About the fishing.. The EU did not create the decline of the fish population. Marine biologists had warned against this for decades *and* fishermen were warned against making huge investments because there were hardly any fish left. Still they did and than used the EU as a scapegoat for the failure of their risky investments. See also the milk lake, butter mountain, etc.... same story
This whole "cleptocratic event" cannot be understated. In the small eastern european city I live in most of the public assets like factories, mills, public buildings and such were all bought up by a small number of individuals. The most common tactic for achieving this was simply buying the shares workers received in their factory. They sold it for cheap because they had no idea what those were good for (remember, the whole idea of stock was new to them) and that they were desperate for money in the collapsing economy. The same thing happened everywhere, but entire industries were "stolen" this way.
I mean how else would privatization happen? Did most people at the time not realize that abolishing socialism meant none of their stuff would belong to them anymore?
@@fh2135 The focus is on how stuff went for pennies while the debts taken up during the late 70s didn't get paid. Remember everything was state owned, stuff went for so cheap that selling whole countries didn't cover their meager debts. Some people became major (and I mean territories of the size of a large village) landowners for the price of like an old used car. This is how the current oligarchs were born here. A lot of western companies came and bought up factories at 10-20% their price just to close them to kill competitors, light industry (clothing, household chemicals, appliances) practically died in eastern Europe. When this was seen governments tried to protect the heavy industry but they were eventually forced to sell these huge industrial hubs, the size of towns, most of them shared the same fate. Just think about how many eastern European brands you know, then you will realize you barely know any. You'd say "but mah foreign investment!", yep they like us very much, eastern wages, western prices, 50 hour work weeks, free overtime and no or irrelevant worker Unions. I could go on for ages but I guess this is long enough, the bottom point is that there was/is little to no will to catch up eastern Europe to the west, the status quo wants the east to stay behind so they can have cheap labor inside the customs union while also making it impossible for eastern upstarts to compete.
@@fh2135 Genuinly no. I read an article about the fall of socialism in eastern europe from a western reporter who was interviewing people opposing the socialist governments. They asked a group of protestors a few questions, like how they're hoping for more variety in shops etc. Eventually they asked "Aren't you worried about losing your jobs?" to which they just responded "We don't mind, the government will just find us new jobs". In their words, people genuinly didn't understand what capitalism entailed.
Thank you John Green for making these videos, even in these trying times. I really enjoy listening to you and your observations about history around the world.
now that I school closes and I have more time to relax, i try to watch at least one Crash Course video every day just to make sure I'm not letting a day goes by without learning anything
9:10 And if they had kept fishing they would have depleted the supply and all fishermen would have gone out of business. Also as supply declined the price rose.
Um, actually... the EC had an elected parliament from 1979 onwards; it wasn’t a new development when the EU was born as this video implies. The other um, actually... is that this video seems to imply that passport controls are abolished across the common market, when in fact the Schengen Area does not cover all common market members (eg Ireland) but does cover some non common market members (eg Monaco). Another thing that’s not a mistake but ought to be mentioned is that the EU divides up fishing quotas equitably between its members according to a formula that all have agreed to. It is then up to the members themselves to assign these quotas to individual companies and boats. Declining fishing communities is at least in part the fault of member states for failing to give their share to small fishermen rather than big fishing companies, rather than the Union whose primary goal is to reverse overfishing.
They likely over-generalized the EU to save time. Also, I wonder if the EU could have subsidized the 40% loss the fishing industry incurred as a result of EU actions? That way the penalty does not fall on the fishing industry alone.
@@Black_Corey but would it be "fair" to all other to pay the fish industry, which was destroying itself with wiping out fish? I mean as tragic the fate of fishermen are, one could not sit and wait to let them sort out whenever they will destroy the whole fish population or not. Vathek has pointed out that it division of those quotas could have been better, but overall I don't really see a world where those quotas are not limited and we still have a fish industry.
@@Nonsense010688 Preservation of the fish supply is necessary and beneficial to all. Even with quotas, a reduction of 40% is going to hurt small fishing communities. It just seems to me that the cost of the EU's decision to reduce fishing should fall on the EU as a whole and not just people who fish for a living.
For those who didn't live through it I think it's difficult to express just how relentlessly optimistic the 1990s were for those living in the west. (Yugoslav wars aside).
Yeah. I was very young then, so that might have had something to do with it, and I couldn’t yet compare it to the zeitgeists of other eras (I can now, worse luck) but we really seemed to think utopia was right around the corner.
@@Clutch28 they think so, because during those times they were young and carefree. It was their parents that had to deal with all the injustice. Currently, these people are adults, with burden of obligations and when they fail, they blame the current system, seeing the past in an escapist light.
I always wondered if these were all filmed at once and then periodically released. Or if they were released as they were made and finished. But the pandemic has been raging for months and this is the first one that is not in the studio? It doesn’t make sense.
this video is awesome! I learned so much, and reviewed a lot of information I forgot I had learned in school. Please keep making these videos, there's so much more information to discover and discuss!
