SMS Emden: How a lone German Cruiser sank 17 Allied ships, 1914

In 1914, the SMS Emden, a German light cruiser, emerged as a great threat as it executed a daring lone raid in the Bay of Bengal. Under the command of Captain Karl von Müller, the Emden wreaked havoc on Allied shipping lines. By itself, it disrupted crucial naval communication and trade routes, leaving destruction and sunk vessels in its wake.
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0:00 Introduction
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Written by House of History
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🧾Machinima: Total War, Creative Assembly
#HouseofHistory #History

[@HoH]

📜 This video is not sponsored. If you enjoy my videos and want early access to my content, consider supporting House of History at www.patreon.com/HouseofHistory!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

You're amazing man! Can't never get enough of your work😊😊😊

[@Cannon530YTOO]

Error in subtitles near end. Extra Paragraph of information not said in voice over is flashed in the manner of a second or two. Something "October 30th" is what I could make out. Edit: Great video! Just making a post about this so it can be fixed, as needed. Excellent video as always!

[@OhioDan]

@@Cannon530YTOO I've seen that happen on various videos when a content creator decides to cut something out of the script during the editing process. The captions skip over that part quickly because it's no longer part of the dialogue.

[@Cannon530YTOO]

@@OhioDan Thanks for clarification!

[@HoH]

Yep! It's a part of the script I cut. Thank you for pointing it out.@@Cannon530YTOO

[@Barwasser]

The stories of German Cruisers taking on multiple naval powers with the sheer audacity and independent decision-making of their captains are always fascinating to me. I guess I just love a good underdog story.

[@-VOR]

I agree! The German navy trained much harder than the Royal Navy too right? They would hold competentions and such from what I've read. Not sure if the royal navy did the same? Do you know by chance?

[@Barwasser]

@@-VOR I am not sure about the training, but I know that the Royal Navy participated in some of the competitions with the Germans as a form of friendly exchange. Remember that they almost became allies a few years prior. And relations were improving when the war broke out. I would argue that much of the success of the German operations is due to the incredible size of the French and British Empires vs the limited means of communication and coordination of that time period, rather than a lack of training. In this type of fight, the German approach of independent command "Auftragstaktik" was very effective.

[@fiodarkliomin1112]

​@@-VOR remember how it ended? I mean meeting Emden and HMS Sidney.... What about the high skill of the German crew??? German skills were great until meeting the Royal Navy.

[@Xingmey]

@@fiodarkliomin1112yeah tell us... what happened to the Sidney? man you're such a buffoon

[@BloodRavenSkull]

@@fiodarkliomin1112 The royal navy is always great, until their magazines explode.

[@kaijudirector5336]

Imagine being a Tsushima survivor on the Zhemchug only to be sunk by a lone German crusier.

[@josynaemikohler6572]

Could be worse. You could be a crew member of the Bogatyr class cruiser Oleg, which survived Tsushima, and would later, during the russian revolution be sunk by a single 5! ton motor boat operated by three guys.

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

So, the cruiser Oleg was one of those 2 - 3 Russian warships that managed to escape Admiral Togo's noose at Tsushima..??@@josynaemikohler6572

[@Dilley_G45]

Russian cruisers never had the markings of varsity warships

[@ilhamnumber]

Yup even today....they are embarassing​@@Dilley_G45

[@TrueenemiesIsyourinnerdemon]

Survivor of Russian ship: dammit krauts

[@captainfury497]

There is a word called "Emenden" in some South Indian languages meaning gigantic . It is still used and is derived from the popular memory of Emden's attack on Madras

[@LawrenceofIsrael]

Fascinating. I really mean it. Thanks for sharing.

[@ottovonbismarck8913]

hate to be that unfunny guy making this pun, but m&m

[@pilum3705]

WW1 Naval Warfare was so interesting. Truly shocking that there aren't any good games covering this.

[@philostheodosius3281]

The reason is that the Germans mostly win and just in the end they lose.

[@ResidentEyebrowAppreciator]

Don't think there's enough naval action for a coherent game tbh

[@pilum3705]

@@ResidentEyebrowAppreciator Depends. A campaign focused game might already offer a good chunk of gameplay. Play the Emden, Ostasiengeschwader, Königsberg, Wolf, ... And for every German Scenario you can add a British one where they have to catch the Germans. Not to forget that you could also add Multiplayer either Coop or with one player being the British and the other the Germans.

