0:00:00.570,0:00:11.520
[Music]

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country

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[Music]

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created

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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intro

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[Applause]

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[Music]

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Pier 54 New York City.

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On May the 1st 1915 2000 passengers

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boarded one of the fastest most

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luxurious ships in the world the

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Lusitania

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"She was simply a wonderful steady ship

0:01:09.189,0:01:13.840
she had four red funnels and she was a

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beautiful sight to see. She really was"

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EDA Stanley and her family were heading

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home to England and into the midst of

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the most brutal conflict man had ever

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experienced, The First World War was

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almost a year old and any transatlantic

0:01:26.570,0:01:31.479
crossing was made potentially dangerous

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by the presence of German submarines

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Still, the passengers felt safe. After all

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the Lusitania was a passenger ship

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[Music]

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On her last day at sea the Lusitania was

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approaching the Irish coast

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[Music]

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"It was two o'clock in the afternoon and

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you could see all this coastline. It was a

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beautiful day. Couldn't have been any better.

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There was a terrific bang. Dad knew what it was.

0:02:06.960,0:02:11.519
I mean that he knew darn well that

0:02:09.190,0:02:11.519
it was a torpedo"

0:02:12.360,0:02:16.470
The single German torpedo did such

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damage that the Lusitania could launch

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only six of her lifeboats before she

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went down

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"We could not take the people and they

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were begging to be taken in we would have

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capsized and everybody would have gone

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down. 1,200 drowned. I think.....There was

0:02:35.920,0:02:39.670
more drowned than was saved"

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Among those who drowned were a hundred

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and twenty-eight Americans.

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The memory has faded for all but a very

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few some of whom you'll hear from. But

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because it has affected so much of what

0:02:58.880,0:03:03.650
has happened since, the bulk of this

0:03:00.349,0:03:06.349
program is about the First World War. The

0:03:03.650,0:03:08.690
Great War they called. It began in

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June of 1914 with the assassination of

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the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria

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Hungary. He was shot by a Serbian

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nationalist in Sarajevo.

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Ferdinand had governed in a

0:03:17.480,0:03:20.450
circle of European royalty that also

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included the king of England,

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the Tsar of Russia, and the Kaiser of

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Germany and together their colonial

0:03:24.830,0:03:30.440
empires dominated most of the Earth's

0:03:27.709,0:03:33.110
population. And when the competitive

0:03:30.440,0:03:35.959
Kaiser seized upon the assassination as

0:03:33.110,0:03:38.209
a pretext to begin a European war he

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found the other Royals only too willing

0:03:38.209,0:03:44.269
to go along. All of them sought to widen

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their influence. None could possibly

0:03:44.269,0:03:57.470
realize how radically they were about to

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alter the course of the 20th century. In

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the summer of 1914 the generation that

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would fight the First World War was

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enthusiastic about doing so. Those young

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men who were so quick to answer their

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nation's call to arms had no reason to

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anticipate the hell ahead

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[Applause]

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In the German city of Coblenz

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twelve-year-old Joachim von Elbe began a

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diary. August 5 1914: the city is full of

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soldiers. They were singing this song, on

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on to fight we are born on on to fight

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for the Fatherland

0:04:55.479,0:05:00.780
to Kaiser Wilhelm we have sworn

0:05:01.320,0:05:06.779
to Kaiser Wilhelm we give our hand."

0:05:04.439,0:05:10.379
The optimism of the Germans was matched

0:05:06.779,0:05:15.209
by their allies in Austria and by their

0:05:10.379,0:05:20.429
enemies in Russia in France and in

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England. "As soon as I enlisted I was in

0:05:20.429,0:05:25.259
the crowd of all other 18,19 and 20 year

0:05:23.339,0:05:28.080
olds and we thought was going to be a

0:05:25.259,0:05:31.699
tremendous tremendous lark to go and knock

0:05:28.080,0:05:31.699
the Kaiser off his throne, you see"

0:05:32.899,0:05:39.809
"Everyone, everyone thought the war would

0:05:36.119,0:05:42.599
be over Christmas and they really badly

0:05:39.809,0:05:43.870
wanted to get to France to get in the

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fighting"

0:05:43.870,0:05:53.830
Music

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music

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The Germans attacked first

0:06:01.800,0:06:07.320
and very quickly they were through

0:06:03.450,0:06:09.210
Belgium and into France. The romantic

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notion of war that so many young men

0:06:09.210,0:06:16.200
carried into battle was very quickly

0:06:12.450,0:06:18.270
shattered. The new weapons of war were so

0:06:16.200,0:06:20.460
ferocious that by the end of the first

0:06:18.270,0:06:22.650
year French casualties alone would

0:06:20.460,0:06:26.860
approach a million men

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[Music]

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"Nobody in Europe expected these appalling

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casualties and when they came they were

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utterly crushing

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music

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The first dreadful experience was that

0:06:46.530,0:06:53.010
of the victims of what was called "the

0:06:50.460,0:06:55.410
massacre of the innocents" in Germany.

0:06:53.010,0:06:57.840
These boys from high school or college

0:06:55.410,0:07:00.300
who were given a couple of months

0:06:57.840,0:07:03.600
training and sent off to the Front and

0:07:00.300,0:07:04.210
then died in tens of thousands in a few

0:07:03.600,0:07:06.090
weeks

0:07:04.210,0:07:08.200
music

0:07:06.090,0:07:10.330
Nothing like that had ever happened

0:07:08.200,0:07:12.340
before to any country in Europe and

0:07:10.330,0:07:14.380
moreover this was the flower of German

0:07:12.340,0:07:16.750
youth. They were they the best educated

0:07:14.380,0:07:20.590
young men. They were from middle-class

0:07:16.750,0:07:23.410
families almost exclusively and they had

0:07:20.590,0:07:26.310
no expectation at all this terrible

0:07:23.410,0:07:26.310
thing was going to happen."

