The Folly of Liberal History

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A recently reemerging idea in the English speaking political landscape is that history is the story of an almost natural progression of humanity into liberty culminating within English and American democracy. This is nonsense. And it also has a name: "whig history"
In this video I would like to show you why whig history is bunk, and also detail to you how economic liberties that are so often praised by advocates of whig history, can very often result in the creation of oligarchies that then proceed to undermine and destroy the very economic liberties that created the oligarchy in the first place.
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Sponsorship (0:00)
Intro (0:56)
A short political history of medieval Hungary (2:37)
The Hungarian oligarchy ​(3:34)
The Decline of Oligarchy (06:00)
What is whig history (07:33)
The rise and fall of Venice (11:38)
Warnings of Oligarchy (16:11)
The birth of American Oligarchy (18:05)
The death of American Oligarchy (23:34)
A warning from History? (25:33)
Outro (27:16)
Sources: Why Nations Fail by Darren Acemoglu
The Origins of Political Order by Francis Fukuyama
Music:
Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 no. 1
Symphony no. 5 in Cm, Op. 67 - IV. Allegro (For Recorder Ensemble - Papalin)
Nocturne in E flat major, Op. 9 no. 2
Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 315 'Summer' - Complete Concerto
• Tavern Music, Medieval...
You might be interested in this video too: • The Origins of the Gre...
Thank you again, and don't forget to subscribe to watch more.

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

Corrections and Notes: 1: Taft didn’t create income tax, Wilson did

[@kevindoyle5696]

will you ever do a video about ireland?

[@JackSparrow-vv2uq]

Video on the european importance of the UK ?

[@John_Steuart]

Kazakh* not Kazakstani

[@blastermanr6359]

Preparation

[@yes4302]

6:07 Wasn't it Mátyás Hunyadi/Matthias Corvinus who raised taxes and formed the black army

[@angelantayhua3096]

“The aristocratic oligarchy basically destroyed their own country... for a tax cut” don’t you just love rich and powerful?!

[@tj-co9go]

Well, you won't be surprised by that at all if you listen to modern right wingers at all

[@novastar6112]

@@tj-co9go Same with American left wingers

[@tj-co9go]

@@novastar6112 American left wingers are basically right wingers elsewhere. At least in major parts of Europe. In Finland I think Democrats would be right of all our current parties

[@someguy7723]

I recall watching a video about the ottoman invasion that broke the nation some years ago. It was just shortly mentioned how the nobels had weakend the nation to the point of no return at that point and that even the ottoman sultan felt bad for fallen boy king. It was so absurd to see and then read about. It stuck with me like nothing else. It made me extremly hostile to anything that seems to weaken a nation for "profits". It has become a cornerstone for my national conserns. Really glad Kraut took this subject up

[@LjuboCupic1912]

@@tj-co9go no fucking way the Democrats are to the right of True Finns

[@bartoszkosmowski7149]

As a Pole, I am always livid that our magnates (high aristocracy) destroyed our chance to brag about being the first functional democracy.

[@bartoszkosmowski7149]

@Anhedon It is good thing then because we had mercantilism at the time

[@Cecilia-ky3uw]

The first functional democracy would be athens,but of the citizens and not the slaves

[@bartoszkosmowski7149]

@@Cecilia-ky3uw yes sorry i forgot to add modern

[@starmaker75]

Funny my dad(family is polish American and still celebrating) call these nobles “ tsar wannabes” or “traitors”

[@BHuang92]

@@Cecilia-ky3uw the ancient Greeks also didn't let their women vote. Thank you ancient democracy!

[@thing8717]

"The aristocrats destroyed their own country for a tax cut" *immediately transitions to photos of the USA*

[@gregbors8364]

Republicans in the USA are actively working to destroy the democratic aspect of our democratic republic. That fits into the theme of this video very well

[@kordellswoffer1520]

Why they aren't equivalent.

[@arminthegreat3729]

Too true, but both left and right will claim the other side is the aristocrats so nothing ever gets done.

[@boarfaceswinejaw4516]

@@kordellswoffer1520 the destruction isnt as obvious because there are no mongols around to teach people a lesson.

[@bomberfox5232]

Yep thats what aristocrats are for to be leeches.

[@BSideWasTaken]

"They destroyed their own country for a tax cut" Yup I have no problem believing that.

[@bozimmerman]

Two ways to take that: 1. Right: "Ah-ha! We must ensure a large well funded military!" 2. Left: "Ah-ha! We must have 95% tax rate!" :)

[@HoradrimBR]

The problem is, most people don't see beyond their self interest. Short term (few years or few decades) benefit for a group of people could mean a burden for all others and, after a while, even a problem for those who initially benefited from the change.

[@Rt.hype646]

@@bozimmerman other way around

[@ENoob]

I was always taught that a big reason England managed to be relatively liberal was that the army was always small. And that was due to the accident of Geography that made Britain an island nation. A navy can't suppress the population in the same way that an army can. I genuinely never came across the idea of "inevitable" liberal democracies in my education.

[@KT-pv3kl]

The navy could have cut off all international trade and fishing as well as control the most important rivers. If anything the navy could have done a much much better job at cutting off the population from key ressources if they ever wanted to.

[@cathulionetharn5139]

@@KT-pv3kl IF it wanted to. Which is why when the prime minister during the great potato famine ordered Ireland blocked from foreign aid (because "it would bring shame upon Britain to accept foreign aid" and also undercut his agenda of starving the irish into accepting industrialization) the navy did one heck of a shitty job stopping vessels filled with food from reaching the starving irish.

[@lardo1990]

Funny enough, this argument is flawed in a similarly oversimplified way. Just as other country's magna-carta equivalents did not lead to liberty, living the island life was not necessarily a recipe for freedom (Japan comes to mind). Though perhaps they are both correlated with liberty, being on an island certainly keeps empires at bay (Japan, once again, comes to mind).

[@12D_D21]

@@lardo1990 Well, England was unified, so it could afford to have a smaller army, while Japan was in basically constant civil war and/or a proto-military dictatorship, so it had to had a big army. I agree with you that both arguments are flawed, but neither is entirely wrong.

[@Jay_Johnson]

@@12D_D21 and one Japan unified It did become somewhat democratic for a time.

[@Ayeloo]

I laughed my ass off when Hungary showed up and said "It's hungry time" and hungered all over Europe

[@spaceship0664]

Truly the moment ever

[@ludgeisatmcdonalds]

Epic hunger moment

[@gwho]

Hungary Hungary hippos

[@ReySchultz121]

The Hungary Games?

[@zenmestermarci1186]

fun fact: we call this age "The adventuring", literally hungry for adventures

[@Kyrkby]

Okay, making Veniceball into a semi-octupus was freaking brilliant. Kudos to the artist.

[@DogDogGodFog]

That's a Polandball thing

[@frituurpan31]

Why an octopus?

[@luisnemecioaguirreflores2284]

@@frituurpan31 it represents the trade routes, something along those lines.

[@8loopy]

Tea bag ftw

[@Lucasp110]

@@luisnemecioaguirreflores2284 Nah, it's because the Venician flag has tentacle-like fringes/pennants

[@krazykris9396]

I wish the US still broke up monopolies. We came close to breaking up Microsoft, but they agreed to change. Now huge tech companies are so all consuming, and nothing is being done to stop it.

[@sstff6771]

we need to do that

[@krazykris9396]

@@sstff6771 Especially Google.

[@scotty2tone]

@@krazykris9396 according to my reading, the Sherman antitrust laws would be more than applicable to break up Google. I just don't think there's the political will to do so. Maybe the Democrats will pick up on it as a mobilizing force for voters... Hahahaha sorry I crack myself up

[@OneEyedMonkey9000]

The US is doomed. I really wish it wasn’t, some Americans are really nice 😢

[@Steven-cf1ty]

Not just tech companies, the entire economy is more or less in the hands of just a few people through a series of parent companies. Media, pharmaceuticals, real estate, food production, etc. all being prime examples of essential aspects of society being centralized under private ownership and control.

