World War One Performance Tier List 

From a German newspaper: “Germany’s situation is serious, but not hopeless. Austria’s situation is hopeless, but not serious.”

Imagine fighting and dying for your country in WW1 only to see a guy ranking it in a tier list 100 years later

Ottoman, Italy, and Montenegro ratings are completely bullshit, Montenegro held off Austria for over a year and even launched offensives in their territory

A bit harsh to Montenegro, I think. A nation that even today has merely around 600,000 people decided to aid the neighbouring Serbia and fought the central powers on Serbian territory for a few months. Then, as the Serbian army was broken and forced into retreat through Montenegro towards Albania (as mentioned in the video), in order to cover that retreat, the Montenegrin army faced the Central Powers in the Battle of Mojkovac. In that battle, the Montenegrins fielded just 6,500 men against 30,000 enemy soldiers. Despite being so heavily outnumbered (and outgunned), the Montenegrins actually defeated the Austro-Hungarians, suffering 2,500 dead and wounded while inflicting 19,000 casualties on the enemy. Unfortunately, while the line that was set up held, it was in the end bypassed, something that was hard to prevent as, after the fall of Serbia, the enemy was essentially along 2/3 of Montenegrin borders. They were thus able to pour into the country, knocking Montenegro out of the fight. All things considered, Montenegro's participation in the war was brief, yet valiant and, while it lasted, it can be said that they overperformed. Unfortunately, the numbers were simply too much in favour of the enemy and they could not keep it up for long, but still, the Montenegrins, who actually stuck their necks out and, against all odds, at least gave the enemy a bloody nose before being taken out, definitely don't deserve to be put below the 'did nothing' tier. Full disclosure: I am Serbian with some Montenegrin ancestry.

The fact that Bulgaria is Germany's greatest ally in this war, despite being a secondary power is truly criminal and is in all honesty the reason they lost...

7:50 I prefer to look at it as _Germany surrendered the day after Romania declared war_ , thank you very much

Germany & Bulgaria were the only two of the 4 Central Powers that didn’t need to ask for help most of the time The Ottomans were bad but they did have incredible victories over the British The Austrians only performed well under German leadership or very competent Austrian leaders which were few

1:29 “Never change Brazil” We never will.

This tier list goes hard

Brazil should be the first, we took down those dolphins like masters.

Imagine having the austro-hungarian and the ottoman empires as allies, but the only one who actually helped you is Bulgaria...

5:58 What could they do? Look up Battle of Mojkovac. The whole reason for their defense was to make sure the Serbians had enough time to retreat, not just for their own country. And they fought hard.

It’s amazing how the Germans held for very long despite allies that weren’t as developed as them and their forces being over stretched

brazilian here and we did have a major event in ww1... a "battle" against dolphins... like literal dolphins... and somehow manage to HAVE casualties... didnt say it wasnt a ridiculous event.

Spectrum: Puts Ottoman Empire to F tier Turkish people: *So you have chosen death!*

I think putting Italy in f tier is quite wrong, mainly because it was not a great power (it was a country based on agriculture with a really underdeveloped industry, for example for every ton of iron produced by Italy, Germany produced 19, which can help you understand how big was the difference between Italy and other nations) and then because the Italian front was really really harsh 'cause you know, they fought on mountains, and you know what's worst than a trench? A fucking trench on a mountain; So considering how underdeveloped the country was and how hard was their front, memes aside I would put Italy at least on c. Those were my 2 cents

We Bulgarians are kinda proud of our performance in the war. Prussia of the Balkans really showed (but also died) in WW1.

I feel this list was a tad bit unfair to Italy and Montenegro especially. Yes, Italy's Isonzo front is a meme, but beyond that you gave them zero explanation, so I do have to mention that around the end they got rid of their one problem and completely routed the Austrian army. Also, their army performed fine considering the front they were fighting on. Montenegro was, like you said, overwhelmed, but they did fight with unbelievable heroism, and even defeated austria in open battle before their government surrendered. See the battle of Mojkovac. Finally, only other gripe is that you didn't put Austria in F tier. They failed to invade Serbia, they lost to Italy despite having advantageous defensive terrain, they almost lost to Romania, they relied on Germany to survive Russia, and of course they lost a full scale battle to Montenegro. At least Turkey was able to make the Brits struggle and Italy was able to not only survive a complete route but then make a full comeback.

dude... italy in the same tier list of a dying empire who got literally dismembered? giant bro moment here.