The conflict between wanting to be represented by a small localised government or a larger macro government isn't even just a simple choice between two opposing ideologies. It can be very dependent on the particulars of the governments in question. For example, a slight majority of people in Scotland now support independence from the UK as they do not feel the British government is dealing with local Scottish issues properly. However most of those same people also want Scotland to rejoin the EU post independence as they see the benefits of being part of a larger organisation that can solve cross-border issues. (Similarly, most Scots who want to leave the EU typically also oppose independence as they are 'patriotic' to Britain.)
Sidenote: El Salvador in Central America in the 90's wanted to be part of NATO a country which does not possess access to the Atlantic Ocean which the organization clearly it's called The North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Greetings from El Salvador.
Greeting from Florida! As someone from central America, do you think the US should do more to help our southern neighbors? Doing more can range from increased investment, increased access to immigration, to more foreign aid. My country has a bad habit of exploiting or inciting political instability in central and south America for perceived political gain. The state of some central American countries is in part our fault. As the largest economy in the world, it is the US's responsibility and duty to increase the standard of living in areas we previously exploited. Perhaps a revival of FDR's good neighbor policy of 1933?
@@Black_Corey I'm a central American US citizen. I think most Americans can agree that helping third world countries is necessary for stopping illegal immigration. Central Americans, however, don't generally blame America for the crime rates in Latin America. The blame is squarely put on corruption and the gangs themselves. Foreign aid from America is greatly appreciated, but due to corruption and Donald Trump, most central Americans don't expect foreign entities to help clean up the central government's issues.
I would like to say thank you guys for making these videos. I’ve been watching these masterpieces since I was in middle school and you guys helped me though tough times believe it or not. You guys are the reason why I enjoy learning. Thank you so much. ❤️
"European Currency Unit" is far away from being a bad and unimaginative name. French proposed it, pretending to not notice that the initials where ECU, which is the name (écu) of a variety of currently used in France during around 500 years (from 13th to 18th century). It a a really smart and funny proposal, a clever play on word, far away from the boringness you're describing in the video.
Not to take away from the informative video, but I am pretty sure the picture shown at 6:19 is the main hall of the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg. The Council of Europe is by many frequently mistaken be connected with the EU (or to be the same thing) but it is actually a completely different international organization. And although Strasbourg is also home to the European Parliament, and is certainly not unimportant in European politics, I honestly doubt that the Assembly hall of the Council of Europe had anything to do with the Treaty of Maastricht. Sorry but I just had to say this.
Yeah there are three councils, the council of Europe, the council of the European union, and the European Council. The Council of the European union is the upper house of the European union. The Council of Europe is unrelated to the EU. And the European Council is a council in which consists of the heads of government of the EU member countries.
It was a surprise, but a nice one, to hear about a Greek prime minister to defend the "Europeanness" of Turkey (and the French of all people should know that the best, as back in the sixteenth century they were first to form an alliance with the Ottomans).
@JZ's Best Friend No they are those who call German boats to have water regulations enforced (as half a mile of river doesn't need a coast guard and half that isn't even a unit).
Nice to 'visit' you in your house, Mr. Green! I live quite near Vigo. Our region (Galicia) has generally suffered quite a lot from European policies penalising our main economic sectors (agriculture, milk production, fishing, electricity production) but it would be simplistic to put the blame on the eurocrats, and not on our national politicians, who prioritize more populated regions and voting groups.
@@PedroG78 That's probably why they did it, by the EU rules Turkey can't join without settling any border disputes first which means that the Cyprus question has to be dealt with. Hence dangling the prospect of EU membership in front of Turkey is a way to get them to resolve the Cyprus question.
11:09 That is actually an old shopping center in Bratislava, formerly known as Prior. Build in 1968, it was modern even by "western" standards, not just for its architecture. I remember it being branded as K-Mart in the 1990s. As of 2020, it is partially empty, as new shopping malls have been build in other parts of the city, but similar things happened in the "west" too. One more thing: The "eastern" Europe is a "geopolitical" term. Using it today is somewhat obsolete. In 2020, we should talk about Central Europe, which is geographically correct.
There were a lot of really cool stuff in The East Bloc! I grew up in Denmark - as a kid I watched a lot of BRD television and a lot of the childrens' show were East Bloc, brilliant animated shows! And all the canned tomatoes we ate wete Bulgarian! 😃 The Yugo was quite popular too! One of my class mates spent all her childhood summer holidays in Poland and brought back a lot of cool souvenirs, and great stuff in leather - like cool designer wear and stuff!
I watched one of the original World History videos the other day and just could not get past how YOUNG John looked. And it wasn't even that long ago! But that doesn't mean you look old now! Maybe just slightly less young. Haha
John, I think you are fast approaching the title of 'National Treasure'. Keep up the fantastic work of educating children and adults, like myself, alike! Edit: Thanks to all contributors of Crash Course, not just John!
In Ukraine we still feel the consequences of bad privatization. Those guys who did not build those huge factories bought them for very small price and now became an oligharchs, but ordinary workers got hit hard, and government was not for it's people using it's advantage.