[@joecarr4273]

Kraut -> literally deep fries his arm Also Kraut -> spends more time talking about his buddy going into conscription.

[@puffleoftypos]

chad

[@josephcarr2192]

imposter. im the real joe carr

[@Hession0Drasha]

I think you should be given honourary scotish citizenship, for deep frying your arm :)

[@lockretvids]

Just one slight correction: the Golden Bull of 1222 wasn't actually forced upon the king by the aristocracy. In fact, András II willingly signed the document because he wanted to raise a new noble class that wasn't as entrenched as the old aristocratic families and thus would need to rely on the king to counterbalance the influence of those old houses. Anonymus's Gesta Hungarorum is actually a "complaint" from the old aristocratic houses towards the king saying that he shouldn't rely on these new upstart servients, rather the old, entrenched noble houses as they came in with Árpád during the conquest of the Carpathian Basin. The problem with this plan was that it significantly lowered the income of the crown (since tax exemption was one of the most important privileges of the nobility) which is why András's successor, Béla IV tried to revoke many of the lands András II had given out to the servients. This backfired spectecularly since the new servients felt their newfound positions threatened and the old aristocracy feared that they would lose their won posessions as well. The two classes of the nobility thus united against the king which is why the first Mongol invasion of Hungary was such a devastating affair: Nobody with power actually wanted to help the king protect the kingdom. This unity among the nobility was later codified in the Golden Bull of 1351 but that's another matter entirely.

[@Dragoblade811]

Thanks for the additional detail it helps explain what happened

[@MrMarinus18]

He also kind of overlooked a much more relevant reason for Venice's decline which is the ability of many other European nations to go around it. The main reason the noble families hoarded power so much was because there was less and less of it so they tried to hold on hard to what little was left. However by doing that they only accelerated the decline even further. It's the classic case of an empire falling and warlords fighting for the scraps but just in economic terms.

[@georgesdelatour]

The point about the Magna Carta is, what people THOUGHT it said became a real political fact, even when it didn’t actually say that. We know that Magna Carta entered the popular imagination in England quite soon after it was signed. Moreover, in 1225, Henry III’s new version of Magna Carta extended certain rights originally only granted to “free men” to unfree peasants. From this time on, there are several cases of peasants attempting to sue their lords in the royal courts, citing Magna Carta. The document was also cited during the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381. The peasants’ idea of what their rights OUGHT to be became attached to Magna Carta, even when the document did not actually grant those rights. It became a document about liberty because that’s what ordinary people WANTED it to be.

[@A_Tank_With_Internet]

Black Army: Stop Ottomans from conquering Hungary Aristocrats: Get rid of the Black Army Ottomans: Conquer Hungary Aristocrats: *surprised Pikachu face*

[@blessedkarl5764]

what is a Hungry? There's no way you misspelled it twice

[@A_Tank_With_Internet]

Ok it's fixed

[@ilnigromante666]

Not to mention that the heavy handedness of the aristocracy towards the common people caused a large scale rebellion headed Gyorgy Dosza. And that fatally wounded national unity, which led to the catastrophe at Mohacs.

[@ThatHabsburgMapGuy]

Wanna know the best part? Even after Hungary was conquered by the Ottomans, the aristocracy still managed to extract taxes from almost all their former lands. Villages were forced to pay taxes to their Hungarian hereditary landlords (in exile in Austria), their Ottoman direct overlords, and often to the Catholic church as well. The noble families even managed to negotiate an even better deal from the Habsburg monarchy after their lands were reconquered in the eighteenth century, so much so that they repeatedly obstructed attempts by the emperors to end serfdom and guarantee civil rights! Aristocrats are scum.

[@A_Tank_With_Internet]

@Kraus von Grat Fair point since aristocracy basically is a subset of timocracy

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

Don't deep fry stuff at home!

[@Zeyede_Shewangzou]

That's why I always use air fryer 😁

[@theskeletonappearsinthisco5896]

@@Zeyede_Shewangzou clearly you own an air fryer

[@Shubhamyadav-hd1po]

Good health to you bro🥂

[@yourlocalcrusader1063]

You can't tell me what to do

[@teamhren1000]

I DO WHAT I WANT

[@TedShatner10]

I also think the Magna Carta, though interesting, is a highly overrated document (when it just enhanced the power of Feudal lords in a slowly modernising Feudal system). The Magna Carta did not really spell the end of English/British Feudalism, like many historians often claim. The massive erosions inflicted by the Black Death and Hundred Years War did.

[@hoi-polloi1863]

The MC didn't destroy feudalism, but it did curtail royal absolutism, as opposed to what happened in France. So that's something, right?

[@TedShatner10]

@@hoi-polloi1863 Yeah, the UK somehow struck a balance between mostly figure head monarch and a relatively healthy parliamentary gathering (while France had a far too strong king ending in riot and revolt, while Hungary had overly strong/corrupt aristocrats weakening the state to the point of mass rioting, if not for the Ottoman annexation).

[@buddermonger2000]

So the events of 200 years prior?

[@Jaxck77]

The real birth of modern democracy was the English Civil Wars, and the development of compromise between fundamentally incompatible political worldviews into a single political system. The Magna Carta could have been that point, but the conflict really only formalised the previously informal relationship between the barons & the nobility.

[@DaHuntsman1]

I think the biggest proof of your argument is the fact that the feudal system would continue to exist largely unchanged with the exception of the addition of a parliament for another 200 years, only breaking down in 15th century England with the combined whammies of the Black Death, Hundred Years War, and the War of the Roses, with the rise of the centralized Tudor dynasty. And even then it wasn't until the English Civil War where the compromise between Parliament and the Crown came to be in regards to sharing power.

[@CSDragon]

For all the Takos in the chat, Kraut's artist is the Takodachi not Kraut himself. Tho we can neither confirm nor deny if he allowed it in because he is also a Tako or because he didn't know who Ina was and just thought it looked neat

[@SeruraRenge11]

There's also the fact that using an octopus to represent encroaching power and influence has been a thing in political cartoons for almost 2 centuries.

[@CSDragon]

@@SeruraRenge11 That would be true, but it has head flaps and a halo, and her headband, and says "wah", so it's 100% a hololive reference

[@SeruraRenge11]

@@CSDragon No I know it is, I just mean it works as a double reference.

[@CSDragon]

@@SeruraRenge11 ah yeah. That's why it was an octopus in the first place, but the artist decided to make it _our_ octopus :D

[@Leo-ok3uj]

23:15

[@atticusroot8016]

We Americans call that time the Gilded Age. I’m surprised that you didn’t mention this, as it aptly describes the country at the time. Overall a very interesting video and topic.

[@clbrans1]

I've also never heard it referenced in a positive light either. Nor was the expansion of government reach seen as a win for the people but a changing of concentrated power into different hands.

[@warlordofbritannia]

Not to mention right now too

[@elephantman2854]

Certainly a bad thing on his part

[@atticusroot8016]

@@clbrans1 The Muckrakers are the only thing I can think of that are talked about in a positive light. That and Teddy Roosevelt.

[@mrttripz3236]

@@atticusroot8016 that’s the progressive age. The guilded age was before that

[@bronxbl0gr]

Glad to see you're still out there 😎 You really succeeded as a historian; hard work paid off

[@Kraut_the_Parrot]

hope you are doing well too

[@bronxbl0gr]

@@Kraut_the_Parrot I'm trying brother 🥰

[@hughlevantjames905]

@@Kraut_the_Parrot Hi Kraut! Still waiting a video on the thought of European Sphere of Influence (to finally break free from the Anglo-American influence) and the decay of American dominance on the liberal world (although it seems to be on the rise again).

