1 00:00:03,050 --> 00:00:08,150 Of all the disasters of the 20th century, the conflagration once called 2 00:00:08,150 --> 00:00:12,910 the Great War looms as the one that damaged mankind irreparably. 3 00:00:13,710 --> 00:00:19,990 It wasn't just the 22 million who died between 1914 and 1918 in populations 4 00:00:19,990 --> 00:00:22,250 dramatically smaller than now. 5 00:00:22,490 --> 00:00:24,650 It was a much greater death. 6 00:00:25,490 --> 00:00:28,530 Centuries-old empires met their end. 7 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:33,000 The world lost generations of philosophers, writers, builders, 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:37,460 musicians, poets, scientists, healers, artists. 9 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:43,940 The flower and seed of a magnificent continent, dead in mud and misery. 10 00:00:50,400 --> 00:00:53,840 The trench soldier felt by 1916-17. 11 00:00:54,570 --> 00:00:58,570 that the war would be endless indeed, and that there would be no survivors 12 00:00:58,570 --> 00:01:02,790 standing there, if you will, with the victor's flag at the end. His death was 13 00:01:02,790 --> 00:01:03,790 inevitable. 14 00:01:05,129 --> 00:01:08,250 Glory, chivalry, and idealism did not survive. 15 00:01:09,050 --> 00:01:13,330 From the horrors were born all the tools, all the monsters, for later 16 00:01:13,330 --> 00:01:16,510 horror. For beginning to end, it was epic. 17 00:01:16,810 --> 00:01:20,910 Its peoples, its battles, its slaughter, its error. 18 00:01:23,980 --> 00:01:30,220 People were full of the notion of sacrifice, and God did they sacrifice. 19 00:01:57,200 --> 00:02:01,460 the millennium that had dawned in nineteen hundred shone upon a european 20 00:02:01,460 --> 00:02:07,140 civilization so dazzling that it seemed within reach of every opulent promise of 21 00:02:07,140 --> 00:02:13,440 mankind there had been many sharp ugly wars over the last century but now 22 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:18,840 europe's cunning diplomatic ballet had at last seemed to balance power for a 23 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:20,180 long prosperous peace 24 00:02:21,900 --> 00:02:27,040 Beyond that, the blood of England's King George V mingled with that of Russia's 25 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:32,700 Tsar Nicholas II, Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Austria's Emperor Franz 26 00:02:32,700 --> 00:02:35,620 Joseph in intricate marriage alliances. 27 00:02:36,140 --> 00:02:42,220 It was cousin Willie, Nicky, and Georgie. What was to fear? 28 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:48,040 In a Victorian afterglow, England's prosperous island was fed by a treasure 29 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:50,760 fleet of merchant ships connected to its colonies. 30 00:02:51,660 --> 00:02:56,600 Its lifelines and shores were protected by the impregnable steel walls of the 31 00:02:56,600 --> 00:02:57,600 Royal Navy. 32 00:02:57,740 --> 00:03:00,500 One quarter of the map was England's red. 33 00:03:03,100 --> 00:03:07,900 Germany was an industrial miracle, becoming Europe's wealthiest center of 34 00:03:07,900 --> 00:03:08,900 industrial might. 35 00:03:09,300 --> 00:03:12,740 The formidable Prussian army was brilliantly professional. 36 00:03:13,080 --> 00:03:15,400 Its navy was growing fast. 37 00:03:16,460 --> 00:03:19,820 Former Chancellor Bismarck had said, I am bored. 38 00:03:20,380 --> 00:03:21,660 the great things are done. 39 00:03:23,420 --> 00:03:28,520 France, with its rich overseas empire, had reached an intellectual and economic 40 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:33,280 prominence that made Paris the golden hub of world culture and business. 41 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:38,240 France's spirited army stood behind an iron line of forts that denied the 42 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:39,840 eastern frontier to the Germans. 43 00:03:40,260 --> 00:03:44,000 A saying was, as happy as God in France. 44 00:03:48,460 --> 00:03:51,780 Russia was a feudal monarchy that gleamed at the crown. 45 00:03:52,820 --> 00:03:58,740 Its sumptuous court hid inner decay, but its titans of literature, music, and 46 00:03:58,740 --> 00:04:00,520 dance gave it world stature. 47 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:06,060 Though Russia's armies were ill-equipped by a poor industrial base, they were 48 00:04:06,060 --> 00:04:07,160 valiant and huge. 49 00:04:07,660 --> 00:04:13,140 But a smoldering revolutionary named Trotsky would observe that history had 50 00:04:13,140 --> 00:04:17,140 already poised its gigantic soldier's boot over the ante. 51 00:04:18,640 --> 00:04:24,400 In Austria, the 66-year reign of the ancient Franz Josef was beset by 52 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:29,460 arrogance and the tensions of a polyglot empire always on the verge of breaking 53 00:04:29,460 --> 00:04:30,840 into ethnic fragments. 