Implying that he wouldn't be already utterly disappointed with the reality of the oppressive, deeply autocratic and bureaucratic Soviet system, kept in place by force. Not even particularly "equal" when you consider how higher standards of living were enjoyed by the elites of the ruling Parties comparative to the majority of the population. Just one look at such petty, vain and delusional dictator as Ceausescu alone, doing what he was doing supposedly in name of Marxist ideas, would probably gave Marx clinical depression if not heart attack.
Odd idea of mine: if the EU members promote learning EU's official languages more then we would have a stronger "belonging feeling", but in my country (Spain) we only speak Spanish (and several co-official regional languages), we learn English since we are kids, most of us not really good and a small proportion learns also a bit of French but not really speak it. I think we should have the opportunity to choose between at least German, French and Italian as a compulsory subject in highschool to improve the understanding among our countries to really make us cooperate (and vote for people that cooperate instead of voting for people that just argue about who lends more money to who)
That's pretty unreasonable tbh and making it compulsory would only make tensions rise. It may work alright if you're Spanish and your only neighbors are Portugal, France and arguably Italy if you don't count the sea, but if you're a state that has many neighbors who decides what languages are to be prioritised? How do you deal with the fallout from telling people who moved to your state that they must not only learn your language, while maintaining a connection to their own homeland, but also raise their kids while making it compulsory they learn another, possibly multiple, foreign languages on top of that? What happens to existing languages that are struggling to remain if more are introduced and made compulsory? For example the Welsh and Gaelic languages? While it's a nice sentiment to encourage further European integration, and I'm all for that notion, the idea of making languages compulsory for people will only fuel anger and resentment in any you decide are not important enough to be encouraged and that is completely counterproductive to what you want. If the goal of the EU is to make people feel they belonged and are equals than the last thing you should do is decide that the languages of Western Europe ought to be compulsory across the EU.
the series has been very broad picture and been focused much more on the rise and fall of communism, but yeah, definitely feels like the rise and fall of Iberian fascism was sort of smoothed over.
As a public health worker, one of my pet peeves is when people say "global pandemic." Pandemic implies that it is spread across continents. Anything more regionalized would be an epidemic.
I don't know how I grew up with all this stuff going on and I wasn't aware of any of it, it makes me wonder what kind of things are going on in the world now that I should know about but am not aware of.... Thank you for filling that gap :)
I'd like to take up the gauntlet for those economists naming the European Currency Unit at 7:00. The abbreviation ECU is a callback to the écu, an ancient French coin. That itself is derived from the Latin scutum (shield), which is also the root for the Italian scudo and the Spanish and (most recently) Portuguese escudo. So they've created a very boring term for a fiendishly clever acronym, a little easter egg for economic history buffs! I'm sorry John, but I think they got this one right.
I like how there's a pile of laundry in the back of the video, it gives it all a casual vibe that resonates well with someone who has been wearing pyjamas for several months now. Also, please stop saying "global pandemic", it's a tautology.
I think the fishing tax criticism you brought up lacks a bit of nuance. It's true that it hurt the individual fisherman, and that is Incredibly bad, but it also prevented massive fishing conglomerates from OVER fishing, and causing permanent damage to the environment and fish populations. While rightfully bringing up how it hurts individuals and small groups, you neglect to focus on how regulating the rich is still Incredibly important if we want to keep them from making the world "efficient" until it's desolate.
Calling it "The Euro" wasn't that bad but you're right, they could have been a bit more creative. The African Union has proposed a United African Economy with single currency called the "Afro". Which I think is head and shoulders above the Euro.
The European Single Market was born in 1993, with the implementation of the European Single Act of 1986. 1957 marks the Treaty of Rome which created two European Communities: the Economic one and the Economic Energy one. The Coal and Steel Community was created already in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris. The EEC was mostly a custom union and an economic cooperation, developing slowly over the years and removing non-tariffs barriers to trade until the Single Market was born in 1993. So, 1957 is when the European Communities were born, the predecessors to the European Union.
There's a lot of arguments against a guaranteed income, but it would definitely help people swallow the bitter pill that is regulations to protect industries from themselves. Our current system relies on a government always making the right decisions or else people starve, lose their homes, all through no fault of their own.
This was posted on July 16, 2020. Here in California, we began the stay-at-home quarantine around March 13, four months ago! When do they film these videos???
Not to be dramatic but I would die for the crash course folks... but not in a creepy way in a sort of “the world deserves these people” kind of way thank you for the consistency in this chaotic time 💜💜💜
So far there has always been the divide between what the needs of a villager are and what the needs of a city dweller are (no matter what country you look at). I was there when Czechoslovakia got rid of comunism, split up, joined the EU...there is no doubt to what the enourmous benefits have been/still are of all these developments. Yet you got to meet/speak to the village people (pun intended) and you find some complaining about how "we" never should've get rid of communism, some complaining how "we" never should have split apart from Czechoslovak federation, others complaining how "we" never should have joined the EU or adopt the EURO. The bottom line is that 99% of them have no clue what is coming out of their mouth. And here it comes to the all times pervasive question - what good is a democracy? = it is only as good as educated are it's people (that's a fact debated eversince democracy was adopted in ancient Greek states)
I am so happy to see that you've covered wars in the Balkans, but John, it hurts when you say that Nato forces pushed the militias back. They bombed us. Innocent people and cities, not militias. I know you don't have enough time to go in depth, but those two sentences said about war in Kosovo were typical western/American views on it. I just wish you had phrased it in a different way that doesn't overlook Nato aggression in Serbia. Edit: I didn't include the crucial word that made me write this, "*finally* pushed them back". Makes Nato look like a great savior that finally found a way to get back at Serbia.