5:46 Wow wow wow brother. The Serbs did not retreat through Montenegro to reach Italy. The Serbs retreated partly through Montenegro and mostly through Albania to be transferred from Albania by allied ships mainly to Greek Corfu and Thessaloniki, but also to a lesser extent to Tunisia and the south of France. There they recovered, reorganized their units and returned to fight on the Thessaloniki front.

It's so frustrating people not mentioned countries like Bulgaria and Serbia even though they contributed even more than actual empires

I know you would have a hell of a time with comments, but I would be legitimately interested to hear about this kind of retrospective on WWII, especially since my grandfather fought for the Republic of China in that one, a country which had a kind of mixed history in WWII for various reasons.

Agree with Germany in S tier but Russia, Italy, and Ottomans should have been at least a little higher

I’ve gotta say, props for including EVERY participant in WW1, even the obscure ones. I had no clue what the hell an Asir was, but the fact that they got ranked despite how unknown they are is cool as hell (and more love for obscure countries is something I’m always a fan of).

Romania did stop two German offensives after they retreated back to the province of Moldova, which is pretty impressive

Ottoman Empire is the one of the two nations that managed to capture an enemy army, one is germany in eastern prussia and other is ottomans capturing a british army in Kut al amara

Austria Hungary's role is underrated just because they look big on the map. They fought against Serbia, Italy and Romania almost singlehandedly. For the beginning of the war, they were the main enemy of Russia as well, as Germany focused on the West, and didn't attack the East.

Bulgarians were gigachads in this war, small country, destroyed by a previous war, yet fought extremely good. Very good Bulgaria, mad respect from Spain Same for the greeks, even if joined late, very good warriors And of course, serbian balls were too big too. You know what? Respect for all the fallen

Another thing to note about the UK’s participation is the naval blockade it held over Germany, which by 1915 cut German essential supplies by 55% of their pre-war levels, effectively starving them out in a war of attrition.

Ottomans need to be D imo, gallipoli wasn't the only ottoman victory and the ottoman soldiers actually did a pretty good job considering the lack of supplies equipment and everything else

subscribed. nice video my dude! Very interesting. Thank you.

This was actually pretty good bro, just clicked a random video and got hooked

Gonna go ahead and voice my support for how underrated Belgium was in WW1. What you need to understand is that in enacting the schlieffen plan, the germans had been estimating it would take them 3 days to beat past the belgian forces and into France. Those plans were severely foiled by the surprisingly vicious Belgian resistance. Spectrum described them getting pommeled, and well, he's right, and yet they kept coming. For a nation of 7 million back then, it fielded a decently large army and those troops participated in some decisive encounters with the germans at the very start of WW1, like the battle of Liège, slowing them down considerably. Those 3 days the germans had estimated turned into 3 WEEKS, giving the, by that point notoriously bureaucratic and slow to mobilize, french time to prepare and send troops over for the incoming trench warfare of ww1. The resistance of belgium was crucial in differentiating the way the german invasion took place in ww1 vs ww2. In ww2, belgium fell over like a wet noodle, add to that the wonders of blitzkrieg and ta-dah! Ironically, Germany in WW1 was comparatively far stronger relative to the France/England/Russia of its day than Germany in WW2 was, they just didn't do quite as well

I think you’re being too hard on the ottomans by placing them in the F tier, don’t get me wrong they didn’t perform well but it’s not like they were completely useless and failed at every major engagement. You mentioned Gallipoli as “the major exception”, but there were others such as the siege of Kut which Jan Morris, a British historian, called "the most abject capitulation in Britain's military history." Plus they also diverted the Entente’s manpower away from the western front and their blocking of the Bosphorus strait cut British supplies from entering Russia via the Mediterranean, hastening their capitulation. Not that they didn’t also suffer some humiliating defeats (the battle of Sarakamis comes to mind). But all in all, I think that putting them in D tier is the fairest option.

