WEBVTT 00:00:02.062 --> 00:00:09.283 >>As WWI began, the British correspondent, Philip Gibbs, was reporting from Paris. 00:00:09.283 --> 00:00:15.691 >>[Gibbs] In those first days of the war I saw many scenes of farewell. 00:00:15.691 --> 00:00:22.938 Hundreds of women were in the crowd waving handkerchiefs. 00:00:24.223 --> 00:00:29.038 The sting of parting was forgotten in the enthusiasm and pride which rose up to 00:00:29.038 --> 00:00:38.691 those who were on their way to fight for France and to uphold their old traditions. 00:00:40.245 --> 00:00:46.416 I could see no tears then but my own. 00:00:46.416 --> 00:00:50.349 I was seized with an emotion that made me shudder. 00:00:50.349 --> 00:00:57.145 For beyond the pageantry of the cavalcade I saw the fields of war. 00:00:57.145 --> 00:01:05.138 [explosions and gun fire] 00:01:07.996 --> 00:01:16.374 I smelled the stench of blood for I had been in the muck and misery of war before. 00:01:16.374 --> 00:01:23.057 And had seen the convoys of wounded crawling down the rutty roads. 00:01:23.057 --> 00:01:30.626 With men who had been strong and fine, now shattered, twisted, 00:01:30.626 --> 00:01:35.595 and made hideous by pain. 00:01:35.595 --> 00:02:02.775 [music] 00:02:07.532 --> 00:02:11.507 >>This program was made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for 00:02:11.507 --> 00:02:16.479 the Humanities, a Federal agency that supports research, education, and 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:20.181 humanities programs for the general public. 00:02:20.181 --> 00:02:24.807 And by the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. 00:02:24.807 --> 00:02:28.920 Funding for this program was also provided by the Corporation for Public 00:02:28.920 --> 00:02:35.726 Broadcasting, and by annual financial support from viewers like you. 00:02:35.726 --> 00:02:55.345 [music] 00:02:55.345 --> 00:03:05.318 [bell ringing] 00:03:06.060 --> 00:03:08.723 >>When the call to arms was read in Germany, 00:03:08.723 --> 00:03:15.863 a young student named Walter Lemmer was eager to serve his country. 00:03:15.863 --> 00:03:25.345 >>[Walter] August 3, 1914, at last I have got my orders. 00:03:25.366 --> 00:03:31.251 Dear Mother, please try to keep constantly before your mind what I have realized. 00:03:31.251 --> 00:03:38.614 If at this time we think of ourselves and those who belong to us, we shall be petty and weak. 00:03:38.614 --> 00:03:48.391 We must have a broad outlook and think of our nation, our Fatherland, of God. 00:03:50.889 --> 00:03:55.892 >>All across Europe, soldiers were mobilizing for war, 00:03:55.892 --> 00:04:02.896 saying goodbye to their families and rushing to the front. 00:04:02.896 --> 00:04:07.619 >>[Walter] Our march to the station was a gripping and uplifting experience. 00:04:07.619 --> 00:04:14.422 It seemed as if one lived through as much in that one hour as ordinarily in months and years. 00:04:14.422 --> 00:04:20.270 This hour is one such as seldom strikes in the life of a nation. 00:04:20.270 --> 00:04:22.531 [crowd cheering] 00:04:22.531 --> 00:04:30.726 >>Not everyone was as excited as Walter Lemmer. Some were terrified. 00:04:30.726 --> 00:04:35.146 But, the German army had never lost a war. 00:04:35.146 --> 00:04:42.244 The strategy called the Schlieffen plan was daring and required precision timing. 00:04:42.244 --> 00:04:46.962 In the east, the Russian army would be held at bay. 00:04:46.962 --> 00:04:52.644 In the west, the German army would avoid France's line for forts by sweeping west 00:04:52.644 --> 00:04:58.603 through neutral Belgium and then turning in a huge arc south into France. 00:04:58.603 --> 00:05:05.448 The French army would be destroyed in Paris. 00:05:05.448 --> 00:05:10.394 The war on the western front would be over by Christmas. 00:05:10.394 --> 00:05:15.622 Then the German army would turn to Russia. 00:05:15.622 --> 00:05:20.253 The German Kaiser, Wilhelm II, summed up the plan in a phrase: 00:05:20.253 --> 00:05:27.756 "Paris for lunch, dinner in St. Petersburg." 00:05:33.598 --> 00:05:40.726 >>[Walter] My dear ones, be proud that you live in such a time, and in such a nation. 00:05:40.726 --> 00:05:44.777 And that you too have the privilege of sending several of those you love into 00:05:44.777 --> 00:05:53.316 this glorious struggle. It is a joy to go to the front with such comrades. 00:05:53.316 --> 00:05:58.524 We are bound to be victorious. 00:05:58.524 --> 00:06:02.617 >>Walter Lemmer's illusions of victory were about to vanish. 00:06:02.617 --> 00:06:14.974 For what awaited him was a new kind of war. He was killed in his first battle. 00:06:22.813 --> 00:06:32.789 [music] 00:06:32.789 --> 00:06:43.502 On the morning of August 4, 1914, the German cavalry crossed the border into Belgium. 00:06:43.502 --> 00:06:51.453 Facing them was an army of the last century. 00:06:51.453 --> 00:06:56.840 The small Belgian force was poorly equipped. 00:06:56.840 --> 00:07:04.670 Now they face the world's mightiest army, ten times their size. 00:07:04.670 --> 00:07:11.525 The Belgians could have allowed Germany to pass through their territory. 00:07:11.525 --> 00:07:16.972 Instead, they chose to fight. 00:07:16.972 --> 00:07:24.718 Belgium's only hope rested with the forts ringing the gateway city of Liège. 00:07:24.718 --> 00:07:33.171 This complex of underground fortresses was considered one of the strongest positions in Europe. 