The Zimmerman Telegram - Extra History Reaction

See the original video here - • The Zimmermann Telegra...
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[@HistoryNerd808]

One thing I'll never understand is why Germany didn't try to give Wilson a way out of it, such as saying it was just wartime propaganda by the Brits.

[@stpnwlf9]

Thinking about it, there was no direct communication between the US and Germany in 1917. The only quick communication method was telegraph which would have had to be relayed through other countries and it would have been next to impossible for the Germans to get word to Wilson directly and relaibly. I get your point, but I'm not entirely sure the Germans had any way with the technology available to do it.

[@andrelee7081]

Well, German and Mexican propaganda in the newspapers tried at first to convince the public that the telegram was British propaganda. However, Zimmerman himself admitted it in an interview with an American journalist. He basically tried to pull US out of WW1 by threatening German aid for a Mexican war against the US; he miscalculated what the response would be. (taken from Wikipedia)

[@HistoryNerd808]

@@stpnwlf9 Good point. Never thought of that. I guess I've kind of taken for granted how easily it's been for world leaders to communicate with each other.

[@HistoryNerd808]

@@andrelee7081 Ah didn't know that. Huge miscalculation by Zimmermann then. The problems you get when you don't have everyone on the same page.

[@soupordave]

They had the chance! Ironically this video kind of skips over a few other important details. There was a lot of skepticism about the authenticity of the telegram among the antiwar faction in the USA. So an American journalist in Berlin asked Zimmerman if the telegram was authentic at a press conference and he admitted it was true! And then he gave a speech in the Reichstag revealing the contents of the telegram! Zimmerman genuinely believed that if the Americans knew about the telegram that they would not want to enter the war. He seems to have had no understanding of how most Americans would react to such a threat.

[@professorwhat2704]

This isn't really connected to the history, but I'd like to say something to the younger viewers of this channel. There are a lot of influences competing for your attention. This man is the sort of influence that you should take your influence from. He talks about kindness, but more than that, we see him live it out on our screens. Treating others well is perhaps the most important decision you can make. When you end up on the receiving end of mistreatment (which is going to happen, btw), that becomes abundantly clear. Not only that, but so many of the influences who want to impact you will preach one thing but practice something else for convenience's sake. Some people are going to make it very difficult to be kind to them. If you haven't already run into that, you certainly will at some point. That's where the fact that we see him behave in the same way that he speaks is important. There are times he has to call out something that goes on in the comments or delete comments or whatever, but he's gracious about it. That's a good pattern to model after. In the end, we're all making life better or worse for those that surround us. If we make the lives of others better, we make the world better. If we make their lives worse, we make the world worse. Think about how you want to impact your world. A lot of us have been positively impacted by Chris. There's no reason you can't do the same for someone else.

[@brianhobaugh]

Well said.

[@defendska2158]

This is a bit of a tangent from your comment, but I discovered this channel the first day that I had covid. I got very sick and ended up in the hospital 3x, but I watched every video up to that point while sick. These videos kept me company and it kept my brain working and spirits somewhat high. It made a profound impact on me for reasons I don't fully understand but I'm thankful.

[@NamelessvonIrgendwo]

I would like to but it feels weirdly awkward or embarassing to help someone or really be kind to them. I guess the hard part is overcoming that. Maybe im just too passive. I don’t have a lot of Life experience but i think i can see what you’re talking about.

[@blankeon6613]

Economic blockades are just as much an unofficial act of war, even when done by a nation claiming to be neutral. The US supplied the Allies and froze out the Central & Axis powers long before they formally entered in both wars, the US were in-effect never neutral in either conflict. Troops on the ground are not the only way to cripple an enemy.

[@johanrunfeldt7174]

If that's true, Britain waged war on Norway, Sweden Denmark and the Netherlands 1914-1918. All these countries were inside the British mine blockade.

[@npc2153]

I'll have you know good sir that bush senior was trading with the nazis and was tried under the trading with the enemy's act. And our good friends at Rockefeller standard oil was solely responsible for the German Air force to even exist. Wait... Those are both bad things.

[@stephenparker6362]

Hi, Chris, very interesting, I would also recommend Kings and Generals' video, How America Entered the Great War. I think the sending of the telegram was a mistake by Germany, I'm not sure that even if Mexico had agreed, which was unlikely, that it would have seriously delayed the US entering the war. Chris, can you do something in depth on the Treaty of Versailles? That would be good.

