WW1 - Oversimplified (Part 1)

Funfact:
The German General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck held out for 4 years with 14.000 soldiers (3000 Germans and 11.000 Africans or Askaris) against 300.000 British soldiers despite being cut off from any supply line.
He did this by being a brilliant strategist who moved his troops quickly and efficiently but also by treating his African troops as equals to the other Germans. During the Spanish Flu, when rations dwindled, only few soldiers deserted since they had all become so loyal and attached to von Lettow-Vorbeck.
Decades later, in 1964 when von Lettow-Vorbeck died, the West-German Bundestag (parliament) decided to give back dated pay to all the surviving Askaris. So, a banker was flown to Mwanza at Lake Victoria who set up a provisional cashier‘s office. 350 former soldiers returned but only few of them could present documents, which von Lettow-Vorbeck had handed them out by the end of the war, to prove that they had served. So instead, others showed their uniforms to prove their service but there were still many left with no evidence. Then, the cashier had an idea: He gave all the men a broomstick and ordered them to perform the Prussian/German drill like they would‘ve done with a weapon. Not a single one of them failed the test and they were given their pay.

If you’re having a bad day, always remember that at least you didn’t start a war only because you took a wrong turn

6 years ago and surprisingly this still *feels* original

History has taught us that every time the standard of living is at its highest, everyone wants to have a war

Just finished watching the whole WW1 and WW2 series, so so well made. I’ve never had a good understanding of the world wars until now. Thank you

I think we should share oversimplified videos in schools. Despite being oversimplified, he does give out a lot of good information, but not just that, he does it in an entertaining way. So when kids watch these vids, they get a good idea of what likely happened, and then, with this knowledge at hand, it can encourage them to study and know more of the intricate details.

I like how he didn’t even introduce his channel and just started spitting facts

With just HOW MUCH MORE detailed Oversimplified's videos have been the last couple years, I personally would LOVE to see him remake his WW1 videos!

It’s amazing to see how he managed to maintain the style of his first video to this day but still manages to improve upon it in the form of more detailed animation, better humor and voice acting, editing etc. It’s truly amazing how you can watch all videos this dude has made in a day easily and you still feel like rewatching them every now and then. Sure the wait for something new is long but you can always be assured that what you get will be a video you can rewatch over and over again (quality over quantity). Content creating at its best.

Ain't no way this is already 6 years old. I still remember watching this only a few months after it came out. This basically shaped my entire life into history and I'm now better than anyone I've ever met!

when he talked about the trench warfare, it just sends chill to my body. So many men have to faced intense fear and died for nothing, maybe not even an inch of land gain for their death. Rest in peace soldiers. You all were born in a wrong time. May God bless your soul.

You literally helped me do my history assignment. Thank you!

Okay so like who wants him to be your history teacher

World War I was basically the biggest family feud episode in history. George V, Wilhelm and Tsar Nicholas we’re all first cousins. Crazy just how powerful some families truly are.

I always come back here after a new upload just to see how far he's come since this first video. It's truly amazing how far the animation quality has come along.

It's impressive how far he's come and how much his videos have improved since then

Timestamps:
Before War:
0:00 Pre-War Tensions
0:41 Ferdinand's Assassination
War Starts:
1:34 Austria-Hungary Declares War
1:59 The Schlieffen Plan
2:29 Germany Invades through Belgium
Other Stuff:
2:57 What else is going on
3:26 How warfare changed
War:
3:59 Russia is Ready for War!
4:35 Western Front Attacks
Trench Warfare:
5:17 How Trench Warfare Works

6 years ago and surprisingly this still feels original. You literally helped me do my history assignment. Thank you!.

Imagine taking a wrong turn somewhere and suddenly you’ve changed the course of human history

i can't explain how much i despised history before i started watching your videos instead of reading from the book and now im having full conversations with my teacher about wars i love it

Its been exactly 105 years today since this brutal war. Rest in peace to all the brave soldiers who gave their lives only so that they could satisfy their commanders who forced them to fight in such terrible conditions.

It's almost been 6 years... this was the first video I watched of oversimplified and I come back to pay respects every year

I still can’t believe how far he’s came from this vid to his latest, I’m so proud of him fr. I love watching the old videos for when I sleep it’s so calming

WWI: caused by shooting an austrian guy
WWII: caused by not shooting an austrian guy

Can we all just appreciate how far the videos have come. From humble beginnings to totally epic

At 3:32, the image portrayed was actually a potential new uniform that France may have adopted if WWI hadn't broken out. To note, there is a green and yellow version of this uniform as well.

I never thought I'll ever use the videos on this channel as a homework research/resource for possible answers but here I am, doing exactly that 💀
_And honestly I'm not complaining, I'd love to learn history like this lmao-_

I wouldn't mind having this guy as a history teacher

I always love rewatching old Oversimplified videos every few months

If you ever feel dumb remember that the Arch Duke of Ferdinand went back out in public after people tried to assassinate him.