00:07:33.171 --> 00:07:40.961 But, the German army had planned for the forts and unveiled a secret weapon... 00:07:40.961 --> 00:07:49.712 ...Big Bertha, the world's largest cannon. 00:07:53.018 --> 00:08:02.481 Concrete forts, once thought impregnable, collapsed from Big Bertha's one ton shells. 00:08:02.481 --> 00:08:09.023 Some Belgian soldiers went mad in anticipation of the next explosion. 00:08:09.023 --> 00:08:17.768 Others swore they would fight to the last man. 00:08:18.350 --> 00:08:24.648 >>[Belgian soldier] The fort is now in ruins. We are in complete darkness and 00:08:24.648 --> 00:08:35.313 scarcely able to breath on account of the poisonous and noxious gases. 00:08:35.313 --> 00:08:46.388 A truce bearer demanded the surrender of the fort. We prefer dying to surrendering. 00:08:46.388 --> 00:08:51.100 >>The Belgian commander was knocked senseless in the final bombardment. 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:54.644 When he awoke he was a prisoner of the Germans. 00:08:54.644 --> 00:09:03.649 "I was taken unconscious," he told his captors. "Be sure to put that in your dispatches." 00:09:09.854 --> 00:09:15.628 The German army began flooding across the Belgian plains. 00:09:15.628 --> 00:09:21.225 They expected no further resistance, but to their surprise, 00:09:21.225 --> 00:09:29.185 Belgian snipers, known as francs-tireurs, started shooting. 00:09:29.185 --> 00:09:36.016 >>[Fritz Nagel] War for Belgium soon became a hideous experience 00:09:36.016 --> 00:09:45.351 because the population took part in the fight. 00:09:46.269 --> 00:09:51.523 >>Fritz Nagel was a frightened German soldier. 00:09:51.523 --> 00:10:00.344 He saw the fear of those around him turn into acts of reprisal against innocent civilians. 00:10:00.344 --> 00:10:09.907 >>[Fritz] Unless they shot first, nobody knew where the enemy was. 00:10:09.907 --> 00:10:20.329 Whenever they had the chance, they shot down German soldiers. [gun shots] 00:10:20.329 --> 00:10:25.321 There was little defense against that sort of warfare because the streets were 00:10:25.321 --> 00:10:34.156 full of civilians and so were the houses. 00:10:35.464 --> 00:10:41.314 It was nerve-wracking in the extreme. 00:10:41.314 --> 00:10:50.353 And resulted in savage and merciless slaughter at the slightest provocation. 00:10:50.353 --> 00:10:56.439 As we marched towards Louvain, frightened civilians lined the streets, 00:10:56.439 --> 00:11:02.638 hands held high as a sign of surrender. 00:11:02.638 --> 00:11:11.146 To see those frightened men, women, and children was a terrible sight. 00:11:11.146 --> 00:11:17.980 And now the German soldier was frightened too. 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:24.480 >>[Wolfgang Mommsen] Once the opinion comes up that there is systematic [inaudible] action, 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:29.893 then you get the orders from above to be as harsh as possible 00:11:29.893 --> 00:11:33.283 in order to stifle this from the very first moment. 00:11:33.283 --> 00:11:45.033 And that triggers off this wave of rather violent actions, and atrocities, against the civilian population. 00:11:45.033 --> 00:11:53.649 >>Ten civilians, the Belgians were threatened, would die for every German killed. 00:11:53.649 --> 00:11:57.873 The Germans made good on their word. 00:11:57.873 --> 00:12:06.373 Hundreds of men, women, and children were round up and shot. 00:12:06.373 --> 00:12:14.955 Word of the atrocities quickly spread. With each retelling they became more vicious. 00:12:14.955 --> 00:12:22.627 Soon images of a less-than-human German Hun began appearing. 00:12:22.627 --> 00:12:30.249 Exaggerated stories were taken as fact and found their way into newspapers: 00:12:30.249 --> 00:12:38.846 "British war correspondents in Belgium have seen little murdered children with roasted feet." 00:12:38.846 --> 00:12:44.852 "This was done by German troops. Men with children of their own at home or 00:12:44.852 --> 00:12:53.935 with little brothers and sisters of the same age as the innocents they tortured before killing." 00:12:53.935 --> 00:13:00.152 "The things done to Belgian girls and women are so unspeakably dreadful 00:13:00.152 --> 00:13:05.543 that the deeds cannot be printed." 00:13:05.543 --> 00:13:12.077 >>[Jay Winter] Many of the stories that rapidly became well-known through the 00:13:12.077 --> 00:13:17.729 press formed the basis of a very substantial, probably the first substantial, 00:13:17.729 --> 00:13:23.444 propaganda campaign in history. And it gave the allies an extraordinary weapon 00:13:23.444 --> 00:13:28.602 because what it suggested was that the Germans committed atrocities, 00:13:28.602 --> 00:13:32.083 not because they were soldiers, not because they were occupiers of Belgium, 00:13:32.083 --> 00:13:37.293 but because they were Germans. There was something genetic about their viciousness. 00:13:37.293 --> 00:13:45.468 And this was made into the imagery of the Hun. 00:13:47.625 --> 00:13:53.029 >>The Belgians had held up the German army only a few days, but the real cost 00:13:53.029 --> 00:14:00.204 to Germany was the image of the violation of a small nation fighting for survival. 