54 00:04:31,420 --> 00:04:36,120 But that was nothing new, and the court of Vienna seemed timeless in its 55 00:04:36,120 --> 00:04:37,580 waltzing magnificence. 56 00:04:40,060 --> 00:04:44,880 Far off in Washington's White House, Woodrow Wilson guided a youthful, happy 57 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:49,930 giant. and enjoy the high, peaceful thoughts of the college professor he had 58 00:04:49,930 --> 00:04:50,930 been. 59 00:04:51,350 --> 00:04:58,110 It is correct to say that Americans, by and large, both inside and 60 00:04:58,110 --> 00:05:03,990 outside the government, were of the opinion that wars in Europe were really 61 00:05:03,990 --> 00:05:05,030 none of our business. 62 00:05:06,470 --> 00:05:13,310 In Sarajevo, Bosnia, on the morning of June 28, 1914, a hot, sunny day 63 00:05:13,310 --> 00:05:14,310 of peace everywhere. 64 00:05:15,630 --> 00:05:20,710 Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria and his beloved wife 65 00:05:20,710 --> 00:05:26,230 Sophie, set forth in an open automobile for a day of military review on the 66 00:05:26,230 --> 00:05:28,350 royal couple's 14th wedding anniversary. 67 00:05:31,690 --> 00:05:36,930 But 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, an Austrian who belonged to the Serbian 68 00:05:36,930 --> 00:05:42,050 radical group called Black Hand, was waiting in the Sarajevo mobs along the 69 00:05:42,050 --> 00:05:43,050 parade route. 70 00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:48,660 in two shots he fulfilled his mission killing both franz ferdinand and sophie 71 00:05:48,660 --> 00:05:55,060 the archduke's last words were it is nothing but 72 00:05:55,060 --> 00:05:59,760 princip's small revolver had begun the annihilation of tens of millions 73 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:19,120 The assassination ultimately of the Archduke worked against the interest of 74 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:20,360 Serbian national independence. 75 00:06:20,740 --> 00:06:26,780 Why? Because it gave Austria-Hungary, the government, a pretext to militarily 76 00:06:26,780 --> 00:06:28,980 occupy Serbia for a good period. 77 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:37,360 Soon an ambassador stood before Kaiser Wilhelm asking if Austria-Hungary could 78 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:42,520 count on Germany's support if she mobilized against Serbia, even if Russia 79 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:43,520 came in. 80 00:06:43,690 --> 00:06:47,490 Germany said she could, without thinking she might have to. 81 00:06:48,530 --> 00:06:52,770 The alliances were essentially protective. 82 00:06:53,090 --> 00:06:54,690 This was an armed peace. 83 00:06:56,210 --> 00:07:03,170 Germany felt that it was hemmed in by France and Russia, who of course were 84 00:07:03,170 --> 00:07:04,170 allied. 85 00:07:04,830 --> 00:07:09,930 So there had been a German-Austrian alliance since 1879, which had been 86 00:07:09,930 --> 00:07:11,930 followed by a French-Russian alliance. 87 00:07:13,290 --> 00:07:18,010 At this critical moment, Kaiser Wilhelm went to sea on his yacht for 20 days, 88 00:07:18,230 --> 00:07:21,810 described as the greatest maritime disaster ever. 89 00:07:22,310 --> 00:07:27,610 Behind his back, Austria scuttled the Serbs' conciliation efforts, sent them a 90 00:07:27,610 --> 00:07:31,750 harsh ultimatum, and planned Serbia's subjugation and partition. 91 00:07:32,370 --> 00:07:36,830 Now Russia, responding to Serbian appeals against the Austrian threat, 92 00:07:37,050 --> 00:07:38,050 mobilized. 93 00:07:38,700 --> 00:07:43,140 Austria-Hungary ordered full mobilization without the emperor knowing 94 00:07:43,140 --> 00:07:45,960 that Russia had mobilized on Serbia's side. 95 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:51,260 So began the cascade of mobilizations that was soon to immolate Europe. 96 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,080 This was a time that called for giants, and there were none. 97 00:07:58,460 --> 00:08:04,600 You had a lot of men who were in control, who were afraid. They were 98 00:08:04,600 --> 00:08:07,840 afraid of what would happen to them. 99 00:08:08,910 --> 00:08:12,910 Not if they went to war but what would happen if they didn't go to war 100 00:08:12,910 --> 00:08:21,970 Entering 101 00:08:21,970 --> 00:08:27,230 the fatal August of 1914 the dominoes of dusty alliances kept toppling 102 00:08:27,230 --> 00:08:32,929 Remembering nervously that Russia extended to her East Prussian borders 103 00:08:32,929 --> 00:08:36,549 Germany gave Russia 12 hours to call off mobilization 104 00:08:38,350 --> 00:08:43,570 Next was the preposterous German ultimatum to France, giving her 18 hours 105 00:08:43,570 --> 00:08:47,870 to pledge her neutrality if Germany fought Russia, with the French 106 00:08:47,870 --> 00:08:51,630 fortresses of Verdun and Toul to go to Germany as hostages. 