The War to End All Wars (Oversimplified)

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]How could a world at the absolute pinnacle of civilization single-handedly spark its own downfall? In 1914, humanity appeared on the surface to be a flawless picture of advanced technology, flourishing culture, and utmost luxury.

[00:00:15]But if you tear away that glamorous veil, you would see the dark shadow of a great war looming ever closer. Greed and rivalry reigned supreme. France was boiling with a desire for revenge against Germany. Germany was staring at its neighbors' territories with greedy eyes. Germany's sudden spending spree to build a massive naval fleet successfully provoked Great Britain.

[00:00:38]While the empires were busy stroking their own grand egos, they ignored the angry growls of the very people they ruled. Secretly backed by Russia, many ethnic groups were ready to rise up and claim their independence. It was a political chessboard full of deceit, where nations constantly gossiped and plotted behind each others' backs. Worse still, with newly invented state-of-the-art weapons, the great powers were not afraid of war at all. On the contrary, they were incredibly eager to dive into a new spiral of conflict.

[00:01:09]The spark that ignited the war began in a region of Austria-Hungary, home to Serbs and Bosnians who deeply despised the empire. Despite this, Archduke Franz Ferdinand came here for a joyride in an open-top car, following a route that had been published well in advance. Things went exactly as terribly as you'd expect. A group of assassins threw a bomb at his car, but missed, blowing up the vehicle behind them. The Archduke should have left to take shelter, but instead, he continued using that same open-top car to visit the injured at the hospital. In a cruel twist of fate, the driver took a wrong turn and accidentally stopped right next to one of the failed assassins from earlier.

[00:01:50]He immediately opened fire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was furious, firmly believing that the Serbian government had a hand in this assassination. Austria-Hungary's fury quickly triggered a devastating domino effect of alliances. Austria-Hungary turned to its close ally, Germany, to announce that they were going to declare war on Serbia and immediately received Germany's full support. With this backing, Austria-Hungary sent a list containing absurd demands to the Serbian government. When Serbia flatly refused, Austria-Hungary officially declared war.

[00:02:25]However, Serbia was not alone because they were protected by Russia, while Russia was allied with France. As a result, all these great powers simultaneously jumped in and declared war on each other. Montenegro later joined the fray.

[00:02:39]As for France and Britain, they also had a sort of alliance. Therefore, when France asked if Britain would help, Britain hesitated and decided to stay out of it for the time being. Britain's initial decision to stay out was excellent news for Germany, as the country already had a battle plan drawn up. Knowing that massive, sluggish Russia would take a long time to mobilize its forces, Germany decided to mass its entire army to attack France with lightning speed. Their plan was to defeat France first, then shift all their troops to the east to take down Russia. However, the French-German border was heavily fortified with a series of forts and robust defense systems. Not wanting to waste time, Germany decided to take a detour by sending 750,000 troops pouring through Belgium, a neutral country.

[00:03:28]Germany hoped Belgium would just sit back and behave, but the nation put up a fierce resistance and slowed the German advance. Worse still for Germany, their invasion of a neutral country outraged Britain, who decided to officially declare war. On their march through Belgium, the German army left behind a lot of infamy. Combined with the fact that they wore spiked helmets and sometimes wore skull insignias, Germany's image quickly became that of the villains. The allies heavily promoted this in their propaganda, deeply influencing global public opinion, especially in the US.

[00:04:03]Even though US President Woodrow Wilson tried to urge the parties to reconcile, Germany's actions in Belgium caused even the German-American community to gradually lose their initial enthusiasm and support. Entering the war, all the participating nations brought with them an old and outdated military mindset.

[00:04:22]A prime example of this naivety was the French army.

[00:04:25]French soldiers marched into battle in highly conspicuous uniforms, bright blue coats and vibrant red trousers. As they marched slowly in columns across open fields, those bright colors made it incredibly easy for the enemy to spot them. Consequently, the German army utilized their massive artillery to easily shoot down and sweep away the French formations.

[00:04:46]This harsh reality proved that this was a war unlike any other in history.

[00:04:52]It forced all countries to rapidly update and overhaul their entire tactics as well as their uniforms throughout the duration of the Great War. Contrary to Germany's initial calculations, the Russian army was ready for combat much earlier than expected. Germany had to ask Austria-Hungary to hold off Russia, but Austria-Hungary failed miserably, forcing Germany to pull some of its troops back to the Eastern Front for defense.

[00:05:16]Austria-Hungary's incompetence stemmed from their Chief of the General Staff.

[00:05:20]Though handsome, he was a terrible military strategist. Austria-Hungary constantly ignored tactical advice from Germany, yet came running back for help whenever they got into trouble.

[00:05:31]To add to the humiliation, this massive empire was severely beaten by a small nation like Serbia, who repelled all their invasion efforts right at the beginning of the war. Despite having a struggling ally, the picture in the north brought good news for Germany.

[00:05:47]Here, the German army won a resounding victory by nearly obliterating the entire Russian Second Army. Back on the Western Front, the German army steadily advanced and had the capital of Paris in their sights. Everyone thought they were about to achieve a lightning-fast victory, but the French commander-in-chief decided to act and ordered his army to stop retreating. The subsequent battle created a gap in the German lines, putting them at risk of being flanked and forcing them to retreat. As the Allies counterattacked, the Germans began digging trenches to consolidate their defensive positions, and the Allies did the same. Both sides gradually moved north in an attempt to outflank each other.

[00:06:27]When they reached the coast, they fell into a complete stalemate with a trench system stretching all the way from the sea to Switzerland. That was the beginning of the brutal reality of trench warfare. Soldiers on both sides had to endure relentless artillery bombardments for days on end, causing severe psychological trauma. Every charge across no man's land filled with mud and barbed wire was paid for with countless lives against the defenders' machine-gun fire. There were battles that lasted for months and claimed thousands of lives just to advance a few meters or kilometers.

[00:07:00]Not only that, simply surviving in the trenches was an absolute nightmare with scattered casualties, mud that could swallow a person whole, toxic puddles, rats, diseases, and utterly atrocious sanitary conditions.