00:14:00.204 --> 00:14:09.138 The symbol of poor, little Belgium would haunt the Germans for years to come. 00:14:21.558 --> 00:14:24.718 [sound of typing] 00:14:24.718 --> 00:14:28.737 >>[Philip Gibbs] The thunderbolt fell with its signal of war and 00:14:28.737 --> 00:14:36.583 in a few days Paris was changed as though by some wizard's spell. 00:14:40.196 --> 00:14:44.984 A hush fell upon Montmartre and the musicians and its orchestras packed up 00:14:44.984 --> 00:14:54.923 their instruments and scurried with scared faces to Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest. 00:14:54.923 --> 00:15:01.865 The Seine River was very quiet beneath its bridges. 00:15:06.235 --> 00:15:11.620 The women were hiding in their rooms, asking God how they were going to live 00:15:11.620 --> 00:15:18.225 now that their lovers had gone away to fight. 00:15:22.733 --> 00:15:28.934 >>Journalist, Philip Gibbs, was in France at the outbreak of war. 00:15:28.934 --> 00:15:38.469 Forbidden to travel with the army, he reported from Paris, a city he found in shock. 00:15:38.469 --> 00:15:44.291 >>[Gibbs] There was no wild outbreak of Jingo fever, 00:15:44.291 --> 00:15:54.115 no demonstrations of bloodlust against Germany, in Paris or any town in France. 00:15:54.115 --> 00:16:03.869 The call to arms came without any loud clamor of bugles or orations. 00:16:03.869 --> 00:16:12.844 The quietness of Paris was astounding. 00:16:20.765 --> 00:16:26.990 >>This was not the first time France had gone to war against Germany. 00:16:26.990 --> 00:16:40.840 In 1871, a victorious Germany had taken as spoils of war two of France's richest provinces: Alsace and Lorainne. 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:50.175 Now a new generation of France's sons was called upon to defend their nation. 00:16:50.175 --> 00:16:56.295 >>[Madame Drumont] The continuous stream flows out towards death. 00:16:56.295 --> 00:17:04.633 Soldiers pass, singing and shouting: "to Berlin!" Others go by in silence, 00:17:04.633 --> 00:17:13.719 fierce-looking and determined. On this scene of desolation the sun shown gloriously, 00:17:13.719 --> 00:17:20.104 indifferent to the troubles of this Earth. 00:17:20.104 --> 00:17:25.573 >>The call to arms cut across all social boundaries. 00:17:25.573 --> 00:17:29.745 Madame Camille Drumont, a member of France's upper class, 00:17:29.745 --> 00:17:35.993 was not spared the pain of saying goodbye. 00:17:35.993 --> 00:17:43.632 Her son was among those going off to war. "Would she ever see him again," she worried. 00:17:43.632 --> 00:17:50.007 Or simply be left with a house filled with memories. 00:17:50.007 --> 00:18:00.519 >>[Drumont] Now that the quiet of evening is falling I am thinking more than ever of you, my darling child. 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:04.682 Where are you? 00:18:04.682 --> 00:18:10.331 What are you doing? 00:18:10.331 --> 00:18:18.213 This morning I went into the drawing room and my eyes fell on your violin. 00:18:18.213 --> 00:18:26.213 I burst into tears and ran from the room. 00:18:31.218 --> 00:18:37.046 >>Like most in Paris, Madame Drumont was not ready for another war, 00:18:37.046 --> 00:18:41.283 but the French commander believed his army was ready. 00:18:41.283 --> 00:18:46.719 Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre was a champion of the offensive. 00:18:46.719 --> 00:18:50.759 Speed and bravery were of the essence. 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:59.301 "The bayonet," he told his soldiers, "was a supreme weapon for victory." 00:18:59.301 --> 00:19:03.780 >>[Trevor Wilson] The infantry, bearing their bayonets, their rifles with bayonets, 00:19:03.780 --> 00:19:09.254 are really intended to terrify the enemy by the sight of cold steel. 00:19:09.254 --> 00:19:13.378 It is believed that an attacking force will look so ferocious and will behave 00:19:13.378 --> 00:19:27.163 so ferociously that an enemy will quail before the sheer valor and the bravery of this oncoming force. 00:19:27.163 --> 00:19:31.717 >>[Gibbs] In the dawn and pallid sunlight of the morning, they came across the bridges 00:19:31.717 --> 00:19:39.339 with glinting rifles. And the blue coats and red trousers of the infantry made 00:19:39.339 --> 00:19:48.109 them look, in the distance, like tin soldiers from a children's play box. 00:19:48.109 --> 00:19:57.632 I close my eyes to shut out the glare and glitter of this kaleidoscope. 00:19:57.632 --> 00:20:06.943 What does it all mean? This surging of armed men? 00:20:06.943 --> 00:20:17.215 What would it mean in a day or two when another tide of men had swept up against it? 00:20:17.215 --> 00:20:26.517 >>Joffre was determined to strike out against Germany and win back France's lost provinces. 00:20:26.517 --> 00:20:31.804 Mistakenly believing that the Belgian thrust was a diversionary attack, 00:20:31.804 --> 00:20:41.503 most of the French army moved northeast toward Alsace and Lorraine. 00:20:43.137 --> 00:20:50.272 Paul Lantier, a young French soldier, was about to enter battle for the first time. 00:20:50.272 --> 00:20:57.847 He was ready, he wrote in his diary, "to sacrifice his life to retake the soil of France." 00:20:57.847 --> 00:21:02.254 [gun shots] 00:21:02.254 --> 00:21:07.732 >>[Lantier] I felt a choking sensation grip my throat. 00:21:07.732 --> 00:21:14.299 The hour had come for me to sacrifice my life. 00:21:14.299 --> 00:21:24.935 My bleeding body would lie stretched out on the field. I seem to see it, it was the end. 00:21:24.935 --> 00:21:31.888 It had not been long in coming for I am only 21. 