I love the European Union, I'm from UK and well.... we left, I hope that EU grows, its a haven and a vision of a nation. I may not be part of EU but I am European by heart 🇪🇺
The EU is a bastion of workers rights, ever notice how European countries have better standards to the US in that regard? Also I don't really get that man from Vigo's point, he's essentially complaining that he isn't free to bankrupt himself whilst also making a species extinct at the same time, as opposed to just having to find another job.
The EU officially declares its origins to be the European Coal and Steel Community, the predecessor to the EU is not the common market it's the European Economic Community. The EEC built the single (common) European market.
That callout to Stan was a lot more heart-wrenching than I expected.
mah hart
mah sole
Who’s Stan?
@@aprilkleinlmao Check the Credits
It broke my heart 💔 Though at first when he was asking Stan to roll that clip I was a little worried why Stan was in his basement haha
One day, we will see Crash Course covering the Coronavirus.
Or will we!? 🤔
Crash Course 21st century history, presented by Robo John Green!
And when it happens, I hope I manage to stay alive to see it.
@@wiIdirishroses Didn't he already do that before the intro?
At least when the pandemic is over after a year
The "I miss you Stan" got me good.
Let's wait together until this gets pinned and hearted
About the fishing.. The EU did not create the decline of the fish population. Marine biologists had warned against this for decades *and* fishermen were warned against making huge investments because there were hardly any fish left. Still they did and than used the EU as a scapegoat for the failure of their risky investments.
See also the milk lake, butter mountain, etc.... same story
This whole "cleptocratic event" cannot be understated. In the small eastern european city I live in most of the public assets like factories, mills, public buildings and such were all bought up by a small number of individuals. The most common tactic for achieving this was simply buying the shares workers received in their factory. They sold it for cheap because they had no idea what those were good for (remember, the whole idea of stock was new to them) and that they were desperate for money in the collapsing economy. The same thing happened everywhere, but entire industries were "stolen" this way.
IMF got hugely unpopular in those days, even in the former old West. Russia in particular was a downright cleptocracy! See where that brought us 😞
@@jakobraahauge7299 There's a reason a whole class of russian oligarchs exist. Some people got insanely rich from the communist collapse.
I mean how else would privatization happen? Did most people at the time not realize that abolishing socialism meant none of their stuff would belong to them anymore?
@@fh2135 The focus is on how stuff went for pennies while the debts taken up during the late 70s didn't get paid. Remember everything was state owned, stuff went for so cheap that selling whole countries didn't cover their meager debts. Some people became major (and I mean territories of the size of a large village) landowners for the price of like an old used car. This is how the current oligarchs were born here.
A lot of western companies came and bought up factories at 10-20% their price just to close them to kill competitors, light industry (clothing, household chemicals, appliances) practically died in eastern Europe. When this was seen governments tried to protect the heavy industry but they were eventually forced to sell these huge industrial hubs, the size of towns, most of them shared the same fate.
Just think about how many eastern European brands you know, then you will realize you barely know any.
You'd say "but mah foreign investment!", yep they like us very much, eastern wages, western prices, 50 hour work weeks, free overtime and no or irrelevant worker Unions. I could go on for ages but I guess this is long enough, the bottom point is that there was/is little to no will to catch up eastern Europe to the west, the status quo wants the east to stay behind so they can have cheap labor inside the customs union while also making it impossible for eastern upstarts to compete.
@@fh2135
Genuinly no. I read an article about the fall of socialism in eastern europe from a western reporter who was interviewing people opposing the socialist governments. They asked a group of protestors a few questions, like how they're hoping for more variety in shops etc. Eventually they asked "Aren't you worried about losing your jobs?" to which they just responded "We don't mind, the government will just find us new jobs". In their words, people genuinly didn't understand what capitalism entailed.
Politicians love blaming the EU for their own failings.
I expected a separate episode for the war in former Yugoslavia. It is important for everyone to be aware of that especially in times like these.
When he said, “I miss you Stan.”
I felt that
"Stupid disease, always placing yourself at the centre of human history"
Thank you John Green for making these videos, even in these trying times. I really enjoy listening to you and your observations about history around the world.
now that I school closes and I have more time to relax, i try to watch at least one Crash Course video every day just to make sure I'm not letting a day goes by without learning anything
I really want more "Me from the Past"
Me too, okay that he can't play anymore(as if he ever could) a high schooler but a young adults in university you still be acceptable.
@@caiocaguiar9310 Yeah he could, just use deepfake technology.
9:10 And if they had kept fishing they would have depleted the supply and all fishermen would have gone out of business. Also as supply declined the price rose.
