ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

U.S. History 1877-Present 6: The Ingredients for a Great War 83 Views


Share It!


Description:

World War I started pretty much how you'd expect, plenty of scheming, a couple of assassinations, and a few people none too happy about their lack of OKCupid dates. Or, you know, something along those lines.

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Time to talk about World War One also known as the Great

00:08

War and not because it was all that great because it was a massive conflict [Earth spinning and explosion occurs]

00:12

that was literally fought all over the world short list of ww1

00:17

accomplishments includes killing about 37 million soldiers and civilians ending [World War I accomplishments appear]

00:24

and expanding whole empires igniting later revolutions ramping up the pace of

00:29

technological change to clean and warfare and of course sowing the seeds

00:33

for its sequel world war heart dude well how did it all get started what was all

00:39

the bloodshed supposed to be about well in the early 20th century trouble was de [Trouble cooking in Europe pot]

00:43

bruin in Europe European empires had been jockeying for power for a while it

00:47

was like a free-for-all wrestling match but to speak here the British French [Dogs fighting]

00:51

austro-hungarian German Ottoman and Russian empires all of them had one

00:56

thing in common their OkCupid profiles listed scheming for power and domination [Germanys OkCupid profile appears]

01:02

as a favorite hobby that in long walks on the beach

01:05

typical well all these empires were also becoming more and more nationalistic [Man shivering in a blizzard]

01:10

this means there was even more flag waving and army building than usual

01:14

everywhere people were being whipped into a fervor about the being from

01:18

wherever they were from if anybody else had a problem with it or tried to step [Men hitting each other with bags]

01:22

on their country well the citizens were ready to fight the courts most dangerous

01:27

thing might not have been the fact that the empires were getting super excited

01:30

about being themselves a self-esteem is supposed to be a good thing right the

01:34

truly dangerous thing was that country started forming a web of alliances [Spider and web appears from Europe]

01:38

across the continent it's nice to have a group of friends but it lasts nice when

01:42

cliques unleash devastation never before seen on

01:45

earth well in 1914 all this came to a head when the heir to the

01:49

austro-hungarian Empire was assassinated yeah it was like throwing a lit match [Lit match thrown into gas tank]

01:54

into a gas tank that single event sent Europe on fire as

01:59

these international cliques dragged each other into the inferno well soon over a [People screaming into an inferno]

02:03

hundred different countries were involved and World War one had begun and

02:07

what was dear America doing well you know hanging out catching up on the new [Boy playing videogames]

02:12

Game of Thrones episodes the signing petitions have Justin Bieber deported

02:16

you know all the usual the US was in its isolationist space we were like The

02:21

awkward kid playing alone in the sandbox with his Tonka trucks refusing to join [Kid playing with truck in a sandbox]

02:24

in the giant game of freeze tag everybody else was playing but then the

02:28

freeze tag came grew so massive and so violent so important that America just

02:33

couldn't ignore it anymore well US involvement in the war was

02:36

costly but it did end up raising America's street cred plus it could put

02:40

the official world superpower on its OkCupid profile which seriously upped [USA OkCupid profile appears]

02:46

its member of date

Up Next

Why Does the Constitution Still Work for Us?
5723 Views

Ever heard of a "living document"? They eat and breathe just like the rest of us! They even walk around on their own two legs. Okay, fine—maybe t...

Related Videos

The Puritans and the Division of Church and State
1280 Views

If the Puritans had gotten their way, religion would play a much larger role in lawmaking these days. Want to know more? Watch the video for all th...

Shays' Rebellion
6480 Views

What happened between the creation of the Articles of Confederation and the ratification of the current U.S. Constitution? This video analyzes the...

There's More Than One Way to Crack a Modernist Egg
539 Views

The Modernists thought the world had a lot of problems, and they were intent on fixing them—or at least talking about fixing them. Unfortunately,...

Federalism
2533 Views

This video explains Federalism and the quest for a fair balance between state and national power. It covers the progression and compromises of Fede...