[@kevincronk7981]

@@hughlevantjames905 why would he make a video about something that's not happening tho? The US has remained a stable 1/4 of the world's economy for a long time and been 1 of 2 or the only superpower also for a long time, and Europe (who are not the only ones) relies heavily on the US for certain things like military. Meanwhile Europe has been becoming a smaller portion of the world economy, its geopolitical prominence has been shrinking, and the only parts of Europe which aren't 100% in the American sphere of influence are those which have some influence of Russia and/or China as well or instead. The only ways in which Europe projects any influence on the rest of the world at all is that the French and British still desperately try to cling on to their former empires in the British commonwealth and whatever France calls its whole deal of filling West Africa with their military

[@SnickeringBadger]

@@kevincronk7981 Dunno where you're getting your data but the US has had a similar fall in share of the world GDP as the EU. (Excluding the dip from the UK.) The EU is constantly forcing their own rules onto huge multinational corporations and EU corporations still have an (unfair,) stranglehold over much of Africa's and South America's resources with a good part of Asia as well. Chinese growth appears to be peaking with their construction industry for one finally starting to fall. (Construction industry is usually a good economic health indicator.) US influence in Europe has certainly declined massively, especially due to the previous president sabotaging many things. Less and less the EU looks to the US while more and more they criticise it.

[@maxwellbien1992]

As an American, it’s fascinating to see how different countries educate people about history and politics.

[@pohkeee]

Most interesting is that, they actually do!

[@HighFlyer96]

As a Swiss, I actually enjoy being in a country which does not have a large bias as we didn't really take part in imperialism or expansionism and like the small village in Asterix and Obelix stayed for ourselves, mainly fought with each other or with invaders and primarily grew by territories wanting to join us. At least that's how I remember it. Unfortunately we are inevidably less important in the grand scheme of war history and politics, so there isn't much content out there to challenge those memories that stuck with me from the unusually boring history lessons. (our own history always felt a bit boring and between 1291 and the french occupation, not a lot has happened besides some quarrels between regions and churches) Anyways, because of this lack of bias, I tend to believe we don't receive a distorted image like Russia teaches about Stalin being a great guy and enemy of Hitler rather than being a Russian version of him that just got backstabbed before backstabbing him or America as the great sole savior of Europe during WWII rather than just being a part of the Allies.

[@conlanvanhook2452]

@@HighFlyer96 As an American. I was never educated on history in such a way. I believe you’re talking mostly about rural America lol.

[@americannightmare425]

@@conlanvanhook2452as a rural American, we’ve always labeled it as the “arsenal of democracy”, but never as the “savior of democracy”

[@Rt.hype646]

@@americannightmare425 Because theirs a lack of intelligence

[@oihanlarranegi472]

Well, the fact that Venice suffered various decades of constant conflict with its neighbours might have had a big part in its decline

[@benismann]

as if england didnt

[@Bolognabeef]

And that the ottomans literally prohibited trade with the east which is the main reason why the Americas were discovered. It's crazy how he didn't mention that before the ottomans there were the Arabs who allowed trade and then the ottomans came and forbade it, which negated the main reason for Venice's existence. Then ottomans conquered many venecian outposts, the Portuguese discovered a new route around Africa and the Spanish literally discovered a new continent. Now the Mediterranean's importance was fading away as a new model of trade, the triangular trade, became the norm. Yet he managed to blame it all on free markets somehow...

[@Xalerdane]

Might’ve been able to turn it around, if not for _FUCKING NAPOLEON_ showing up.

[@gamincaimin9954]

@@benismann Thing is is that England was huge, Venice was not.

[@pergys6991]

@@benismann England also had a channel between them and all their enemies, making it much harder for enemies to actually sack England and deal serious damage ti the mainland

[@tantoreffect5024]

as a korean myself i gotta say, good luck tea_bag, military service is kinda brutal, but i have faith you can make it through, and i look forward to seeing your art again.

[@DimesAndNichols]

Did you also have to do military service?

[@sherifferror7934]

@@DimesAndNichols it’s required

[@edp4463]

@@DimesAndNichols all Koreans do, BTS apparently got drafted and in the north they also do but much longer

[@anna-flora999]

​@@edp4463 BTS went against the wishes of the government, afaik

[@frenchguitarguy1091]

@@edp4463 wait can we send BTS to North Korea?

[@awxsn7953]

Absolutely Lovely surprise to find a fellow Takodachi Hiding in plain sight 23:16 I know not wether it was you or one of your artists but regardless it was a pleasant surprise, thankyou

[@Cohav-vo6rp]

I was looking for this comment!

[@LSeba91]

wahnderful

[@dzungnguyenduc8556]

Truly WAHnderful!!! W A H!!

[@dzungnguyenduc8556]

And oh my, the WAH, the tenticles, the world domINAtion, and the FLAT tax. Why it's so perfect fitting. Maybe all billionaires are TAKOdachi XDXD

[@lordgarysoh]

Humu humu

[@juniorjames7076]

No one taught history like this when I was in high school or college. Venice and Genoa are spoken of in hagiographic-like tales of heroes and masters of business. History is basically "Storytime for kids" in the US.

[@RillianGrant]

That is true. Just nobody likes talking about the end.

[@ludgeisatmcdonalds]

Not storytime. Propoganda.

[@Prairielander]

Well the fact that Christians have created their own creation museums in challenge to the scientific method does show what U.S. education has become.

[@MCArt25]

@@ludgeisatmcdonalds Pretty much. The unsavory origins of history education is as state propaganda to justify the state and society in its present form.

[@anarchosnowflakist786]

that's not just the US, as @joe lee said, it's propaganda, and every modern state requires constant propaganda

[@captainmilkman]

Quick correction, the Associates were the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad, not the Union Pacific Railroad. Union Pacific was created and funded by the federal government. The Union Pacific Railroad built the track on the east side from Missouri, the Central Pacific Railroad built the track on the west side from San Francisco, and then they met in Promontory Summit, Utah.

[@P99s-s]

Don’t you think the Venice part is a bit…Monocausal? Just the invention of high sea capable ships, the discovery of the new world and the expansion of European trade oversees could be argued to greatly influence Venice decline. You mention in your Turkey video how geography of the eastern Mediterranean and the trade in it made its owners superpowers, until the discovery’s of 15th century hit that is. This is equally true for Venice is it not?

[@vitorboldrini6337]

Also, Hungary’s geography made it much more vulnerable to outside invasion than England, which is surrounded by water, and famously expanded its naval might through the very lucrative art of piracy, rather than any monarch’s efforts.

[@pauls6425]

The Golden Book - which restricts government control to the oligarchy - predated the decline of Mediterreannean Trade.

[@karimwitte]

The argumentation is a copy of the argumentation from the book Why Nations Fail. The writers, and Kraut, only focuson the existance of inclusive institutions to create a healthy and prospering society. This is indeed a bit monocausal

[@fedelede2]

This is ESPECIALLY true for Venice and Genoa, whose declines in the wake of the discovery of the Americas is well-observed. Kraut’s videos often suffer from this phenomenon of turning complex issues into mono causal events that respond exclusively to whatever he’s arguing, even if they contradict each other.

[@twojstarypijany3182]

@@vitorboldrini6337 So the equivalent of expanding the english navy, for hungary, would be expanding it's army. But hungary cut it's army budget by lowering taxes.

[@generalcaesar3477]

A really great video. As an Irish Catholic the Glorious Revolution being taught as the pinnacle of liberal democracy is a laugh and I’m glad you so eloquently critiqued it.