[@marcusaureliusantoninusaug2161]

Ultimate Admiral Dreadnoughts is the closest thing we've got atm. It's far from perfect, but there is not much else on the market right now. Naval Hurricane is in development and could be good.

[@Vichikuma]

Enigma: Rising Tide is an old classic that lets you choose between 3 campaigns: American, German and the Royal Navy in exile. What is this? Well, the game is in a post WWI fantasy scenario where Imperial Germany won WWI.

[@brokenbridge6316]

Solo ships like the Emden talking on this kind of Warfare has always intrigued me. Great video.

[@DarthVader-ig6ci]

I'm from South India and in my native language Malayalam, there's a word "Yemanden", which means gigantic or massive. This word was derived from SMS Emden and it's actions around that area. I'm from the state of Kerala (on the south western coast of peninsular India), while Madras (today called Chennai) is on the south eastern side)

[@HoH]

That's incredibly interesting, thank you!

[@mfulan7548]

@@HoH Hey, where are the sources for this video?

[@aramisortsbottcher8201]

So, is "Emden" hard to pronounce in Malayalam or why did it change its shape so much?

[@DarthVader-ig6ci]

@@aramisortsbottcher8201 No, it's not hard to pronounce but quite the opposite, it's really easy to pronounce Emden in my language(Malayalam being a language with 56 letter alphabet and I don't know how many letter combinations. Malayali people can easily learn other languages due to the familiarity with complex sounds) . I'm not sure why it morphed into Yemanden. Maybe one century prior, the people may actually had some trouble pronouncing it. But I also think that it's a common thing to add vowel sounds to words with successive consonants ( like Emden become E-ma-n-den) for a smoother pronunciation.The evolution of words into another form even happens for local words too..so I suspect that's the reason. Remember that the literacy rate in my State 100 years ago was really low and words like Emden were really alien.

[@Nitramrec]

@@DarthVader-ig6ci Interistingly there is a word in German "Jemand" that means any- or somebody. "Jemanden" is just another form when using this noun as an object.

[@taek77]

Could you please make a kind of part 2 as the story continues quite interestingly after that. After the SMS Emden was sunk 60 sailors, under Melmut von Mücke, reached the Arabian Peninsula on another ship and fought their way through the Arabian Desert to get from there to Istambul and back to Germany.

[@HoH]

I definitely will make a part 2!

[@mfulan7548]

​@@HoH Where are the sources for information on this video? You citing yourself as the source?

[@akraan4563]

@@mfulan7548 There is a (german) documentary called something like "Die Matrosen des Kaisers" or so. Check it out, also there should definitely be some wikipedia artikle about that.

[@mfulan7548]

@@akraan4563 I ask for the sources because i see this channel not citing any for information in this video. They add link for patreon but not even one for citing the source for history information. Useless channel

[@joeycrosby167]

​@HoH please do. Mucke is an absolute gigachad in the most literal way. Honestly his story is worth a video of its own

[@georgetrent909]

This vid reminded me I have had an sms Dresden kit that I’ve wanted to make into an Emden diorama for a few years now, such an amazing part of history!

[@MrDeadstu]

Great video on the Emden. The only thing more audacious were the Commerce Raiders of WW1&2, armed and disguised merchant ships prowling the high seas. Stuff of legends. I would love a video of the final confrontation between the HMAS Sydney II vs HSK Kormoran. Epic balls of steel on the German Captains part.

[@Silverstarsmurf]

I just watched a video about that before this one. Search for No Survivors: The Horrific Sinking of HMAS Sydney . Pretty good video as well.

[@MagnumLoadedTractor]

Man just reading the wikipedia article is fucking brutal​@@Silverstarsmurf

[@mitchycool92]

I'd love to see a video covering General von Lettow-Vorbeck during the East Africa Campaign during WWI. It's a front that most people don't even know about but it's actually quite fascinating. Relations between African colonies were actually very calm and non-confrontational (until the outbreak of WWI obviously) whereas Europe was a power keg of powerful competing nations in close proximity to each other. But also, von Lettow-Vorbeck stands out in that he's the only German general to successfully invade a part of the British Empire during WWI and he was never defeated or captured in battle, lasting until Germany surrendered in 1918 using mostly local native askari soldiers. But anyways, yeah, a video on that would be cool! Keep it up man, I love your content!