[@maximaldinotrap]

Mexico was in a civil war, all America would have to do there is side with the stronger faction of rebels and help them win and then get on their way to fighting the Central Powers.

[@oldopexpert6869]

My great grandfather was on the Lusitania when it sank and even he himself said that it wasn't a main reason for the US joining the war, it just happened to be used for propaganda at home

[@lukasbosina301]

Interesting to hear. In Austria we learn about it as the main reason for the US joining WWI.

[@oldopexpert6869]

@@lukasbosina301 we normally talk more about unrestricted submarine warfare and the Zimmerman Telagram, but we always mention it as a big cause

[@ConnorKD1876]

As a Scot I'm quite proud of the British effort in both world wars!

[@russianassassin2005]

I'd like to see a video of him explaining how war and military techniques have evolved over the thousands of years.

[@blogbalkanstories4805]

That's a video series...

[@aidanbengford212]

This would be a bit of a mammoth video for a review, but Knowing Better's recent "Neoslavery" video would be interesting to see you cover. It gave me a new perspective on what Jim Crow meant for real people beyond the start and end of it that was focused on in school.

[@winneriaaca4581]

You should check you original video here link, you forgot to change it from yesterday's so instead of taking us to the extra credits Zimmerman telegram video it takes us to the top 10 historical facts that aren't true video. Might want to change that or leave a pinned comment with the correct link. Thanks.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Oops! Fixing now

[@bogmire7706]

You should do a video or something about William Walker! I think you would offer an interesting insight into the former “president” of Nicaragua

[@jimmyrussl7112]

I usually don’t get into historical conspiracy but the Zimmerman telegraph always was little suspicious too convenient for me to buy it

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

I would agree, except the Germans, stupidly, admitted it was real.

[@fogwar]

Enjoy your second trip to Europe, Chris! Looking forward to when you can make it to the UK!

[@stephenjenkins7971]

The problem with the idea that Unrestricted Sub Warfare is not that different from a Blockade is the simple fact of optics. One doesn't see ships getting blasted into bits, the other does; thus despite the intent being the same, the outcome is diametrically different and infinitely more hostile. Which is why the Germans were immediately trying to seek new allies to counter the soon-to-be VERY upset US.

[@svenrio8521]

Man Extra History really has a way of telling a story.

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Absolutely. That's why I react to so much of their stuff.

[@crusader2112]

Agreed

[@seabass6996]

My favorite thing is how Germany confirmed that they did indeed send it rather than denying it lol

[@jackmessick2869]

Go Whalers!

[@seabass6996]

@@jackmessick2869 facts

[@haha7y200]

Right know you are my favorite reaction channel and my favorite channel on KZbin because of your amzing love of history

[@crusader2112]

Same. 😎👍

[@VloggingThroughHistory]

Appreciate the kind words!

[@stephenparker6362]

Yes, I agree and your comments always add to the original content which is very useful. Hope your Europe trip goes well.

[@crusader2112]

Hey man good luck on your second trip to Europe stay when you go, stay safe and keep up the great work.

[@crusader2112]

*when you go Put stay twice my bad.

[@savagedarksider5934]

Wilson(1916):I kept you out of war. Wilson(1917): I want to declare war on the central powers and pass A law making it illegal to criticize my government.

[@crusader2112]

@@savagedarksider5934 I agree, Wilson, but Monsieur Z’s video on Wilson did put a spotlight on the man.

[@Ashpect]

Mandatory comment for KZbin algorithm. Also, I can't wait for the next episode.