[@stephenjenkins7971]

A Liberal Democracy is just as capable of being cruel to foreign nations/people as Dictatorships. More to the point, the Glorious Revolution was touted as a starting point for Liberalism. It having immense inequalities doesn't diminish that.

[@0w784g]

The personal is political, as ever. How tedious. You're as guilty of the "whiggism" the English author of the concept was trying to convey.

[@generalcaesar3477]

@@stephenjenkins7971 That’s fair enough, I understand that ultimately the Glorious Revolution did end the attempt to bring Absolutism to Britain and that it’s constitutional monarchy would be built on those foundations. But you’re more than correct to say it’s inequalities are much more apparent under an apparently democratic parliament than they are under a feudal monarch. For example, Catholics and Jews had to wait until the Victorian age to be granted the same rights and freedoms that Protestant Englishmen were granted by the Glorious Revolution.

[@gameking50P]

The people who set the Glorious Revolution in motion were of course hypocrites as the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland so proves but it doesn't detract it's historical importance in the evolution of parliamentary democracy in the British Isles, the US (it was an important source of inspiration their founding fathers) and elsewhere

[@generalcaesar3477]

@@vatsal7640 As far as I know Cromwell merely allowed Jews to return to Britain, specifically England during his regime. Daniel O’Connell, the leader of the Catholic Emancipation movement, even advocated for a law ordering Jews to wear a Star of David on it to be removed.

[@reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeemastere1004]

I think it's important to mention that Rockerfeller actually made a profit from the breakup of standard oil, as he owned massive shares in all of the new companies that were formed and which were taxed collectively less than standard oil was.

[@guppy719]

The general problem with government intervention and regulation that a lot people choose to ignore is that it can just easily be used to hurt the general populace as help it.

[@MrTigracho]

@@guppy719 Argentina is a good example of this. On top of that you gotta add that the spam of so many supports to the poor through use of Welfare State policies, plust the regulation and manipulation of the market that messes up the prices, creating desemployment and raising the poverty line, created a culture of expecting always help from the govertment, which ultimately establishes absolute support to the party whom benefits you the most. There is nothing more vile than this, because it causes a lot of people who work and pay taxes(Be bussiness owners, non-irregular workers. Yes we pay high taxes as if we were in a nordic country) to be hateful or agaist of such policies, which makes a lot of the supporters of the party that promotes this bs, in turn, to mark those who protest as "Gorilas", or basically, people who hate the poor.

[@reginaldcampos5762]

​@@guppy719regulation is often only applied so far that it actually destroys competition for large corporations and banks rather than disrupt the bad business practices. Its a terrible balance.

[@djohnson2536]

England is somewhat unqiue in it's geography in that it's an island nation which throughout it's history has largely been safe from outside invaders. Seems incredibly obvious at first, but it's an obvious fact that this video is glaringly missing. When people refer to the magna carta or glorious revolution, they are not implying that these events could occur elsewhere, so much of English public and common law history developed over hundreds of years because of the stability of that country. When a country like Hungary is invaded, all is lost. The libraries are sacked, knowledge is destroyed, and the nation itself is in ruin. English law is law, because we know what it is. We have hundreds of years of case law from thousands of cases archived and able to be viewed, some of which are still precedent to this day. England is unique in this sense.

[@prw56]

A fairly large channel like yours using the final 4 minutes of one of your not often released videos to say "see ya later" to a friend and coworker was pretty heart warming.

[@TheThesloth]

Jedes Mal, wenn Kraut ein neues Video veröffentlicht. Ich lerne viele neue Dinge, er schafft es jedes Mal, mich zu überraschen. Top quality content as always my man.

[@romeersharma5423]

indeed, my man kraut need more respect for his work, its top tier

[@ecardt9714]

Jedes Mal, wenn Kraut ein neues Video veröffentlicht, lerne ich viele neue Dinge. Er schafft es jedes Mal, mich zu überraschen.* The words are all correct, but german punctuation is sometimes a little tricky. The Problem with your version is, that the first sentence says:" Everytime, when Kraut releases a new video." And your second sentence:" I learn many new things, He always manages to surprise me." As you can see, you merely need to move the "I learn many new things" to the first sentence and adjust the word-order accordingly. A trick, that is taught to us germans, is to check if the mainclause makes sense without the subordinate clause, as the subordinate clause is only meant to give more information. In this case it would be:" Jedes Mal lerne ich viele neue Dinge"/"Everytime I learn many new things" and the additional information is:" wenn Kraut ein neues Video veröffentlicht"/"when Kraut releases a new video".

[@kthepenguin3258]

True

[@nelinearni]

@@koschmx i love your comment

[@ecardt9714]

@@koschmx Damn, I just wanted to Help him improve. I guess you really are right about that aspect of german culture. xD

[@Kiflic-fx3qp]

It's frickin hilarious that everyone agrees that Venice is a tentacle monster

[@Bacony_Cakes]

Lads kinda walked into it making their flag like that.

[@gwho]

spaghetti monster could also work

[@Miki-fl9ez]

15:16. Venice didn't collapse because lack of inclusivity. Venice was Mediterranean, and Atlantic powers INCLUDED themselves in world trade making Venice unimportant. Literally the opposite of lack of "inclusivity" happened.

[@attilaedem101]

How dare you point out an inconvenient fact which contradict the narrative< Its not like the starting premise (the fall of Hungary and the Golden Bull) was not a straight-up oversimplification of the story and at best honest but gross mistake (and at worst outright rewriting history). The Hungarian nobolity resented and hated the Black Army, because it was the very embodiment of going toward the other extreme - the king, Mathias Hunyadi who basically founded it was very literally the first absolute monarch, who trampled over ANYONE who opposed him, put ridicolously high taxes on the peasentry to finance he's dreams to become the Emperor of the HRe though conquest etc.). For ALL (i repeat, ALL) fabric of Hungarian Society the Black Army was the symbol of oppression - even though the rest of society jsut got a other tyrant back, namely the nobility. That and the Hungarian nobolity was basically in a 120 year long constant civil war, where the Western half of the nobolity wanted a Habsburg ruler and the Eastern half wanted a Polish/Hungarian one. And Kraut CONVENIENTLY left out a very important detail in this regard too: the King of Hungary is elected by the nobility since its foundation. Its the legacy of the Magyar tribal Confederacy, where the 7 tribes elected its Tribal High Chief AND the High Priest (the Kende and Kundu in Hungarian - dont ask which one is which, that is lost in History). And the most invonvenient fact of all: Hungary is NOT destroyed by the Ottoman invasion. It was split into three (the Transylvanian Principality, which claimed itself to be the legitimate claimant of ALL of Hungary and the Throne of Hungary), the Austrian controled Royal Hungary and the ottoman occupied territory. Besides the occupied territory Hungary de facto existed up until this very day - its institutions remained, the nobility's right to elect the king remained until the Pragmatica Sanctio was passed by Maria Theresia, the Hungarian Diet remained up until 1848 and the Austrian Emperors are almost every year forced to call it. In fact Hungary was the ONLY continental European nation which didnt experienced Absolutism for more than a decade or two thought history. And all of that is actually thanks to the Hungarian Golden Bull, the doccument which allegedly killed the country. Despite the country bascially existed in all except name until 1848. Andeven then a short year after the Habsubrg Empire is basically forced to become the Austro-Hungarian Empire... Hungary ceased to exist for 20 year, what a tragedy... in exchange of avoiding ALL the absolutism shit the rest of the continent suffered and up until WW1 having the EXACT SAME legislative developments as the UK or the US. And even that is only stopped because the Western powers screwed us over. Hard time. Personally i didnt even bothered watching further than the 7:30 mark. If by that point the premise is wrong on SO MANY LEVEL i dont see the point of hearing it out further.