[@_Raspovic_]

von Müller got that *pirate mentality* 🏴‍☠️

[@monfort537]

Crew members of the Emden were given the honor of adding the ships name as a name suffix. The descendants of those men are still come together from time to time. They call themself the Emden-Familie (Emden Family)

[@louislowery2877]

Great video. How about a video on the surviving crew of Emden and there trip home. I believe they took a sailing ship from the cable station to Arabia??

[@ankles632]

I can highly recommend the book " Ayesha " by Hellmuth von Mücke. von Mucke was the leader of the landing party and the Ayesha was the schooner the escaped on. It is a detailed account of the journey and its 1 hell of a story.

[@braddonovan1786]

Conservation of ammunition would be a big deal for the Emden, one would think. Were they able to resupply ammo at any point? Coal is coal, but artillery shells and torpedoes are rather unique and specific items.

[@philbaaa1175]

I would assume against unarmed vessels they used boarding parties so they were able to keep all their ammo for engagements against other military vessels.

[@Xingmey]

There were tenderships that had a supply of ammo and coal and other provisions (food water...) that were tasked to be at a certain point at a certain time, so that's where ships like emden and other commerce raiders went to. Those suppyl ship got their stuff in neutral harbors by a little something called 'smuggling'.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Had an amazing time as always! Very well done! Suggestion: Edward longshannks conquest of wales.

[@arslongavitabrevis5136]

Excellent reconstruction and presentation. Thank you!

[@cjclark1208]

The sneak of all sneaks, the light cruiser of merchant bruisers.

[@Andrew-df1dr]

They did the same thing on land with Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck taking on multiple enemies, with many times his stength in numbers and still only surrendering after the end of the war

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck would have been, I guess, one of the early or the first to coin the term 'der Afrika Korps'.

[@Andrew-df1dr]

@@mohabatkhanmalak1161 He was one of the best generals of the war.

[@KHK001]

Amazing work as always!

[@lokmanmerican6889]

Thanks for putting this up!

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Always in the look out For your videos! You're amazing🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@mihajlo7893]

thanks for another great video..high quality and very interesting..because history is a teacher of life and something can be learned..best regards friends..

[@YasserMaghribi]

14:46 yes ! I would love to see a documentary video about the battle of the Three Kings one day

[@wacherwicht1810]

There is actually a very good german dokumentary on the whole voyage of the emdens Crew all the way back to germany here on KZbin.

[@nightshade4186]

We need a naval sim game about controlling raiding cruisers

[@janlindtner305]

Wonderfull lectures you make👍👍👍

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about naval German empire forces

[@alsanchez5038]

Amazing work. Thank you!

[@Raphael-pt7rx]

another high quality history video :D

[@pilum3705]

It would be interesting to maybe cover the journey of the Wolf

[@HoH]

Great suggestion!

[@mfulan7548]

@@HoH Where are the sources?

[@Ras_al_Gore]

Great video. I do want to note that the map of French Indochina is incorrect though. It’s missing Cambodia and half of Laos.

[@robbabcock_]

Great video, thanks!

[@chrisleranthonysilveira5464]

Great video

[@sam74mumm]

Great story but what a cliffhanger- now hooked for the second part...

[@rodtaylor6916]

Thanks!

[@MonochromaticLightsource]

HIMS EMDEN ended her life up on The south reef of The Cocos Keeling Islands North Island. I have dived what is left of her hulk. What a story.

[@user-qp9ii2zb7i]

Thanks ❤❤

[@residentialsparky5127]

Wow what a story

[@chrisheggie952]

Very interesting thanks. Do you have a video of the Emden's final encounter with HMAS Sydney off Western Australia?

[@alanmountain5804]

Fascinating.

[@janostoth4315]

I find the war between France and England / US in French controlled Canada very interesting and rarely covered. Maybe you could create a video to one of the battles there or even an overlook of the whole war (that lead to the loss of Canada for the French.)