00:21:31.888 --> 00:21:38.437 >>Against heavy artillery and machine guns, Lantier's courage counted for little. 00:21:38.437 --> 00:21:48.191 His regiment lined up in formation better suited to the 19th century and advanced in full view. 00:21:48.191 --> 00:21:59.126 >>[Lantier] Shells continue to fly over us. The enemy was advancing. 00:21:59.126 --> 00:22:04.968 Entire companies of infantry fell back. 00:22:04.968 --> 00:22:15.921 We had lost the battle. I did not know why or how. 00:22:15.921 --> 00:22:18.608 >>[Mommsen] They were devastated. The French were slaughtered. 00:22:18.608 --> 00:22:24.140 Many of them were still wearing the brightly colored uniforms that armies used to wear in the past. 00:22:24.140 --> 00:22:27.530 Now, in the past, armies wore brightly colored uniforms because there was so much 00:22:27.530 --> 00:22:32.381 smoke on the battlefield that if you didn't have bright uniforms you couldn't see who 00:22:32.381 --> 00:22:34.612 were your friends and who were your enemies. 00:22:34.612 --> 00:22:41.089 With the invention of long range rifles and machine guns, with the invention of smokeless power, 00:22:41.089 --> 00:22:49.939 this was not a problem. The problem was if you wore a bright uniform you were a very conspicuous target. 00:22:49.939 --> 00:23:01.779 >>In 4 days, over 40,000 French soldiers were killed. 27,000 alone on August 22, 1914. 00:23:01.779 --> 00:23:07.479 The bloodiest day in French military history. 00:23:07.479 --> 00:23:12.064 Soon the French army was in retreat. 00:23:12.064 --> 00:23:18.159 >>[French soldier] A deep sense of shame oppressed us as we filed through these villages, 00:23:18.159 --> 00:23:28.906 which we were powerless to protect. Which we were abandoning to the fury of the enemy. 00:23:28.906 --> 00:23:34.676 >>As the French army fell back, Joffre notified his government. 00:23:34.676 --> 00:23:39.281 In 12 days the Germans would be at the walls of Paris. 00:23:39.281 --> 00:23:47.193 "Would the city be ready," he asked, "to withstand a seize?" 00:23:47.193 --> 00:23:56.665 Everyone who could, fled from the advancing Germans. Rails and roads were flooded with refugees. 00:23:56.665 --> 00:24:03.251 Madame Drumont watched them stream passed her window. 00:24:03.251 --> 00:24:17.434 >>[Drumont] One can imagine nothing more dismal than the stream of fugitives along the roads of France. 00:24:17.434 --> 00:24:24.599 We saw them passing by our houses, coming from goodness knows where. 00:24:24.599 --> 00:24:39.643 Piled up on carts with their animals, their bedding, and all their household goods. 00:24:39.643 --> 00:24:49.156 They had come through Paris, their horses almost dropping with fatigue, to seek a refuge in some friendly district. 00:24:49.156 --> 00:24:58.268 But, where that would be, they knew not. 00:24:58.268 --> 00:25:10.271 For the moment their only idea was to go a long, long way off to the other ends of the earth. 00:25:10.271 --> 00:25:16.275 >>As the German army neared Paris, Madame Camille Drumont chose to flee too. 00:25:16.275 --> 00:25:24.327 She escaped by train for the French coast. 00:25:29.511 --> 00:25:38.274 >>[Drumont] Trains full of soldiers, and even of wounded, were hung up like us on parallel lines. 00:25:38.274 --> 00:25:45.078 All this confusion brought home to one the panic and terror of this herd of human beings 00:25:45.078 --> 00:25:56.358 who, in order to escape from the enemy, were rushing headlong into inconceivable troubles. 00:25:56.358 --> 00:26:00.030 Another train had also drawn up, and in the moonlight, 00:26:00.030 --> 00:26:07.568 the two trains looked like long funeral processions. 00:26:07.568 --> 00:26:13.497 With my face in my hands I was crying. 00:26:13.497 --> 00:26:21.921 All of a sudden the most exquisite song rose in the tragic night. 00:26:21.921 --> 00:26:25.720 The voice came from the other train. It was a man's voice, 00:26:25.720 --> 00:26:33.548 and he sang the serenade from "The Damnation of Faust." 00:26:33.548 --> 00:26:44.343 [singing in French] 00:26:44.343 --> 00:26:52.362 This song lifted my spirits from gloom and my soul from despair. 00:26:52.362 --> 00:27:09.912 In the moonlight in the midst of all this human misery and distress it was sublime. 00:27:23.774 --> 00:27:30.443 >>Refugees were fleeing the face of war in Germany, too. 00:27:30.443 --> 00:27:40.989 They were escaping from two Russian armies who were invading Germany in support of their French allies. 00:27:40.989 --> 00:27:49.488 The Kaiser was urged by his commanders to pull his forces back, but he would hear nothing of it. 00:27:49.488 --> 00:27:55.504 He appointed two new commanders, Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff, 00:27:55.504 --> 00:28:05.888 to stop the Russian advance. The Russian army was an enormous force, outnumbering the Germans 4 to 1. 00:28:05.888 --> 00:28:09.987 But, they were poorly trained and incompetently led. 00:28:09.987 --> 00:28:16.665 >>[Orlando Figes] The general staff had quarters that resembled more a gentlemen's club than it did 00:28:16.665 --> 00:28:22.082 a military headquarters. After dinner they'd have plenty of time for cigars. 00:28:22.082 --> 00:28:26.643 Most of the generals had plenty of time to write voluminous memoirs. 