Italy and Ottomans definitely deserves more credit

I'd argue Bulgaria was primed for a good start as their soldiers had recent combat experience in a war of this nature

As an American, the actual fighting overall isn't our strong suit here. Basically supplying the allied powers, and putting men on the line to help hold the last offensives was our military contribution. Diplomatically us joining in hastens things a bit and the terms put on Germany could reasonably be a bit harsher. The reason they weren't harsher was Germany wasn't really beaten like in ww2, and Wilson (horrendous president) decided to play nice when everyone was calling for harsher terms.

It’d be interesting to see this kind of format for other wars as well like the Napoleonic Wars, 7 Years War, etc.

Ah yes, a truly unbiased list thats clearly not done by a wehraboo history nerd.

As a Brazilian, I audibly cackled in the clinic before my appointment. Well done mate. Very well done

Bulgaria is really underrated WWI Central Powers' member

Germany and Bulgaria are the only two countries that deserve an S tier, they took on the rest of the world pretty much on their own while having to bail out two crumbling empires as well and still made the fight closer than it should have been

great video man

Espetáculo um RU-vidr tuga internacional, máquina 💪🏼

I remember someone aske who was more important in the war, France, British empire or Russia, each played massive roles, but I'd say that the Royal Navy what makes them the most important because it meant Germany had a timelimit until they ran out of resources. But again it wouldn't have been possible without France and other entente members.

I know Tier lists "are for what they are" but: Brazil C for ...? Greece B for...? Turkey honestly had Gallipoli and many enemies around... F tier nonsense Italy F tier nonsense has i briefly explained in my other comment, and in that regard... Portugal D for...???? For that logic Brits and France and respective colinies and dominions joined still have hard time fithing germans in one western front..... I'm a bit oversimplistict? probably yes, but as many are for other WWI fronts that are not the western front like the eastern operations, Italy-Austria-Hungary (and Germany) fighting in the Alps (!), etc

found your channel through this vid and Insane bro

S: Germany , UK A: France B: Russia , USA , Serbia , Bulgaria C: Austria Hungary , Italy , Ottoman Empire , Greece D: Belgium , Romania , Japan , Montenegro , Portugal E: Hejaz , Arabia , Brazil , China , Siam

Italy: E tier Also Italy: wins the war a week before the rest of the world

Spain: S tier didnt join the war and sold weapons to both factions 😎😎✌✌ creating an economic bubble that popped so hard once the war ended that a Dictatorship was needed to stop the social strife truly amazing

Great video man. Obviously everyone will have conflicting opinions but hopefully we can maintain respectful debates in the comments. Keep up the good work 👍

we need this with Ww2. keep up the great content

Romania did horibble but... -the allies forced romania to either join now or never so they werent prepared -they were inbetwen both the Chad bulgarians and the austrians -they werent given the promised weapons from the allies -the only Ally near romania war Russia which just went into a civil war -and lots of german soldiers showed up to fight for austria-hungary. Romania should have been either a C or D tier nation since it permformed just a Little worse than Belgium and was even gaining land in Transylvania before the Russian civil war and german aid to austria

In defense of the Romanians, before getting plastered they advanced quite far into Transylvania, they then had to fight three empires on two separate fronts against Mackensen no less, one of the best generals of his time (if not of the entire century). They diverted A LOT of German attention from Verdun, which no doubt aided the Entente. The Battles of Oituz, Marasti and Marasesti often go overlooked, but they in fact stopped the Central Powers from achieving their goals in the East: a swift victory which would allow them to send the troops back West. For the remainder of the war, Germany and Bulgaria were forced to keep a quite large occupying force in Romania which again, hindered the war in the West. At the end of it all, Romania also fought an entirely separate war with the Hungarian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1919 and a border war with the Soviet Union. You might get where I'm going with this, but Romania definitely performed a lot better than Russia did, which not only capitulated but also descended into a brutal civil war that would spawn the most hideous entity to ever grace the face of the planet, The Soviet Union. Romania as a small country fought three empires, held them for a while, fought another war which they won and then proceeded to double their landmass. The entire reason why the Entente wanted Romania on their side was so that they could be an absolute pain in the ass for the Central powers, which they managed to be and then some. If Greece was put in B tier, then there is little reason for Romania to be so low. In general I would say some of the placements seem random, but yea.

