinand decided it was a good idea to go on a pre-announced ride to the location. Although there were a few assassins, they initially failed to kill the archduke. However, Gavrilo Princip killed Franz Ferdinand. Austria-Hungary blamed Serbia for the assassination and threatened to invade it. They asked for backup from their ally Germany, which agreed to ally themselves with Austria. Austria-Hungry declared war on Serbia; due to many pacts, treaties, and several other declarations of war, nearly all European powers pulled themselves into the fight. The Germans eventually attacked Belgium and defeated them. Many nations, including the United States, attempted to end the war in Europe but failed. When Austria-Hungary was losing on several fronts, Germany had to send troops to help Austria. Germany pushed the Entente at both West and Eastern fronts. However, in the west, they had to retreat due to several reasons.

Part 2

Britain held a naval blockade to block supplies from reaching Germany to starve them. Several Entente colonies invaded German colonies in Asia, Australia, and Africa. Japan and Italy later joined the Entente for the reward of gaining more territory. Portugal and Greece joined the Entente as well. The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers; then, they were pushed back on several fronts. With the Ottomans' defeat against Russia. Many Ottomans blamed the native Armenians, causing a genocide of 1.5 million Armenians. Germany sent some spies to Afghanistan to persuade the Jihads to attack British India, which failed (part of the failure was because the spies got drunk). Funny enough, Austria-Hungary still hasn't invaded Serbia, so they went to Bulgaria for support. Bulgaria, hungry to get some of its lands back, agreed, and they finally defeated Serbia. Serbian troops escaped to Albania, but Austria-Hungary "friendly invaded" Albania, forcing the Serbians to flee through the sea.

The Germans bombed British cities with Zeppelins and used mustard gas on Allied trenches. They also used submarines to sink civilian ships. The most notable one was the Lusitania, which had 159 Americans when Germany hit it. This further fueled tension between the United States and the Central Powers. The Entente started using mustard gas and supplied civilian ships with anti-submarine weapons to counter all of this. The UK and Germany also had "Dreadnoughts" — giant iron battleships that were so expensive to make that they were never sent out to battle aside from the Battle of Jutland. The UK also started to utilize tanks, which made its first appearance at Somme's Battle.

Although the Allies were slowly pushing back the Central Powers, the Russians launched the Brusilov Offensive to help France. They were able to push the Germans back until they ran out of supplies. Romania attempted to help Russia but was quickly defeated. After they joined the war, Greece and the Allies were able to push the Austro-Hungarians back slowly. By 1917, the European countries have taken a toll from the war. For example, French troops were deserting, and the Germans were starving. Most notably, Russia was low on supplies. The citizens, frustrated with the government and angry that the crazy Rasputin led the government, started to riot. The riots began in Petrograd and quickly turned into a revolution. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew Nicholas II. Eventually, they took control.

Russia left the war; however, the United States of America joined the Entente after learning that Germany tried to send a message to Mexico to attack the US. Germany made one last attempt to defeat the Allies before the Americans showed up. They defeated Allied forces at several battles, causing them to lose resources while the Entente became stronger. The Entente launched a counterattack, quickly defeating the Germans. Now, the Central Powers were being pushed back from all sides. Bulgaria and the Ottomans promptly fell to the Entente, followed by Austria-Hungary. Finally, on November 11, 1918, at 11:00, Germany surrendered, ending the global conflict. Germany was forced to pay off enormous war debt as punishment for their actions, lost all of their colonies and some of their land, and had their army cut down. Austria-Hungary was dissolved into several other countries. The Ottomans and Bulgaria lost pieces of land. The world decided to never have a significant war again... for about twenty years.

Transcript

View WW1's transcript here: WW1/Transcript

Trivia

• WW1 is the first series of the OverSimplified channel.
• Both parts of the WW1 series are the first and second videos uploaded to the OverSimplified channel.
• WW1 is the first series in 2016 to be uploaded to the OverSimplified channel.
• OverSimplified revealed that the original script for this video contained a lot more profanity, but he took it out for two reasons: first, to make it more classroom-friendly, and second, his mother's disapproval.
• This is one of the videos that does not have a sponsor.

Errors

• In Part 2, when the German Empire converged their troops and hit hard on the Somme, a French flag somehow became an American flag.
• The US flag has 50 stars on the thumbnail of the part two video instead of 48, as Hawaii and Alaska still haven't joined the US at the time WW1 started.

Gallery