Channel 4 - The First World War (2004)

Television has tended to look at the First World War through a veil of tears, seeing only a tragic waste of life in the mud of Flanders. This definitive series strips away ninety years of myopia to get back to the reality of the war.

This was a global conflict from the start, involving nations in every continent and people of all classes and races. Using fresh archive footage and specially shot material from authentic locations in 22 countries, the multi-layered series demolishes myths and answers key questions from the origins of the war to its bitter end.

Universally acclaimed as one of the finest documentary series ever made about the Great War. The First World War is a powerful, original and truly comprehensive account of the conflict.

It places the war in truly Global military context as never before, exploring many of the little known campaigns, battles and actions as well as the better known conflict on the Western Front.

The series combines previously unseen footage from newly accessible archives in Central and Eastern Europe with exclusive film of many of the battlefields as they are today, studies key participants and weaponry, and diary entries and letters home from soldiers, officers and commanders.

To Arms
The complex origins of the Great War, and how seemingly insignificant local tensions in the Balkans exploded into World War
Under the Eagle
The German invasion of Belgium and France was brutal and fanned the flames of war
Global War 1914 - 1916
The European Empires clashed all across the world, from the South Atlantic Seas to the plains of Africa
Jihad 1914 - 1916
The Turkish Ottoman Empire proved a formidable foe, as Allies found to their cost at Gallipoli and in the Middle East
Shackled to a Corpse 1914 - 1916
As the Germans and Austrians clashed with the Russians on the bitter Eastern Front, Italy became embroiled in a terrible slaughter
Breaking the Deadlock 1915 - 1917
The Somme and Verdun saw carnage on an unprecedented scale, as armies fought to break the stalemate on the Western Front
Blockade 1916 - 1917
The war at sea was every bit as bitter as the war on land. The battle at Jutland proved inconclusive, but the U-Boat menace threatened Britain as never before. Meanwhile America entered the war.
Revolution 1917
The effects of The Great War shattered nations, inspired mass mutinies by desperate troops, caused great upheaval on the home front and changed the world forever.
Germany's Last Gamble 1918
Over 1 million German troops were committed to Kaiserschlacht - the last great offensive of the war, while conflict still raged on many other fronts
War Without End
The dramatic Allied victory at Amiens led to victory in just 100 days and the signing of a bitterly resented peace, while other nations stumbled towards their own ceasefire agreements

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