Thank you John for continuing to make these videos. I, for one, sincerely appreciate it.
it feels so strange to have an episode of crash course history mention something that happened after i was born
Um, actually... the EC had an elected parliament from 1979 onwards; it wasn’t a new development when the EU was born as this video implies.
The other um, actually... is that this video seems to imply that passport controls are abolished across the common market, when in fact the Schengen Area does not cover all common market members (eg Ireland) but does cover some non common market members (eg Monaco).
Another thing that’s not a mistake but ought to be mentioned is that the EU divides up fishing quotas equitably between its members according to a formula that all have agreed to. It is then up to the members themselves to assign these quotas to individual companies and boats. Declining fishing communities is at least in part the fault of member states for failing to give their share to small fishermen rather than big fishing companies, rather than the Union whose primary goal is to reverse overfishing.
shoulda called CGP Grey.
They likely over-generalized the EU to save time. Also, I wonder if the EU could have subsidized the 40% loss the fishing industry incurred as a result of EU actions? That way the penalty does not fall on the fishing industry alone.
@@Black_Corey The losses weren't that big, the fish price rose to meet the smaller supply.
@@Black_Corey but would it be "fair" to all other to pay the fish industry, which was destroying itself with wiping out fish?
I mean as tragic the fate of fishermen are, one could not sit and wait to let them sort out whenever they will destroy the whole fish population or not.
Vathek has pointed out that it division of those quotas could have been better, but overall I don't really see a world where those quotas are not limited and we still have a fish industry.
@@Nonsense010688 Preservation of the fish supply is necessary and beneficial to all. Even with quotas, a reduction of 40% is going to hurt small fishing communities. It just seems to me that the cost of the EU's decision to reduce fishing should fall on the EU as a whole and not just people who fish for a living.
That shout-out to Stan 😭😭😭 god 2020 was a total nightmare but staying inside and less crowded places in the aftermath was kinda nice
Take care Stan, whereever you are
For those who didn't live through it I think it's difficult to express just how relentlessly optimistic the 1990s were for those living in the west. (Yugoslav wars aside).
Yeah. I was very young then, so that might have had something to do with it, and I couldn’t yet compare it to the zeitgeists of other eras (I can now, worse luck) but we really seemed to think utopia was right around the corner.
"The relentless unforseen" made the day!
I just wanna say thanks for keeping up with the videos even in quarantine. This felt a little weird after watching vlogbrothers though!
Excellent and heartfelt episode, John! As for someone from East Europe, it was spot on, both about goods and bads of recent decades. Thank you!
7:02 - the point at which I realized the world wasn't going to open up over John's shoulder.
I love being European
same, same
As an American I envy you!
Im from Maastricht
Europe is the best
I am from Russia, we still have many nostalgic for the USSR and this is dangerous
😞
But Communism is gone! Now there is a Czar again 😳
I am from ex Soviet Union country, and we have those people too. Some are even born after the Fall and has no actual idea what was life back then...
How so? Is it nostalgia for the progressive policies of the USSR or is it more about nationalism?
@@fh2135 I would think it's the rose-colored glasses type thinking of "life was better back then". Which it wasn't but...
@@Clutch28 they think so, because during those times they were young and carefree. It was their parents that had to deal with all the injustice. Currently, these people are adults, with burden of obligations and when they fail, they blame the current system, seeing the past in an escapist light.
I always wondered if these were all filmed at once and then periodically released. Or if they were released as they were made and finished.
But the pandemic has been raging for months and this is the first one that is not in the studio? It doesn’t make sense.
this video is awesome! I learned so much, and reviewed a lot of information I forgot I had learned in school. Please keep making these videos, there's so much more information to discover and discuss!
5:45 Crimea was annexed by Russia with the violation of international law.
When you're Russia, they just let you... 😐
Eventually they learned that Crimea doesn't pay.
I wish John would do a longer form of these types of videos, closer to a Hardcore History.
The conflict between wanting to be represented by a small localised government or a larger macro government isn't even just a simple choice between two opposing ideologies. It can be very dependent on the particulars of the governments in question.
For example, a slight majority of people in Scotland now support independence from the UK as they do not feel the British government is dealing with local Scottish issues properly. However most of those same people also want Scotland to rejoin the EU post independence as they see the benefits of being part of a larger organisation that can solve cross-border issues. (Similarly, most Scots who want to leave the EU typically also oppose independence as they are 'patriotic' to Britain.)
7:15 "I'm alone."
Me too, John, me too.
Sidenote: El Salvador in Central America in the 90's wanted to be part of NATO a country which does not possess access to the Atlantic Ocean which the organization clearly it's called The North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Greetings from El Salvador.
Greeting from Florida! As someone from central America, do you think the US should do more to help our southern neighbors? Doing more can range from increased investment, increased access to immigration, to more foreign aid. My country has a bad habit of exploiting or inciting political instability in central and south America for perceived political gain. The state of some central American countries is in part our fault. As the largest economy in the world, it is the US's responsibility and duty to increase the standard of living in areas we previously exploited. Perhaps a revival of FDR's good neighbor policy of 1933?
