Fall of the German Empire (Hundred Days Offensive) - Armchair Historian Reaction 

Griffin does have a good channel and hats off to him for being the most vocal in your defense to CGPGrey copyright strike.

Thank you Griffin for defending Chris and this channel . This channel has brought me so much happiness in the last 2 years. And truly brought back my love for history so I can sub to guys like Griffin and others. History is better when we all want to learn and grow together. I'm proud of the history community on RU-vid and grateful to be subbed to so many of the great history youtubers out there

Hi Chris, as a subscriber from 8k till now, I know you've been going through a lot. I'm a Buddhist and I know you're a pastor. We don't really pray but I pray for you and your family to get through these hard times. Also kudos and all the praises to Griffin for standing up for you. From a great channel to another. ❤

Griffin, thank you for having Chris' 6 o'clock on CGP Grey. Amiens, Brettoneaux and the Monash Centre are now WWI must sees these days.

Honestly it would be really interesting if you and Armchair Historian did some sort of collaboration, it’d be awesome seeing you on Griffon’s channel

I've been a subscriber since the early oversimplified reactions. I don't comment much but I do appreciate a lot your extra commentary in the different videos, and I hope that soon the problem that you had can come to a satisfactory conclusion. It was awesome to see all the people that you have reacted to, come to defend you and speak up. Thanks for your job, and your love for history. Gonna keep supporting you for a long time!

Discovered Griffin thanks to this channel and quite specifically after he jumped tonyiur defence. Have since watched 100 of his vids allowing all ads, even the 3 minute ads to play out fully.

As a canadian, i love it when VTH talks about our country ❤

The American forces did take disproportionately large losses throughout the German campaign and later during the offensive, with a number of French veterans commenting that they still fought with the suicidal levels of overconfidence that had been drummed out of everyone else by then.

All love to my American Scot friend, wishing you nothing but the best 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇺🇲

Caesar (Kaizar) in latin doens't have a soft C (nor a J so Julius Caesar is Ilulius Kaisar ). Using phonetic Saxon and Latin derivatives is how we get to Si ser. Fun Fact Gaius Julius Caesar in Latin is GAH - ee-oos, YOO - lee-oos, KUY - sahr In classical latin (one of my useless trivia knowledge questions...)

I love your content Chris! Keep up the good work in educating us History lovers. You have my full support!

Would you consider watching montemayor's new Eastern Solomons breakdown? It's a really well made video and it isn't multiple hours long like his Midway series was

9:05 no, not at all. During the spring offensive, there were more french soldiers involved than british ones... even if the germans targeted the british. If you read the german correspondance, you can see they thought the english army was the weak spot and England was giving a lot of ressources to France, especially coal as north of France was the main source of coal for the french but it was occupied by the germans. They know if they beat England, France would be out of natural ressources. For the germans, just as for the french, it was the time to end 1000 years of wars since the death of Charlemagne. The german spring offensive and the hundred-days offensive were both do-or-die offensives

I recently got hold of some letters my great grandfather put down. He was in artillery in that war and described the crippling supply situation Germany was in late in the war. They had to use barrels way past what they should and thus it became incredibly hard to be precise. Several times they got emergency calls to stop foreign because they were shelling their own troops.

The shift in pronunciation of Caesar was part of a larger trend. Basically, French (and thus, English) and Spanish started pronouncing "C" before certain vowels as a soft sound. Thus, words like Caesar, circus, and center came to be pronounced like an "s." Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe, the same sound shifted into a "ts" sound. Thus, "Tsar" (NOT pronounced with a "z" sound), tsirk, and tsentr. Most other languages, including German, preserve the "k" sound in some way or another. I think Italian and Romanian pronounce the C as "ch" now.

It’s so good to see you back on RU-vid, Chris!

