WW1 – The War To End All Wars

2008

Creation Films

Reel DVD

R4 DVD

Reviewer: Bob Estreich

Opinions differ about the value of this sort of documentary. One side looks at them as “armchair history”, not always well researched and often based more on available film footage than the relative importance of t he events being discussed. The other side (and I confess I am one of this group) does not have the time, expertise or references to explore the subjects in a more scholarly manner. DVDs like this set fill the gap and provide sufficient information to raise interest and maybe inspire the viewer to do a little more research of their own.

So how does this 3-DVD set measure up? It covers the build-up to the war, the political situation that caused it, the countries that were involved and the outcomes. The set has its weaknesses but we will look at those later. Its main strength is that it has enough capacity in 3 DVDs to explore the subject in a thorough manner.

There are hints that some of it has been taken from earlier shows. The interviews look around twenty years old or so and much of the action footage has been used before. It has been carefully assembled into a set of chapters that cover the progress of the war.

With Flags Waving

This chapter is the best and clearest explanation to the political lead up to WW1 that I have seen. It starts with the growth in the strength of a combined Germany from Bismarck’s time, and its attempts to marginalise its chief opposition on the continent, France. The complex web of alliances and treaties that eventually involved all countries in the war is explained well.

The Battle Of The Frontiers

The critical location of Belgium as a way around the fortifications of the German-French frontiers put it in danger from both the Germans and the French. Belgium’s refusal to allow foreign troops to cross its borders led to its invasion. Both the French and the Germans simply ignored the little nation in their rush to get at each others’ throats. The valiant Belgian defence of Liege was to be one of their few battles.. The Germans took high casualties as they faced the well prepared and entrenched Belgians, but the result was really never in doubt. The Germans had a new ground-penetrating shell that wrecked the walls and structures and allowed the German troops to take the Belgian forts. In the face of superior German firepower the old fort system was now found to be outdated

France was not so easy. Although the German howitzers were superior against forts, the French had better field artillery in their 75mm fast-firing field gun. Unfortunately the French troops were inexperienced and otherwise less well equipped. They fell back in the face of the sheer numbers of the Germans. Along the border the balance seesawed. Von Moltke, the German leader, was less effective and indecisive. Joffre, the French commander, was overconfident and had ineffectual intelligence.

For a change the British got it right. Sir John French’s British Expeditionary Force was at the right place at the right time, well supplied and well prepared. At Mons they were directly facing the bulk of the German army sweeping down through Belgium. Aerial reconnaissance soon made the French aware of this, but Sir John was unaware of its importance and had contra intelligence that he preferred to believe. He dug in at Mons. Along the front the other countries did the same and the stage was set for the horrors of trench warfare. Interviews and quotes describe emotionally the dreadful experience of being underneath an accurate German heavy bombardment.

The Taxis of the Marne

This chapter discusses the French defence of their territory. It would take time to train and equip more men and gear up their industry to a wartime footing. The battle now was for supplies for the trench troops. Shells were rationed. Winter required warmer clothing, heating and constant clearing of roads and trenches. Any fighting soon became bogged down in the snow and the fight became one of artillery duels.

A War of Chemicals and Engineering

Chlorine gas was introduced at Ypres on an experimental basis. It caused a mass retreat of the affected French soldiers and opened up a five mile gap in the front.

In the East the Russians Czarist troops were forcing the Austro-Hungarians back. The Germans took troops from the Eastern front and reinforced the Austrians. The Russians argued over priorities – keep attacking the Austro-Hungarians or concentrate on Germany? It was decided to keep attacking Germany, but Germany was better organized and industrialized. They wiped out much of the Russian army attacking Prussia. In the south, however, the Russians captured more than 100,000 Austrians. With plenty of shells and led once again by their powerful howitzer guns, the Austrian-German counterattack succeeded and the Russians were forced to withdraw to the Vistula river. The Czar ignored the rising dissatisfaction among his troops and the people.

When Germany and Bulgaria attacked Serbia, the King of Greece refused permission for the allies to land supporting troops and march them through Greece. Serbia’s future was short.

On the Western front the Germans introduced flamethrowers. Losses in trench-based battles were now being counted in the hundreds of thousands.

Flyboys

Aerial warfare was a new development. There were significant intelligence gains from aerial reconnaissance and the military leaders to begin to take it seriously. Photography was a major development but the need to fly low and straight made the aircraft good targets for ground troops. Early bombing was developed. Both sides were aware of the difference reconnaissance and bombing could make to a battle and it was inevitable that aircraft would be built to shoot down the other side’s aircraft. This facet of the war has been better covered in the series Four Years of Thunder, but the coverage in this documentary is quite adequate.