@@Black_Corey I'm a central American US citizen. I think most Americans can agree that helping third world countries is necessary for stopping illegal immigration. Central Americans, however, don't generally blame America for the crime rates in Latin America. The blame is squarely put on corruption and the gangs themselves. Foreign aid from America is greatly appreciated, but due to corruption and Donald Trump, most central Americans don't expect foreign entities to help clean up the central government's issues.
I would like to say thank you guys for making these videos. I’ve been watching these masterpieces since I was in middle school and you guys helped me though tough times believe it or not. You guys are the reason why I enjoy learning. Thank you so much. ❤️
"European Currency Unit" is far away from being a bad and unimaginative name. French proposed it, pretending to not notice that the initials where ECU, which is the name (écu) of a variety of currently used in France during around 500 years (from 13th to 18th century). It a a really smart and funny proposal, a clever play on word, far away from the boringness you're describing in the video.
The original idea of the ECU acronym was that it was supposed to be pronounced "écu", like the medieval french gold coin.
There’s not much about communism in this video.. and that’s the reason I clicked on it
Not to take away from the informative video, but I am pretty sure the picture shown at 6:19 is the main hall of the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg. The Council of Europe is by many frequently mistaken be connected with the EU (or to be the same thing) but it is actually a completely different international organization. And although Strasbourg is also home to the European Parliament, and is certainly not unimportant in European politics, I honestly doubt that the Assembly hall of the Council of Europe had anything to do with the Treaty of Maastricht. Sorry but I just had to say this.
Yeah there are three councils, the council of Europe, the council of the European union, and the European Council.
The Council of the European union is the upper house of the European union.
The Council of Europe is unrelated to the EU.
And the European Council is a council in which consists of the heads of government of the EU member countries.
@@DaDunge When John called out the name of the €, my first thought was "and what about the councils? Somebody REALLY sucks at naming things."
Credit to you for taking a balanced view on the pros/cons of the European Union, in the current political climate it can be hard to do.
I actually enjoyed the at home feel more than the studio. Great work.
We miss you Stan. The much needed voice of reason.
Meanwhile, Juche still survives. The West can’t stop us
It was a surprise, but a nice one, to hear about a Greek prime minister to defend the "Europeanness" of Turkey (and the French of all people should know that the best, as back in the sixteenth century they were first to form an alliance with the Ottomans).
Ah, but the Franco-Ottoman alliance was against the Habsburgs, and Otto von Habsburg was a champion of the EU!
@@SamAronow I guess. 😉
Love your videos bro!
Poor little Luxemburg, seems you forgot it to include it in the EU maps.
@JZ's Best Friend
No they are those who call German boats to have water regulations enforced (as half a mile of river doesn't need a coast guard and half that isn't even a unit).
Poor? In which alternative dimension? 🤣😄 The richest country in Europe
@@jakobraahauge7299 Isn't that Monaco?
powerofk nope, it’s Luxembourg (guys, there’s an “o” between “b” and “u”)
Why does everyone forget Liechtenstein?
Hes back!!!!! So glad ive been listening to the podcast and hoped to see him on YT again
He misses Stan. Does that make him a Stan stan?
I really do prefer the audio from this microphone. A lot warmer, more pleasant to listen to.
That "I miss you, Stan!"
Fantastic again, chaps. Thank you!
Xi Jinping watching this like.... 👀
Congrats on 1k, your channel is still underrated
11:23 I love how one of the first shots used in this course from my country (Slovakia) is the shot of IKEA at the outskirts of our capital 🤣
"I miss you Stan" Awww
Nice to 'visit' you in your house, Mr. Green! I live quite near Vigo. Our region (Galicia) has generally suffered quite a lot from European policies penalising our main economic sectors (agriculture, milk production, fishing, electricity production) but it would be simplistic to put the blame on the eurocrats, and not on our national politicians, who prioritize more populated regions and voting groups.
That is the same here in Greece and I assume the rest of the member states
Is the Galician language still in use or has all of Spain converted to Castilian?
Thank you for what you do
Weird to see a picture of Centro Comercial Vasco da Gama in Lisbon in this video about Eastern Europe, and also about the topic of Consumania
Look at Greece defending Turkey. Never thought I'd see that
Yeah, I really just assumed that Greece was one of the factors tying up Turkey’s application and that, if push ever came to shove, they’d veto it.
There was (and is) the Cyprus issue, though
My name is same as u
That was the actions of sellout politicians that also lead to the economic crisis. They veto after that.
@@PedroG78 That's probably why they did it, by the EU rules Turkey can't join without settling any border disputes first which means that the Cyprus question has to be dealt with. Hence dangling the prospect of EU membership in front of Turkey is a way to get them to resolve the Cyprus question.
11:09 That is actually an old shopping center in Bratislava, formerly known as Prior. Build in 1968, it was modern even by "western" standards, not just for its architecture. I remember it being branded as K-Mart in the 1990s. As of 2020, it is partially empty, as new shopping malls have been build in other parts of the city, but similar things happened in the "west" too. One more thing: The "eastern" Europe is a "geopolitical" term. Using it today is somewhat obsolete. In 2020, we should talk about Central Europe, which is geographically correct.