I would like point out a small error in the source material. The Anglo-German naval race was effectively over by 1912 with the laying down of the 5 QE class (with 8x15" guns) ships and Alfred Von Tirpitz was unable to persuade the politicians to pay for more naval construction, when they could see a major land war on the horizon and the army was screaming for a larger slice of defence spending. Yes Tirpitz did get did laid down 2 Bayern class (with 8x15" guns) in 1913 at the same time the RN ordered 6 Royal Sovereign Class as the follow on ships to the QE class so the RN had building or ordered 11 ships with 15" guns and Germany had 2....... So Germany had effectively conceded to the RN before the start of war in 1914.

Keep up the work, I hope CGP will hear you out and remove his strikes.

It’s so funny. Yesterday I was JUST watching a video about the Native American soldiers that were code talkers in the first and second world wars (mostly about the Navajo). Super interesting 🤔

Despite the misconceptions, In 1918, France was recognized by all as the best army in the world: the most powerful, the most innovative, the best commanded. The German Spring offensive of 1918 strongly shakes the British army, then led by Douglas Haig. On March 21, more than 60,000 British soldiers are captured. The haemorrhage is stopped only by the sending of French troops of reserve. Attacked in turn, the French hold the shock, and are able to lead a counter-attack, developed by Foch. This Second Battle of the Marne marks the return to mobile warfare. The French lead the operations (60 divisions engaged for 6 Americans, 4 British and 2 Italians). They show themselves capable of coordinating complex maneuvers at various points on the front. Completely overwhelmed, the Germans lost 856,000 men (killed, wounded, prisoners) between March and July 1918. From then on, the Kaiser's army would only retreat. This decisive success results from the remarkable evolution of the French Army since 1914. After the dismissals of Joffre and Nivelle, the troops are commanded by the two best French strategists: the timer Pétain, and the fiery Foch. The latter was named "Generalissimo of the allies" to better coordinate operations after the British collapse in Flanders. Petain and Foch do not appreciate each other, but together they design the doctrine of "repeated shocks" along the entire length of the front, relying on the mass motorization of the French Army. The fleet of French trucks is then twice as large as that of the Germans, which makes it possible to compensate for the numerical inferiority. More than 1600 trucks are towed by motorized vehicles, and almost none on the German side. Tanks are used in very large numbers: 800 in August 1918 alone), in coordination with the infantry and the air force. With 3,800 modern aircraft, French aviation is the world's number one. The air division, an autonomous force of 600 bombers and fighters, has no equivalent in terms of power. In 1918, it shot down 637 enemy planes and 125 balloons, ensuring control of the skies to the allies. The French Airmen are constantly innovating: Bombing of convoys, Depots of saboteurs, drops of food to isolated units. This superiority could only be applied thanks to its industrial and technological excellence, which exceeded that of Germany in 1918. A real feat, while the most industrial regions of France have been occupied by the enemy since 1914. Production is such that France can almost fully equip its Serbian, Greek, Romanian and American allies. France is also ahead in terms of communications, logistics and medical care. The German Strategists had bet everything on the mass of Artillery and an elite infantry (Sturmtruppen), but they proved incapable of countering the French mobility.

Huh. There is 720p and 1440p options but no 1080p version o this video. Never seen that before.

Hope you’re doing well, Chris!

Officially it was Camp Funston where Spanish Flu started. It was a special section on Ft Riley for the Great War. You aren’t wrong but it’s worth mentioning.

You, sir are awesome! The perfect extra commentary next to the AH videos.

Chris, your insight into other videos cannot be overstated you’re so good at contextualizing the typical information we would get from these videos. I’m an avid viewer of these channels so having you add that additional context makes me feel more confident in my understanding. Thank you, that one dude sucks.

I gotta say, I am so happy to hear someone finally acknowledge the Canadian contributions to the war, and just what great soldiers we were. I get that our numbers were small compared to the main nations, and that our battles at times modest. But man... I feel like we never, ever get any credit, especially from American creators. Thank you so much.

Air power "reaching new heights" made me laugh. As always, appreciate your additional insights!