[@mr.caretaker6086]

Love your vids my good man. I would personally and respectfully disagree that without the United States entry into ww1 the German Empire would have won. The German spring offensive, although it had some success, did not break through. Ludendorff kept changing objectives and the overall offensive had no main objective only hoping that the French would sue for peace (Which I don't see why France would) Yes there were American soldiers in Europe in spring 1918 but they were not combat ready and had to be thrust into the trenches quickly when the German offensive began, the bulk of Americans hadn't arrived. I don't think it's far fetched to say American's may not have been needed during the Spring offensive. As Germany had been worn down by a two front war for 4 years and with a blockade starving their people to death there was no way of them winning. Germany had to win in 1914 or loose. Even if Germany (if the USA was absent) had captured more ground the allied unites still held. So Germany could not delver a knock out blow and therefore could not win. All the allies had to do was wait for Germany to collapse, which it did by Nov 1918. So the blockade and the Russian front were the main contributors to Germany's defeat I would argue. Now saying that I think the addition of Americans helped the allied summer and autumn offensives helped big time and had the war drag on Americans would have played a major role then. And of course no victory in World war 2 could have been without the USA. But for WW1 Germany was defeated long before it was defeated. A drawn out war on two fronts and a blockade had worn Germany down

[@tommcdonald1873]

This makes my point that Wilson needed a flash point to declare war against Germany, Wilson wants to declare war after the 1916 election. Germany trying to get Mexico involved would be that flash point.

[@crusader2112]

Exactly, Wilson always wanted to get involved and merely appealed to Isolationist sentiments to win elections.

[@MarynaraSauc3_]

I love Dan Carlin and I remember an online interview he had with a British museum person (I don't remember much) that had the war entered 1919, it would've gotten much worse and I think that's worth mentioning when talking about the timing of the telegram.

[@blogbalkanstories4805]

Oh, Dan Carlin is a fantastic history teacher. Here we two What Ifs... Could the German summer offensive of 1917 have succeeded without the Americans being in France already? I find it doubtful, but people who know more about WW I history than me may think differently and have good arguments. Would the German and Austrian army have collapsed so quickly without the pressure hundreds of thousands of American soldiers on the Western front?

[@JaredLukeBernon]

I would like to see my guy play red dead redemption. Obviously it's more of a story telling game but it would be nice to see his thoughts on how the game portrays the civil war in Mexico and the lifestyle that the game shows for the what is known as the wild west.

[@DeHerg]

What often gets overlooked when it comes to the Zimmerman telegram: Germany made its support for Mexico entering the war conditional on the US declaring war on Germany FIRST. So it wasn't even, as often portrayed, a hostile act, but an exclusively defesive one.

[@walterweigert9840]

Hi Sir. Greetings from Argentina As an amateur history lover myself I´d like to thank you so very much for your videos and explanations, they help me a lot to understand what happened. Since I found out your channel (just a few days ago) I´m watching 4/5 videos per day. I doubt you eventually will read this comment, but in case you do I´ll appreciate very much if you do a video of the Great War Christmas truce. My grandfather on my fathers side, told me this story since he fought in that war. After the GW ended, he fought against the bolcheviques and comunists in Munich with his service pistol. Then, after he obtained his ingeneering degree, he migrate to Argentina in 1924. After my father died a few years ago, I herited that same 100+ year old pistol witch is in my posetion now and I´m very proud to have it. I wish you, your family and friends all the best. Please, keep up your great work. Again, greetings from NE Patagonia, Argentina.

[@daffyduck1974]

If you like the British intelligence stuff. In light of the movie coming out. You should do operation mincemeat.

[@Cody-nu5fu]

Is it just me or he looks like “bully” McGuire

[@GageEakins]

You should really react to Neoslavery by Knowing Better. It is quite longs so it would likely be a couple of videos but it is a pretty good video and it would be interesting to get your take on it.

[@CodyChepa88]

Literally was talking about this with my neighbor earlier . So cool. Hope you have fun in Europe. Also been loving the France videos 👍

[@professorwhat2704]

I was thinking about it too because of some other videos I've watched today. Kinda funny.

[@Kite403]

Yadda Yadda history is so underrated imo. It's the little stories that make the bigger ones better. Like Franz Ferdinand's assassination being a total fluke of chance XD

[@richbandicoot]

what i find interesting about the punitive expedition is that america actually loses a battle against mexico in the battle of the carrizal and the expedition fails as they couldn’t capture pancho villa even tho he came really close many times.

[@jaredmize960]

Love the on site videos for the Great War. Hope your Europe trip goes great and you have fun.

[@5552-d8b]

For Iwo Jima flag raising I heard two different reasons. The first being that the Secretary of State I believe wanted the first flag planted in his office. So the marines took down the flag and replaced it with a bigger flag. The other reason is the flag wasn’t big enough to be seen

[@RomanHistoryFan476AD]

I am always a bit cautious with extra credits now, especially after their videos of infamy like "Your a Nazis" for example. Now that was a bad take.

