The First World War

I was eagerly looking forward to this ten episode, four DVD set (8 hours and 23 minutes in all) based on the claims on the box of previously unseen film footage and newly accessible archival material from Central and Eastern European sources and most especially the ties to a book by a "professor" (presumably of history - Hew Strachan). Unfortunately, as assembled (in an initially promising chronological format) by BBC 4, there is little or no pretense of objective history and far too many omissions and distortions in the service of a strictly British viewpoint. The over all effect, despite copious quotations from participants on all sides, is like a history of World War II's "D-Day" told entirely from Field Marshall Montgomery's aide de camp's viewpoint.

The vast majority of film footage (mostly acknowledged - but not some of the obvious naval model work; possibly from faked "newsreels"?) is from 1920's and 30's film reconstructions and fictionalizations mixed with color footage of locales as they look today. While there is interesting period movie footage, it is almost all behind the lines and of close-up non-action scenes and TV cameras scanning across still photos.

One of the single most desired sequences, the final newsreel footage of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand leaving the Serajevo City Hall moments before his assassination, is only shown in the abbreviated and already much circulated cut. The reasons for Franz Ferdinand - a fascinating, complex figure given very short shrift here (and his Sophie) being in Bosnia that day (their 14th Wedding Anniversary) are totally omitted - as are any understanding of his reigning Uncle, Emperor Franz Joseph at the head of a great multi-cultural empire or the reasons the majority of Moslem Bosnia was opposed to Eastern Orthodox Serbian pretensions over their territory since both broke away from the shrinking Ottoman Empire.

Once the war itself started (you will be hard pressed to understand why from the sketchy story told here), the British documentary almost entirely ignores the original combatants but focuses on the British and their conflict with Austria's unsubtle allies in Germany.

Because of the British confrontations (to their considerable discomfort) with the Ottoman Turk, much time is spent on this front, allowing at least rudimentary (and that's about all) discussion of the source of the continuing Armenian question in Episode Four, but even here, there is almost no followable line of the way the Ottoman wobbled in and out of the war until finally committing to the Central Powers following the second Russian Revolution in 1917, removing them from the war. There is even less discussion of impact of the tenuous Japanese alliance with the Russians and British springing from the settlement of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

A far better look at the complexity of World War I (although neither attempt or claim to be as complete in the material covered), with far more actual footage from the period in question is available in several documentaries ranging from Hollywood GOES TO WAR to WORLD WAR I IN COLOR. This Anglophile attempt at history is only for the dedicated Anglophile looking for entertainment pretending to be serious, not the serious amateur historian who will see too many holes spoiling the fun.

A very interesting and detailed WWI series which is based on the excellent book. The series consists of 10 episodes.

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The series uses a mixture of narration, maps, archive pictures, archive videos and also filming from the battlefields as they exist today. The series gives a good deal of focus to the eastern front which not all British TV programmes do. The series also makes excellent use of first hand diary accounts of ordinary people such as a 12 year old Serbian girl fleeing her country or a Belgium boy living in his now occupied town to give you a taste of how it was experienced by those who were there. While nothing will probably ever top the 1964 series this comes close. The program attempts to explain the causes of the war and the forces which kept the enemy countries locked in mutual embrace for so long.

The music in the series is also superb, it also goes on into 1919-1921 examining the way in which those affected continued to reflect on it. The series also rightly acknowledges the results of the war a communist Russia, a contained Austria and Germany, a powerful position for the USA and also what it failed to achieve.

The series for me also manages to convey the mass scale of the suffering without falling into the usual trap of blaming all of this on bad tactics by the leadership.

I discovered this program on TubiTV, a free video streaming service, and as some of the other reviewers have mentioned, this is, without a doubt, one of the best WWI documentaries produced to-date. At over eight hours in length, it is a comprehensive and balanced look at the Great War for those of us who did not live through it and do not fully understand the political and social contexts of the day. Unlike most others, it examines not only the causes of, events, and impact of the war as it pertains to western Europe, but also, in great detail, the war's global impact on all the major players, their allies, and colonies around the world. A commendable effort is made to present the narrative from a neutral point of view and and avoid being just another sentimental British or American war documentary. It's not perfect--there are a few topics that probably could have been expanded upon-but this is still an outstanding and informative production and a must-watch for anyone studying WWI or 20th century history.

I had to write this comment because the person whose comment I saw first was absolutely ridiculous, saying that this documentary is slanted and biased toward a British point of view. I disagree.

I watch everything I can about WWI & WWII, and have been repeatedly dissatisfied with most WWI doc.s because they are too few and often do not even attempt to take on the monumental task with such depth as did this series. Specifically, I recall thinking to myself several times how honest and objective the documentary was.

I came away from the series with an understanding of the gray aspects of all the sides concerned and their respective actions (sometimes ethically questionable, sometimes not - on all sides). This war was not like WWII in many ways, not as clear cut, not as linear. Each nation, each major player, had its own entry and mode of operating during the war, which differed as time passed. No one was clearly the knight in shining armor, nor does this documentary propose such a thing, though the players involved at the time may have. I dare say it would not hold your attention for ten episodes if it was not masterfully nuanced in its portrayal of this under-studied, seldom understood war. This series satisfies the desire to know the time line in much deeper detail, spans many countries, people, and reminds the viewer to try and see the story unfold from the perspective of the contemporary.

Wonderfully produced. A must see.

10 out of 10 !

This IS a very well done documentary. In fact, it is so well done that it leaves me speechless that the credits are so poor, both in the original 10 episodes and at IMDb.com. Who, for example, actually wrote the series? At the closing of each episode, the series is credited as being "based on a book by Hew Strachan." Does this mean he actually wrote the script? If not, who did? Was it Jonathan Lewis, who was credited as the series narrator? Even more irritating is that NONE of the actors who read from diaries and other primary source material are credited at all. The IMDb site credits the actual historical figures, as if they were still alive to read out loud material that is now almost 100 years old! Very weird at best, and unnecessarily dodgy at worst.