There were a lot of really cool stuff in The East Bloc! I grew up in Denmark - as a kid I watched a lot of BRD television and a lot of the childrens' show were East Bloc, brilliant animated shows! And all the canned tomatoes we ate wete Bulgarian! 😃 The Yugo was quite popular too! One of my class mates spent all her childhood summer holidays in Poland and brought back a lot of cool souvenirs, and great stuff in leather - like cool designer wear and stuff!
As we are the same age, i always get a feeling of beeing old, when i rewatch your old videos. Did i also look that young back then?
I watched one of the original World History videos the other day and just could not get past how YOUNG John looked. And it wasn't even that long ago! But that doesn't mean you look old now! Maybe just slightly less young. Haha
I've been binge watching Craig's Government and politics series and I was wondering if one day we'll have an European version of that.
John, I think you are fast approaching the title of 'National Treasure'. Keep up the fantastic work of educating children and adults, like myself, alike!
Edit: Thanks to all contributors of Crash Course, not just John!
It's good to see you John. Stay Healthy.
In Ukraine we still feel the consequences of bad privatization. Those guys who did not build those huge factories bought them for very small price and now became an oligharchs, but ordinary workers got hit hard, and government was not for it's people using it's advantage.
Karl Marx would be disappointed.
everyone genuinely interested in human emancipation was shook by the fall of 20th century socialism
Implying that he wouldn't be already utterly disappointed with the reality of the oppressive, deeply autocratic and bureaucratic Soviet system, kept in place by force. Not even particularly "equal" when you consider how higher standards of living were enjoyed by the elites of the ruling Parties comparative to the majority of the population. Just one look at such petty, vain and delusional dictator as Ceausescu alone, doing what he was doing supposedly in name of Marxist ideas, would probably gave Marx clinical depression if not heart attack.
I don't see much difference between the Bolsheviks and the Nazis
Николай Помещенко that’s because you’re a moron who knows literally nothing about political science.
Odd idea of mine: if the EU members promote learning EU's official languages more then we would have a stronger "belonging feeling", but in my country (Spain) we only speak Spanish (and several co-official regional languages), we learn English since we are kids, most of us not really good and a small proportion learns also a bit of French but not really speak it. I think we should have the opportunity to choose between at least German, French and Italian as a compulsory subject in highschool to improve the understanding among our countries to really make us cooperate (and vote for people that cooperate instead of voting for people that just argue about who lends more money to who)
That's pretty unreasonable tbh and making it compulsory would only make tensions rise. It may work alright if you're Spanish and your only neighbors are Portugal, France and arguably Italy if you don't count the sea, but if you're a state that has many neighbors who decides what languages are to be prioritised? How do you deal with the fallout from telling people who moved to your state that they must not only learn your language, while maintaining a connection to their own homeland, but also raise their kids while making it compulsory they learn another, possibly multiple, foreign languages on top of that? What happens to existing languages that are struggling to remain if more are introduced and made compulsory? For example the Welsh and Gaelic languages? While it's a nice sentiment to encourage further European integration, and I'm all for that notion, the idea of making languages compulsory for people will only fuel anger and resentment in any you decide are not important enough to be encouraged and that is completely counterproductive to what you want. If the goal of the EU is to make people feel they belonged and are equals than the last thing you should do is decide that the languages of Western Europe ought to be compulsory across the EU.
I wonder why Mr. Green skipped the historical chapter in European history of the transition to Democracy for Spain and Portugal
the series has been very broad picture and been focused much more on the rise and fall of communism, but yeah, definitely feels like the rise and fall of Iberian fascism was sort of smoothed over.
comrade Rosa Luxemburg would be disappointed that we were not able to build a better world
Jenny(ne of Westphalia) got old enough to see improvement while drying before much of the horrors industrialisation enabled showed their worst face.
@Jedem Das Seine wow, edgy.
@Jedem Das Seine Whatever you think of the uprising, it was not "the people's" guns.
@Jedem Das Seine the fascist freikcorps were not the people
@Jedem Das Seine Many Freikorps were literally foreign born Baltic people who were only German of ethnicity ,the people sure lol.
Always love your work; however, your mic seems to have a bit of noise to it.
When's the European History course gonna end? I'm so excited for the Gastrobiology course!
As a public health worker, one of my pet peeves is when people say "global pandemic." Pandemic implies that it is spread across continents. Anything more regionalized would be an epidemic.
I know! But not everyone had Latin 🙂 just be glad they're not calling it a hoax 🙄🙂🙃
I don't know how I grew up with all this stuff going on and I wasn't aware of any of it, it makes me wonder what kind of things are going on in the world now that I should know about but am not aware of.... Thank you for filling that gap :)
I'd like to take up the gauntlet for those economists naming the European Currency Unit at 7:00. The abbreviation ECU is a callback to the écu, an ancient French coin. That itself is derived from the Latin scutum (shield), which is also the root for the Italian scudo and the Spanish and (most recently) Portuguese escudo. So they've created a very boring term for a fiendishly clever acronym, a little easter egg for economic history buffs! I'm sorry John, but I think they got this one right.