[@collinschlabach5443]

Robert La Follette gave one of my favorite speeches in the senate against the war bill on April 4 1917. It's a bit long but fascinating.

[@davergent1521]

Its the 79th anniversary of the Bataan Death March this year

[@EthanBSide]

Lumping in the Iwo Jima picture as just staged is wrong. It was still a live combat zone and you could actually do an episode on that event alone. Obviously the original moment with a pipe as a flagstaff was not photographed. Navy Secretary James V. Forrestal requesting the original and sending the famous "posers" up there was a piece of history that deserves to be remembered... 😞

[@AmFuture]

Chris i always get so excited when you talk about the Pancho Villa expedition. The Mexican Revolution get overlooked a lot when talking about this time period because of WW1 and the Russian Revolution.

[@jamessapp4989]

For a follow up on this video, you should watch History Matters video on how Mexico reacted to the Zimmerman Telegraph, as this part of the story is almost never talked about.

[@Valaritas]

What happened to the discord server?

[@XHTTR]

You’re my favorite history teacher

[@jimpanse2055]

It would be very interesting to see a reaction to a video which explains those transatlantic cables from the 1860s (!).

[@caitlinmccloud7431]

History of birthday cakes, history of zip codes, and now a telegram. I like all these types of history videos because its not something you could really learn about in school.

[@pavan923]

The fact that Germany was asking Mexico which, keep in mind, was already tearing itself apart through a bloody revolution since 1910, to attack the United States, a country that wasn't even directly involved in the conflict by this point, just goes to show how desperate Germany became by this point in the war.

[@terraflow__bryanburdo4547]

Wilson ran on "He KEPT us out of war!" NOT "He WILL KEEP us out of war!"

[@Yakerbb]

I hope you had all your previous videos saved on a seperate hard drive and they survived the fresh OS install! In case youtube or your channel ever has some kind of issue; not that it should.

[@RUSSWynne]

Hi, just watched "Zimmermann", good perspective; which leads me to a historical question that you may be able to help with - Did Pershings position on the piecemeal use of US troops used by allies quietly shift during 1918 ? I know that he was strongly opposed to troops in training being used in actual attacks by non US led forces but this continued to happen during 1918. For example the Australian divisions were continually reignforced in attacks with US troops (33rd/27th Div.) starting with the Hamel battle (July 1918) up to the Hindenberg line assult of late September 1918. - Did the policy change ? Russ

[@johanrunfeldt7174]

About the timing issue: The February revolution in Russia in March 1917 topples the Czar but the new government decides to stay in the war. USA declares war on Germany in April 1917. The Bolshevik October revolution in November only wins popular support because Lenin promises he will pull Russia out of the war, and a truce line is established in the Peace at Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, at about the same time as US troops start to arrive in greater numbers. Question: If Kerensky had decided to pull Russia out of the war at once, in March 1917, would that change at lot? I mean apart from not making Lenin look like a Peace Dove to the Russian people.

[@robertocortes1386]

i dont think that i agree with 19:55 lets say that the spring offensive breaks the allies lines and Paris falls, even in that scenario, the fronts of Italy, the Balkans and the Middle East also collapse in favor of the allies and I highly doubt that France would have surrendered because of losing Paris, the only thing that would have happened is that the war would have been prolonged and the result would be worse for Germany. because perhaps the war would not have been resolved with the armistice but with a total conquest of Germany in retaliation for the taking of Paris

[@Swarm66]

Super random thought but i was just thinking about how many times paris was conquered or almost conquered during the late 19th - mid 20th century. If you where born in 1860 for example, you would have seen paris conquered by prussia as a kid in 1871, then you would have seen paris almost get taken twice in ww1 as a middle aged adult. Then as an elderly person you would have seen paris conquered again by the silly moustache man.

[@blogbalkanstories4805]

The Zimmermann Telegram isn't taught in High School in Germany or Austria either - or at least not at the time I went to school. It wasn't in the US either when I took an exchange year in High School there, including a class in US History. And, yes, you could argue that it's perhaps more understandable to be left out of school curricula in the US because WW I did not have nearly as great an effect on the US than it did on the members of the Central Powers. (Which is not to say that it wasn't important for the US as well, don't get me wrong.) I didn't learn about it til sometime in my 20's. And then I thought: Well, the US going to war because the Germans were trying to drag Mexico into the war kinda makes more sense then just the Lusitania in 1915.

