The Swiss General Strike of 1918

[@bigbubble4282]

1:20 "Wille was a huge admirer of the German Empire" Huge would be an understatement

[@SirManateee]

I had to play it down a bit, out of fear that it might have have sounded ridiculous otherwise lol

[@amadiohastruck4331]

How huge?

[@FortuneZer0]

@@SirManateee Well considering the rise of Prussian Germany in his lifetime it was the best horse to bet on.

[@MrAdrien1999]

As a Swiss I am so happy yo hear about this; lots of history in thr labour movement and radicalism that’s oftrn wilfully put under the rug or ignored….

[@SireJaxs]

Usually here in the states, people would just assume Switzerland is a paradise that’s never had any problems at all and just vibes you know?

[@FictionHubZA]

Maybe its because unlike other nations such as the US, China and Russia, Switzerland keeps to itself and doesn't bother anyone outside of its borders so we just assume it's a peaceful nation.

[@puer4787]

@@SireJaxs that's what it pretty much is now, but that's a surprisingly recent development.

[@me67galaxylife]

don't see how not talking about trash is bad

[@MrAdrien1999]

Trash? This strike directly lead to some of the great luxuries of this country. 40 hour work week, social security, sick leave, work security etc. No matter the political persuasion, these implimentations have contributed to Switzerland's economic position and allowed people to work the way they do@@me67galaxylife

[@vadavensis9512]

As a swiss Romand, I'm happy that you tried to also include swiss french and italian points of view instead of just the swiss german's 👍 Fun fact: lrich Wille was one of the reasons why a Romand (french-speaker) was choosen as head of the army during WW2.

[@amadiohastruck4331]

The Germans weren't to be trusted?

[@user-tk2lf1dv3s]

I find this strike really fascinating, because of how little it changed. Normally, a strike is either a prelude or part of a larger movement and very rarely does it just melt away like in this case. I mean sure, sometimes gestures are enough, but in this case there seemed to be material problems that just didn't go away. I would really love a companion video to this on the following development of workers rights. Swiss history is definitely understudied, and a video by you will sure to explain it excellently as this one has

[@ulysseguegan3513]

I discovered your content a few days ago and being a bit of a history geek I am fascinated by the fact you always manage to find original and interesting topics for your videos ! I never know what to expect which is usually not the case with most history channels. You're clearly my favorite youtuber for anything related to german culture and history ! Viele grüße aus Frankreich !

[@SirManateee]

Thank you so much! I'll try to keep them interesting ;)

[@Turnil321]

Always interesting to see how neutral countries were affected by world war 1. My country (Netherlands) suffered from food shortage and near starvation and that is why we began building the polders for more farmland.

[@akselj2791]

love you, but the second demand was proportional voting! Proporzwahl, not reelection. Proporzwahl is what kept newer parties from getting seats in the parliament, at the time the socialist party.

[@afridge8608]

Crazy nonsense conspiracies are among my favorite things and "Bolshevik russia will start the world revolution by bombing and invading switzerland" is just amazing

[@SirManateee]

It just makes sense, doesn't it

[@FortuneZer0]

Lenin lived in Switzerland until he was deployed by the germans via train against russia and the russians. The Zimmerwald und Kiental meetings are absolutely undisputed, hell even celebrated by the USSR.

[@magistrate3343]

​@@FortuneZer0This doesn't make the theory any less insane. Why would the author lie about having documents from the Soviet embassy if he wasn't trying to defame the leaders of the strike?

[@FortuneZer0]

@@magistrate3343 Its socialism. It isnt sane nor rational to begin with.

[@magistrate3343]

@FortuneZer0 I don't care what ideology it is. Point being, an artificial scare was created by a false claim of retrieved documents from the embassy. That's literally creating hysteria from lies.

[@yoshtastic499]

I didn't even know this happened. I really love that you cover more niche topics like this and stuff about the first Austrian Republic. Keep up the great work!

[@derdude6214]

I think this might be my favorite channel on KZbin. I could listen to you for hours. Thank you so much for your wonderful videos. Dankeschön right back at you❤

[@mertus5589]

I love your channel! You dive into topics that are hard to come by in English language media otherwise.

[@jurvaneijndhoven8167]

It as verry inteteresting subject aboubt warefare, but the more interesting item are the social factors and the conscuceances of the war. I realy love your video's and they realy love The shows that show the importance of minorities, frisians, danes, poles, french, and other minorities acros germany. Keep up the good work about late central europe!!!!🎉

[@mcmilkmcmilk9638]

I guess even the swiss can only take enough before even they start striking.

[@artoriastheabysswalker]

That woman at 1:55 sitting of to the right facing the camera has quite the stare

[@travissutherland8502]

Impeccably researched videos. Haven’t watched a single one that is not a banger. Also, extremely pleasing accent

[@Luxnutz1]

Its interesting that the history of insignificant places have more scrutiny than Switzerland. I had the impression that Switzerland would profit more from WW1 than the USA would due to manufacture of elementary or precision items. Austria, France Italy, Germany being direct markets. Another fantastic episode.

[@dummyxaverie6381]

banger, loves the kaliningrad vid and this one is great too for covering a small nation detailed struggle in the vast political landscape of europe in the interwar years.

[@hedgehog3180]

You should do a video on the 1920 General Strike in Denmark as well.