06:44 probably the most kind and generous artistic depiction of Erich Ludendorff ever lol

Nice to see the subscribers going up, even with your deserved, recent time off.

Another way to contextualize the 8 miles: Operation Market Garden was aiming to go 64 miles and ended up evacuating Arnheim 9 days later. That averages less than 8 miles a day with a fully motorized army

Thanks for the shout-out of us, Aussies, and Kiwi. I have a great grand father whom frought from gallipoli to the end of the war.

Hey VTH I know your going through a lot, but I was wondering when you next episode on your podcast is coming, the last one was at the end of Feb. and I really enjoyed them. all the best though to you through these troubled times.

I can confidently say, I look at VTH or Armchair Historians channel as my teachers. Thank you =]

I love your work Chris!

armchair historian has amazing videos, please keep doing more!

Just a precision : in early 1918 the British are not the most powerful army. The French still is, despite its losses. The mutinies of 1917 (which are most of all against attacking, not defending) have been apeased. The German want to attack the junction because they can encircle the British, strategically. They can't do that to the French army, which has a much larger portion to fill in and has not his back to the sea. The 100 days offensive will see ALL the Allies attack, the French too (they will have more losses than the British). It is important to say because all English language studies focus on the British, Canadian and American, but they were not alone. There were French troops even in the British sector... Keep up the good work ! 😉

Love the commentary, you sir are most def in the Pantheon of the top history youtubers.

18:00 a crazy thing about Hindenburg and Ludendorff, they were effectively the leaders of a military dictatorship in Germany at the time, while Wilhelm was just a figurehead. They call it the Oberst-Heeresleitung (OHL) and when the time came to surrender, the OHL empowered the civilian government to make the decision to surrender. This crucial moment destroyed the legitimacy of the new republic well before it even started, and helped begin the “stab in the back” myth that gave rise to Hitler.

Ferdinand Fawk though 😅 On a serious note, loving the content Chris ✌️

Thank you, a great video with well informed interrupts providing greater context, appreciate it.

So glad to have these back!!!

Glad to hear that you’re doing better and we all love your content. Please do some kings and generals. I would love to see your thoughts on the Battle of Poitiers during the 100 years war.

As mentioned at the end of the video - there was a lot going on in Europe by the end of the war and in then the years after. For example, Finland gained independence as a result of the Russian Revolution and then fought a civil war in 1918. Sweden, which was neutral in the war, was on the verge of a revolution in 1917. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the states that came out of that, and so on. The aftermath of WWI is sort of overlooked and it would be very interesting to see you dive into that some more.

Chris if you enjoyed the idea of the sponsored game in this video you should check out Iron Harvest, a PC strategy game in the same setting.

I like how he's always interested in the ads. I dunno if he's doing it on purpose to further "help" the channel he's reacting to but he always seem so into the ads.

chlorine gas can damage the skin pretty severely too. when it comes in to contact with water (including moisture in the air) it can form hydrochloric acid, which can cause pretty horrific chemical burns

I really enjoyed the video they did on the Crimean war

Glad to see you back doing reactions

Even in Germany, the internal fighting after the end of the war gets basically no coverage at all. There was a footnote in school that there was some kind coup attempt by former officers, but that was it. I only learned last year that there was basically a civil war.

Glad to have you back!

Yeah in Latin Caesar is pronounced exactly the same as Kaiser. I have no idea why, because the original pronunciation is so much cooler.

I got a t-shirt with the text "Foch You", same issue ;)

I've got Iron Order 1919 (the sponsor of this video) and I can confirm it's a pretty good game. Griffin sure does choose his sponsors wisely

Love the way you break down history in a very intriguing manner. Never hesitate to watch the always solid vids. Also appreciate your teaching of the Word of God and the purpose of Jesus. God Bless and hope you prevail in your predicament

Drachifel did an interesting 'What if the German Navy had not mutinied' on his channel. Given the Americans now had battle ships cooperating with the Royal Navy it did not go well.