0:07:27.810,0:07:31.079
Americans had never dreamed

0:07:45.480,0:07:49.690
that a war on the other

0:07:47.800,0:07:52.420
side of the ocean could affect them.

0:07:49.690,0:07:54.970
The US was officially neutral and most

0:07:52.420,0:07:58.200
of its citizens assumed it would stay

0:07:54.970,0:07:58.200
that way." People were going about

0:08:02.280,0:08:08.080
their own business. The object being to

0:08:05.080,0:08:12.130
makes money and and good business

0:08:08.080,0:08:17.350
Everything was very pleasant indeed"

0:08:12.130,0:08:20.530
" It's hard for people who weren't

0:08:17.350,0:08:22.900
there to realize how enormously

0:08:20.530,0:08:25.840
the world has changed. On New Year's Day

0:08:22.900,0:08:26.330
President Wilson had open house at the

0:08:25.840,0:08:28.699
White House. And he would go out

0:08:26.330,0:08:30.530
[Music]

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on the lawn and we went down once

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I was a little kid and we went down on the

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lawn and stood in a little queue and it

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moved up and we all went through and

0:08:35.719,0:08:42.049
shook his hand. Shook hands with the

0:08:39.589,0:08:44.620
President on New Year's Day"

0:08:42.049,0:08:48.649
[Music]

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But certainly America was changing. The

0:08:48.649,0:08:52.209
pace of life was quickening.

0:08:53.970,0:08:59.529
Almost overnight Henry Ford's historic

0:08:56.980,0:09:02.170
assembly line had lowered the cost of

0:08:59.529,0:09:05.350
making cars as well as the cost of

0:09:02.170,0:09:07.810
buying them. The mass-produced Model T

0:09:05.350,0:09:11.410
came in one color: black but at

0:09:07.810,0:09:12.880
295 dollars it was the first car priced

0:09:11.410,0:09:17.650
within reach of ordinary Americans

0:09:12.880,0:09:21.490
"We played baseball in the streets.

0:09:17.650,0:09:25.540
There was no problem of playing

0:09:21.490,0:09:28.180
baseball when horses and wagons

0:09:25.540,0:09:32.640
dominated the traffic. It only became a

0:09:28.180,0:09:32.640
problem when automobiles and trucks

0:09:33.490,0:09:39.630
came in"

0:09:36.830,0:09:41.990
So much in America was changing as

0:09:39.630,0:09:45.090
Europe went about its ugly war

0:09:41.990,0:09:45.090
[Music]

0:09:47.200,0:09:55.510
At this first movie that I attended I

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recall the scene where there was a great

0:09:55.510,0:10:02.529
deal of shooting. As they came to the

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front of the screen and the figures got

0:10:02.529,0:10:06.910
larger and larger and I thought they

0:10:05.230,0:10:11.529
were coming at me and I started

0:10:06.910,0:10:15.940
screaming so badly that had to take me

0:10:11.529,0:10:17.920
out of the movie house." As moviemaking

0:10:15.940,0:10:20.949
techniques improved movies became an

0:10:17.920,0:10:23.139
American obsession and it was in the

0:10:20.949,0:10:26.680
movie houses that Americans were exposed

0:10:23.139,0:10:32.380
to the war in Europe. In the movie house

0:10:26.680,0:10:36.910
it still seemed glamorous." We went every

0:10:32.380,0:10:43.149
Saturday morning and just devoured the

0:10:36.910,0:10:47.230
pictures of the war, beautiful uniforms

0:10:43.149,0:10:50.500
and dashing mounted cavalry with their

0:10:47.230,0:10:53.500
flashing sabers in the sun riding into

0:10:50.500,0:10:59.230
battle and oh I thought that would be

0:10:53.500,0:11:01.250
something else (I was just just eighteen)

0:10:59.230,0:11:04.310
to go."

0:11:01.250,0:11:06.630
[Music]

0:11:04.310,0:11:08.730
The movies were the perfect proving

0:11:06.630,0:11:12.030
ground for the new art form called

0:11:08.730,0:11:14.310
propaganda. Americans saw and soon

0:11:12.030,0:11:15.120
sympathized with the British view of the

0:11:14.310,0:11:26.370
Germans

0:11:15.120,0:11:29.769
[Music]

0:11:26.370,0:11:32.829
By early 1915 the war in Europe was good

0:11:29.769,0:11:34.560
for America. U.S. banks were lending huge

0:11:32.829,0:11:37.690
amounts of money to Britain and France

0:11:34.560,0:11:41.040
who in turn used the money to buy arms

0:11:37.690,0:11:43.660
from American factories. With the war

0:11:41.040,0:11:47.790
Americans were in the greatest economic

0:11:43.660,0:11:52.959
boom in their history. "During the war

0:11:47.790,0:11:55.540
everybody worked. Before the war my

0:11:52.959,0:11:58.930
father brought home six or seven dollars

0:11:55.540,0:12:00.490
a week Now he brought home checks for

0:11:58.930,0:12:04.810
a hundred, a hundred and ten dollars

0:12:00.490,0:12:08.380
a week. It was like bringing home a check

0:12:04.810,0:12:10.420
for a million." The war had

0:12:08.380,0:12:12.940
another effect: it virtually cut off

0:12:10.420,0:12:15.430
European immigration to the United

0:12:12.940,0:12:18.250
States causing a labor shortage in

0:12:15.430,0:12:20.470
American factories and that forced

0:12:18.250,0:12:22.449
northern employers to look for the very

0:12:20.470,0:12:26.980
first time at the substantial Black

0:12:22.449,0:12:31.480
labor pool of the American South. " Black

0:12:26.980,0:12:33.970
newspapers, we went down south and told

0:12:31.480,0:12:36.040
them 'come on up to Chicago with us

0:12:33.970,0:12:37.390
we'll get you a job and you don't have

0:12:36.040,0:12:40.199
to stay down here and be lynched and

0:12:37.390,0:12:40.199
burned'" " My relatives, aunt, uncles

0:12:46.350,0:12:57.690
cousins came North and were able

0:12:52.450,0:13:02.020
to get into factories and steel mill jobs

0:12:57.690,0:13:05.260
that just wouldn't have been available

0:13:02.020,0:13:09.160
to Blacks under normal circumstances"