[@Xalerdane]

Well having an entrenched oligarchy certainly didn’t help.

[@comradesillyotter1537]

Youre entirely misunderstanding the use of the word, in this instance, bwcause of your odd sensitivities. Illiteracy

[@RavignonCh]

It is tempting for most political ideologies to try to justify themselves in a scientific reading of history where history has predictive power. The irony is that the best reading, and therefore the most useful, comes when we try our best to accept information as-is. Shoutout to the fellow takodachis who caught the reference. If you know, you know -w-

[@PakBallandSami]

Kraut videos are not complete with out ravignon in the comments

[@SuperCrazyfin]

Never thought I'd find a fellow Takodachi on a Kraut video. Edit: Just spotted it!

[@solgato5186]

nah historical materialism ftw

[@KingArthur39]

@@solgato5186 Historical materialism is just looking at history in a very narrow way to justify your ideology

[@P99s-s]

WAH!

[@Cardinal8427]

Love how Hololive is now so mainstream Kraut makes a reference to them in one of his videos

[@MrTigracho]

Wait what

[@MrTigracho]

23:14 Oooohhhh. Kraut is a Tako confirm?

[@philagelio336]

When criticizing Whig history, it shouldn’t exclusively be an indictment against liberalism itself. That’s the path reactionaries are taking now.

[@rwatertree]

Whig historicism can't reasonably be separated from Liberalism. One can't critique the idea of inevitable progress without also critiquing the movements which have affected the changes which are then held up as examples of progress.

[@IntrusiveThot420]

@@rwatertree popper was an explicitly liberal writer whose critique of historicism is ultra foundational. I think you can absolutely criticize any teleological historicism without throwing liberalism as a whole in the trash, lmfao.

[@IntrusiveThot420]

@Zioptis eh, there aren't any serious alternatives that have been founded yet.

[@DraculaCronqvist]

But Kraut *is* a reactionary.

[@ArcturusOTE]

@Zioptis The way forward after liberalism is for a work in progress that's still going on for, idk, about 200 ish years or so?

[@willforest5302]

The strength of England was that the king had lots of power but was controlled socially by the idea of English common law. Essentially he did not create law, law was set by tradition. The king's where also restrained by the fact that it was easier to tax the nobility by negotiating with them through parliament rather than just taking what they wanted at sword point. Parliament was the most functional under a powerful king as he had more bargaining power to get the nobility to do what he wanted. the king was very powerful, but had a lot of incentives to not be a massive tyrant and rule by consent. Parliament was never meant to rule, thats the kings job, parliament was just an institution to negotiate with the nobility. Even to this day the prime minister uses the devolved power of the monarch, they ask the queen to form a government on her behalf and use her powers. In theory she could refuse and choose whoever she wanted, in theory she could rule herself. The prime minister is essentially a second monarch who uses parliament to manage and negotiate with the nobility. There is no separation of powers in England.

[@davidpekar857]

Love your vids man, hope you continue pumping out more. They feel very professionally done and are very interesting. You are one of my favourite youtubers and especially ones that talk about serious topics. Keep it going, you are great

[@richardnixon7248]

He's not bad on stream either. I wish he did more content.

[@glue6143]

Dog this vid came out 5 mins ago how do you know what the video is like

[@davidpekar857]

@@glue6143 I dont yet, I just wanted to say that I loved all his previous videos :)

[@laurencerosenthalwinckler4439]

Kraut post a video I have to share to all my friends and like it with 5 different KZbin accounts that i created to like his videos

[@angryengine9616]

It's amazing how this known liar is still around lol.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

Excellent video Kraut. I'd like to mention two things: The entirety of Thai history (at least from the Ayutthaya period (1351-1767) onwards) can almost be simplified to pre-1767: too much aristocratic power leading to a failure of a theoretically absolute monarch to organize its armed forces from a massive foreign invasion and a post-1767: too much monarchial power/the monarchy, military, religion, and aristocracy all combing their powers, eventually leading to the failures of Thailand to implement a true Parliamentary democracy up until the present day. I also wonder how close are the parallels with late 19th/early 20th century America's attempts to regulate the business conglomerates were in Britain, like why did Churchill side with Labor early in his political career (perhaps something you should consider investigating). Lucy Worsley's documentaries, particularly on the Glorious Revolution, introduced me to the concept of "Liberal History", a concept which, as an American, I have never heard of until watching Worsley.

[@ferdjur4195]

Concepts don't need to be known by name. Sometimes just living their spirit, thinking alongside their lines is enough for that concept to influence how you see the world. This happens because we don't live in a vacuum and constantly take info from the surroundings, getting our worldview changed by the speech communities we partake in. So even if you knew liberal history late in your life, it probably influenced much of your interpretation of the world in the years prior. It's the prevailing narrative of history in the west of today.

[@8kuji]

Man Thai history sounds interesting, you get any books or sites I could search to find + learn this information

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@8kuji The problem with "A History of Thailand" by Baker and Phongpaichit is that it skips much of the Sukhothai and Ayutthaya periods, although it is understandable considering their themes with the book.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@8kuji If you're into lectures, check out the KZbin channels FCCT (Foreign Correspondents of Thailand) and the Siam Society.

[@Urlocallordandsavior]

@@8kuji For books (recommended to me on askhistorians): "Thailand: A Short History" (3rd edition) by David K. Wyatt. and "A History of Thailand" by Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit (4th edition for this book is coming out very soon).

[@Klishar122]

I always appreciate it when KZbinrs such as yourself take the time to adequately explore and explain topics such as this. It’s often far too easy for people to grossly oversimplify complex topics such as this, and your genuine analysis is refreshing. So thank you!👍 Also, WOW! First oil burns on your arm & chest, then a bout with COVID? That’s rough. Hopefully things improve from here on out.

[@POCKET-SAND]

If the English didn't live on an island separated from mainland Europe, the same thing could have easily happened to them that happened to the Hungarians and Poles.

[@Carewolf]

Well it did in the 300s by the anglosaxons, in the 800s by the danes, and in 1000s by the normans..

[@kevincronk7981]

I would love it if you did a video dedicated to fully exploring the saga of Hungarian history, in more detail than just stating the basic events at the beginning and end. Also describing Hungary's history with just a single sentence referencing the Arpad dynasty is such a disservice to how influential they were to Hungarian history. Btw this isn't coming from a Hungarian, just an American interested in Hungarian history.

[@lizannewhitlow1085]

And in Ivan Nagy, the premiere danseur par excellence.

[@kevincronk7981]

@@lizannewhitlow1085 sorry I only know English, what does that mean?

[@lizannewhitlow1085]

@@kevincronk7981 Ivan Nagy was a handsome famous male ballet dancer and a Hungarian hero. World class!

[@ivanjovic6287]

just be careful not to use only Hungarian sources, their neighbours have quite different view of history than them. For start do not use that map. Greetings from Croatia :-D

[@cv4809]

@@ivanjovic6287 maybe Hungary's neighbors are in wrong and need a history lesson

[@majora3206]

babe wake up, new Kraut video

[@beardannyboy]

As a person who's normally inclined towards liberty, this was a valuable video for me.

[@jensjensen9035]

As a person inclined towards authoritarianism, the video was still valuable for me

[@Fractured_Unity]

@@jensjensen9035 What makes you inclined towards authoritarianism?

