Causes of World War I

WW1 but as a group project: Germany: Does 99% of the work. Austria-Hungary: Has no idea what's going on the whole time. Bulgaria: Says he's going to help but he's not. Italy: Disappears at the very beginning and doesn't show up again til the very end.

our teacher taught us an acronym: M- militarism A- alliances N- nationalism I- imperialism A- assassination of arch duke

If history taught us one thing is that Italy is the worst ally you could possibly pick.

About 14 hours before the test, and I finally understand what WWI started :)

I'm from Croatia and I can guarante 99.9% that you can visit Croatia! Nothing bad will happen you there. We are now tourist nation for the last 20 years and everyone is welcome. I know that you were joking but i want to adress this for people who take it seroiusly :)

Totally in love with your material, it became my main source of history... I come from Brazil you see, and our schools don't really focus a lot on history, and our teacher are below average, being able to learn history from you really is a privilege, keep up the good work Can I make a request? Could you please do a lecture on medieval Holy Roman Empire and their relationship with Byzantium, thanks ^^

Just a note if you do any other videos on the topic in the future: Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was an advocate for dealing with the Slavic Nationalists by promoting equality between Slavs, Austrians, and Magyars. He was in Bosnia to observe army drills, but he decided to pay a visit to Sarajevo, the provincial capital, as a good will gesture in the hopes he could win over the city's Slavic populace.

Good lecture, but I had my headphones and at 3:53 I had my ears blast.

5 hours before my mid term and this is a perfect video for learning/reviewing the causes of WW1

7:59 So beautiful... Listen with headphones... I loved it...😉

If you have to say "I'm sorry if I offended anyone" chances are, you offended someone, and what you said is better left unsaid.

Thank you Tom. A useful, informed and succinct account of the causes of WW1. I have subscribed and look forward to watching more of your videos.

currently pursuing a Master's in Education to teach middle/high school history, definitely plan on making your videos available to my students as study resources. Would've loved to have had these as an AP student in high school!!

I'm a college student and I use your videos just to keep me refreshed before quizzes and tests, entertaining to just chill and listen to. My text book is pretty annoying because it simplifies things as well as leaves out a bunch of the effects on the non-western world (thank you community college).  I took AP World History back in high school and my teacher was in the same spirits as you, must be an AP thing. Wonderful! not monotonous at all. shout out from Olympia, Washington!

Wow, Tom. Even most Americans relinquished such prejudices about the Balkans by now. I was a 1-year-old kid when the Yugoslav war broke out and I'm 25 now. Like most of my generation I was brought up to treat everyone with respect and without prejudice, in spite of the war and media nationalism. I wouldn't dream of hurting anyone for the sake of politics and I'm sure an overwhelming majority of people here feel the same. Also, I'm afraid the mentioning of the Civil War in Yugoslavia in the 90's as a valid reason of the conflict that sparked WWI 80 years earlier is rather misguided (unless you take into consideration a jingoistic notion that the South East European nations are always at each other's throats, which would make the whole idea false in a historical perspective, since with the exception of the misguided Serbian-Bulgarian war of 1884 and the Romanian-Bulgarian conflict at the end of the Second Balkans War, these nations had not been in any sort of conflict with each other since the early XIV century). In fact the ones who had attained independence were in a coalition against the Ottoman Empire, and had friendly relations among each other. The integration of the cultural and national movements of the various Slavic nations, and stronger ties of the nations who had gained independence from Turkey with Western European nations like France (who were rivals of Austria), made Austria-Hungary insecure about losing its influence in the region (especially evident in the 1906-1908 Pig War (or Customs war) between Serbia and the Habsburg Monarchy) as well as its internal stability. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo was not completely unexpected, as there was a fear among European aristocracy of possible coups, especially after the much glossed over the assassination of the Serbian pro-Austrian King Alexander in 1903 and his replacement with the pro-Entente King Peter by the very same organization that killed the Austrian Archduke (the members of the organization were tried and executed by the Serbian authorities towards the end of WWI). After reading this, I expect all of you to take into consideration the complexity of the situation in WWI and stop with "the Balkans are a shithole and its people animals" jingoistic nonsense. It is both offensive and untrue. Even here in Serbia, where YOUR government did a significant amount of collateral damage to civilian buildings in 1999 (bridges with cars still on them, news agencies, the ministry of defense in Belgrade), similar to what you gasped at in the picture, all Americans are treated as welcome guests. I don't expect you to apologize for yourself or your nation, but please refrain from filling the heads of young Americans with fear and hatred, instead of actual knowledge. You're a teacher for goodness' sake!

i really needed this thanks Tom

Thanks for the lectures and the live hangouts!

Great videos..me and my friend are using these videos to cram in study for exams in college and learn more in 15 mins with your vids than in an entire year with my lecturer ..Thanks from Ireland

Your lectures made lots of my exams and systematically increased my know;edge of European History. Thank you so much

tom- i don't write comments often. but i really want to take the time to do so. I'm taking european history in college this semester, as well as last semester. I watch your lectures either before or after i've read the text book to either prep me for internalizing what i'm about to read. or to fine tune my understanding what i've just read. you really do incredible work with how you explain not just the events, but the feelings of the times. Ii really appreciate your work, and i wanted to express that sentiment as well as my gratitude for sharing your knowledge in this forum and in the way that you do. keep up the great work!