The improvement he’s made since this video is just crazy. Thanks for the great videos OverSimplified

you're the reason i dont need to open my history book to study world history

Oversimplified I don’t care if you don’t see this but I just want to let you know that I always learn more than you and your videos then school they teach horribly and it’s like two years to learn one small little battles but here I can just learn the entirety of world war one in a few minutes you are the best person ever thank you

it was 7 years since this video was made.. and its still better then some content that's on youtube or all of the content farms. Hope you make more videos tho

This makes my history lessons so much more interesting and funny thank you!

Fun Fact: In world wars, Belgium’s only purpose is acting as a toll booth to France

Could we get a WW1 remastered? I think that’d be a top notch vid

hated history all my life and the way we study it as a subject at school. But gotta say that the way you explain it... it is just too interesting... i've never thought of watching history related videos but here i am, watching all of your videos

Fun fact: you still can't stop watching this guy spitting facts

This first video shows how much he has improved his content. This video is very fast paced and random. It's still a great video, but his new ones have great pacing and let's you take in 1 bit of info before shoving another in your face

Who caused ww1: an uber driver
Who caused ww2: an art teacher

I hope all your videos will always be public because in the future when I finally become a history teacher I’m going to play your videos as recaps after all applicable lessons before tests bc these videos actually helped so much during my finals

It's nice to watch this and see how far he's come. So proud.

We watched this 6 minute video in a Modern History class 6yrs ago and it gave us more insight than an hour long class

2:39
Oddly enough this small bit has some of the greatest animation on his entire channel

Fun fact, despite the many treaties, Britain initially held off entering the war because it felt the continent wasn't it's business and it was fun being on its own. The ONLY treaty they took seriously was they promised to protect and honour Belgium's neutrality. Germany, having seen Britain not want to get involved, assumed that meant it wouldn't at all, and thus went through Belgium, and then did a gigantic OH CRAP when it realised that for once, Britain wasn't lying when it made a promise to someone.
Makes you wonder what would have happened had German not attacked through Belgium

I love this series i can watch it over and over without it getting old

WW1 in a nutshell: So basically France and the UK declared war on Germany for declaring war on Russia for declaring war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire for declaring war on Serbia.

the fact that i wasnt in school for like 2 months while everyone was learning about ww1 and then the day I return, I learn that the day after we'll have a quiz regarding ww1 and then I start to panic, come across this channel (and this vid) and somehow pass my quiz which shows how informative and on point this channel is 💕

Thanks to you i got an A+ form history at the end of the grade, really well done keep up the good work

I remember when I got obsessed with history and I'd spend all day rewatching all his vids.

Fun fact: the serial number of the car where FF was assassinated was AIII 118, foreshadowing the armistince. The reason why it’s a foreshadowing is because the I could be read as a 1. Therefore you could read it as A111 118, also being read as A111118 (Armistince November 11th, 1918)

Feeling like telling some things about a school trip I had, related to WW1 because I'm mostly passionate about WW1, and also why not
Back in elementary school, in what we call "CM1" in the French grades (the grade before the last grade in elementary in the French school system), we went on a class trip to No Man's land, visiting a museum about WW1 and everything surrounding it. At the end of the museum, we even got someone to make a presentation about the muskets, the huge weaponry etc. It was pretty awesome.
Walking on the path in No Man's land felt surreal. The grass, regrown. Everything was cleaned up, and nice; nothing like what I had remembered from history class with the atrocities... Imagining that millions of soldiers died here, infected with pests, poisonous water along the muddy floor is horrible to think about. There was wooden floor along the trenches.
I even got a little postal card from the visit with a bookmark! We got to trade cards with classmates, I got lucky and managed to trade mine. Got a postal card of No Man's land and a picture of the trenches. We went to visit the graveyards too.
Before going to No Man's land, we visited a few areas left as memorials, with shellshocks. There were signs with something along the lines of "There might still be ammo, watch your step" at the entrance. Saw a poppy field in the distance.
This was probably the most memorable school trip I will have. I remember everything clearly. The uniforms I saw at the museum, the firearms, the poppy field, and the memorials. The hard, wooden floor of No Man's land as well as the few hundreds of gravestones we saw amongst the millions of other soldier's graves.
I remember, at the museum we had a little "Flip-book sized" stack of papers together. It was a little quiz. As we progressed through the museum, we needed to fill it in with the correct information.
Gosh, I miss the old days where we had school trips like these at our schools.

This man taught me more in 6 minutes than all my life in school. Thanks, American school system.

0:03 the world in 1914
0:05 modern technology
0:06 culture
0:07 fashion
0:11 let's have a war
0:20 german navy
0:27 people did not think it was cool
0:29 declaring independence
0:31 with help from Russia
0:40 beat each other up
0:43 Sarajevo
0:48 archduke Franz ferdinando

Simple, short, clear, informative. That’s all we need.