00:28:26.643 --> 00:28:32.038 And they had a really outdated notion of military strategy. 00:28:32.038 --> 00:28:39.349 They believed that the bravery of the Russian soldier would be enough to see Russia through. 00:28:39.349 --> 00:28:46.689 >>Bravery was no substitute for modern weapons. 00:28:46.689 --> 00:28:51.720 Even in the first days, artillery shells had to be rationed. 00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:57.721 Some soldiers went into battle without a rifle. 00:28:57.721 --> 00:29:09.109 The Russian commanders, Paul von Rennenkampf and Alexander Samsonov, were not even on speaking terms. 00:29:09.109 --> 00:29:16.250 To bypass a 50 mile chain of lakes the Russian generals split their armies in two. 00:29:16.250 --> 00:29:21.091 The Germans pounced on the opportunity. They moved their forces south 00:29:21.091 --> 00:29:27.993 where they outnumbered and surrounded Samsonov's army at the battle of Tannenberg. 00:29:27.993 --> 00:29:43.055 [gunshots] 00:29:43.055 --> 00:29:51.195 >>[Alfred Knox] The German machine guns were deadly. Mowing down rows of Russians immediately 00:29:51.195 --> 00:30:01.629 as they raised themselves in the potato fields to fire or to advance. 00:30:01.629 --> 00:30:09.848 >>Alfred Knox was a British military officer assigned to observe the Russian advance. 00:30:09.848 --> 00:30:18.326 Instead he witnessed the annihilation of Samsonov's army. 00:30:18.326 --> 00:30:26.411 >>[Knox] Samsonov said repeatedly that the disgrace of such a defeat was more than he could bear. 00:30:26.411 --> 00:30:34.243 "The emperor trusted me. How can I face him after such a disaster." 00:30:34.243 --> 00:30:38.607 He went aside and his staff heard a shot. 00:30:38.607 --> 00:30:48.171 They searched for his body without success, but all are convinced that he shot himself. 00:30:48.171 --> 00:30:54.859 >>[Jay Winter] What happened was is Samsonov could not stand the shame of defeat and took his own life. 00:30:54.859 --> 00:30:59.866 This is the only case in the first World War where one of the commanding generals 00:30:59.866 --> 00:31:08.310 in a major operation is killed in the course of that operation. And almost certainly by his own hand. 00:31:08.310 --> 00:31:14.680 >>The battle of Tannenberg was Germany's greatest victory of the entire war. 00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:20.082 100,000 Russians were taken prisoner. 00:31:20.082 --> 00:31:23.565 30,000 were dead. 00:31:23.565 --> 00:31:29.760 >>[Figes] The Russian commanders were trying to stop the German war machine simply by throwing at it 00:31:29.760 --> 00:31:38.969 a mountain of human bodies. The French military attaché consoled with the Grand Duke Nicholai, 00:31:38.969 --> 00:31:44.019 the commander and chief, over these loses and Nicholai's response was 00:31:44.019 --> 00:31:49.172 "It's an honor to make such a sacrifice for our allies." 00:31:49.172 --> 00:31:55.353 >>However disastrous, the Russians had diverted German troops away from France. 00:31:55.353 --> 00:32:04.597 Blood would continue to be shed in the east, but the decisive battles would now take place on the western front. 00:32:12.693 --> 00:32:18.720 [music] 00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:25.961 Of all the powers in Europe, Britain alone relied on a volunteer army. 00:32:25.961 --> 00:32:33.135 The minister of war, Earl Kitchener, was deeply pessimistic. 00:32:33.135 --> 00:32:40.549 He believed Britain's small army would not last long. 00:32:40.549 --> 00:32:49.173 The war, Kitchener predicted, would take 3 years and require millions of recruits. 00:32:49.173 --> 00:32:59.676 From town halls to church pulpits, men were urged to take up the "call to arms." 00:32:59.676 --> 00:33:06.515 The Yorkshire Post reported how a soccer match turned into a recruiting drive. 00:33:06.515 --> 00:33:15.498 [crowd cheering] 00:33:15.498 --> 00:33:19.388 >>[reporter] Stirring scenes were witnessed on the Leeds City football club's ground 00:33:19.388 --> 00:33:30.970 last evening at the end of the match. The Lord Mayor addressed a crowd of about 4,000 spectators. 00:33:30.970 --> 00:33:38.721 There was a spirited rush across the field and rousing cheers. 00:33:38.721 --> 00:33:45.455 Up the steps sturdy, young fellows came to receive an armlet of ribbon with the national colors. 00:33:45.455 --> 00:33:54.723 And to win, perchance with their comrades, an imperishable glory on the battlefield. 00:33:54.723 --> 00:34:02.798 When the rush subsided, it was found that the number of volunteers was 149. 00:34:02.798 --> 00:34:08.138 The lady mayoress called for a further 51. 00:34:08.138 --> 00:34:13.414 Another dash was made. Another round of prolonged cheering. 00:34:13.414 --> 00:34:20.718 And to the chorus of "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" the quota was quickly filled. 00:34:20.718 --> 00:34:29.801 [music] 00:34:29.801 --> 00:34:35.892 >>From the football field, the recruits marched to the town hall to enlist. 00:34:35.892 --> 00:34:42.185 They found volunteering was not the same as being accepted. 00:34:42.185 --> 00:34:53.363 There were height and chest requirements. They had to have good teeth and be between the ages of 19-30. 00:34:53.363 --> 00:35:07.889 Everyone was encouraged to enlist with his friends. "Join up with your pals," soon became the recruiting slogan. 