As a Bulgarian, thank you for mentioning my country's participation in the war! Despite the final result, we are proud of the performance of our army. Bulgarians (today and) at the time didn't see this war as an imperial conflict, rather as a war for national unity of all Bulgarians living in the Balkans and that may explain the high morale of the Bulgarian troops.

Would be very interested to see a “Generals/Commanders” tier list for various wars too

aHaHaH tHe ItAlIaNs LaUnChEd 12 OfFeNsIvEs On ThE iSoNzO as if Germany, the UK and France weren't doing the same for all of the war Like the whole front was 3000m mountains the Isonzo was one of the only few places to launch an attack from (not to mention most of those battles were Italian victories). Why people always ignore the fact that Italy (who at the time was still weak and young as a country) still managed to completely annihilate the Austrians in 1918... When the war ended Germany still had soldiers on French soil while the Italians were the only Entente country to actually invade a Central Power, threatening Germany with another front on the south, speeding the surrender process. Italy prevented millions of CP soldiers from joining the war on the other fronts and blocked the Austrian fleet in the Adriatic and was definitely instrumental to the Entente's win

Absolutely unbiased ranking Italy in the last tier, lmao. She wasn't great for sure, but neither was that shit, bruh.

The Arabs were deceived by the British, The Brits told them that the Ottoman Empire would never give them independence and that the British would after beating the Ottomans. But as we all know they didn't and they occupied their lands. This goes for more than half of the countries in the middle east.

spectrum, yeah we're on one.

i understand its your opinion but italy cant be f tier you are just considering the battle of the isonzo but we also had many victories over the austrians like monte grappa and especially the battle of vittorio veneto where we took 400k austrian prisoners this led to the austrian empire collapse because they had no more troops in the italian front

*Places Italy in F tier* *Doesn't explain why*

How Belgium isn't S tier I don't understand. Albert I flooded his own country to stop the German advance while the capital city was occupied and fought on for 4 years. The Americans even called it "Brave little Belgium", and the international solidarity for Belgium was huge.

Definitely looking forward to a WWII tier list, if that comes up

I think the Ottomans did well for what they had at least. They had experienced the disastrous first balkan and italio-turkish wars just a few years before the war. During the war they not only had to deal with both external enemies but internal ones as well (the arab revolt). They did fucking terribly against the russians, but they did experience quite a bit of early successes in not only gallipoli but the mesopotamian front against the british as well (which were not easy fronts by any means). So overall, they're performance in the war wasnt stellar but it was not at all shameful (definitely not a F), they did well with what they had. Nothing excuses the fucking genocide though, thats for sure.

Us Thais have forgotten that we were even in this war. We did capture some ships and sent an expeditionary force (that never reached the frontlines). We got some cool deals out of it and marched with the other nations as well

mano eu literalmente tive a espera de Portugal para ter confirmação que eras português. O sotaque não falha bom video mais um sub

Just a small correction. The original Portuguese anthem said "Agaisnt the Britons; Marchar, Marchar". The version that you shown was an update that came to don't be offensive, so the part "Agaisn't the cannons" isn't agaisn't the Britons, but yes to don't be offensive to them having in mine the original lirics. Anyways, what a video, great job

Italy doesn’t belong to a lower tier then Austria. Also I don’t think China Japan and Thailand should be much different they just attacked German colonies and then did nothing.

"Russian supply problems proved to be seriously crippling" History does repeat itself.

i will be waiting for the ww2 tier list

How are you going to have A-H in D tier when you have Turkey and Italy in F tier legit A-H had major losses on all fronts (1914 eastern front, carpathian offensive, Battle of Kolubara, Battle of Cer, Battle of mojkovac, second battle of Petrozsény, Battle of Vittorio Veneto, 1st and 2nd battles of the Piave River) This also doesn't mention the Austria disaster during the Brusilov Offensive. And what makes them even more F tier for me is that they were so bad that all of their victories were made under German high command so could they even be counted for victories for A-H

Putting Italy last is like putting Germany on D tier. Makes no sense at all

Germany wins the most battles but gets stuck with shitty teammates. Kinda sounds like me ngl.