[@veemie8148]

@@Fractured_Unity (domination fetish)

[@user-zj6hn4nb1m]

@@Fractured_Unity seeing how stupid the majority of society is for one

[@Fractured_Unity]

@@user-zj6hn4nb1m But plenty of authoritarian leaders are stupid. At least in democracy there’s a higher chance of holding those in power responsible. There are more incentives for competent leadership in democracy than authoritarianism

[@Grey000]

My understanding of the Founding Fathers was that they'd carefully studied not just how democracies successfully functioned, but very much how they fell. I mean, everyone was thinking of that if they had a classical education. They frequently claimed that the internal enemy as deadly to democracy as the external one was corruption. The Whiggish view of history is something I see as a consequence of nineteenth century idealism and optimism, belief in progress.

[@lordgarysoh]

23:13 I see you're a man of culture as well

[@christopherkevinly257]

Wah!

[@pixellivesmatter8409]

Oligarch takodachi

[@troupple1658]

I feel thoroughly informed, slightly overwhelmed and more than a little intimidated. Definitely just finished a Kraut video Hope you feel better an we'll miss you Teabag

[@oisin543]

I think, for me as an English person, Magna Carta somewhat serves as a reminder that power structures can be changed and have good outcomes sprout from that change. The irony of current UK and US conservatives citing it as their inspiration is just exquisite.

[@lewis123417]

The current Uk conservatives have a long history of change and enfranchisement. They gave the women the vote and they also gave all men the vote in 1918 with the liberal PM Lloyd George (thatchers favourite PM after churchill) and David Cameron passing the same sex marriage Act. People like to pretend they don't change anything or like they are anything in comparison to the American republicans but they aren't. They are the most successful conservative party in Europe for a reason. They generally don't believe in radical change same as the majority of the country but their deeply held liberalism unlike the American religious conservatism means they naturally believe in change albeit at a slower, less radical pace. Thatcher being the exception as she was a Conservative radical

[@baconsir1159]

The Golden Bull should then serve as a reminder that changes in power structures are not always positive developments, no matter how it looks on the surface.

[@lewis123417]

@baconsir1159 sure, look at France on their 5th Republic, clearly their doing something wrong by abandoning their institutions everytime it gets tough

[@slitor]

I came up with a saying last decade. "No matter what Race, Religion,Ideology, Nation, Creed, Ideals or Identity you have, we all have a great capability to dissapoint" I call it my "Cosmopolitan creed"

[@MrTomyCJ]

Isn't that just another way to say that humans will always be flawed in some way?

[@interstellarsurfer]

My man TeaBag has the *best* balls. 👍

[@Mark-nn2ce]

Excellent, timely video. I'm sorry to hear about everything you went through trying to finish this video, but you should know that your work is very much appreciated.

[@Peregringlk]

Your narrative is impressive man. I have never faced a video about history that makes me want to hear a specific sentence several times just for the pleasure of enjoying the pronunciation, the pauses, the strength in words, the tempo and the particularly choosen vocabulary. For example the ending sentence at 9:19. Maybe I'm so impressed because at the same time I'm listening, I'm also reading the subtitles, and maybe that is what gives an extra strength to the narration.

[@polskahajada9603]

I can't imagine the amount of work you put into the animation, thumbnail, and the editing. Your channel overall is the best and wish to see more interesting videos :) Also as a Korean, for a couple months in the south korean military you have to go through boot camp. Meaning he'll be able to have free time once he finishes his few months of boot camp.

[@Golth1502]

23:14 I came here for tako, stay for the quality of the content.

[@jamsdiscourse9512]

All hail the priestess

[@TugaThings]

23:30 Never expected to see a hololive reference in a Kraut video

[@ConfusedDom]

Will always wait patiently for your next instalments! Honestly, your work is my favourite content on this platform. You can’t beat consistent quality. My sympathies and thoughts though this difficult time medically and personally.

[@hostedbysimples5416]

I could wait a whole year for any of your videos and still watch them on the first 2 hours of being posted. Love your content, and be well Kraut.

[@twincaves1747]

Kraut, I gotta say that I love your content, and I watch it every time one comes out

[@elixexo4011]

21:45 I like the nudge at NFTs, so much of the Crypto sphere follows the tactics of these robber barons like they were gospel.

[@Morty143]

Great video as always but can we take a moment to appreciate the arts in this video I mean look at 13:30 & 14:00 these are so good especially for countryballs standards. The artist have really improved

[@fudj12]

I hope you get better quickly Kraut! Your work, and everyone else's, is worth the wait.

[@rhetthart9311]

I love kraut videos because they just kick ass, it’s a real treat that drops out of the blue sometimes and I’m always excited to watch them. Thank you for always putting out excellent work!

[@SolarFlareAmerica]

Not a mistake, but I've noticed, especially in the "what is whig history" section, that the music is just slightly too loud compared to the spoken audio. A good score for the video, but I'm more interested in hearing what you have to say. XD Anyways, very interesting stuff as always! I look forward to whatever else yall produce for us!

[@Cristian-pn5nw]

Although I don't think the background music is too loud but rather the voice is too low.

[@irispaiva]

Agreed. While subtitles would be fine, I'd like if Kraut upped his own volume

[@NoNameAtAll2]

or, idk, add such simple thing called "subtitles" :/

[@LordZetera00]

love the vid. at 23:36 though. I think someone managed to sneak in Ina (the vtuber) into there. Could be wrong. Don't think I am though. Like the tentacle monster has the ears on top, the halo, the crown. the saying "I'm human". All of these line up.

[@help3173]

Yeah it’s an ina reference, she even said Wah! After she died lol

[@nakenmil]

I did not expect to see a Ina Hololive reference here, but I am pleased!

[@josephstalin3508]

What where?

[@humanperson3871]

@@josephstalin3508 23:15

[@Appendixization]

The people you hired for this one really knocked it out of the park in terms of artwork, great job from them and great video altogether as usual

[@greensnake6943]

23:17 nice reference to the v-tuber Ninomae Inanis. Whoever did the art for that section is a huge closet weeb

[@jeffmorris5802]

First off, love the video, love the channel. Easily one of the best political channels out there. This is a very weird video for me. In America, we have a very common saying - "Freedom isn't free". It's generally understood by most Americans that liberty is the exception, not the rule, and that it is fragile and must be protected. Violently, if necessary. The longstanding tradition of protesting in the USA is very much a result of this. I've never heard the term "whig history". If it's a real concept, than the UK and the US have VERY different understandings of the inevitability of liberal democracy. I think the section about companies being "too big to fail" ignores the very large, glaring, obvious elephant in the room. Globalism. Global markets changed the dynamics of economic trade dramatically. The robber barons gained their wealth by monopolizing and exploiting domestic markets. That isn't how current major corporations like Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, etc are wealthy. That wealth comes from a MUCH broader reach, and a much smaller footprint needed to maintain that reach. It also ignores the very real phenomenon of "consumer-selected monopolies". Amazon and Google aren't actively squashing their competitors. The reason they're large is because consumers generally prefer using the most convenient option - Amazon for online shopping, Google for search engine results. You COULD use Bing (I personally do), or shop at another online retailer if you wanted; but you probably don't. Breaking up these companies, currently, would be explicitly worse for the consumer than letting them be. Anti-trust legislation exists to protect consumers, not to hurt them. Again, love the video and the exploration of history.

[@nepdep1945]

Agreed, but many of these companies do share similarities with the robber barons(corporate lobbying and illegal union-busting come to mind). Not to mention that some industries(like online shopping and space travel) are only accessible to very large corporations due to the expenses required to ship items overseas or to build rockets. Many of these new industries, just like the ones of the 1800s, are monopolized by billionaires because you need money to make more money, and this holds especially true for new or expensive technology.