[@benjaminmatheny6683]

The thing about Unrestricted Sub warfare that is different than a blockade, is that the Sub attacks are direct attacks on civilians. Technically speaking, a blockade only leads to civilian deaths if the country blockaded either can't produce enough food/medicine for it's population or if they prioritize their military stockpile instead. Both are bad, but describing them as equivalent is incorrect. Pointing to "Germany would have seen this as OK" as a mark for it's acceptability really doesn't hold weight when the actor you are pointing to murdered millions of their own citizens for racial reasons a generation later. Their idea of "acceptable" is clearly suspect.

[@npc2153]

9:35 the Germans sinking British ships below the surface is no different than the British sinking Germans above the surface. British had the best navy forever and Germany was the first country to go under the Ocean. That's technological advancement.

[@scottgordon137]

Off topic, but another example of a famous pic that isn't exactly what it looks like; the famous construction workers eating lunch way up on a steel beam was a publicity stunt, not something commonly done then. Also the painting of Teddy Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill was extremely deceptive as the horses drown getting out of the boats and the Hill had been vacated before they even got there (I was taught in history class ...lol)

[@JC-mx9su]

Vlogging through History, Epic History tv 1917: Russia's two revolutions.

[@s6352]

I think a more interesting question is what would of happened if Germany won WW1? No WW2? 😅❓

[@bionicgeekgrrl]

British intelligence in the second world War is often forgotten about by many people in favour of things like the naval, army or air force battles. Bletchley Park and other intelligemce helped ensured the Germans thought invasion would come at calais rather than Normandy and of course the audacious operation mincemeat, which was vital in making sure the Germans thought an invasion would happen in a different location. The breaking of enigma also allowed the Atlantic conveys to be better protected by knowing where the uboats would be patrolling. However, they were always very careful about keeping station x as top secret as possible. Even going to the extreme of destruction of everything to do with it. For decades people thought eniac was the first computer, but collosus had preceeded it, but had been dismantled and kept secret. The other aspect was that they didn't want the Russians knowing that they had cracked not only enigma, but also lorenz. The Russians apparently used lorenz after the war, so keeping it secret that Britain had cracked it was vital.

[@Bears2024]

How long do you imagine it would take for Germany to lose if the Russians had not left around the same time the Americans joined the war effort?

[@recklssabndon]

Another example is the red flag being risen over the Reichstag - that was a recreation and then it was further manipulated with pre-photoshop techniques lol… the original was a plain red flag tied to the arms of the statue on the roof.

[@franciscoclara3709]

Ive been waiting so long for you to talk about this topic :))) thank you 🙏🏻

[@diedertspijkerboer]

Maybe it's fair to say that the US involvement, starting at the time that it did, tipped the balance of power on the western front.

[@rafaelguerra2125]

Mexico was not to invade America, just the USA. Mexico is as American as the USA are.

[@reginabillotti]

How did they "recreate" an electric chair execution? Did they use a dummy or another death row inmate?

[@jameslane2326]

Love the Dan Carlin mention, his podcasts are the best!

[@nickbegaming6664]

SPY FROM TF2!!!

[@benjaminvonstein]

Have you seen any of “World of Antiquity”’s videos?

[@skeeterd5150]

Haircut’s lookin MY-T-SHARP!

[@seanjoness9311]

Hello Chris

[@wetbreadstickcapo8507]

It is a bit different but it's sleaker and cleaner. I can't figure out why but it is

[@freyalander620]

Hi!!!! What’s you’re favourite part of history?

[@letsgotothemax]

His favorite history topics are the us civil war and British monarchs

[@YukoValis]

Douglas Macarthur comes to mind where he would film his landing on the beaches multiple times just so it looks right.

[@TriggeringOpinionsandFacts]

I didn’t know the Brits were spying on the US too 🤣 I love that.

[@jackmessick2869]

All countries are spying and gaining intelligence even on allies all the time, if they are smart. They just don't talk about it.

[@awwabmhaiskar1051]

Can you please react to Why is India Great 2?