00:35:07.889 --> 00:35:14.641 [singing] Another little drink. Another little drink. Another little drink wouldn't do any harm. 00:35:14.641 --> 00:35:17.138 Another little drink. Another little drink.. 00:35:17.138 --> 00:35:22.634 >>These men joined to defend their homes, their pubs, their pals. 00:35:22.634 --> 00:35:27.693 >>[British man] Well, I said, "I've joined now. I can't do any more." Well, she said, 00:35:27.693 --> 00:35:37.344 "You can either have me or the pals." I said, "Well, it's got to be the pals." [laughter] 00:35:37.344 --> 00:35:43.575 >>Another little drink. Another little drink won't do any harm. Another little drink... 00:35:43.575 --> 00:35:47.801 >>[British man] They asked me my height and I told them. They hummed and hawed about it. 00:35:47.801 --> 00:35:54.018 I'm 5 foot 6 so I filled my shoes with papers. Anyway, I says, "well, there's my pals joining. 00:35:54.018 --> 00:36:07.421 Six of us all joining, all footballers." So, they says, "Ah, go on, let him go in." So, I was one of the midgets. 00:36:08.005 --> 00:36:12.157 >>After the initial rush the number of volunteers dwindled, 00:36:12.157 --> 00:36:18.208 but it would rise again following news of the British army's huge loses in Belgium and France. 00:36:18.208 --> 00:36:24.043 [singing] As the train moved out he said, 'Remember me to all the birds.' 00:36:24.043 --> 00:36:30.082 Then he wagged his paw and went away to war Shouting out these pathetic words: 00:36:30.082 --> 00:36:36.368 Goodbye-ee, goodbye-ee, Wipe the tear, baby dear, from your eye-ee, 00:36:36.368 --> 00:36:45.241 Tho' it's hard to part I know, I'll be tickled to death to go. 00:36:54.248 --> 00:36:59.434 [bugle music] 00:36:59.434 --> 00:37:08.661 >>As volunteers jammed recruiting stations, the regular British army began crossing the English channel. 00:37:08.661 --> 00:37:15.975 Among them was a 20-year-old Irishman, John Lucy. 00:37:15.975 --> 00:37:28.933 Long before the war, he and his brother had joined the army to escape the boredom of life on an Irish farm. 00:37:28.933 --> 00:37:34.158 >>[John Lucy] We were tired of fathers, of advice from relations, of bottled coffee essence, 00:37:34.158 --> 00:37:38.783 of school, and of newspaper offices. 00:37:38.783 --> 00:37:49.440 The cattle, fowl, eggs, butter, bacon, and the talk of politics filled us with loathing. 00:37:49.440 --> 00:37:57.073 As a matter of fact, we were full of life and the spirit of adventure and wanted to spread our wings. 00:37:57.073 --> 00:38:04.395 We got adventure! We enlisted. 00:38:06.293 --> 00:38:11.225 At first, we could not follow the trend of events on the continent. Who were we to fight? 00:38:11.225 --> 00:38:15.564 French, Russians, Germans? What did it matter? 00:38:15.564 --> 00:38:26.676 The doors of that rapid-fire of ours followed by an Irish bayonet charge, would soon fix things. 00:38:26.676 --> 00:38:34.153 >>On August 23rd, John Lucy's unit reached the Belgian town of Mons. 00:38:34.153 --> 00:38:42.586 The next day they faced a German force outnumbering them nearly 3 to 1. 00:38:42.586 --> 00:38:49.826 The Germans attacked in waves, advancing shoulder-to-shoulder over open fields. 00:38:49.826 --> 00:38:56.861 [gunshots and shouting] 00:38:56.861 --> 00:39:03.738 >>[John Lucy] Our rapid fire was appalling even to us, and the worst marksman could not miss. 00:39:03.738 --> 00:39:09.385 And after the first shock of seeing men slowly and helplessly falling down as they were hit, 00:39:09.385 --> 00:39:17.780 gave us a great sense of power and pleasure. 00:39:17.780 --> 00:39:25.035 It was all so easy. 00:39:25.035 --> 00:39:29.367 >>But, it only seemed so. 00:39:29.367 --> 00:39:39.508 The next morning, John Lucy was surprised to hear that the British army was being ordered to retreat. 00:39:39.508 --> 00:39:44.111 >>[Trevor Wilson] The British were facing such an overwhelming force, if they stood there they 00:39:44.111 --> 00:39:51.117 would be destroyed. So, for 13 days the British army is in retreat and John Lucy and his brother 00:39:51.117 --> 00:40:00.970 just foot-slog back all the way over hundreds of miles, from Belgium to just outside Paris. 00:40:00.970 --> 00:40:06.826 >>[John Lucy] Every cell in our bodies craved rest. 00:40:06.826 --> 00:40:13.494 Men slipped while they marched and they dreamed as they walked. They talked of their homes, 00:40:13.494 --> 00:40:20.961 of their wives and mothers, of their simple ambitions, of beer and cozy pubs, 00:40:20.961 --> 00:40:31.727 and they talked of fantasies. The brains of soldiers became clouded while their feet moved automatically. 00:40:31.727 --> 00:40:39.591 >>Like the British and French, the German army was also exhausted. 00:40:39.591 --> 00:40:46.509 As the German right flank drove deeper, it separated from the rest of the invading force. 00:40:46.509 --> 00:40:54.092 Recognizing their vulnerability, the Germans pulled up 25 miles before Paris. 00:40:54.092 --> 00:41:05.198 Now it was France's chance to attack. But, to fail this time would be to lose Paris and the entire war. 00:41:05.198 --> 00:41:10.476 Every available French soldier was rushed to the front. 00:41:10.476 --> 00:41:17.613 Paul Lantier was surprised to see even taxi cabs headed for battle. 00:41:17.613 --> 00:41:25.815 >>[Lantier] Inside the cabs I caught a glimpse of soldiers sleeping. "Wounded?" asked somebody. 