0:13:05.260,0:13:11.530
This Great Migration from

0:13:09.160,0:13:13.840
the South kept America's economy strong

0:13:11.530,0:13:16.380
and vigorous while the increasing

0:13:13.840,0:13:19.330
economic stake in Britain and France

0:13:16.380,0:13:22.990
encouraged greater support for their war

0:13:19.330,0:13:26.200
against the Germans. But the war was not

0:13:22.990,0:13:28.480
going well and the idea that Americans

0:13:26.200,0:13:32.020
might yet have to be involved was now an

0:13:28.480,0:13:33.640
issue all over the United States. With

0:13:32.020,0:13:37.330
the support of former President Theodore

0:13:33.640,0:13:40.010
Roosevelt, potential volunteers began to

0:13:37.330,0:13:43.200
train for battle

0:13:40.010,0:13:43.200
[Music]

0:13:44.390,0:13:49.950
By Christmas 1914 the armies of Europe

0:13:48.090,0:13:53.040
had completely bogged down and fighting

0:13:49.950,0:13:55.080
had spread to Russia, Africa, and the

0:13:53.040,0:13:58.290
Middle East. The empires drew on their

0:13:55.080,0:14:00.300
colonies for manpower. 60 countries were

0:13:58.290,0:14:03.960
eventually represented in the conflict

0:14:00.300,0:14:06.720
The Germans had expected to win in 42

0:14:03.960,0:14:08.790
days but they had not anticipated what

0:14:06.720,0:14:13.740
would happen on the Western Front in

0:14:08.790,0:14:15.900
France. On the Western Front, the German

0:14:13.740,0:14:18.600
assault had finally failed and soldiers

0:14:15.900,0:14:20.730
on both sides had raced to dig an

0:14:18.600,0:14:23.970
elaborate trench system that stretched

0:14:20.730,0:14:32.580
for 300 miles from the English Channel

0:14:23.970,0:14:34.800
all the way to Switzerland. On New Year's

0:14:32.580,0:14:37.800
Day in 1915 the young men who had gone

0:14:34.800,0:14:40.920
off to fight glorious battles were now

0:14:37.800,0:14:47.710
trapped in a desperate war of attrition

0:14:40.920,0:14:47.710
[Music]

0:14:48.770,0:14:57.690
"Someone said to us excitedly" Jack Smith"

0:14:53.700,0:14:58.290
I said what about him? he said" he's dead.

0:14:57.690,0:15:00.930
he's been shot"

0:14:58.290,0:15:01.530
The first one of the battalion to be

0:15:00.930,0:15:05.520
shot. I said " what?"

0:15:01.530,0:15:08.610
" Yes he's dead. Been shot

0:15:05.520,0:15:13.890
Put his head too far over and a sniper

0:15:08.610,0:15:17.460
got him" and that caused a bit of a

0:15:13.890,0:15:21.420
sensation amongst the lads. They

0:15:17.460,0:15:25.620
thought 'well this is not exactly what we

0:15:21.420,0:15:29.790
come for' (mumbling) from that day

0:15:25.620,0:15:32.850
onwards while we were in the trenches

0:15:29.790,0:15:38.790
it was three killed, four killed, five

0:15:32.850,0:15:42.260
killed, 20 killed, a hundred killed. By

0:15:38.790,0:15:42.260
then we was veterans."

0:15:43.600,0:15:54.520
A young American poet, Alan Seeger, was

0:15:52.630,0:15:56.740
among those looking for adventure when

0:15:54.520,0:16:00.370
he joined the Foreign Legion to fight

0:15:56.740,0:16:04.380
for France. His diary reveals how seldom

0:16:00.370,0:16:06.760
he found it."It's a miserable life.

0:16:04.380,0:16:09.820
Shivering in these wretched holes in the

0:16:06.760,0:16:12.760
dirt. We're not leading the life of men

0:16:09.820,0:16:15.460
at all but that of animals, living in our

0:16:12.760,0:16:19.800
holes on the ground and only showing our

0:16:15.460,0:16:19.800
heads outside to fight and to feed"

0:16:20.600,0:16:24.590
"We'd been

0:16:21.810,0:16:28.790
there about six months. Covered in mud

0:16:24.590,0:16:32.580
Wet through practically all day

0:16:28.790,0:16:35.790
Absolutely chewed up by lice and we'd

0:16:32.580,0:16:43.460
say "and to think we wanted to come to

0:16:35.790,0:16:44.730
this hole" I said "yes, we didn't know"

0:16:43.460,0:16:46.800
[Music]

0:16:44.730,0:16:49.380
Every so often one side or the other

0:16:46.800,0:16:51.230
seized a few hundred yards of territory

0:16:49.380,0:16:53.760
only to be forced back again

0:16:51.230,0:16:56.970
surrendering what had costs hundreds of

0:16:53.760,0:17:00.830
lives to win. The Front never moved more

0:16:56.970,0:17:00.830
than a mile or two in either direction

0:17:02.900,0:17:07.890
By the spring of 1915 the generals had

0:17:06.240,0:17:10.860
concluded that the best way out of the

0:17:07.890,0:17:13.459
stalemate was to blast the enemy out of

0:17:10.860,0:17:13.459
their trenches

0:17:15.310,0:17:18.740
[Music]

0:17:21.850,0:17:26.510
The same factories and assembly lines

0:17:24.650,0:17:29.390
that had begun to contribute to life in

0:17:26.510,0:17:33.190
the 20th century were now retooled to

0:17:29.390,0:17:33.190
create massive killing machines.