SandRhoman History just dropped a cool video about the Scottish army in the 16th century, named "In Defense of the Scottish Renaissance Army". I know we've moved past this topic for the time being, but maybe you wanna have a look at it later.

You should do a video down here in KY about the Battle of Blue Licks! I know you said you had family that fought there

Love Armchair Historian! His stuff is always very well done and the animation is getting to be top notch. I am glad he is so appreciative of reaction channels that add context to his videos. He gets it. How many days does CGP have to sue you? 3?

After the Germans developed the defense-in-depth strategy, I wonder how the men stationed in the first line of defense felt? Was there faith in the strategy or did they feel like they were, in some ways, meat shields? "you're the first line of defense, the one that we pretty much expect will break almost instantly."

Great video, as always. 😊 I hope you are doing well

The pronunciation of Caesar is because we don't know whether the Latin speakers used a hard C or soft C. If it's hard, it's Kaiser, soft it's Caesar.

As an interesting note, although you might knew this, the British had painted the white and red (The Colours of the Tank Corps) to avoid blue on blue, since the Germans had a significant amount of captured tanks. At least 150 British ones I think, but obviously never in numbers deployed by the British or French, with around 30 available at any given time. Compared to the very small amount of A7Vs, 20 of them. The Germans at first dismissed the significance of the tank in 1916 as they were unreliable and performed badly, but after the Battle of Amiens they wanted to mass produce their own, planning for over 4,000 tanks by 1919. The main problem was that they had to compete for the dwindling resources for tank production with the airforce and especially the navy's submarine production. Then the Treaty put a nail in the coffin for that as well.

In regards to private Gunther , he was ironically of German descent.

I don't know if you've considered it, but I personally would love to see a reaction to a video by Cogito, especially one like "What is the World's Oldest Country?".

Hey could you react to armchair historian's video on the Falklands from the Argentina perspective

To answer the Ceasar question: Ceasar as we pronounce it comes from the French pronunciation of the name, and as England (the home of the English language - obviously) was controlled and influenced by the French after William the Conqueror for around 3 centuries, we dropped the Kaiser-esque pronunciation in favor of the French pronunciation. Hope that clears things up.

From what my Marine buddies tell me It's the "Congressional" Medal of Honor because in 1916 the US Congress formed the Medal of Honor Review Board. That review board officially stripped 911 recipients of the medal due to inappropriate reception, including 864 medals given to the 27th Maine who were asked by Lincoln, Stanton and Seward to stay past their original 3 year enlistment in order to keep the forts around D.C occupied. Seward personally promised them the award if they reenlisted. The 1916 review board deemed all 864 awards null and void along with the MOH's for Buffalo Bill and Mary Edwards Walker and 4 other "Indian Scouts". The Scouts and Buffalo Bill officially were renamed recipients in 1989 and Walker got hers back in 1977. 40% of all recipients fought in the Civil War, more medals were given in that war 1523 than both World Wars Combined by a factor of 3

Not a Latin expert, but i believe both pronunciations of Caesar are correct based on whether or not you use the classical or modern pronunciation I believe, same goes for Celtic.

No mention of "Breakthrough Georg Bruchmüller" during the Spring offensive? Too bad.

A lot US Marine Corp lore comes from WW1

Spanish flu started out at fort riley? That’s a bit of neat history. Fort riley is 10 minutes from my house.

Missed you!

Hey VTH i have been to the battlefield where the battle of Grunwald took place could you make a video about this battle

What do you think if Pershing? I personally believe his refusal to allow the British of French to teach the Americans the modern way of way is directly responsible for thousands of American casualties. Making him in my opinion a horrendous commander.