[@o.m.5269]

SMS Emden and the ship's raiding career, is one of my favourite warships and careers I own a book about her "The Last cruise of a German Raider"

[@PeacefulRallyCar-pw3cs]

The british had 3 bases in singapore and one in penang in 1941. One base in SG has been preserved and made into a museum . It s worth a visit. The base in penang was open to the public in 2010 when I was there. But, there was talk of bulldozing it for development.

[@johnpauljones4190]

Hi! Do you remember me? I really like your videoes. How dpu you make theese videoes? In which app? The battle maps, the political maps and so on. Please answer me. Thanks.

[@christopherhanton6611]

nice video

[@user-mu2qy3qj2q]

Impresionante historia los combates de la pgm son opacados en general por los de la sgm y sobre todo los navales, sin duda el emden tuvo un golpe de suerte repentino pero supo aprovecharlo

[@user-md8bh7ew2h]

I'm a Malaysian yet I never heard of this until today. For some reason this was never written in our history books.

[@buglepong]

im from penang. apparently there was a german uboat base here during ww2 as well during the japanese occupation. a lot of trivia that never gets told

[@londonbudgetgardner5205]

Excellent video You wonder , did the Emden signal the end of the Empire?

[@seanlander9321]

No, Australia signaled the end of the Emden, after depriving Germany of its Pacific colonies as well.

[@McDragoneer]

what a chad, holy shit, great video btw!

[@Garuda5]

What Programs do you use for your videos?

[@heinobrohan9430]

It is an interesting story wondering why Hollywood doesn’t make a movie about it.

[@jonny2954]

For the same reason there is a movie about a random Sherman crew and not about Kurt Knispel or Otto Carius. It isn't Americans.

[@nicolp6647]

It is very interesting that the SMS Emden and the SMS Dresden (which are almost the same ship type) both get famous for their long time unknown story

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

Read about "SMS Wulf", another Kriegsmarine auxilliary cruiser. There is a book about it and at times it is hilarious reading, especially when it says about the prisoners onboard.

[@nicolp6647]

@@mohabatkhanmalak1161 I'll inform me about that. Thank you

[@liberatumtaiwanae3580]

Like the German Empire or not they sure learned fast how to rule the o'wide Mother Sea! Such daunting privateer(ish) seaman should be remembered as Englishccentric history to their Drake and Cochrane!

[@benwilson6145]

Cochrane was Scottish! The Germans never ruled the waves!

[@haouribi]

Wow ww1 naval battles are cool I wish there was a game on it

[@ADB_UWIM_2807]

Where did they get the manpower to crew captured vessels? I can imagine at friendly ports. But what about directly after capture on the high seas. Would some of their cre be transported to the other vessel to maintain order/navigate the vessel until they got to a friendly port. Or who they trust the captured vessel's captain to not only run off or try to impede them, but to inadvertently help the enemy war effort by staying as their capturer's auxiliary ship?

[@swapsplat]

how about the charge and stand of the 1st Minnesota at the battle of Gettysburg. Some historians say their sacrifice saved the union that day, and it's a story that needs to be told more.

[@jlih6271]

Fascinating. You never hear about Germany in the Pacific during WW1

[@jazzbengsoonsoon6475]

Wow penang.. I wonder there were zhemcug ship wrecked near the port of penang

[@Danyal_aka_Amagibestfox]

Someone should make a movie about this

[@vitekstibor3726]

Díky! Ok I'll add you on Patreon. You are better and better!

[@shanedoesyoutube8001]

Never have I expected the Malay Peninsula to get involved in WW1 as a naval battle site, long before Japanese takeover in 2

[@Zilliguy]

Imagine doing all of this stuff for your side in just one ship and then losing anyway

[@natebartels1444]

Can you do the WW2 Battle between HMAS Sydney and Kormoran in a video?

[@HoH]

Definitely!

[@chpet1655]

My favourite naval story from WW1 is the cruise of the Emden ….AND not just Emdens cruise but the daring and audacious plan to get back to Ottoman territory by her stranded sailors

[@peregrinemccauley5010]

SMS Emden showed plenty of pluck and derring-do. Bit like an oceanic Long Range Desert Group.