0:17:36.059,0:17:41.639
This was the industrialization of war

0:17:46.720,0:17:50.009
[Music]

0:17:53.030,0:18:03.310
"There were

0:17:59.650,0:18:06.290
just a splintered trunks of trees, there's

0:18:03.310,0:18:11.840
a quagmire of the shell holes

0:18:06.290,0:18:12.950
and no ,no grass. It was just like a

0:18:11.840,0:18:13.390
lunar landscape

0:18:12.950,0:18:28.610
really"

0:18:13.390,0:18:33.179
[Music]

0:18:28.610,0:18:37.049
"At night the rats, they grew to

0:18:33.179,0:18:39.929
enormous sizes feeding on the bone and

0:18:37.049,0:18:43.549
the corpses. It was impossible

0:18:39.929,0:18:46.499
to get to get the dead buried."

0:18:43.549,0:18:49.440
"We put dead bodies in the bottom of the

0:18:46.499,0:18:52.200
trench so that we could stand on them

0:18:49.440,0:18:55.049
to keep dry and on some

0:18:52.200,0:18:57.749
occasion dead bodies was put on the top

0:18:55.049,0:19:00.659
of the trench to make it higher so that

0:18:57.749,0:19:04.249
we could walk a bit better

0:19:00.659,0:19:04.249
instead of crouching." And

0:19:05.270,0:19:14.510
contributing to the stalemate were new

0:19:07.820,0:19:15.830
weapons. (NOTE) By now the machine gun

0:19:14.510,0:19:18.710
had been perfected to the point that a

0:19:15.830,0:19:22.990
single soldier could command as much

0:19:18.710,0:19:22.990
firepower as 40 riflemen

0:19:23.460,0:19:28.280
[Music]

0:19:25.800,0:19:30.420
The tank made its first appearance

0:19:28.280,0:19:32.730
invented by the British to get through

0:19:30.420,0:19:36.360
the dense thickets of barbed wire that

0:19:32.730,0:19:39.180
protected the enemy trenches. And in

0:19:36.360,0:19:41.060
April 1915 the Germans introduced the

0:19:39.180,0:19:46.410
most terrifying weapon of all poison gas

0:19:41.060,0:19:51.240
"No one had ever seen it before.

0:19:46.410,0:19:57.030
This is the moment when chemical

0:19:51.240,0:19:58.770
warfare was invented. It scared the

0:19:57.030,0:20:03.230
living daylights out of the Canadian

0:19:58.770,0:20:03.230
troops that were hit by it." The First

0:20:07.919,0:20:12.669
World War had become a contest NOT

0:20:11.019,0:20:16.090
of fighting spirit but of technological

0:20:12.669,0:20:18.549
might and for the soldiers caught in the

0:20:16.090,0:20:22.179
middle of it there was no way forward

0:20:18.549,0:20:31.149
and no way back. There was simply

0:20:22.179,0:20:34.419
endurance. " You saw a little bush

0:20:31.149,0:20:40.450
you swore that bush was somebody creeping

0:20:34.419,0:20:42.539
up on you. The perfect soldier for that

0:20:40.450,0:20:45.750
war would have been somebody with no

0:20:42.539,0:20:45.750
imagination whatsoever.

0:20:46.350,0:20:55.530
We all had too much imagination"

0:20:50.380,0:20:59.679
[Music]

0:20:55.530,0:21:04.059
"So many men who had been through these

0:20:59.679,0:21:06.370
dangers and anxieties. Their life broken

0:21:04.059,0:21:11.290
They were the victims of shell shock. You

0:21:06.370,0:21:16.630
know there is a breaking point for most

0:21:11.290,0:21:19.630
people. For anybody really. Robbed of all

0:21:16.630,0:21:24.130
humanity and courage and everything else

0:21:19.630,0:21:27.630
that makes life worth living really. He's

0:21:24.130,0:21:27.630
descended to something less than human."

0:21:30.960,0:21:36.940
The stalemate in the trenches continued

0:21:33.790,0:21:38.950
through 1915 and into 1916 when the

0:21:36.940,0:21:43.679
generals decided to go back to their

0:21:38.950,0:21:43.679
original weapon: their men

0:21:43.740,0:21:52.600
[Music]

0:21:48.060,0:21:59.620
The river Somme in northern France. Early

0:21:52.600,0:22:03.770
summer 1916. Along a Front 25 miles wide

0:21:59.620,0:22:05.840
a massive Allied army prepared to attack.

0:22:03.770,0:22:08.660
Thousands of British Tommies, as they

0:22:05.840,0:22:10.250
were called, would lead the charge and

0:22:08.660,0:22:12.020
they would follow one of the most intense

0:22:10.250,0:22:15.080
bombardments in the history of warfare.

0:22:12.020,0:22:17.800
An artillery barrage would last an

0:22:15.080,0:22:17.800
entire week

0:22:18.960,0:22:23.220
[Music]

0:22:20.790,0:22:25.370
The Battle of the Somme was about to

0:22:23.220,0:22:25.370
begin.

0:22:25.960,0:22:32.180
"There must be a thousand gods if there

0:22:29.330,0:22:36.920
was one. It was a terrible roar from

0:22:32.180,0:22:40.880
morning to night but the foolish officers

0:22:36.920,0:22:44.330
said "tomorrow boys will be over the top

0:22:40.880,0:22:47.870
and don't worry" he says.