Love your videos, chris. Could i suggest the bew sabaton song 1916? It's a motorhead cover about ww1 its incredibly moving

And from here more catastrophes to follow for Germany. The National WWI Museum and Memorial has a lecture on the Ludendorff offensive. An interesting tidbit I took from it is the way the offensive was conducted, with little thought put into acquiring operationally significant obejctives like the rairoad hubs in Amiens for example. According to the lecture Ludendorff approached the offensive as it were happening on the eastern front (where he had been for most of the war) with plans constantly shifting in an attempt to exploit any breakthrough that happened. Something that worked on the plains in eastern Europe with its wide expanses and bad road and rail connections that made it extremely hard for a defender to reinforce sectors of the front that had broken. Not so much on the western front where infrastructure was much more capable of allowing armies to redeploy when needed.

Welcome back (=

As for the French mutinies (which also affected all armies), the problem was settled a long time ago. - Improvements to the living conditions of the soldier in the trenches (especially Food). - Strictly regulated shifts and permissions. - Creation of training courses in new combat methods, in anticipation of now short and carefully planned maneuvers. In 1917, 23,839 convictions were pronounced against the mutineers. The vast majority of them are quickly rehabilitated at the front. In the end, only 55 men were executed for characterized military or even common law crimes. From June 1917, the Germans launched numerous attacks. The French soldiers stubbornly hold their positions and repel the enemy. Then, in October 1917, Pétain brilliantly won the Battle of Malmaison, inflicting heavy losses on the Germans with minimal damage. At the end of 1917, the French soldier regained all his confidence in his command, and the Germans did not realize anything. At the beginning of 1918, on the Western front, 105 French divisions, 56 British divisions and 6 Belgian divisions faced 197 German divisions.

cracked up when he said "general ferdinand phoque"

Canadians be like what does pow mean 😂

14:01 But But there’s NO WAY the Allies could have pulled an Uno Reverse Card because Uno wasn’t invented until 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio!!!

Honestly it was criminal that the higher ups in the German army made them march endless miles a day and then fight without food or water. The soldiers by this time are literally writing back home that they are starving and to please send food. Princess Blucher wrote about this in diaries.

love your video's keep up the good work.

Have you ever listened to Hardcore History by Dan Carlin? I think you'd like his series "Blueprint for Armageddon" on the First World War

Can you explain a bit why the Canadian and Australian core were the best soldiers?

Small quibble, but cartoon fingers on cartoon triggers while taking cover. Not sure if trigger discipline was a thing in WWI, but I'm guessing nobody likes to get accidentally shot.

On the topic of WWI, it would be awesome to se a reaction to "1916" by Sabaton. It was released just a couple of days ago.

Good to see you back at it champ. VTH to the moon 💪🏼

Hey Chris, I've been a bit too busy over the past couple of weeks to keep up with what's being going on with your copyright strikes etc. But I really do hope this issue hasn't got you too jaded about the future of your channel and reaction videos - I can't tell you how much your videos have inspired me, and countless countless others to (re)discover the beauty of history. Over the past few weeks work has taken me to a number of European cities that have great historical significance, of which I may never have known about if it wasn't for your reaction videos and the original content creators you have made me aware of (I was very moved recently by a WW2 holocaust memorial site in Poland, for example). Your channel is one of the few absolute gems on RU-vid that genuinely inspire and motivate people. Keep your head up, mate - we've all got your back - we all want to keep learning together!! ❤❤❤

love me some armchair historian reaction!

australian here just sayin my grandfather was one of those aussies in the offencive

I'm a big fan of the wine variety named after Foch.

Hey Chris I’ve been a fan of your channel for a long time now, and I hope everything for you and your family goes good. Btw I can’t stand Woodrow Wilson either.

Fire and Maneuver gameplay soon?

Are you going to put this in the "Armchair Historian Reactions" Playlist?

What was the European view of America in 1917? The US had largely been isolationist before that I think? Were they viewed as a large "sleeping giant"? Or just a fresh force entering in?

Technically Caesar wasn’t title for emperor, Augustus was. Caesar was more like heir to the throne.

You should play his game on your other channel when it has its full release.

Very interesting thank you