Bataille de la Lys, you have to pronunce the S. I was born and raised along the Lys river near Richebourg where there is the only portuguese military cemetery on France soil. Officials sometimes show up for celebration. It was a local curiosity along the indian cemetery just next to it, and of course dozen of british cemeteries. My region is just full of cemeteries, lots of soldiers died around here.

As a bulgarian all i can say is we did well just helping the homies out

Imagine if Germany had allies that could actually manage a functional army and government. If A-H had even half of the competence of the German army it would have been over for the allies by 1915.

Romania actually won it's last 3 battles before agreeing to an armistice and this mostly because Rusia was out due to it's revolution. Our King didn't recognized this armistice and we were able to re-enter the war one day before it ended. Romania fought against Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and The Ottoman Empire on two fronts, all of them at the same time, while Portugal was enjoying the calm ocean sounds.

Just a slight correction regarding the UK, Somme wasn’t really a disaster. It was more just the British discovering what the French and Germans had been undergoing for 2 years by that point, in fact a lot if German military history of the Somme consider it a strategic Entente victory due to the sheer amount of manpower and materiel lost by the Germans in the Somme in their efforts to repel the British

I very much enjoy the fact you used the "Remove Kebab" accordion solo in the Serbia bit 😅

Italy lost 600k men occupied 2 million AH soldiers on their front and by the end of the war 81% of AH casualties were on the italian front This guy: F tier

There were a bunch of underrated combatants and supporters of the central powers in Africa too that a lot of people don’t seem to know about such as Senusiyya in southern Libya who were backed by the Ottomans and the Germans and gave the Italians a tough time in Africa during the entirety of the war, as well as the sultanate of Darfur in Sudan who gave the Brits a hard time as well, the Dervish state which resisted both the British and the Italians in Somaliland, and the Zaian confederation in Morocco, again supported by the Germans, who resisted the French in Morocco. There was also a rebellion in South Africa though it didn’t last long and I don’t think it was supported by the Germans.

Thank u for rankind bulgaria so high it makes me proud not that i wasnt before but i am even more now

I am a Turk myself and I can say the Ottomans had low performance, sure, but while comparing them to the British they actually did a pretty good job before we had the audacity to do absolute shit against Russia. ..And we are not talking about what happened in 1915.

WWII Tier List is going to be wild. Germany, Soviet Union and USA can all claim Top of A-Tier or even S-Tier

As an American I think our placement is fair enough. We had no experience with this kind of war and we joined late (I will still claim back to back world war champs so suck it world) But an interesting thing was in the beginning of WW2 I remember something being said about America missed the WW1 experience and many wanted to know it, and they got the full WW1 experience in the Italian campaign, to which most of the soldiers regretted wishing for the experience. In addition while we were not the best, we definitely brought the big dick energy when Germany asked us to stop using Trench guns, to which we then doubled production and used them even more just to piss off Germany.

Love the Roddy Peiper quote from “They Live.”

Italy stand alone against Austria-Hungary, and despite the inferior arms and machine they still managed to hold up; force tge germans to send units in the front to keep it toghether; and eventually win. For my point of view italy did not an amazing job, but a decent one at least yes.

Incredible, 25 seconds of explanation of the Italian front based on a single stupid argument about a history meme to unfairly put the efforts of our army at F tier. (Completely ignoring our successes in the Adriatic sea, the fact that fighting in the mountains was way more difficult, and our great successes after the Battle of Caporetto). Our performance in WW1 wasn't surely great, and mostly because of inept commanders(Luigi Cadorna) at the beginning of the war, but after General Diaz's arrival everything changed and we won some important battles still celebrated today, like the Battle of the Piave River or the Battle of Vittorio Veneto. Consider also that we were basically on our own, there were insignificant allied forces on the Alpine front, while Austria won at Caporetto mostly because of the German helping and the forces redirected from the Eastern front to the Italian front.

the UK wasnt fighting alone in the rest of the world tho, France also had its empire to defend and fight in. France sent troops kind of everywhere as well.