0:22:44.330,0:22:50.360
"There'll be no trenches there. Our shells

0:22:47.870,0:22:53.770
have blown them to pieces. There will be

0:22:50.360,0:22:57.680
no Germans there. They're blown to pieces

0:22:53.770,0:23:00.980
All you have to do is to walk over and

0:22:57.680,0:23:05.160
take those trenches. In fact ,"he says,

0:23:00.980,0:23:10.100
you can carry your rifle like a bag."

0:23:05.160,0:23:13.190
[Music]

0:23:10.100,0:23:14.900
"The Germans after the shelling, they

0:23:13.190,0:23:17.860
simply come out of the dugouts,

0:23:14.900,0:23:19.910
grabbed their machine guns and then

0:23:17.860,0:23:22.120
waited for the Tommies."

0:23:19.910,0:23:27.460
[Music]

0:23:22.120,0:23:30.880
They just simply shot them down .

0:23:27.460,0:23:37.660
like cutting down grain. They didn't

0:23:30.880,0:23:41.020
get 200 feet. One German

0:23:37.660,0:23:44.830
machine gunner said "I stopped firing

0:23:41.020,0:23:47.460
because I was sickened by what we were

0:23:44.830,0:23:47.460
doing"'

0:23:50.350,0:24:00.220
It was the bloodiest day in British

0:23:52.790,0:24:00.220
history. 20,000 men killed 40,000 wounded

0:24:00.909,0:24:05.979
And yet the day after and for days

0:24:03.309,0:24:08.799
after that young men continued to be

0:24:05.979,0:24:11.639
ordered out of their trenches and into

0:24:08.799,0:24:11.639
near certain death.

0:24:12.190,0:24:18.910
Poet volunteer Alan Seeger was killed

0:24:15.190,0:24:21.990
on July the 4th. On the same morning Ted

0:24:18.910,0:24:23.520
Francis waited for the signal to go

0:24:21.990,0:24:26.309
[Music]

0:24:23.520,0:24:29.340
Officers are down below us in the

0:24:26.309,0:24:31.470
trenches with a whistle and when they

0:24:29.340,0:24:34.050
blow that whistle we'd got to dash out of

0:24:31.470,0:24:38.760
the trenches and make for this German

0:24:34.050,0:24:42.330
trench and (mumbling) still

0:24:38.760,0:24:49.740
four or five minutes but we look at each

0:24:42.330,0:24:54.809
other and say I would also do this. Some

0:24:49.740,0:24:58.170
were visibly shaken. Some were crying and

0:24:54.809,0:25:01.160
of course when the whistle went off we

0:24:58.170,0:25:01.160
had to scramble over."

0:25:01.250,0:25:13.909
[Music]

0:25:11.380,0:25:15.919
The Battle of the Somme would come to

0:25:13.909,0:25:16.610
define the futility of the First World

0:25:15.919,0:25:19.700
War

0:25:16.610,0:25:23.150
It went on for six more months at a cost

0:25:19.700,0:25:25.250
of a million men and at the end of it

0:25:23.150,0:25:29.690
the Allied armies had moved a grand

0:25:25.250,0:25:31.700
total of five miles. The guns of the

0:25:29.690,0:25:33.200
Somme were so loud and so insistent that

0:25:31.700,0:25:35.659
they were heard across the English

0:25:33.200,0:25:42.799
Channel in London a hundred and fifty

0:25:35.659,0:25:45.110
miles away. In every country that was

0:25:42.799,0:25:47.179
involved in the war there were growing

0:25:45.110,0:25:48.710
problems at home. After so many years of

0:25:47.179,0:25:51.289
struggle the disillusionment of the

0:25:48.710,0:25:53.929
battlefront now extended to the home

0:25:51.289,0:25:56.120
front. Russia in particular was ripe for

0:25:53.929,0:25:58.880
revolution. Its people were starving and

0:25:56.120,0:26:04.610
its battered army was on the verge of

0:25:58.880,0:26:06.830
defeat. In February 1917 a food riot

0:26:04.610,0:26:09.860
broke out in the city of Petrograd which

0:26:06.830,0:26:12.710
had been called Saint Petersburg. In no

0:26:09.860,0:26:17.149
time Russia was embroiled in full-scale

0:26:12.710,0:26:20.600
revolution. The ruling family led by Tsar

0:26:17.149,0:26:24.269
Nicholas was brought down.

0:26:20.600,0:26:26.399
300 years of royal rule were replaced by

0:26:24.269,0:26:30.049
a provisional government that stubbornly

0:26:26.399,0:26:30.049
decided to continue the war

0:26:31.110,0:26:37.120
The Germans chose this moment to help a

0:26:34.060,0:26:40.090
Russian revolutionary return home from

0:26:37.120,0:26:42.220
exile. The man who spoke for a socialist

0:26:40.090,0:26:44.830
movement known to Russians as the

0:26:42.220,0:26:47.560
Bolsheviks. His given name was Vladimir

0:26:44.830,0:26:50.370
Ulianov. He's better remembered as

0:26:47.560,0:26:50.370
Vladimir Lenin. Sascha Bryansk

0:26:50.430,0:26:59.880
served as Lenin's bodyguard

0:26:53.170,0:27:03.220
"He spoke with a lot of gestures and

0:26:59.880,0:27:06.310
rushed forward calling us to advance.