[@AstreaHTT]

Each time i ear about the Zimmerman Telegram i laugh at how crazy it is. From the POV of Mexico, the current president during the great war Venustiano Carranza, talk about if it was possible to achieve the plan of the Telegramm at the end a lot of their War Cabinet told that it was imposible and it will result into a more devastating war against the US. It also doesn't help that the revolution was still in full speed in the hands of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata or any other political entity in the country that wanted the power for himself.

[@JoiceVaderd]

Pancho Villa is a hero for northern Mexicans.

[@217vigilante]

Shoutout to the Actraiser score used for that guy’s intro

[@bigj200016]

The US was not really a neutral nation in WW1. While they didn’t provide soldiers to the fronts, many Americans did enlist to fight through Canada and other dominions. In addition, almost all trade was stopped between the US and the central powers and weapons were being only provided to the Allies. A similar action is happening now. How could almost any nation claim to be neutral towards the Ukrainian conflict while only providing weapons to one side and all but embargoing the other.

[@juanbustos1052]

Is there a good 'what if the central powers won'?

[@joshuawells835]

As a Texan, I cannot help, but say, "NO ONE MESSES WITH TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Growing up, while unrestricted naval warfare was mentioned, especially in 11th grade US history, my big take away was a sponsored invasion of my home. On the topic of different perspectives, History Matters did a video on Mexico's reaction to the Zimmerman Telegraph, which I recommend you watch and maybe react to. It was a good video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b4KxaJeGrdpneLs

[@SourDohSteele]

History most certainly does rhyme. It's funny to draw on the comparisons of WW1 influences to modern day.

[@karls8629]

Can you react on TheUntoldPast's videos? He makes good WW1 and WW2 historical content especially the Trials.

[@jamesearly8518]

At 10:15, the narrator claims that Texas was one of the lands that Mexico lost in the Mexican-American War. This is not true. Mexico lost Texas in the 1835-36 Texas Revolution. Texas then became an independent republic, which it remained until 1845, when it joined the US.

[@diegomacara5658]

You could say many things (bad, bad things) about Doroteo Arango Arámbula, a.k.a. "Pancho Villa" but the caudillo was a nightmare for the gringos and never caught him (they were so close many times).

[@samrevlej9331]

2:44 There's also the raising of the Soviet flag over the Reichstag after the capture of Berlin on May 2nd, 1945. It was staged, mostly because the first picture showed the Soviet soldier wearing two watches, and the army didn't want people thinking soldiers were pilfering Germany.

[@steveclarke6257]

As Winston Churchill said in WWII, the Germans think in straight lines, the old stereotype that Germans are logical, cold, humourless and efficent. So he wanted his intelligence people to think creatively in curved lines, leaving doubt into British intentions. One could argue this 'creativity' is a British trait, the whole British humour thing where you have to be in on the joke, the seemingly complex social rules which so confused American service people in WWII, they needed a set of training films to explain the culture of their ally to the GI. The old adage the the UK and the US are a people separated by a common language. So as said we needed an "excuse" to explain how we obtained the materials and I can't believe that the US state department never asked themselves why British Intelligence were sniffing around in Mexico for information about the central powers. As for codebreakers in WWII, a great deal of credit should go to the Polish codebreakers who passed their pre 1939 work on enigma machines to the British, just after they were invaded. But codebreaking is a complex discipline and it was the British who used a lot of techniques to understand not just the messages but how the German chain of command worked by the use of traffic analysis (there is a good book called "The Hut 6 story", which got it's author Gordon Welchman into a lot of trouble when it was published in the 1970's, for braking the "official secrets act"); as sometime it's important in war to understand where people are. Example....The whole Operation Bodyguard plan by the intelligence officers of room 20 at the Admiralty (because in Roman numerals it's XX ...you might have to be British to get the irony,) with the fake "First US army group", lead by Patton to confuse the Germans, that we were crossing in force at Calais; is a good example of leading the straightline thinking Germans, by the nose, using double agents, fake radio traffic and fake information in British newspapers available in neutral countries, leading them to conclude that they were correct in the location of the invasion of France (.....as has been said about the German leadership it's easier to convince those people of a "lie" if it is based on their own biases of what they 'think' the truth is, because their straightline logic says that is what we would do!). However don't forget we allies did mess with the German intelligences "heads" a lot in WWII, so quite why they never cottoned on to the whole misinformation scams we pulled I have never understood; see Operation Mincemeat out in your movie theatres now for the 1943 version of Operation Bodyguard, a dramatisation based on the excellent and well researched history (ISBN 978-1-5088-0921-1) by journalist Ben MacIntyre, there's also the brilliant 1950's film called "The man who never was" which tells the same story, but at that time not all the "secret" document were declassified; there was a whole German spy plot in that film which never happened in reality.....