I like how there's a pile of laundry in the back of the video, it gives it all a casual vibe that resonates well with someone who has been wearing pyjamas for several months now.
Also, please stop saying "global pandemic", it's a tautology.
I think the fishing tax criticism you brought up lacks a bit of nuance. It's true that it hurt the individual fisherman, and that is Incredibly bad, but it also prevented massive fishing conglomerates from OVER fishing, and causing permanent damage to the environment and fish populations. While rightfully bringing up how it hurts individuals and small groups, you neglect to focus on how regulating the rich is still Incredibly important if we want to keep them from making the world "efficient" until it's desolate.
Calling it "The Euro" wasn't that bad but you're right, they could have been a bit more creative. The African Union has proposed a United African Economy with single currency called the "Afro". Which I think is head and shoulders above the Euro.
I see what you did there...
Your hair in 2014 was pretty rad.
I'm honestly wondering how I found myself in the comments...
The European Single Market was born in 1993, with the implementation of the European Single Act of 1986.
1957 marks the Treaty of Rome which created two European Communities: the Economic one and the Economic Energy one. The Coal and Steel Community was created already in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris. The EEC was mostly a custom union and an economic cooperation, developing slowly over the years and removing non-tariffs barriers to trade until the Single Market was born in 1993.
So, 1957 is when the European Communities were born, the predecessors to the European Union.
Definitely still glad we get to learn more through Crash Course so we don’t stop education
There's a lot of arguments against a guaranteed income, but it would definitely help people swallow the bitter pill that is regulations to protect industries from themselves. Our current system relies on a government always making the right decisions or else people starve, lose their homes, all through no fault of their own.
And not just that, a government that is increasingly inaccessible by and unaccountable to the people whose lives it can so easily ruin.
I was watching one of your 2014 videos. Wow there’s such a difference
Dope mic there John
5:30 sorry to be that guy, but 'Germany' didn't join nato in 1955, 'West Germany' did, even your map shows the communist bit joining nato...
At first: "Oh! John's at home, okay"
Then: "I MISS YOU TOO STAN!!!" T-T
This was posted on July 16, 2020. Here in California, we began the stay-at-home quarantine around March 13, four months ago! When do they film these videos???
You have completely missed the fall of late dictatorial regimes in western Europe like in Spain, Portugal, or Greece.
as always with these "history channels"
Or the US building new dictatorships on purpose (its not fitting the main topic)
Greece isn’t exactly in _western_ Europe.
Jeez... these episodes must have a massive backload
Please talk more about Baltic’s
Not to be dramatic but I would die for the crash course folks... but not in a creepy way in a sort of “the world deserves these people” kind of way thank you for the consistency in this chaotic time 💜💜💜
Excuse me but Crimea is Ukraine. Check your maps while preps video.
this should be a podcast!
I'm guessing this was filmed quite a while ago if this is the first episode he mentions COVID.
So far there has always been the divide between what the needs of a villager are and what the needs of a city dweller are (no matter what country you look at).
I was there when Czechoslovakia got rid of comunism, split up, joined the EU...there is no doubt to what the enourmous benefits have been/still are of all these developments.
Yet you got to meet/speak to the village people (pun intended) and you find some complaining about how "we" never should've get rid of communism, some complaining how "we" never should have split apart from Czechoslovak federation, others complaining how "we" never should have joined the EU or adopt the EURO.
The bottom line is that 99% of them have no clue what is coming out of their mouth.
And here it comes to the all times pervasive question - what good is a democracy? = it is only as good as educated are it's people (that's a fact debated eversince democracy was adopted in ancient Greek states)
I am so happy to see that you've covered wars in the Balkans, but John, it hurts when you say that Nato forces pushed the militias back. They bombed us. Innocent people and cities, not militias. I know you don't have enough time to go in depth, but those two sentences said about war in Kosovo were typical western/American views on it. I just wish you had phrased it in a different way that doesn't overlook Nato aggression in Serbia.
Edit: I didn't include the crucial word that made me write this, "*finally* pushed them back". Makes Nato look like a great savior that finally found a way to get back at Serbia.
I love the European Union, I'm from UK and well.... we left, I hope that EU grows, its a haven and a vision of a nation. I may not be part of EU but I am European by heart 🇪🇺
@Matricx700
Structure is improving as corruption declines/oversight increases... slowly.
a lot of taxes, a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of corruption
@@JediMik i prefer bureaucracy over the wars (cause yeah, we used to have a lot of those, didn't we, over the stupidest things...)
Don’t worry, you guys will come back
What's with this callout for Stan?
We all miss Stan. Virtual hugs.
Wait, so was that a vlogbrothers video or crash course? John that is exceeding the 4 minute mark
The EU is a bastion of workers rights, ever notice how European countries have better standards to the US in that regard? Also I don't really get that man from Vigo's point, he's essentially complaining that he isn't free to bankrupt himself whilst also making a species extinct at the same time, as opposed to just having to find another job.
The EU officially declares its origins to be the European Coal and Steel Community, the predecessor to the EU is not the common market it's the European Economic Community. The EEC built the single (common) European market.
We miss you too, Stan.