00:41:25.815 --> 00:41:35.503 "No," came the answer from a passing car, "it's the 7th division from Paris. They're off to the front." 00:41:35.503 --> 00:41:45.540 >>What followed was a battle of the Marne. It lasted 6 days and involved 2 million men. 00:41:45.540 --> 00:41:50.342 When the battle ended the German advance had been stopped. 00:41:50.342 --> 00:41:59.477 Paris was saved. The Schlieffen Plan was in ruins. 00:41:59.477 --> 00:42:07.164 But, stopping the Germans was not the same as [inaudible]. 00:42:07.164 --> 00:42:12.795 To survive against the modern weapons of war, soldiers abandoned their 19th century tactics 00:42:12.795 --> 00:42:28.127 of open warfare and began digging into the earth. Trenches spread mile after mile. Stalemate was born. 00:42:28.127 --> 00:42:35.245 >>[Wilson] And this is the first time that the British are up against the realities of trench warfare. 00:42:35.245 --> 00:42:40.580 And they are absolutely baffled as to why they have not been able to drive the Germans back, 00:42:40.580 --> 00:42:47.102 have not been able to break through. This is for them, a whole new phenomenon. 00:42:47.102 --> 00:42:52.809 >>Reaching stalemate was the bloodiest period of the entire war. 00:42:52.809 --> 00:43:00.745 In 5 months, 400,000 French soldiers were killed. 00:43:00.745 --> 00:43:07.280 German casualties were just as staggering. 00:43:07.280 --> 00:43:13.298 The small British force had been almost wiped out. 00:43:13.298 --> 00:43:19.362 John Lucy had survived, but not his brother. 00:43:19.362 --> 00:43:24.494 >>[John Lucy] I dreamed of him at night. And once he appeared to visit me, 00:43:24.494 --> 00:43:41.012 laying a hand on each of my shoulders. Telling me he was all right. I felt relieved after this curious dream. 00:43:41.012 --> 00:43:46.623 I was too weary to appreciate my own luck. 00:43:46.623 --> 00:43:55.707 My eyes weakened, wandered and rested on the half-hidden corpses of men and youth. 00:43:55.707 --> 00:44:01.933 Proudly and sorrowfully I looked at them, 00:44:01.933 --> 00:44:06.662 The Macs and the O's, 00:44:06.662 --> 00:44:15.401 and the hardy Ulster boys joined together in death on a foreign field. 00:44:15.401 --> 00:44:21.547 My dead chums. 00:44:40.403 --> 00:44:46.905 >>No one knew that 1914 would end in stalemate. 00:44:46.905 --> 00:44:55.401 In an attempt to break out of the trenches, all kinds of inventions, some more medieval than modern, were tried. 00:44:55.401 --> 00:45:00.649 Iron netting to protect eyes from flying shrapnel. 00:45:03.218 --> 00:45:11.450 Bullet-stopping body armor. 00:45:11.450 --> 00:45:18.537 Mobile encasements for advancing across no-man's-land. 00:45:18.537 --> 00:45:26.728 All were totally useless. 00:45:26.728 --> 00:45:32.670 The best they could do was to continue digging into the earth. 00:45:32.670 --> 00:45:39.617 Soldiers who thought the war would be over by Christmas found themselves living in ditches. 00:45:39.617 --> 00:45:44.300 >>[Paul Fussell] The first thing was it smelled bad. It smelled bad because there were open 00:45:44.300 --> 00:45:52.751 latrines everywhere. They weren't always used by the troops. There were bodies rotting everywhere. 00:45:52.751 --> 00:45:55.356 Both the Germans and the British were troubled with rats. 00:45:55.356 --> 00:46:03.117 The rats ate corpses and then they came in and snuggled next to you while you were sleeping. 00:46:03.117 --> 00:46:07.397 Sky study becomes one of your few amusements. 00:46:07.397 --> 00:46:17.578 You never see your enemy and the only thing you can see is the sky up above actually. 00:46:17.956 --> 00:46:24.748 >>Living in the trenches, some men thought, was like being buried alive. 00:46:24.748 --> 00:46:35.492 To stay sane soldiers sang songs, wrote letters home, and relied on their humor. 00:46:35.492 --> 00:46:41.740 >>[soldier] I've a little, wet home in a trench, Where the rain storms continually drench; 00:46:41.740 --> 00:46:50.316 There's a dead cow close by with her feet towards the sky and she gives off a terrible stench. 00:46:50.316 --> 00:46:56.611 Underneath in the place of a floor there's a massive wet moat and some straw. 00:46:56.611 --> 00:47:07.624 But, with shells dropping there, there's no place to compare with my little, wet home in the trench. 00:47:07.624 --> 00:47:13.141 >>But, the brutality of war could not be laughed away. 00:47:13.141 --> 00:47:21.570 The German soldier, Franz Blumenfeld, wrote home of the strain of living in a trench. 00:47:23.954 --> 00:47:31.037 >>[Franz] Dear Mother, Your wishing you could provide me with a bullet-proof vest is very sweet of you, 00:47:31.037 --> 00:47:40.595 but strange to say I have no fear, none at all, of bullets and shells, but only of this great 00:47:40.595 --> 00:47:43.541 spiritual loneliness. 00:47:43.541 --> 00:47:52.037 I am afraid of losing my faith in human nature, in myself, in all that is good in the world! 00:47:52.037 --> 00:47:56.834 How is it possible that it gives me more pain to bear my own loneliness 00:47:56.834 --> 00:48:02.206 than to witness the suffering of so many others? 00:48:02.206 --> 00:48:13.616 What is the good of escaping all the bullets and shells, if my soul is injured? -Franz 00:48:13.616 --> 00:48:19.287 >>A few yards away, the British and French were enduring the same hardships. 