0:27:03.220,0:27:08.680
Saying "Power had been taken over

0:27:06.310,0:27:11.890
by the bourgeoisie that went on with the

0:27:08.680,0:27:14.560
bloody war." A new order had to be

0:27:11.890,0:27:18.010
established to ensure the power of the

0:27:14.560,0:27:19.390
working class. Lenin and the Bolsheviks

0:27:18.010,0:27:22.270
hoped to create the world's first

0:27:19.390,0:27:24.040
Communist state where all land, capital,

0:27:22.270,0:27:28.900
and political power would be given to

0:27:24.040,0:27:30.590
the people. For many Russians it would

0:27:28.900,0:27:33.320
mean the end of privilege

0:27:30.590,0:27:36.410
[Applause]

0:27:33.320,0:27:42.040
"Victory of the Bolsheviki would mean the

0:27:36.410,0:27:42.040
end of Russia. That we knew. I

0:27:42.580,0:27:51.290
remember one evening at our country

0:27:46.700,0:27:53.120
place. I was running down the lawn to

0:27:51.290,0:27:56.750
call my mother to tell her that supper

0:27:53.120,0:28:01.490
was ready and I suddenly stopped and here

0:27:56.750,0:28:04.850
was all the beauty around. The roses, the

0:28:01.490,0:28:09.290
trees, the park, the lawns. It was a

0:28:04.850,0:28:13.820
beautiful place. It was sunset and I

0:28:09.290,0:28:16.970
stopped and said all this disappears. All

0:28:13.820,0:28:19.040
this will be gone. That was the one

0:28:16.970,0:28:21.140
moment I remembered that feeling

0:28:19.040,0:28:23.990
of fear that the whole world of which

0:28:21.140,0:28:27.929
I was part of was would disappear."

0:28:23.990,0:28:31.139
And it would.

0:28:27.929,0:28:32.820
In October 1917 Lenin encouraged an

0:28:31.139,0:28:34.499
insurrection against the provisional

0:28:32.820,0:28:39.419
government that had replaced the fallen

0:28:34.499,0:28:42.200
Tsar. The end came at the Tsar's old

0:28:39.419,0:28:42.200
Winter Palace " I ran up the carpeted

0:28:44.460,0:28:53.549
stairway. In the very first room I saw

0:28:51.059,0:28:56.279
soldiers standing with their rifles ready.

0:28:53.549,0:28:59.330
I shouted " put down your weapons"

0:28:56.279,0:29:03.679
The defenders just dropped their weapons

0:28:59.330,0:29:03.679
and left."

0:29:07.039,0:29:15.869
"We saw the fires in the night and then

0:29:12.119,0:29:19.049
after five or six days the shooting died.

0:29:15.869,0:29:24.690
There were no more guns so we knew it

0:29:19.049,0:29:26.480
was over and we knew that the

0:29:24.690,0:29:29.900
Bolsheviki had won"

0:29:26.480,0:29:29.900
[Applause]

0:29:31.150,0:29:38.350
With Lennon's victory, Russia quickly

0:29:34.030,0:29:40.930
withdrew from the war. But the Germans

0:29:38.350,0:29:45.360
had seen their plans succeed only to

0:29:40.930,0:29:45.360
find that they now faced a new opponent.

0:29:46.110,0:29:53.370
It was clear to most Americans now that

0:29:48.970,0:29:55.570
Germany regarded them as an enemy too.

0:29:53.370,0:30:00.010
President Woodrow Wilson resisted the

0:29:55.570,0:30:02.650
demands to get involved for a while but

0:30:00.010,0:30:05.800
by 1917 the Germans had increased their

0:30:02.650,0:30:08.440
attacks on unarmed ships. And then they

0:30:05.800,0:30:12.280
brazenly urged Mexico to invade the

0:30:08.440,0:30:19.090
United States, the President felt he had

0:30:12.280,0:30:21.429
no other option. On April the 2nd 1917

0:30:19.090,0:30:24.309
Woodrow Wilson stood anxiously before a

0:30:21.429,0:30:27.250
special session of Congress and asked

0:30:24.309,0:30:32.920
for a declaration of war. He hoped it

0:30:27.250,0:30:35.890
would be the War to End all Wars. He said.

0:30:32.920,0:30:39.270
"It is a fearful thing for me to try to

0:30:35.890,0:30:42.250
lead a great peaceful people into war.

0:30:39.270,0:30:45.670
It could be one of the most terrible and

0:30:42.250,0:30:49.510
disastrous of all wars, but let me tell

0:30:45.670,0:30:51.900
you this: Right is more precious than

0:30:49.510,0:30:51.900
Peace."

0:30:52.860,0:30:57.810
"The idea of a last great war

0:30:58.050,0:31:05.779
and being part of it was very

0:31:00.899,0:31:08.279
very strong,strong appeal and

0:31:05.779,0:31:12.539
it certainly influenced me a great deal."

0:31:08.279,0:31:16.249
I said"if we're never going to see another

0:31:12.539,0:31:16.249
war. This is the time to see it." In the

0:31:27.480,0:31:33.750
summer of 1917 American troops landed

0:31:30.690,0:31:36.480
in France returning the favor of Lafayette:

0:31:33.750,0:31:38.100
the French soldier who fought with

0:31:36.480,0:31:41.700
America during the Revolutionary War

0:31:38.100,0:31:45.139
"One of the officers, he said it loud

0:31:41.700,0:31:48.029
enough for everybody to hear and

0:31:45.139,0:31:52.610
he was waving his hands.

0:31:48.029,0:31:53.880
"Lafayette, Lafayette" I didn't know who

0:31:52.610,0:31:57.649
Lafayette was

0:31:53.880,0:31:57.649
"Lafayette we are here"

0:31:59.370,0:32:03.070
[Music]

0:32:01.210,0:32:07.810
"It was coming to the end of our bit and

0:32:03.070,0:32:08.560
when the Americans decided to have a go,

0:32:07.810,0:32:16.030
I was absolutely... I said "Hurrah"

0:32:08.560,0:32:20.330
"They were untouched by

0:32:16.030,0:32:22.760
the anxiety or doubts that

0:32:20.330,0:32:27.110
had afflicted everybody else. By that

0:32:22.760,0:32:29.240
stage they were, they were" American"

0:32:27.110,0:32:31.570
you know. They were "American" They

0:32:29.240,0:32:35.600
were what the Americans were supposed to be.

