The Wars and Crises that Caused WW1 (Full Documentary)

Support us and get 40% off Nebula: https://go.nebula.tv/the-great-war
Watch 16 Days in Berlin on Nebula: https://nebula.tv/videos/16-days-in-berlin-01-prologue-the-beginning-of-the-end?ref=the-great-war

In the late 19th and early 20th century the great European powers were entangled in a series of escalating crises and wars. Each successive crisis brought the world one step closer to the outbreak of the First World War.

CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro and Fashoda Crisis
03:43 2nd Boer War 1899-1900
30:34 Serbia 1903
32:27 Russo-Japanese War 1904/05
01:00:14 1st Moroccan Crisis 1905
01:02:03 Pig War 1906
01:03:55 Bosnian Crisis 1908
01:06:43 2nd Moroccan Crisis 1911
01:09:20 Italo-Turkish War 1911/12
01:37:57 First Balkan War 1912/13
02:01:46 Second Balkan War 1913
02:10:45 Albanian Crisis 1912/13
02:13:31 July Crisis 1914

» SUPPORT THE CHANNEL
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/realtimehistory
Nebula: https://nebula.tv/the-great-war

» THANKS TO OUR CO-PRODUCERS
Rose Flaglor, Reed Spilmann, Erik Ritter, Cardboard, Ken Brownfield, David Garfinkle, Raymond Martin, Konstantin Bredyuk, Lisa Anderson, Brad Durbin, Jeremy K Jones, Murray Godfrey, John Ozment, Stephen Parker, Mavrides, Kristina Colburn, Stefan Jackowski, Cardboard, William Kincade, William Wallace, Daniel L Garza, Chris Daley, Malcolm Swan, Christoph Wolf, Simen Røste, Jim F Barlow, Taylor Allen, Adam Smith, James Giliberto, Albert B. Knapp MD, Tobias Wildenblanck, Richard L Benkin, Marco Kuhnert, Matt Barnes, Ramon Rijkhoek, Jan, Scott Deederly, gsporie, Kekoa, Bruce G. Hearns, Hans Broberg, Fogeltje

» SOURCES
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/moroccan-crises-1905-1911/
https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/prochaska-affair-1-2/
Barraclough, Geoffrey: From Agadir to Armageddon. Anatomy of a Crisis. 1982.
Bataković, Dusan: The Serbs of Bosnia & Herzegovina: History and Politics. 1996
Brooke-Smith, Robin: The Scramble for Africa. 1987.
Clark, Christopher. The Sleepwalkers. Penguin, 2012.
Glenny, Misha: The Balkans 1804-1999. Nationalism, War and the Great Powers. 1999.
Gurakuq, Romeo: Albania 1911-1914. 2012.
Kniazheva, Ekaterina: May Coup in Serbia in 1903 and its coverage by the French press. 2017.
Langer, William: 1908. Prelude to the World War. 1929.
Lewis, David: The Race to Fashoda: European Colonialism and African Resistance in the Scramble for Africa. 1987.
Murakami, Ryo: Rethinking the “Pig War” (1906-1911) Seeking the Origins of the First World War. 2023
Skendi, Stavro: The Albanian National Awakening. 2015.
Smith, Hillas: The Unknown Frenchman: The story of Marchand and Fashoda. 2001.
Turbic, Ernes: 1908. The Annexation of Bosnia in the Serbian Press. 2024.
Vaïsse, M. (2004). L'Entente cordiale de Fachoda à la Grande Guerre: dans les archives du Quai d'Orsay (in French). Brussels: Éditions Complexe
Vandervort, Bruce: Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa 1830-1914. 1998.


» OUR SISTER CHANNEL
https://youtube.com/realtimehistory

»CREDITS
Presented by: Jesse Alexander
Written by: Jesse Alexander
Director: Toni Steller
Editing: Toni Steller
Motion Design: Toni Steller
Mixing, Mastering & Sound Design: http://above-zero.com
Research by: Jesse Alexander, Mark Newton
Fact checking: Florian Wittig, Jesse Alexander
Executive Producer: Florian Wittig
Channel Design: Yves Thimian

Contains licensed material by getty images, AP and Reuters
Maps: MapTiler/OpenStreetMap Contributors & GEOlayers3

All photos and film in our documentaries are authentic historical footage. We do not use generative AI to create new assets. However, we may use AI tools to upscale or clean up certain assets without distorting or compromising the original image.

All rights reserved - Real Time History GmbH 2025