[@jeffmorris5802]

@@nepdep1945 The union-busting thing, to me at least, is complicated. Unions have a bit of a mixed history in the US. On the one hand, they're responsible for several of our current labor laws, which is undoubtedly a positive. On the other hand, the UAW (United Autoworkers Union) is almost directly responsible for the suppression of electric cars. They correctly assumed the electric powertrain of a battery electric vehicle requires none of the competencies of an internal combustion engine. In the interest of protecting jobs, they vigorously fought against electric vehicles - and still do somewhat to this day. It's not hard to see why Tesla would be wary of the UAW. To expand on that, the teachers union and police union are both widely regarded as being a net negative - since they block the firing of bad teachers and bad cops. Europe, I think generally, has had a better experience with unions - though with the recent Volkswagen scandals I'm not sure if that's actually true.

[@Phil-ni3ol]

Those in the U.S may not refer to it as "whig history," but it definitely has is own version of it. In some circles, it's implied with American exceptionalism talking points, but it can also be seen whenever people use the phrase "the right side of history" when fighting for causes. This suggests that the cause will inevitably win and be socially accepted, leaving the opposition to be derided by future generations. But there's no guarantee of this.

[@carlontesvito]

I see Takodachi!! @23:45 hololive's ina reference, nice!

[@atskyrider1636]

Wah

[@mc4820]

Thanks for all of the updates while making these videos!

[@legolas-xu6ou]

Good to see you again! I love your takes on historical events and their lingering influences!

[@buglepong]

The Magna Carta, when written, was a somewhat conservative document. What it did was put down in writing the rights the aristocracy already had in feudal law that John violated during his time as king. The actual rights themselves werent revolutionary. It my position that the european enlightenment was a fluke. What can be seen by studying history is that oligarchies usually dominate developed systems. Everybody is scared of monopoly but nobody understands the cartel. The cartel is more stable and profitable than a monopoly because it can externalise costs. In many cases a cartel is the collusion of multiple local monopolies, the government itself actually being a local monopoly that gets captured by cartel. The antitrust movement in america broke down the industrial cartel but built the banking one. the federal reserve (1913) is itself the largest financial monopoly-cartel in history.

[@tomdudley5314]

Excellent video Kraut, insightful as always. Sorry to hear about your accident and ordeal. Glad to hear you back on track!

[@anguseverist4178]

I honestly don't care how long it takes you to get a video out, because they are always worth the wait.

[@PakBallandSami]

Kraut I know this video took another of time to make and it was delayed slot but remember this man you make amazing and great videos so already put slot of effort in the and it shows you made a whole community around countryballs history channels and I love that and I love being part of this amazing community slot of great people but remember when you upload you make my day thank you so much for that I really do appreciate you as a person keep it up champ

[@taargon9482]

It's so good that you're back! Take care! Final part was so heartwarming!

[@slagmaxxing]

Finally got round to watching it and is a great video as usual. Also honoured to wish Teabag a farewell & I think I speak on behalf of your community, production team & anyone fortunate enough to know Teabag we all look forward to seeing him again some day.

[@lordgemini2376]

Brietannia the legend! Loved your video on why Wales & Scotland have parliaments and the possibilities of devolution etc. Really wish more people watched your videos 🙌

[@slagmaxxing]

@@lordgemini2376 Appreciate the kind words! tbf my channel has only been posting content since mid September 2021, so to be on over 2k subs is pretty good imo.

[@zachprice818]

fantastic video! Thank you so much. American Here, and this was a great overview of early American Industrialization. It was quite gross, and no sector of the American market was safe from big cooperation stomping all over peoples personal liberties. There's endless stories about this. Like textile workers burning to death in a tall buildings with no fire escapes, to the coal worker crackdowns, to the meat packing industry. Just lots of crazy things that were ok before regulation created some reasonable standards. Anyway, I enjoyed this!

[@kevincronk7981]

I don't know much about coal workers, but I know with your other 2 examples those were cases where there was such public outrage that the government made changes so that was no longer the case

[@samuelskinner7704]

Those are almost all cases with immigrants. Guess where such things happen in the modern day? The exception is the coal mining region where the process of taking power from business and moving it to the civil service was followed by vigorous attempts to eliminate the coal mining business. Power doesn't disappear and if you give it to people with no stake in anything they will burn everything down just to use it.

[@chickenfishhybrid44]

That type of thing was common everywhere in that era. Not a dismissal or justification, but shit conditions in factories and such was par for the course and not uniquely American.

[@UnkemptCube]

When it rains it pours, I hope you're coping well. I appreciate you and your crew's work, hope Tea's service goes well and he comes back safe.

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

So... 1. Monopolies created the american industrial growth (ie. vastly increased production). 2. Monopolies didn't produce more, they just accrued power and stole. Which is true? You only get to pick one. Also, the big railroad going west had branching rail roads off the main one, which were often run by smaller businesses. Do you think a nationalized rail road would allow this? Monopolies can at least still be played against each other. Co-operatives don't last forever, because they aren't set in stone by the laws of the state and the simple presence of guns that keep it that way.

[@duckduck8889]

I was actually taught this in high school history class. That everything will become more liberal over time naturally.

[@stevenschnepp576]

Which is blatantly false, of course, but a useful lie to tell when they're trying to facilitate the implementation of an agenda.

[@CarlMarxPunk]

after the cold war legit everyone took this as fact. So odd.

[@lukeberghaus272]

@@CarlMarxPunk because it seemed like authoritarianism had almost died out. Apart from China, that is.

[@MavrickGameing]

Or the other 40% of states that arnt liberal democracies

[@soupman3285]

@@stevenschnepp576 love it when conservatives misinterpret this video and use it for their own purposes

[@ProfLakitax]

Didn’t expect the Hololive references

[@Amantducafe]

This video touches one of the topics i always try to explain to Anarcho-capitalist. That even if you have a perfectly even playfield for everyone in a free non-regulated market eventually most of the assets/resources/rights/privileges will gravitate towards smaller groups of people which will almost always inevitably try to secure such assets/resources/rights/privileges by creating a form of centralized government institution (Which can be their own private mercenary army enforcing their laws) to undermine the competition and preserve their assets/resources/rights/privileges which will become the status-quo. Obviously outside the vacuum theoric society of anarcho-capitalism, when a monopoly or corporation grows beyond the control of an existing government they will "marry" said government to preserve themselves. This "marriage" with the goverment is more prevalent in latin american countries where the owners of land, banks and businesses that monopolized the assets are also members of the ruling class with a government always there to stop them from ever failing, going bankrupt or stopping any challenge from the competition. I really liked your breakdown with historical references outside the USA (The Robber Barons are the only ones i use). Curiosity 1: Robber Baron term originated in Germany (Raubritter), they were noble barons inside the Holy Roman empire that will put their castles along the Rhine and tax/toll/steal/confiscate any trader's property that might sail too close to their castles, they thrived due to lack of Imperial authority. Curiosity 2: If you manage to read this Kraut, get some vitamine C either in supplements or as ointments/cream (L-Ascorbic acid), clinical trials show they help a lot in skin burns and even more in severe burnt victims during their recovery.

[@Yora21]

Anarcho capitalists aren't interested in equality or the greater good. Their idea of a level playing field is that everyone (and particularly themselves) should not be hindered by the state to create monopolies.

[@martytu20]

Adam Something did a series of videos highlighting what happens in an Anarcho-capitalist society.

[@cv4809]

The problem is that those monopolies in US were created or legitimized with the help of the government. We don't know what markets would look like or develop without the government as a third party. The example of corporate owners asking state forces to crush strikes is a perfect example of this

[@sandshark2]

@@cv4809 we have a pretty good idea during the gilded age though. Corporations with no regulation, free to do whatever they want. So they hired mercenaries to kill dissidents, replaced men, women, and children when they got injured or died in the dangerous factories. And to make sure they kept making profits they put guns to their employee’s and debter’s heads to vote for who they want in power. That all happened because the government refused to get involved in the free market until Roosevelt.

[@Croz89]

I think anarchy in general has this criticism that eventually some kind of state will form, be it left or right wing anarchy.

