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.

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

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.

Incredibly detailed account of the war and the European political landscape in the early 1900s. The only thing I took issue with is the perspective of Russia going into the war. Russia had come off a long unproductive conflict on the Korean peninsula. The Russian generals were well aware of Germany's military might and superiority over their capability. They tried in vain to advise the czar against getting involved as they strongly believed they would be crushed by the Germans. I'm also not sure that Germany went into the war with the trepidation that is expressed in the documentary. This is the first documentary I've seen that correctly depicts the Kaiser for the monster he was. Also it does an excellent job of reviewing the worldwide nature of the war and the broad scope of the German attack including fomenting internal turmoil within its adversaries. This is must viewing for any student of history.

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.