I suggest the Armchair Historians video on ww1 from the Austro-Hungarian perspective as it gives a lot of insight into their situation and why I personally think Austria-Hungary deserves C tier.

Can’t wait for the WW2 version!

“Russia, a big baddie that turned out to be a paper tiger.” Might as well be their bloody motto🤣

Your ranking of the Ottomans seem a bit unfair to rank them with Italy at F. They were a failing empire in rapid decline since the Russo-Turkish War of 1876-78 and they were not as inept as you claim them to be. While they were definitely more of a liability for the Central Powers, the fact that they managed to last this long is quite impressive. They were on the periphery of the European theater, meaning that more or less they were on their own. (With the exception of German officers and materiel) Not to mention that internal strife and rebellion plagued the empire. The only front that was more or less a rout was the Caucasus Front, where the Russians advanced until the revolution forced them to retreat. The Gallipoli Front was an Ottoman victory that embarrassed the Allies, the Sinai and Palestine campaign was a stalemate for over half a year (despite the Arab revolt) and the Allied advance was slow until the decisive Battle of Megiddo in 1918. The Mesopotamia Front once again demonstrated that the Ottomans should not be underestimated with the embarrassing British surrender at Kut. Following Kut, it took the Allies almost two years to capture the city. My point is the Ottomans were a crumbling state, overstretched (fighting on 4 simultaneous fronts far away from each other) and under-supplied but still managed to last that long in the war. I would rank them at C.

Brit here. I will admit, had it just been us and the French on our own against the Germans, it would have been a much, much harder fight. Hell, even with Russia thrown in, we'd likely still struggle to come out victorious. But you see, even in that case, the longer the war dragged on, the better our outlook compared to the Germans. This was as us Brits could easily blockade a large amount of the supplies heading to Germany, and the combination of Britain and France meant that the Entente had more manpower, more industry and more land than the Germans could ever hope to muster. Basically, a quick victory was, unfortunately, the only way the Germans (just like in ww2) were ever gonna succeed long-term. After long enough, the German civilians and soldiers would have been left without morale-boosting items and possibly without many war materials. Hell, most of the economic and industrial damage done to the Germans during the time in which it was just the UK, France and Russia (plus Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro) fighting it out, was done by blockades and the loss of overseas territories, rather than bombing campaigns. Even still, the Germans fought hard, and if not for a single order, they could have gained the quick victory they sought and needed. It was damn close. If the Germans had made it even a couple more miles before the order to stop retreating was given, they would have been in sight of Paris - that is how close the German empire came to capitulating France (without whom the British forces would have faced the same dilemma as the Americans would have in ww2 without the UK - that being, no dropping off point for troops). It was only thanks to that order, and the consequential German retreat due to the resulting battle opening a gap in their lines, that Paris was not conquered. Our German cousins have always had a knack for war. Then again, so have we, and the French. So it really isn't a surprise that such powerhouses were so evenly matched. I'm glad we're friends with our German cousins again though.

I agree with the United States' placement but damn I wonder what kind of effect the US joining had on the average German soldiers' morale. You have been fighting for 3 years, millions of men dead- hoping that the Entente breaks before your side does, and suddenly your enemy receives two million fresh new troops :(

I actually can't wait to see the WW2 part of this vid

what a great video

I literally made a tier list of exactly this myself ages ago and I'm so happy to see someone else did (yours and mine also have very few differences)

Sad to see that Spectrum (nothing personally, I'll continue to see your contents) didn't know nothing about WWI between Italy and Austria-Hungary (as many honestly outside), I live where they fought, so I reccoment to SEE first the topografy of isonzo and carso and tell me after that about battle performances (for your information, it's not a flat land...). And the many unconclusive battles beetween France and Germany? France had in ther side UK and even so it was essentialy notheless a stalemate for many years. I know this is tier least and so it is what.... it is, but it's unfair and I see the classic stereotypes and even a bit offensive. I will give F to this Tier list.