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Transcription
The podcast discusses the causes of WWI and its impact on US politics. The main spark of the war was the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, but there were also factors like alliances, secret diplomacy, and militarism. The Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, Austria-Hungary) was opposed by the Triple Entente (France, Russia, England). The assassination caused tensions, leading to the outbreak of war. Germany's unification and growing power threatened France, leading to conflicts. Germany's naval build-up threatened Britain's supremacy, and a shipbuilding race began. Austro-Hungary faced ethnic diversity and uprisings, attracting the attention of Russia and Serbia. Serbia wanted to control these lands. Hello, our names are Carter and Matthew, and this podcast will describe the sparks of WWI and its effects on US politics to this day. While the assassination of Franz Ferdinand is widely agreed upon as the main spark of WWI, there were other things at play. Alliances between countries, secret diplomacy, and militarism. The alliance system of Russia, England, and France, and the alliance system between Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary caused WWI along with the assassination. Simplified, Austria-Hungary allied with Italy and Germany, named the Triple Alliance. If any of them were attacked, the Allies would send help. Opposing them were France, Russia, England, named the Triple Entente. The heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdinand, was killed in Bosnia. The Triple Alliance gets angry, everyone blames each other, and the Triple Alliance feeds into the Allies by exaggerating the idea of Serbia being behind the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, therefore triggering WWI. For most of the 1800s, Germany was a hot mess of small macro-states bordered by stronger German states like Prussia or Bavaria. After Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire and sealed the small German states, it formed the North German Confederation. This scared France, who feared a unified Germany could dip the balance of power into Prussia's hands. But this wasn't the end. After the Spanish throne was best made to him, a German king was a candidate for the Spanish throne. France feared that if he were to succeed to the Spanish throne, Germany and Spain would launch a war against France. Prussia, while aware France was preparing to declare war, published the Ems telegram to provoke them to declare war, and France declared war shortly after. After France declared war, all of the other German states sided with Germany. France, outnumbered and not properly geared for war, scored several military defeats against German states. Paris shortly surrendered, and Germany would go on to annex all of Alsace and half the land. The German Empire would later be formed after William I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor in 1871, and finally united all of Germany for good. The rest of Europe was well aware of the new powers that had just been created, and many feared the strength of its economy and military. Between the 1900s and 1914, Germany became recognized by Britain as a major foreign threat to the British Empire. This was due to the product of the policies pursued by Germany's leader, Catherine Wilhelm II. He was eager to build a battle fleet to oppose Britain. Britain's fleet was called the Royal Navy, the most powerful of the world's fleets. It kept the British Isles safe from invasion and was also primed to blockade rivals' ports during moments of war. However, it was mainly designed to protect trading, as the British relied heavily on imports and its economic business rested on seaborne trade, financed by the City of London. A threat that was for Britain's Supreme Navy was a threat to the nation itself. Germany started building their armada from 1898 onwards. A shipbuilding race between Britain soon began. From 1906, this race became more focused on the construction of a new type of battleship, prototyped and designed in Britain, the Dreadnought. It was designed around the firepower of heavy guns and powered by steam turbines. These made all of the earlier prototypes of battleships redundant or weak. In both Germany and Britain, the public demanded more and more battleships. Germany could not even hope to match the British Navy, especially in the short term. The damage between Britain's and Germany's relationship was now irreversible. Austro-Hungary as of 1914 was an ethnically diverse empire with Austrians and Hungarians making up only 43% of the population. This led to regular uprisings and protests against the rule of Austro-Hungarians. Many people living in Austro-Hungary were of South Slavic descent, which attracted the eyes of the Russian Empire, who wanted to increase its influence in the region using the South Slavic groups as their protectorates. Russia wasn't the only one who had its eyes on Austro-Hungary. Serbia was a South Slavic nation that had recently got its independence from the Ottoman Empire a few decades before. A good portion of the Austro-Hungarian population was South Slavic. Serbia had long dreams of controlling and incorporating these lands into their kingdom.
