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Modern World History 9.7 Lebensraum and Other Not-so-Great Ideas 3 Views
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Description:
Time to learn about Lebensraum. And unlike most German words, this one isn't fun. At least we'll always have wienerschnitzel.
Transcript
- 00:00
The genie in Aladdin had phenomenal cosmic powers and an [Genie with lightning bolts going off in the background]
- 00:07
itty-bitty living space. Well Hitler found himself in a similar [Genie is crammed into the lamp]
- 00:10
situation in the 1930s he wasn't blue or anything but he was the leader of the [Hitler crammed in with people on the map]
- 00:15
master race. Yeah and the master race needed a few
- 00:19
simple things somewhere to live comfortably and plenty of food to eat
Full Transcript
- 00:23
the solution.. Lebensraum. We're adding another word [List of master race needs]
- 00:28
to your budding German vocabulary there people. Lebensraum which literally
- 00:32
means living space, well this wasn't just a word to the Germans however it was a
- 00:37
concept see for centuries Germany had a bit of an overpopulation problem [Lots of people crammed in together]
- 00:41
the Germans had to figure out not only where to put all of their extra people [People all move together]
- 00:45
but how to fill all those extra bellies with food well by the beginning of the
- 00:49
20th century the Germans had decided that well hey if they just built an
- 00:53
empire of overseas colonies then they'd have enough space to stash everybody [German flags popping up on a map of the world]
- 00:58
including the in-laws, and so the term Lebensraum came to represent Germany's [German in-laws being moved to Africa]
- 01:04
Imperial need to expand but then World War one happened not only did the
- 01:09
Germans lose much of the territory they'd collected over the last few [Map showing land lost by Germany in WWI]
- 01:12
decades but many Germans starved during the British sea blockade of their
- 01:17
country well when the Nazis came to power the idea of Lebensraum had [German army soldiers marching]
- 01:21
undergone a bit of a Hitler makeover it was still about territorial expansion it [Hitler waving from a window]
- 01:26
was still about using that territory to grow food but now it was also about [Field full of crops]
- 01:30
removing everybody the Germans thought racially inferior to themselves and [Non-Aryan people looking scared]
- 01:34
repopulating that space of the world you know with Aryans.. Well not exactly the
- 01:40
kind of makeover we'd ever want to get.. While Lebensraum had its roots in the [Woman with a moustache at a salon]
- 01:44
Germany of the Middle Ages the more recent understanding of the word pulled
- 01:48
from other movements in other parts of the world like the United States yeah.. [Hitler looking at the US through a telescope]
- 01:52
While manifest destiny was the belief in 19th century America that we were
- 01:57
seriously awesome and we should spread our awesomeness from sea to shining sea [The meaninig of Manifest Destiny is shown]
- 02:02
yeah an exhibit right like that well not only that but God wanted us to do this [God cheering America on]
- 02:08
yeah we were destined to be manifest something like [Guy holding a gun and the US flag]
- 02:11
that. Anyway he wanted us to take over Texas and Oregon and all that land in [US flag popping up all over the map]
- 02:16
the middle there and never mind those pesky Native Americans and heck why not
- 02:20
Cuba and the Philippines too who are we to argue with the big man upstairs.
- 02:24
So basically Hitler didn't invent the idea that the best people in the world
- 02:28
should go out and take whatever they want and kill anyone who gets in the way. [Uncle Sam appears]
- 02:32
He had some help from the good ol US of A which makes it a bit ironic that it
- 02:36
took the u.s. to end Nazi dreams of global and racial domination or we think [Hitler appears behind Uncle Sam]
- 02:41
it's ironic that that Alanis song, Alanis Morisette, yeah that song..
- 02:46
It's had us confused since 1995
- 02:50
(Singing) isn't it ironic - something like that
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