The First World War

There have been some pretty good documentary series on World War One - like the BBC's '1914-18' and 'The Great War,' which inspired 'The World at War' - but this Channel Four series is the best ever. Unlike almost all of the others it gives you a look at the WORLD war aspect of it, not just focusing on the Western Front or (like most poor US documentaries) on the last year when America was involved, you also see the war in Russia, in Arabia, in Africa to get a real sense of the scale. Unlike 1914-18 it takes a chronological look at the war, but does it in a riveting way: the first episode plays like a thriller, while others are like tragedies. And it doesn't fall in for clichés or easy targets. It dispels a lot of myths along the way (for example, did you know the assassinated Arch Duke Franz Ferdinand was anti-militarist and had actually prevented war breaking out several times? I didn't) and holds your attention throughout. And the haunting end title music written by a composer who died in the war is unforgettable.

One of the greatest TV shows ever, it's a crime this is so little known and failed to win any major awards. It's on DVD and if you've any interest in the subject at all, it's the only WW1 doc you need to buy.

Given my love of history, the cataclysmic, foolhardy nightmare that this represents was something I wanted to investigate further. Video could add a dimension that even a brilliant book could not illustrate.

Lucky me, and fortunate viewer, who took the time to watch this dazzling miniseries! I rented this a few days after the UK's last veteran, and world's oldest man, passed away. He had been in many ways a guardian, helping others comprehend the nightmare, and was so forgiving as to insist on adding German pallbearers at his funeral, age 114.

The miniseries is expansive (as others have mentioned), fascinating, and most importantly, brings the horror to life (and death). A great compliment - it had me racing back to read more about the conflict, especially the myriad ideas on WHY it began.

There are so many memorable scenes! The use of personal memoirs, and the film footage, then and now, are wonderful.

Most highly recommended!

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.

All aspects are very good. Music, narration, animation and script. Best WW 1 doc by far.

You would not recommend reading only one history book, so why would anyone recommend only one documentary about World War I? This is a good documentary because it covers a great deal and very engagingly, but sometimes it tries to cover too much and necessarily leaves gaps.

If you watch other documentaries, you will find out that the first great tank breakthrough was preceded by a tank failure and that the British Expeditionary Force was so unprepared for the breakthrough when it came that they failed to send enough troops into the breach to secure it, leading to the German recapture of the temporarily lost territory.

There is confusion, too, as when it is said that German commander von Hutier's attack on Amiens, France had no purpose, but a few minutes later it is said that when Ludendorff decided to attack Amiens he had an objective of smashing the railroad nexus there. Had Hutier succeeded, wouldn't that have served the same purpose even if accidentally?

A mass of information is presented that dizzies the old hand let alone the beginner, but even so, I was glad that this documentary offers a wealth of stimulating information about all sides of the conflict. The fact that it is British-made gives it an unavoidable bias that is made up for by its attempt to bring other nation's voices into the narrative, using the accounts of both well-known and relatively unknown participants.

There are many documentaries about World War I that are also good. Some, for example, focus more than this one on the war from the point of view of those outside of Europe. This one gives a lot of information about that aspect of the war even though it tries to cover too much ground to tell the viewer all the details. This is a survey, and a pretty good starting point. Learn more about World War I, and you will come to see that there are other opinions on some of the topics. There is more subject matter than this documentary had time to cover, and you might even think that what they left out is awfully important. You might, nevertheless, always remember "The First World War" fondly as an equally informative and moving introduction.