Another little-covered area, German airships, is also explored. For a while they terrorised Londoners at night but they were vulnerable over the battlefield and could not carry a significant bombload. They had a brief use as a night bomber but the development of the night fighter made them a very dangerous proposition. They fell out of use, replaced by the twin engined Gotha bomber.

Citadel

With the Central Powers now fighting on several fronts it was imperative to Germany that at least one of the fronts should be neutralized by a major military strike. Falkenheim, the German commander, believed the French army was at its lowest point and represented the best chance of success. If he could force France into submission it would make it difficult for the other allies to continue fighting on the Western Front. He saw Britain as his main enemy but could only step up submarine warfare against their supply lines. He proposed to stage a feint attack against the French troops at Verdun, forcing the French to counterattack. His well protected troops would destroy the French troops and weaken their military power.

Rather than destroying the French in a counterattack, the initial German attack was quite successful in itself. The Germans halted within five miles of Verdun. At this point Petain was put in charge of the French defenses and readied a counterattack, as Falkenheim had anticipated. Not as planned, though, was the need for the Germans to attack the French guns which had the Germans pinned down on the other side of the river. Attack after attack was driven back and was immediately followed by a French counterattack. It was the Germans who were being decimated in the battle. Joffre was not satisfied with this and replaced Petain with a more aggressive commander who had been nicknamed “the Butcher” because of his contempt for the lives of his men. Repeated attacks destroyed the reserves on both sides. Finally Falkenheim was directed to fight a defensive posture only. He was then replaced. In the final outcome both the German and French armies had lost out and neither fully recovered before the end of the war.

Distant Fronts

The same need to open a new front to increase pressure on Germany and its allies was recognised by the British. The Dardanelles looked like a good prospect to Churchill as this would open up the Black Sea for supplies to Russia. The key point was the Gallipoli peninsula in Turkey. 70,000 men were raised for the invasion – Australian, British, New Zealanders and French. Naval bombardments of the Turkish defences were dangerous as the Straits were sown with mines and the Turkish gunners were better than anticipated. Turkey also realized the importance of Gallipoli and strengthened the peninsula, while the British sorted out their supply problems in Egypt.

The landings were poorly managed. Where troops did get ashore they failed to press inland. The Australian and New Zealand troops (abbreviated to ANZAC) were pinned down at what became known as Anzac Cove. They were facing a very able Turkish commander, Mustafa Kemal. Occasional savage hand to hand fighting in brief raids became the standard of battle as the campaign bogged down. A new landing at Suvla Bay was also a failure when the troops again failed to move inland. Finally the attack was doomed a failure and the troops were evacuated.

Sea battles between the blockading British ships against the German Imperial Fleet were eagerly sought to establish control of the northern oceans. .The Kaiser was reluctant to send his prized navy to sea to face a possible battle loss. This chapter has a good analysis of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the two fleets, including their air support. The fleets finally met off Jutland but the battle was indecisive. The British lost more ships, but the Germans retreated to their ports and stayed there for the duration of the war.

Nationalist Arabs were concerned that the failing Ottoman Empire would not give them their freedom, so they allied themselves with Britain and France against the Turks. T E Lawrence was sent to help them build their own fighting force. The small force raised havoc, particularly with the railway system. They successfully tied down many Turkish troops and eventually controlled large amounts of territory in the eastern Mediterranean. The Ottomans tried to capture the critical Suez Canal. Two successive attacks failed, but many British troops were in their turn tied down in the area. General Allenby was ordered to take Jerusalem. An Australian cavalry charge took Beersheba and broke the Ottoman defensive line, allowing them to move further and take Gaza. Gradually the allies moved up the coast until Jerusalem was finally taken. Further attacks drove the Turkish troops out of Palestine and the Turkish Government signed an Armistice, then surrendered.

Revolt

With the Russians believed to be incapable of launching a major assault in the west, German troops were moved to reinforce the eastern Front. The Russians saw their chance and attempted a massive attack to split the Germans and Austrians. At first it succeeded, but as reinforcements rushed back and the actions in the German part of the front petered out, the Russians were forced to retreat.

The constant losses, the poor conditions and the inept running of the war by the Czar were causing serious unrest in Russia. The 1916-1917 winter saw starvation and food shortages in Russian cities. Demonstrations began calling for a change of government. The Czar ordered his troops to shoot the mobs who were demonstrating. The troops refused. Petrograd fell into the hands of the revolutionaries. Gradually the army began electing its own officers and ignoring the overall command of the Czar. Revolutionaries began touring the battlefronts stirring up the soldiers.

The French army also had problems. By October 1917 more than 250 mutinies had occurred. The long-pressed troops were on the verge of revolt, and refused to take part in the suicidal frontal assaults still favoured by their commanders. Petain was trusted by the troops and was brought back to regain control, but over 500 soldiers were executed for mutiny. At least they managed to get the doctrine of “victory at all costs” revoked. Another effect was that the British and Dominion forces took a greater share of the fighting.