Just realised my brother’s teacher uses your videos to teach ww1 in humanities lessons
Just shows how good these videos are

WW1 Europe: A huge mix up of empires, countries, and independent states, all of whom don’t really get along and would quickly fight each other for more land.WW2 Europe: A more uniform land of few empires, many countries and huge resentment between the ally countries and non ally countries for the sanctions put on them.WW3 Europe(aka Russia’s invasion of Ukraine): Actually quite united, lots of international relations, much agreements, but a limited desire to face Russia due to having grown soft and being more concerned about effect on economy then defending human rights

Glad this dude is still getting loads of traction on youtube

I learned more about history from Oversimplified than 4 years of Social Studies

Pretty amazing the level of motivation and money people have to sustain a war on this scale. I would barely grasp a straw if I was drowning. Nothing is worth fighting for that bad.

My history teacher showed us this video and we all died laughing, great work 😂

This is so nostalgic that it makes me want to start a war.

*Finally, someone speaks my language.* I've been searching for the summary of WWI and all the videos are like for experts. Or maybe I'm too dumb. This one makes it straight to the point and in way anyone (with or without historical knowledge) could understand.

One of oversimplified's first videos who knew this guy will become so popular continue teaching history bro 👍👍👍

I introduced this to my history teacher and she showed it to us in class today. I feel so powerful.

if I was a history teacher, I would've shown this to my class

I’m making the Russian history for my class because I wanted to and due to ww1 being in my Russian history I remember that I learned ww1 on your channel so I remember how it started and ended
Thanks for making this history video

do you guys notice? i havent seen one comment saying anything said in the video are incorrect or bias. Thank you for this top tier knowledge video you have made for us. May you live to a hundred years old and upload more videos for us every year. =p THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Oversimplified,i really thankful of you for making this video because thanks to you i able to pass my exam with the full marks of WW1 questions,so once again thank you

The thing is, Serbia tried there hardest for the war not to happen. They accepted 9 out of 10 Austrian demands, they just didn't want to give Austrian Police jurisdiction in Serbia. They even asked to hold a peace conference. Austria didn't want to.

Honestly it’s so much fun to see how far OverSimplified has come in animation, sound quality, editing, and scripting. It’s nice to see such progress in such a short amount of time for a CHclip channel.

This man made learning so much more humorous

Thanks for creating this. So many others start waffling nonsence and start from part way through the war. This focus on how it started and progressed is a great bite sized way to learn.

Watching this after 6 years it’s just amazing to see the difference in his videos from now and then ❤❤

Ah I remember when this channel was young
I believe the subscriber count was like 14k
I had heard all about WWII But had no idea about WWI, so I went to CHclip and looked up something to the effect of “world war one history simplified”
And I remember this coming up and thinking OMG PERFECT
This and part 2 were the only videos on the channel
I thought “I sure hope this guy posts more” since I thought he was dead since it was just two videos and not a crazy amount of subs
I’m so glad for your success and even five years later still love your channel!!! Keep up the good work!!!
Ive been in love ever since

The fact that this was his first video and it’s great says something

*“Belgium is like school, something you have to go through”* ~ German proverb
Edit: France is like the summer on the other side.

I learned more about history from this channel then my history class

Love this one. The script on these old videos had something special about it

I’m preparing to become a teacher and one of the questions was how would some people say WW1 accidentally started. I remembered this video.

You can dislike other content creator throwing in an ad in the middle of their videos, but this dude...this dude is so cool 😎.

Love your channel. Can you redo the World Wars again more in depth? There is a total of 15 min of WWI when your newer videos are 2-4 times long.

Austria: Sends impossible demands to Serbia
Serbia: Does the impossible demands
Austria: now that’s a twist

I’d love to see a remaster of this video, I feel like there are some things left out and some jokes and commentary that could be better

I’ve been watching this video for 3 years and it’s still extremely re-watchable

Absolute banger of an explanation and a no nonsense straight to the point approach.

If, He was my history teacher I would’ve loved school 101%

Great video, love your content! Could you do an oversimplified video of The first and second Balkan Wars? That would be great as I'm keen to learn more about those wars

I would love to see a remaster of this.

I would really like to see "WWI remastered" because there is so much more to talk about.

I looked for your channel and i'm impressed that i can't scroll down all your videos without reloading because there is only a few
You're some kind of prophet from the internet

The history channel that is actually better then social studies and history class, I learned more from oversimplified then I did in school

You Just explained everything that my teacher tried to explain to us in 2 months
You’re the man

My students loved both part 1 and 2. Small suggestion - up the volume. Even with my speakers on max volume, audio was hard to hear at times.

this channel be how I learned so much history, and became a history buff

This was the beginning of a legend.

This knowledge is delicious. More please. I am using these videos to teach my daughter and I wish there were more. We have seen them all. Teach on sage :)

i strongly recommend you a book by Ken Follet, tittled 'Fall of Giants', it shows a wide view of the world in the time of ww1 perfectly.

Before the war germany had a couple colonies in africa but nothing compared to Britain, Germany was building up their navy, their leader was kaiser wilhelm