Apokalypse erster Weltkrieg

I first saw this on the AHC Channel in the US and, as a former soldier, was overwhelmed by what I saw and heard. The English narrator, François Arnaud, had the perfect, nearly monotone delivery that could send chills down your spine. His delivery was flawless and as far as I am concerned, really 'sells' the English version of this project. I cannot comment on the French as I do not speak it. I have enough trouble with English. The video itself was surprising in its quality and the colorization was just enough to allow you to better see what Mr. Arnaud was speaking about. The overall historical content, giving the time restraints, is amazing, really showing you that this was a World War.

Of the many film documentaries of the First World War, this is by far the best. I have seen nearly all available film material about the war and shows the quality of production that can be achieved when dedicated professionals are attached to a project. I teach a college-level course on WWI and use excerpts from this series to help the students get a better feeling for the century-old conflict that shaped our modern world. All had positive comments about the film. This series includes film I have not seen previously and the use of colorization along with modern frame-timing make it much more agreeable to twenty-first-century eyes.

"Apocalypse: WW1" brings the war to life in a way never seen before. This Canadian documentary adds modern sound and music with the crude film of the era in a perfect blend of drama and poignancy.

We are shown the roots of the war; the contemporary European peace that existed on the continent from 1871-1914 along with the simmering tensions among the major European powers of the age. Done in a way that is never trite nor dull, "Apocalypse" explains what happened in the first "great war" of 1914-18: the clash of ideologies, the futility, the mass deaths in the new age of conscript soldiers, and the ultimate futility of it all in a world war that left 10 million soldiers dead. Probably the penultimate World war 1 documentary. Don't miss it.

As a history buff I find this series for WW l shows more than what you will learn in history class. You see the faces of those involved in this and how widespread this war really was. The narrator, Francois Arnaud makes the series unforgettable. His voice and tone you will never forget.

You will see battle scenes that show how arrogant and little care about the loss of life by most of those in charge really were by using tactics that were outdated. Not only will you will see scenes of suffering and hardships of the soldiers, you will also see scenes of the civilians dealing with the the war.

The prejudices between nations, religions, cultures and color are pointed out and you still see today. You will see how the arrogance of most of the world leaders and the desire to teach Germany a lesson was a main contribution that led to WW ll with loss of German soil and reparations. The face of Europe changed and would again change after WW ll.

Watching the series multiple times there are still information you will learn and see that one may miss.

I also look to see if I will ever see a face of a relative that served in the US service. It would be interesting how many others do the same and if they find a scene showing a relative, military or civilian.

It is a shame we have learned nothing about the effects of any war. This series shows that quite well.

First of all, I have to say this is definitely the best WW1 documentary I have seen, not just because it's in color, but also because it brings a fresh view on such an old topic. The whole documentary is built upon a cause-and-effect logic, which I really appreciated and this is valid especially when analyzing how a seemingly tranquil and prosperous Europe was suddenly plunged into the chaos and nightmare of a world war. Furthermore, I was happy to see the documentary also talks about the less glorious aspects of the war (such as the mutiny of soldiers, especially in the French army) and that it includes information about less known theaters like Turkey and the Pacific.

On the downside, however, the main weakness of the documentary is that it is dis-proportionally focused on the Western front, possibly creating the impression that the other fronts were just side-shows and that the whole war was just a crawl through the muddy trenches. This is absolutely not the case especially for the Eastern Front, where an even higher number of casualties than on the Western Front occurred and where the large spaces offered opportunity for wars of maneuver, unlike the trench warfare predominant in the West. In this respect, I was disappointed that the Russian Brusilov offensive of 1916, the greatest advance any army achieved during the war is not even mentioned. Furthermore, information is severely lacking for the following countries:

• Serbia: the only information about Serbia is that the Serbs initially stopped the Austrian offensive in 1914; absolutely nothing afterwards about its defeat and occupation by the Central Powers in 1915.
• Bulgaria: it is only mentioned that it joined the Central Powers, but there's not the slightest information about what happened afterwards and who they fought.
• Romania: I found it absolutely inexcusable that Romania is not mentioned even once during the 4 and a half hours of the documentary. Without saying a word about the fact that Romania had even entered the war, at the very end they say that among others some 200,000 Romanian soldiers died in the conflict. At this point even the most basic information is missing, for example on whose side Romania fought. It would have probably been useful to mention that the Germans had to relocate much needed divisions from the battle of Verdun the moment Romania entered the war in order to stabilize the front. In addition, the German conquest of half of Romania in 1916, an extraordinary feat of arms, which historian Michael Barrett named a "prelude to blitzkrieg", could have also been interesting to include.

I totally understand the need to focus on the main aspects of the war, but I think applying a principle of proportionality is preferable to overlooking some potentially relevant information. A few phrases would have been enough to give a general overview also on these aspects above.

To sum up, great documentary and analysis for the Western Front, but unfortunately it fails to cover some relevant aspects from the Eastern Front.