World War One, German View (by Martyr Made. 2025)

By Xah Lee. Date: .

World War One

This video, "Enemy: The Germans' War, ep. 1 - We Are The War," provides a vivid and grim account of World War I, primarily from the German perspective, focusing on the brutal realities of trench warfare.

The speaker introduces the series by recounting a personal anecdote about an encounter with an older man who had experienced losing a war, setting the stage for the theme of profound, existential defeat (3:23).

  • The video then details the deteriorating situation for the Allied powers by late 1917 and early 1918, including mutinies in the French army, Russia's withdrawal from the war, and the British and Italian armies being severely strained (14:05).
  • This gave Germany a perceived window of opportunity for a decisive victory on the Western Front before American forces could fully arrive.
  • A significant portion of the video is dedicated to describing the horrific conditions faced by soldiers in the trenches, including constant exposure to mud, water, cold, filth, rats, lice, and the pervasive smell of death (29:40).
  • It highlights the psychological toll of arbitrary death and the loss of agency (26:27).
  • The video recounts specific major battles like Passchendaele and Verdun, emphasizing the immense casualties and the unprecedented scale of combat (46:25).
  • It also touches on the introduction of new, terrifying weapons like poison gas (1:14:00) and early tanks (2:40:02).
  • Finally, it covers the eventual collapse of the German war effort, not from military defeat on the front lines, but due to internal strife, starvation, and revolutionary uprisings spreading from naval bases like Kiel (3:51:00).
  • The video concludes with the idea that for many German soldiers, the war was not truly over with the armistice, but rather transformed into continued internal conflict.