00:48:19.287 --> 00:48:29.126 To stay alive, soldiers conspired to limit the killing. It was called "live and let live." 00:48:29.126 --> 00:48:32.705 >>[Wilson] Command made it clear that a certain number of shells had to go over every day in 00:48:32.705 --> 00:48:35.704 order to make life miserable for the enemy. 00:48:35.704 --> 00:48:41.705 But, ok, you've sent them over at that time of day when the enemy would not be having dinner. 00:48:41.705 --> 00:48:49.425 You wouldn't fire at a position where you were likely to hurt many of the enemy. 00:48:49.425 --> 00:48:54.592 You actually hadn't done the enemy a lot of damage, but then he hadn't done you a lot of damage. 00:48:54.592 --> 00:49:00.229 And therefore you would live to fight another day. 00:49:03.659 --> 00:49:09.518 >>[Franz] Dear Mother, I have now got so used to the life here that 00:49:09.518 --> 00:49:14.983 I am extremely sorry that I wrote you such a miserable letter at first. 00:49:14.983 --> 00:49:22.851 We neither shoot nor are shot at much. Our occupations consist chiefly of sleeping, 00:49:22.851 --> 00:49:31.604 eating, playing chess, writing letters, and reading the paper. 00:49:31.604 --> 00:49:37.640 When someone makes music on a harmonica and the others softly or loudly hum the same tune, 00:49:37.640 --> 00:49:49.224 really it can be astonishingly snug. You see, it is quite a pleasant life. -Franz 00:49:49.224 --> 00:49:54.580 >>"Live and let live" did not save the life of Franz Blumenfeld. 00:49:54.580 --> 00:50:09.381 He was killed 11 days before Christmas. One of a million soldiers who died on the western front in 1914. 00:50:27.003 --> 00:50:36.588 On Christmas Eve, 1914, temperatures dropped below freezing on the western front. 00:50:36.588 --> 00:50:42.945 In some places it began snowing, obscuring the moon. 00:50:44.175 --> 00:50:51.555 Then all across the German lines, lights began to appear. 00:50:51.555 --> 00:50:58.852 At first, the British thought the Germans were preparing to attack. 00:50:58.852 --> 00:51:04.625 But, instead of rifle fire, sounds of singing drifted across no-man's-land. 00:51:04.625 --> 00:51:11.580 [singing in German] 00:51:11.580 --> 00:51:21.719 >>[Peter Simkins] Germans would be heard singing "Stille nacht, heilige nacht." 00:51:21.719 --> 00:51:29.094 The British would respond with a British Christmas carol. 00:51:29.094 --> 00:51:36.530 In some places food was thrown over to the opposing trenches. 00:51:36.530 --> 00:51:43.824 In one or two instances the Germans erected Christmas trees and there was a kind of mutual curiosity. 00:51:43.824 --> 00:51:49.843 And certainly instances of soldiers applauding each other's singing. 00:51:49.843 --> 00:51:55.309 >>The curiosity led to something never again repeated on the battlefield. 00:51:55.309 --> 00:52:00.056 >>[Simkins] In one or two places on Christmas Day itself, the first curious, 00:52:00.056 --> 00:52:05.326 slightly head-strong people perhaps, poked their heads above the trenches. 00:52:05.326 --> 00:52:10.824 Being made aware that somebody over on the other side wasn't going to shoot it off, 00:52:10.824 --> 00:52:14.035 then clamored cautiously out. 00:52:14.035 --> 00:52:19.134 >>One of the first to take part was Captain Charles Stockwell. 00:52:19.134 --> 00:52:23.590 >>[Charles] I ran out into the trench and found the Saxons (Germans) were shouting, 00:52:23.590 --> 00:52:31.557 "Don't shoot! We don't want to fight today. We will send you some beer." 00:52:31.557 --> 00:52:36.983 A German officer appeared and walked out into the middle of no-man's-land. 00:52:36.983 --> 00:52:45.724 So, I moved out to meet him amidst the cheers of both sides. We met and formally saluted. 00:52:45.724 --> 00:52:54.588 He introduced himself as Count something-or -other. And seemed a very decent fellow. 00:52:54.588 --> 00:53:00.594 >>By now these soldiers knew that the war was going to last a long time. 00:53:00.594 --> 00:53:07.921 And that many of them would not survive. 00:53:07.921 --> 00:53:14.617 The unofficial truce was a chance to bury the dead. At one funeral in no-man's-land, 00:53:14.617 --> 00:53:23.008 soldiers from both sides gathered to honor the fallen by reading the 23rd Psalm: 00:53:25.469 --> 00:53:32.113 "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 00:53:32.113 --> 00:53:41.575 He maketh me lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside the still waters. 00:53:41.575 --> 00:53:52.079 He restoreth my soul; he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. 00:53:52.079 --> 00:54:02.166 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." 00:54:04.638 --> 00:54:09.545 >>[Fussell] The Christmas truce was the last twitch of the 19th century. 00:54:09.545 --> 00:54:16.963 By that I mean it was the last public moment in which it was assumed that people were nice. 00:54:16.963 --> 00:54:25.725 It was the last gesture that human beings were getting better the longer the human race goes on. 00:54:26.412 --> 00:54:38.015 >>[soldier] December the 26th, at 8:30 I fired 3 shots in the air and put up a flag with "Merry Christmas" on it. 00:54:38.015 --> 00:54:48.683 The Germans put up a sheet with "thank you" on it. And the German captain appeared on the parapet. 00:54:48.683 --> 00:54:57.219 We both bowed and saluted. He fired 2 shots in the air. 00:54:57.219 --> 00:55:01.858 And the war was on again. 00:55:01.858 --> 00:55:07.908 [gunshots]