[@concept5631]

Yes

[@SirManateee]

That's an idea

[@concept5631]

@@SirManateee Nice content

[@hedgehog3180]

@@SirManateee I can probably help with summarizing some of the Danish sources if you need it.

[@42willys4]

Fascinating content Manatee

[@jtgd]

1:01 not the horses!

[@oracle372]

True

[@dvinb]

Your characterisation of Robert Grimm is incorrect and misleading. Sure, he revised his ideas and his plans throughout his life, but to say that he never wanted civil war and bloodshed is wrong. The fourth and last point of a strategy he devised in February 1918 reads as follows: "Die Anwendung des unbefristeten allgemeinen Streiks, der zum offenen Bürgerkrieg überleitet und den Sturz der bürgerlichen Gesellschaftsordnung zum Ziele hat." "The application of the indefinite general strike which leads to open civil war and has as its end the overthrow of the bourgeois social order."

[@nietname2468]

Mistakes in order of appearance: In General the sp is not a social democratic party during that time period as verifyable by the HLS it is a decidedly socialist party. 3:32 social democratic party ? Wrong the party was socialist. Grimm was an ardent socialist and firebrand. Only when Nazi Germany became a threat he was willing to actually work purely within the democratic swiss system. Funnily enough this lead to the split off of the communists. Only after this step you could claim that the party once again became social democratic. 4:50 cities are not the whole country, have never been and will never be. 10:35. Missed the most important demand, the implementation of proportional election system.

[@MrSovetsky]

So why did it take so long to extend the suffrage to women ?

[@karlheinz4059]

many reasons. i think its because of direct democracy, which takes longer to make changes and that switzerland stayed out of both world wars. in germany for example men went to war and women had to do the work of the men. that meant women had more power over society and could therefore easier demand voting rights.

[@FortuneZer0]

Because in most cantons franchise was granted after having completed basic training by age 21. This was continued for a while. In the 60s there was a vote seeking to extend the duty to serve (only in civil protection, not the army) to the women aswell but that was rejected in a moronic act of "galantry". With the granting of franchise to women that are not in duty to serve a severely injust system has been established.

[@chriflu]

@@karlheinz4059 I would like to echo this very good analysis and add that at least according to the anecdotical evidence of my mother (my parents emigrated from Switzerland to Austria in 1977, then in their mid-20s), the long journey it took to get a majority of men (plus a majority of men in a majority of cantons!) to vote for women's right to vote, in a multidimensional analysis, also had a positive effect in that, paradoxically, she felt much more treated like an equal by men as a young woman in 70's Switzerland than in 70's and 80's (and even 90's) Austria. Her explanation for that is that in post-war Switzerland - *because* of the bottom-up, direct-democratic system and its intrinsic slowness - gender equality was a constant topic of discussion, be it within families, at Church, at the local grocery store, at school/university, you name it - because there was always some referendum, initiative, or campaign regarding the issue going on at the local, cantonal, or federal level.

[@user-mt6dw4ib6e]

Very intersting. I subscribed

[@cgt3704]

14:24 nice choice of scenery

[@mirinda2956]

man do a video about the polish liuthanian commonwealth or poles living in austra hungary

[@charlesburgoyne-probyn6044]

This whole era was much more dramatic than we think it's been overshadowed by WW2 and the subsequent US influenced global order

[@nadrini300]

Riveting, informative, and entertaining

[@grassnothing1631]

Switzerland

[@dreuvasdevil9395]

yes. switzerland

[@tuomasronnberg5244]

Just say no to Switzerland. Let's turn it into Switzersee instead.

[@user-up7nb6id1f]

@@dreuvasdevil9395Switzerland

[@stanleysmith7551]

Sounds like 2023...😅...😐

[@massimilianoceolin1257]

Nice

[@GregIsBoring]

There's actually a great movie about it!

[@Deepno-qh2cl]

Hi I've recently taken a love for your content and watches all the vids . I've noticed some political bias (not that that's a bad thing , everybody is biased to some degree) and wanted to ask what are you politically speaking ? A social Democrat or a democratic socialist maybe ? Mean no ill will am genuinely curious :)

[@nikochief6509]

At 5:29 you wrote strikes and strikes, but it says strikes and strikers

[@jacobbullock6886]

Switzerland 💪💪

[@akramgimmini8165]

They wanted just Gold and Cheese

[@dreuvasdevil9395]

just cheese

[@ZenikkTF2]

Why Nazi? This was literally during the times of the empire/ Secod Reich. When it was a semi-constitutional monarchy.

[@akramgimmini8165]

@@ZenikkTF2 It's called "Humour" Try it sometimes

[@ZenikkTF2]

@@akramgimmini8165 I lost my sense of humour a long time ago, so yeah my fault for not realizing. Oh well.

[@ahmedalsadik]

This doesn't make sense. If the population has less purchasing power (which is normal as the war affected even neutral countries), private business suffers as well. I'm sure some Companies profited from foreign war orders, but you make it sound like the people got poorer but still managed to put more money into most companies hands, which is contradictory.

[@karloskarlinderstrom6943]

That depends. Some busniess probably suffered due to expensive imports, but many of course made huge profits due to higher exports of weapons for example.

[@Smallfrye]

My great grandparents left Switzerland in 1916 because of all of this bullshittery lol.