Who started World War 1?

**Who started World War 1?** is an episode of MrSpherical, showing the events that lead to World War I.

## Summary

Flashback moments are in *italics*.

France, 1916: As World War I rages on, in a trench, Britain and France find a German in their trench, and together, they knock the German out of the trench. France then asks Britain what the killing is all for, and Britain explains how it all began:

*There were a lot of empires in Europe, all wanting to maintain them. This made people ultranationalistic, to the point that a country would fear what would happen if the other empires would break their unity. The breaking point occured when Franz Ferdinand, nephew of Franz Joseph and heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was, along with his wife Sophie, assisinated, by the Block Hand.*

As Britain and France are discussing about the issue, Germany comes back and shoots France, causing India to attack Germany and again, knocks him out. Britain wants to take France to a hospital, but France insists that Britain finishes the story.

*Following the murder of Franz Ferdinand, Franz Joseph held Serbia responsible for the murder, but Serbia defends himself by saying that they had nothing to do with the Black Hand. After refusing to let Austro-Hungarian forces into Serbian territory, Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia. Just then, Germany walked past the two, who called out his name. Germany claims he is out for a stroll. Franz Joseph tells Germany that Serbia killed Ferdinand, and before Serrbia could defend himself again, Germany swore do protect and defend Austria-Hungary if necessary.*

*Austria-Hungary then threatens to invade Serbia, when Russia appears, also claiming he is out for a stroll. Serbia claims that the Central Powers want to invade him, while Franz Joseph claims that it is only like that because of his nephew's death. Russia tries to calm things down to prevent an invasion of Serbia, threatening to mobilize the Russian army if an invasion occurs. Germany responds that an invasion of Austria-Hungary would mean a German invasion of Russia. France appears and also claims that he is taking a stroll. Russia claims that because Germany thinks he is going to invade Austria-Hungary, Germany will invade Russia, because the Central powers will invade Serbia, because Ferdinand got murdered.*

Germany reappears near the trench, and Britain prepares to finish him off, but Germany claims that after hearing the story, agrees that the war is a bad idea. He apologizes for shooting France, and France forgives him. Britain decides to finish up the story.

*Belgium appears, but Germany picks him up and throws him at France, destroing the Austro-Hungarian palace. France is Mad at Germany that they used Belgium to avoid French defenses. Britain then appears, mad that Belgium, who before the invasion was neutral, was attacked. Afterwards, they all got into a fight, and World War I began. Italy decided to remain neutral for the time being, despite being part of the Triple Alliance.*

France had died by the end of the story. Germany told his side of the story, showing that the Germans were cheering when the war started, as they saw it as a great patriotic movement. They thought that the war would be a quick war, because they had might and right. Britain felt the same way, as the British had previously cheered in favor of winning the war, because they were manipulated by power-hungry monarchs into winning the war. They then vow that hopefully, the manipulation into making people fight for their leaders would not happen again in the future.

The video ends by saying that 15 to 22 million people died in the war.