[@Harldin]

The Australian navy was basically built around countering the German Pacific fleet, with 1 Battlecruiser, 4 Light Cruisers and 5 Destroyers all under 5 years old in 1914. Her luck ran out on 9 Nov when she was caught by HMAS Sydney off Cocos Island,

[@patricklisso4357]

Well...could be worse. You could also be another vessel named Sidney and be clowned by an auxiliary cruiser...

[@fabianvoigtlander1042]

No one asked.

[@himanjukularatne4363]

as a srillankan we still remeber our grand parents telling stories about this german ship emden, and the name emden has become a bogeyman name for the wartime power of the german ships and the fear it brought to the countries , since ceylon too had a oil storage in trincomalle (north east of ceylon). the britsh was very worried of an german attack , they kept the locals in a panicked state.

[@moritztabor1678]

Emden hat ordentlich zugelangt

[@lololalal1801]

My hometown...

[@seanmcardle]

The black freighter!

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

Yeah. There was a novel written over 50 years ago on the Emden. Of course - there was a British Female captive taken on the Emden to create a romantic involvement - but other than that it was fairly accurate (iirc). .

[@benwilson6145]

The use of the White Ensign for Merchant ships is wrong. It should ne a Red Ensign.

[@stansearcheslife6363]

Von muler seems like a cool guy also by just apologising

[@MaxPower-mn2ig]

strong video gw

[@crosskoyamayandaytugay3508]

13:16 1914 but it is jean bart?

[@slm3y580]

The amazing story of the Emden didn't just end here, she continued on until she got sank by HMAS Sydney. But her story didn't end there, the surviving crew of the Emden commandereed an old sail ship, then managed to sail the ship from southeast asia all the way to the Middle East, when then they got into a fight with arabian tribe, and then finaly arriving in Instanbul

[@FliVids]

So, German Pirates of the the Indian Ocean? Cool

[@AudieHolland]

Von Spee is pronounced 'von spay' to get a German 'ee' sound, you need it to be spelled 'ie' Same as in Dutch.

[@anubis_411]

Beste Grüße aus Deutschland ⚫⚪🔴 und vielen Dank für den Film

[@howardbursee307]

These ships are somewhat adequately represented in World of Warships/Legends.

[@jamesdunn9609]

What happened afterward was even more unbelievable!

[@muhammads.a.m4727]

German Tactics.. 👌

[@user-qk8eb5dl2h]

hms lookout, my dad served on the destroyer

[@DaveSCameron]

1:30 "enemy", of course referring to Great Britain as it was to be years until our American Allies were to join the Great War. 👍 ☘️

[@aaronherman6396]

Battle of Jutland

[@timonbergmann4602]

Hello House of History. Due to Family Ties, I would really appreciate if you could make a Video about the German Heavy Cruiser Admiral Scheer of WW2

[@eddychong9477]

Little would the British knew that the Japanese would switch teams one day...

[@guilhermeblumenthal4198]

Miss navyfield

[@syahnazjais3766]

malaya!!! wohooo!!

[@therraxz]

Muller thinks he is a pirate

[@Kzerty]

It was brillant use of limited naval ressources compared to grand fleet and japanese and French ones. Generally it Takes centuries to build a fleet + crew to challenge the main maritime Power. Germans did well, as usual. The German efficiency !

[@bhaswardeepsikdar446]

Cover Indo-pak wars plss

[@vcab6875]

Germans had the coolest Naval flag of WWI

[@hachwarwickshire292]

If you think this is exciting. Francis Drake !

[@TheSuperhoden]

So you're really not showing how it ends

[@HoH]

There will be a part 2

[@mfulan7548]

​@@HoH Where are the sources?

[@duyouc6312]

i wonder what happened after Japan join the allies

[@snoopstp4189]

not sure why you're showing Scharnhorst and Gneisenau which didnt launch for 2 decades after this time period. Bit of a muck up eh.

[@HoH]

SMS Scharnhorst was launched in 1906, SMS Gneisenau as well. You're thinking of the WW2 battleships, different ships altogether.

[@seanlander9321]

The Emden then tried shooting at Australians, who took exception to the Huns interrupting their cruise, so they sank it.

[@michaelhepp5959]

Admiral Von Spay correct pronunciation.