0:32:31.570,0:32:39.860
They were enthusiastic. They were also

0:32:35.600,0:32:41.480
badly armed, poorly trained and like the

0:32:39.860,0:32:45.650
Europeans before them, completely

0:32:41.480,0:32:48.849
unprepared for what lay ahead.

0:32:45.650,0:32:48.849
[Music]

0:32:50.580,0:32:55.910
The train came through from the Front.

0:32:56.000,0:33:02.310
and we got to go aboard . Of course

0:32:59.850,0:33:03.140
which we did it as soon as possible

0:33:02.310,0:33:06.750
We got on it and we asked the guys

0:33:03.140,0:33:10.260
" how was up there what's going on?"

0:33:06.750,0:33:17.010
and "what are you doing?" and it

0:33:10.260,0:33:23.430
was a hospital train. I can see these

0:33:17.010,0:33:32.520
poor kids like me. Youngsters, but the

0:33:23.430,0:33:35.580
leg gone or two arms gone. "Well

0:33:32.520,0:33:40.800
this is kind of a cold water treatment.

0:33:35.580,0:33:44.160
All of a sudden to realize what war was

0:33:40.800,0:33:50.480
like. You grew up very quickly in

0:33:44.160,0:33:55.310
surroundings lie that. This is no longer

0:33:50.480,0:33:55.310
Freshmen Studies. It was the real world"

0:34:07.100,0:34:11.000
By 1918 with thousands of Americans

0:34:09.829,0:34:13.940
pouring into France every day,

0:34:11.000,0:34:17.060
the Germans decided they had

0:34:13.940,0:34:21.780
to do something massive.

0:34:17.060,0:34:25.230
IN March 1918 the German

0:34:21.780,0:34:27.810
Army tried its last major gamble. Its

0:34:25.230,0:34:29.760
last major offensive on the Western Front

0:34:27.810,0:34:32.970
It was successful.

0:34:29.760,0:34:35.850
"It was a remarkable moment. The Western

0:34:32.970,0:34:38.940
Front moved. A War of movement finally

0:34:35.850,0:34:40.800
arrived" And after years of impasse the

0:34:38.940,0:34:43.620
Germans suddenly threatened to overwhelm

0:34:40.800,0:34:48.510
the Allies and actually capture the

0:34:43.620,0:34:51.320
French capital Paris. "The Germans had a

0:34:48.510,0:34:56.550
fire. They called it "sweeping fire."

0:34:51.320,0:35:01.950
Everything upon earth got hit. They were

0:34:56.550,0:35:03.840
wounded or died."The threat to Paris was

0:35:01.950,0:35:07.080
so severe that a million people simply

0:35:03.840,0:35:13.470
left the city. The Germans got to within

0:35:07.080,0:35:15.540
30 miles. At this point these still semi

0:35:13.470,0:35:18.960
trained American divisions were

0:35:15.540,0:35:21.570
thrown into the battle and along with

0:35:18.960,0:35:23.080
the French, managed to stop the German

0:35:21.570,0:35:27.940
drop."

0:35:23.080,0:35:30.039
The Germans had put

0:35:27.940,0:35:32.200
everything into this last desparate

0:35:30.039,0:35:37.480
effort and when it was it was over they

0:35:32.200,0:35:40.030
were finally spent. Along the Western

0:35:37.480,0:35:46.020
Front that Autumn, the focus shifted

0:35:40.030,0:35:46.020
from war to peace. On the 10th of

0:35:48.330,0:35:53.610
Nov the Kaiser was forced into

0:35:51.810,0:35:56.850
exile by his own government; a

0:35:53.610,0:36:04.860
victim of the war he had helped to

0:35:56.850,0:36:07.260
start. " This cut me so deeply that

0:36:04.860,0:36:08.490
I can't tell you. I had a little picture

0:36:07.260,0:36:13.020
of the Kaiser in my room and what did

0:36:08.490,0:36:17.700
I do? I put a black tie around the

0:36:13.020,0:36:24.530
picture to show my utter sorrow for

0:36:17.700,0:36:28.800
this tremendous change in history" And

0:36:24.530,0:36:32.990
finally at the 11th hour, on the eleventh

0:36:28.800,0:36:38.360
day, of the eleventh month November 1918

0:36:32.990,0:36:38.360
the Germans formally surrendered.

0:36:40.410,0:36:49.640
"And suddenly the guns stopped and there

0:36:44.789,0:36:53.310
was a terrible shock as if somebody had

0:36:49.640,0:36:56.369
hit me over the head with a big pan

0:36:53.310,0:36:56.369
[Music]

0:36:58.760,0:37:07.580
"And that sudden hush after four years of

0:37:03.770,0:37:11.080
continual gunfire had become part of our

0:37:07.580,0:37:11.080
lives.There seemed to be something missing

0:37:11.350,0:37:14.760
we didn't believe it you know."

0:37:16.760,0:37:28.170
[Music]

0:37:24.950,0:37:28.170
[Applause]

0:37:30.910,0:37:46.559
[Music]

0:37:47.530,0:37:52.690
One of the greatest calamities in human

0:37:49.930,0:37:55.230
history was over and America's veterans

0:37:52.690,0:38:03.570
began to return home.

0:37:55.230,0:38:05.580
[Music]

0:38:03.570,0:38:07.860
The trouble was that having made the

0:38:05.580,0:38:12.150
world a safer place American veterans

0:38:07.860,0:38:14.550
returned to a very uncertain future.The

0:38:12.150,0:38:17.430
economy that the boomed during the war

0:38:14.550,0:38:20.190
was now shrinking. Factories were laying

0:38:17.430,0:38:25.560
off workers just as veterans came

0:38:20.190,0:38:26.640
looking for jobs. "We had no help to find

0:38:25.560,0:38:30.000
a job. No grants to go to school

0:38:26.640,0:38:33.780
to finish our college education.