In Russia Lenin’s Bolsheviks finally staged a coup that toppled the government. They then set out to organise an Armistice with the Germans. The armistice cost Russia a third of its agricultural land and much of its population. Germany gained thousands of free troops to send to the Western front.

To relieve pressure on the French and deny Belgian ports to the German U-boats, Haig was ordered to launch an attack into Belgium. It was to be another “attack at all cost” assault so beloved by the homicidal Haig. Despite their inferior artillery, faulty shells, and rainy conditions that made tanks unusable the attack continued and predictably bogged down. The reinforced, well dug in Germans also used a new weapon – mustard gas. The horror of Passchendaele began. Over three months of fighting, half a million soldiers died.

Finally at Cambrai the British got it together. They organized their tanks in massed groups, working over ground that had not been churned into mud by preliminary shelling. Tank and infantry cooperation were essential. Air support was laid on. Unfortunately the advance faltered and eventually the British withdrew back to their previous lines, wasting thousands of lives in the process.

Changing Tide

This chapter explores the political situation in the United States. There was some British sympathy and some distrust of Germany, but no overwhelming will to fight. This attitude changed with the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915 by a submarine. Many Americans lost their lives. President Wilson was forced to respond and threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Germany. A German message urging Mexico to attack the US, supported by Germany, was intercepted and the tide of public opinion swung. Finally when US ships were sunk in a convoy, America joined the war. By June 1918 their troops were moving to Europe. This led to unrestricted submarine warfare by the Germans in a desperate attempt to stop the flow of materiel and men.

The U-boat war and its increasing effectiveness is described in detail. The convoy system was developed as a defence against submarines. Depth charges started to have successes.

Austrians, supplemented by German troops, attacked Italy at Caporetto. The primary attack was highly successful but the subsidiary attacks were held off. Allied aid now flowed to Italy, and eventually the Italians broke the demoralized Austrian forces. Further aid to the area led to Serbia being liberated and Bulgaria pulling out of the war. Germany’s allies were gradually dropping out as the war contracted.

End Game

The leaders of the German forces were coming to the view that they must stage a huge decisive battle to break the allies, or capitulate. The battle was set for north-eastern France along a huge front, and over a million German troops participated. Allied troops were seriously outnumbered and were forced back. The allies regrouped and by early April 1918 it was obvious that the huge attack had failed. The Germans were now low on manpower and supplies and facing the fresh American troops. French counterattacks pushed the Germans back towards the Rhine and U.S. reinforcements were brought in to support the French.

In Russia the fall of the Czar led to a number of areas like Finland defecting and becoming independent. Internal problems – the hatred and disorganization between the Reds and Whites - led them to look inwards and other countries took advantage to capture Russian territory from the Germans for themselves.

In Germany the army was becoming increasingly unhappy with its leadership. Its army’s strength had now fallen by twenty percent. Small groups of soldiers were surrendering to the allies rather than keep fighting. When the Austrians advised Germany that they would arrange a separate peace, Prince Wilhelm finally realized that the war must finish. A new German government was formed, which contacted the allies to arrange an armistice. Ludendorff, head of the army, was in favour of fighting on to the last man but was forced to resign. Wilhelm’s wish for a last gesture sea battle as a matter of honour brought the navy to mutiny. The revolt quickly spread to the rest of the navy, then to the workers.

On November 8 the armistice was signed – by the civilian government. Not a single German officer signed. Perhaps the most disappointed was the American general Pershing who wanted to carry the fight into Germany, reasoning that the Germans must know they had been beaten.

Now let’s look at the weaknesses.

As you would expect from such a massive documentary some of the footage is reused in a number of sections, but the amount of newer footage and the use of stills is outstanding.

There are few interviews and they are not used for padding but to illustrate a point. As noted, they seem to be from older documentaries but this is understandable – there are few survivors of the war left. Often their written words are voiced and the American accent creeps in to some of these. The U.S. pronunciations are a little strange – “admirality” for “Admiralty” is a regular and grating example.

I would like to have seen an attempt to clean up some of the footage. The technology exists, but not using it gives parts of the series a rather low-budget look.

The background music is mostly classical and is a bit sporadic about how well it fits the context. The music played during the credits is dreadfully out of place – Dixieland jazz is simply not appropriate for such a grim subject.

Comparisons with The World At War, the magnificent series covering World War 2, are unavoidable. Although The World At War seems much better produced, this series because of its detailed and thorough content seems to me to be quite a good effort. I especially make allowances for the time differences – The World At War was made about thirty years after the event, while many of the participants were still living and there was much more film footage available. This set covers a war thirty years older again. Overall it’s a good job of a complex subject and I commend it to you.

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This review will appear in Volume 2 No.6 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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