[@adam346]

90% of modern day conservatives stopped watching at the 15~ minute mark and miss the best part!

[@blenderbanana]

I'm not sure American Conservaties vould tolerate Krauts videos. He sounds so very much like the "Expert"(Sourced and Epistimological) thay they reflexivly contradict.

[@mauddib696]

Im so sorry for your recent unfortunate events. I hope your feeling and healing better, as always though your video was phenomenal

[@93camping]

Can't wait to see this one. I already am going trough despair and depression as it is.

[@gregbors8364]

Try to take comfort in the fact that things could always be worse. Chances are that you live a vastly more comfortable lifestyle than about 99.999% of all the total humans who lived in the past or present

[@stephenjenkins7971]

@@gregbors8364 This. Fact is that humanity's current state is about the best it has ever been in its existence. The point is not to despair, but be aware and not allow it to degrade.

[@kevincronk7981]

@@gregbors8364 nowadays (in first world countries) is definitely better than just about any other time since the invention of agriculture, but I've seen pretty plausible arguments that life may have been better back when we were all hunter-gatherers. I don't personally think that's true, I think life may have been worse after the advent of agriculture than before it, but I still think living in the US today is better than any life as a hunter gatherer. But it's a pretty interesting idea.

[@dopaminecloud]

@@stephenjenkins7971 The only path that leads not to degradation is the willing graceful and respectful decay. The one free from malice and the clinging to power. All attempts to preserve and continue on are ultimately identical to choosing a violent malevolent degradation as that is all that awaits you in the end.

[@LSeba91]

23:15 ina has started world domination through oligarchic means, the tentacult is pleased

[@sasi5841]

Lmao I'm glad I am not the only one that noticed it.

[@LudvigIndestrucable]

@Kraut Really sorry to hear about your series of misfortunes, I had no idea, though am very glad that you've made/making it through to the other side. Your videos are always a joy.

[@bulbakip6380]

Excellent video as always, Kraut. Worth the wait. I'm glad you're healing up!

[@velozio]

Always a good day when kraut uploads

[@joujou264]

If Whig history was true, nothing would ever become worse, and that was dispelled with the first societal crisis after the Whig history concept was first thought up. It's insane that this idea has even persistent until today.

[@lostkin4910]

I would love to see a video on on the political development of Britain and Ireland. We dont get taught much about it at all in Britain, and I really want your interpretation of the development of liberalism in Britain, as i feel it did get a little left in the dust this video. I'm not actually super into history other than its aesthetic merits (old shit looks really cool) but your videos are always super enjoyable to me. Also, pls do a video on the history of the Celtic nations of the UK, I'm Scottish and I'd love to learn more and your stuff is always super digestible. Not sure how political a video like that would be though, so maybe it wouldnt be your thing .__.

[@agcantarero]

While this video makes some very interesting points, I believe its reasoning for opposing the existence of large corporations and restricting the market in order to prevent their appearance is faulty. You set two very interesting examples - that of Venice and of the USA - and you mentioned how the unrestricted free market led to monopolies in both; however, you contradicted your own argument while explaining how these monopolies formed. This becomes very apparent when talking about the Union Pacific and the Associates. They were men who had failed in the free market - two failed miners and a failed businessman - who then utilized the regulatory power of the state to create a monopoly of their own and forbid anyone else from "entering their turf". They might have technically been a private company, but, as you yourself said, their money came almost entirely from the State, and their power also came from their government-enforced monopolies; it was not the free market who created this monopoly, but rather corrupt politicians who diverted funds towards this corporation and made legislation restricting the free market to its benefits. This is not free market economics; this is simply cronyism; free market for me, and regulation for everyone else. You yourself explained how Union Pacific relied entirely upon the State, and used the State's power to limit the free market; therefore, using it as an example of how the market naturally leads to monopolies is absurd. I agree with your point that big corporations can potentially be dangerous; but not because of their potential to form monopolies (which, under the free market, are extraordinarily rare and generally not very long lasting). Rather, what makes them dangerous for the institutions of economic inclusivity that make a society prosperous is their potential and tendency to get very close to the government in power. The Venetian example is much better, because it shows the true danger of large businesses; having them use the power of the State to restrict the access to the market of anyone but these already established corporations. In my opinion, therefore, the problem is not large business by themselves; the problem arises when these corporations try to utilize the power of the State to expel everyone else from their turf. Therefore, regulation should primarily target this problem, rather than the existence of these large businesses by themselves. I find your videos wonderful and very interesting, and really hope you continue creating more informative content; I just wanted to explain why I believe you might have made a mistake in your reasoning in this video. On the other hand, your comment on the non-deterministic nature of history, and how similar events can lead to very different outcomes, is indeed very interesting. I really hope you continue to make videos like these, you are one of the best content creators that I know of!

[@jalioswilinghart]

I really appreciate a liberal, that understands that liberalism needs to curtail too much power in the hands of few, in order to uphold itself. Let alone its stated ideals. No, this is not intended as a backhanded anything. I just wished more liberals cared about this.

[@shawnjavery]

I feel like no one should be pro monopoly, not even the monopolist.

[@Yora21]

Isn't that the whole idea of liberalism?

[@lostkin4910]

All liberals understand that, its a major point of liberalism. The problem is figuring out how to do it properly

[@jalioswilinghart]

@@lostkin4910 Well, no offense, but I dont think that counts for liberals in many places. At least in modern times. Australia, America, and Japan are notable examples. Luckily yes, most liberals, think monopoly busting is a social good. Though elected officials often have the issue of needing party funds, and going against monied interests is often an uphill battle, when who you are targeting, are the biggest economic power houses within your jurisdiction. Its easier to just take the money and look the other way.

[@oLii96x]

Problem is, that it can be a contradiction to itself. When you need a central government to curtail monopolies you also give lots of power to a few people that can act in their own interests, and the result could be similar to what happens in a monopoly.

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

I appreciate these videos so much. Thank you and the artists for the hard work.

[@cheekibreeki3607]

Hey man I love your videos as they are so well researched and thought out. The quality is just awesome. However I feel that they tend to constantly be a loosely connected bundle of multiple interpretations of history. For example in this video I felt it was divided into a critique of aristocratic rule on a governmental and economic background which were held together by a weak segway. It didn't feel to support the title of the video and with that the main topic at hand. By the time you got to the issue of american monopolies I couldn't help but wonder if I was even watching the same video as the one with the critique of misinterpretation regarding the English democracy's beginnings. I wish you'd make the spine of the video more centered on the topic or made it clearer how the discussed parts are connected to it.

[@griffin_booth]

Great quality content. Whether it be art, research, narratives (or how you don't drag the videos on for longer then necessary) your channel produces some of the highest quality video essays on the platform. Congratulations and keep up the good work!

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Love your videos please keep them up

[@xboxgorgo18]

23:14 RABBIT HOLE CONFIRMED!!!! Wah

[@KaoticOrder]

The problem with most criticism of the American Gilded Age is that people compare it to today, as opposed to some period prior. There had never been greater economic growth ever achieved in history. The US went from many living on dirt floors to the richest country on earth by the 1890s.

[@briannawaldorf8485]

Only as tiny few people went to being the richest country on earth. What is the point of being the richest country on earth if your workers are working 16 hour days and being killed by their machinery? Or starving a large portion of rural poor farmers as the corporate farms rapidly won competition with them. Sure the long term result has been better accesss to food but it took a lot of starving and people becoming destitute to then fluctuating dangerous food prices to finally intervention in the market to stabilise crops to make it worth while for anyone who isn’t the owner of the corporate farm.

[@TurboAutist-sg7lo]

Kraut, thank you for all of the insanely good and fascinating videos. Take ur time❤