0:38:30.000,0:38:38.240
When you took your

0:38:33.780,0:38:41.340
discharge that was it. You had no more

0:38:38.240,0:38:47.540
connection with the government or they

0:38:41.340,0:38:47.540
with you. You were on your own"

0:38:50.400,0:38:53.689
[Music]

0:39:00.830,0:39:08.940
In the winter of 1918 Europe was a

0:39:04.830,0:39:11.090
disaster. The empires of Germany Austria

0:39:08.940,0:39:13.980
and Russia had been shattered

0:39:11.090,0:39:18.420
leaving destitute nations in their wake

0:39:13.980,0:39:21.829
[Music]

0:39:18.420,0:39:25.430
Even the victors Britain and France

0:39:21.829,0:39:30.290
grappled with ruin and rage.

0:39:25.430,0:39:36.430
[Music]

0:39:30.290,0:39:36.430
In all nine million men had died.

0:39:37.440,0:39:48.140
Every family had lost someone, a father, a

0:39:43.220,0:39:48.140
son, a brother,

0:39:48.170,0:40:07.130
a cousin, a friend

0:39:52.170,0:40:07.130
[Music]

0:40:07.880,0:40:13.340
For years the wounded and the maimed

0:40:10.400,0:40:14.420
haunted the streets of every city in

0:40:13.340,0:40:17.909
Europe.

0:40:14.420,0:40:17.909
[Music]

0:40:18.019,0:40:25.109
And even those who had escaped physical

0:40:20.819,0:40:27.410
harm were forever changed by the Great

0:40:25.109,0:40:27.410
War

0:40:29.210,0:40:32.880
"Sometimes I'm thinking about the war

0:40:30.480,0:40:36.950
two,, three o'clock in the morning. My

0:40:32.880,0:40:39.900
brother being hit. My best friend killed

0:40:36.950,0:40:45.000
and I wonder, while I'm lying in bed

0:40:39.900,0:40:47.160
" how is it that I'm lying here

0:40:45.000,0:40:54.330
and they're all dead?""

0:40:47.160,0:40:57.450
"I lost all my youth. I lost the best

0:40:54.330,0:41:01.140
years of my life you might say. And I

0:40:57.450,0:41:05.490
lost so many friends. It was all loss

0:41:01.140,0:41:08.240
for me. I mean a few medals don't make up

0:41:05.490,0:41:08.240
for that you know.

0:41:08.580,0:41:16.910
Nobody wins in a war. They lost. We didn't

0:41:14.700,0:41:16.910
win"

0:41:21.290,0:41:26.300
Into this chaos traveling to a post-war

0:41:24.440,0:41:28.750
peace conference in the French town of

0:41:26.300,0:41:31.190
Versailles, came President Woodrow Wilson.

0:41:28.750,0:41:34.190
With him President Wilson brought his

0:41:31.190,0:41:36.950
so-called Fourteen Points which called

0:41:34.190,0:41:42.200
for liberty and self-determination for

0:41:36.950,0:41:44.630
all. Even the enemy. The people of Britain

0:41:42.200,0:41:49.420
and France greeted Wilson ecstatically for

0:41:44.630,0:41:49.420
he represented the hope of democracy. BUT

0:41:49.930,0:41:56.960
the British and French governments were

0:41:52.760,0:41:59.350
interested in revenge. "The Versailles

0:41:56.960,0:42:02.690
Peace Treaty is the politics of hatred.

0:41:59.350,0:42:06.460
It was the encapsulation of every

0:42:02.690,0:42:09.110
mean-spirited element on the Allied side."

0:42:06.460,0:42:11.140
The new Soviet Union was completely

0:42:09.110,0:42:14.600
excluded from the peace conference. And

0:42:11.140,0:42:18.140
not one victorious power was ready to

0:42:14.600,0:42:20.660
give up a colony. Sowing the seeds of

0:42:18.140,0:42:23.120
future discord, Britain and France added

0:42:20.660,0:42:27.020
several colonies by carving up the

0:42:23.120,0:42:28.970
Middle East. As for the Germans, they were

0:42:27.020,0:42:31.760
forced to accept conditions that would

0:42:28.970,0:42:32.360
humiliate and impoverish them for

0:42:31.760,0:42:35.480
years.

0:42:32.360,0:42:39.500
In the end Versailles was about

0:42:35.480,0:42:41.330
Punishment not Peacemaking.

0:42:39.500,0:42:42.730
"In Many ways all those men who died,

0:42:41.330,0:42:51.200
nine million men died for nothing"

0:42:42.730,0:42:54.440
[Music]

0:42:51.200,0:42:56.750
Almost before it was over then it was

0:42:54.440,0:42:59.950
clear that the legacy of this war would

0:42:56.750,0:43:03.440
be anything but the end of all wars.

0:42:59.950,0:43:06.859
Within 30 years these same nations would

0:43:03.440,0:43:09.220
all fight again over precisely the same

0:43:06.859,0:43:09.220
ground.

0:43:15.809,0:43:21.640
The war had shown technology's dark side.

0:43:18.819,0:43:23.470
But dark or bright, technology was here

0:43:21.640,0:43:26.829
to stay and in the decade that followed

0:43:23.470,0:43:28.720
an electric pulse of change ran through

0:43:26.829,0:43:32.160
America. We'll see that on the next

0:43:28.720,0:43:34.720
episode of the century America's time

0:43:32.160,0:43:36.120
thank you for joining us I'm Peter

0:43:34.720,0:43:52.010
Jennings

0:43:36.120,0:43:52.010
[Music]