[@ilwdw4717]

I frigin love this channel

[@matthewmayton1845]

Have you listened to Michael Neiberg's lecture on how the US got involved in WW1? It is an interesting look from a social history standpoint rather than a military or political standpoint. You can find it on the National WW1 museum's channel or elsewhere.

[@nickschulte3915]

This isn’t actually related to the video, save you mentioned Pancho Villa. But I first heard his name, as far as I can recall, when I was 16 and a Boy Scout at Philmont. One of the Rangers/Counselors there told a great story/joke about “the time I ate lunch with Pancho Villa,” that had us laughing. My dad and myself just can’t ever remember anything but the punch line now.

[@robertholmberg6485]

Other reasons that the Germans felt that they had to resort to unrestricted submarine warfare were that the British had shipped armaments on civilian liners, and would fly the flags on their Q ships (merchant ships armed with concealed guns used to attack submarines and commerce raiders). And other reasons for the U.S. going to war against Germany were German terrorist attacks in the U.S. such as the bombing of the munitions factory on Black Tom Island in area of New York City (in New Jersey).

[@kieranfrancke790]

I may be mistaken but Germany moved a lot of their eastern front divisions south to help austria Hungary and Bulgaria fight the Greeks, the Bosnians and the Serbians. More divisions I think went there then to the west

[@boy_becauseofyou]

It's interesting that the telegram seems to be very important to you in the US while I hardly knew about it from my German education although it was mentioned. I can see why as it was one of the official reasons explained to the people in the US. While from my bias the empire had already lost. To be honest it had lost the second the Schlieffen plan failed or because of its many mistakes beforehand - bad diplomacy or backing up Habsburg. Yes, there were some chances but Germany lacks resources and a drawn out war needs resources. Therefore was the US already a war party - sort of. Weapons and ammunition were sold to France and UK while the empire couldn't sustain itself and was blocked by the royal navy. If the US had sold their stuff to the empire the royal navy would have destroyed the ships in their blockade too I guess. But it's all history. I'm glad I live today and think of the US and Europe as friends.

[@phantomtitan9792]

I've always wondered about the yadas

[@gamelandmaster3680]

I have heard it also called the Zimmerman Telegraph which I would assume is close enough to people to understand. Yet still, it’s like calling a sword a sword and not the actual sword that is being discussed, it’s true, but not enough.

[@billk516]

As for Extra credit, I would suggest you check of “the end of the samurai” series, covers a history that most western historians have no idea of.

[@Shermanator28]

Have you ever reacted to the infographics show’s videos they have a lot of cool history videos pretty similar to extra history but different at the same time might be worth the time to take a look at there content

[@bobburris4445]

*unrestricted submarine warfare incites US to enter WWI* laughs in USS Gato class

[@julianrandom8208]

Britain wasn’t alone during the Battle of Britain they still had free France and other countries/colonies like Canada on their side

[@robsolo1319]

Fantastic channel and really enjoy. I studied history in my younger days and have never stopped. I was born in Charleston SC and people do not know the Revolutionary War was won in the South. Cornwallis landed on the island I grew up on called Isle of Palms and made his way to Charleston to capture it. South Carolina has the most battles of the conflict. Colonel Dan Morgan along with Francis Marion were the best for the job. It's not York or Bunker. Keep making great content. Thanks so much. Also how about doing a video on William the Conquer and how for the hundreds years of English Kings who spoke French in the period.

[@loganjones2212]

If you could can you react to the simple history video "the one-eyed man who liberated a town"? I found his story to be very wild

[@prins1of1death]

Great deep dive in an interesting topic. Once more proof that historic events are like playing domino's (too put it crudely)

[@frosteagle464]

Hey Chris loved the video and hopefully you can do some more erbs but keep up the great work and stay safe