107 00:08:52,170 --> 00:08:53,610 France mobilized. 108 00:08:59,910 --> 00:09:05,590 The rest was formality. By August 3rd, Germany would be at war with France and 109 00:09:05,590 --> 00:09:08,100 Russia. on the side of Austria-Hungary. 110 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:12,100 And it turned out to be rather exhilarating. 111 00:09:13,900 --> 00:09:18,700 War was your chance to distinguish yourself, to put some color on yourself, 112 00:09:18,900 --> 00:09:24,180 to put a decoration on your chest and to know in the face of a large public that 113 00:09:24,180 --> 00:09:26,240 you were being valued for being different. 114 00:09:27,260 --> 00:09:28,860 War was this opportunity. 115 00:09:33,070 --> 00:09:39,910 Between August 2nd and 18th, France would ship 3,781,000 soldiers in 116 00:09:39,910 --> 00:09:44,650 7,000 trains, a train running every eight minutes. 117 00:09:46,190 --> 00:09:52,730 Germany would speed 1,500,000 men to the west and another 500 118 00:09:52,730 --> 00:09:55,310 ,000 to the east against Russia. 119 00:09:56,030 --> 00:10:01,470 It's a war about power, about prestige, about... 120 00:10:01,710 --> 00:10:05,250 colonies, about competing markets. 121 00:10:05,590 --> 00:10:09,190 It's not a war about ideology. 122 00:10:09,750 --> 00:10:11,730 It's a war about 123 00:10:12,460 --> 00:10:14,020 people wanting respect. 124 00:10:14,320 --> 00:10:21,200 It's a war about Germany feeling it's being squeezed in and needing to 125 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:27,840 expand. It's a war about settling old scores the way France was determined 126 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:30,420 to get back Alsace and Lorraine. 127 00:10:30,660 --> 00:10:36,700 It's a war about stabilizing empires as Austria 128 00:10:36,700 --> 00:10:39,880 wanted to neutralize Serbia. 129 00:10:42,190 --> 00:10:47,710 Russia was a very impatient nation in 1914, wanting above all, it seems, 130 00:10:47,930 --> 00:10:53,930 access to the Mediterranean and to the sea trade routes that lay beyond, and 131 00:10:53,930 --> 00:10:59,230 hence it wanted above all control of the straits into the Black Sea. 132 00:11:01,090 --> 00:11:06,670 The supremacy of heavy artillery arrayed in hundreds and thousands and limitless 133 00:11:06,670 --> 00:11:10,870 machine guns set behind miles of barbed wire had yet to be shown. 134 00:11:13,550 --> 00:11:19,130 Indeed, one attack-minded French general would boast that his best weapon was the 135 00:11:19,130 --> 00:11:21,070 living breast of the French soldier. 136 00:11:22,470 --> 00:11:27,330 Germany's secret weapon was its war plan, worked out years earlier by one of 137 00:11:27,330 --> 00:11:32,350 its vaunted tacticians, General Alfred von Schlieffen. The French, von 138 00:11:32,350 --> 00:11:37,110 Schlieffen calculated, would fixate upon regaining the lost provinces of Alsace 139 00:11:37,110 --> 00:11:41,850 and Lorraine and direct their attacks straight eastward towards them and 140 00:11:41,850 --> 00:11:47,060 Germany. Von Schlieffen intended no more than a holding action here, with the 141 00:11:47,060 --> 00:11:51,320 vast preponderance of his German armies concentrated to the north in a 142 00:11:51,320 --> 00:11:52,960 steamroller right wing. 143 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,320 That powerful wing would break in a huge wheeling attack through neutral 144 00:11:58,320 --> 00:11:59,760 Luxembourg and Belgium. 145 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:04,000 Then the attack could sweep down into France by the back door. 146 00:12:04,660 --> 00:12:08,240 The French fortresses facing Germany would be outflanked. 147 00:12:08,440 --> 00:12:12,980 and the French armies crushed between German legions from east and west. 148 00:12:13,520 --> 00:12:17,820 Neither Britain's Prime Minister Herbert Asquith nor his foreign secretary, 149 00:12:17,980 --> 00:12:23,120 Edward Grey, were much interested in Serbia or an ambiguous defense pact with 150 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:24,120 France. 151 00:12:24,560 --> 00:12:30,940 To stand aside would not hurt British honor, unless Germany violated Belgium, 152 00:12:31,160 --> 00:12:36,340 whose neutrality Britain had guaranteed at the formation of that state in 1831. 153 00:12:39,210 --> 00:12:43,190 And there was also the thought of having the rapidly strengthening German fleet 154 00:12:43,190 --> 00:12:47,830 right across the Channel in the Belgian port of Antwerp to challenge Britain's 155 00:12:47,830 --> 00:12:48,830 sea supremacy. 156 00:12:53,090 --> 00:12:55,390 The process was in command. 157 00:12:55,770 --> 00:13:00,370 On August 1st, Germany crossed the Luxembourg border, seized the country 158 00:13:00,370 --> 00:13:04,050 within 24 hours, and demanded free passage through Belgium. 159 00:13:06,090 --> 00:13:09,490 Germany gave Belgium's King Albert 12 hours to agree. 160 00:13:09,770 --> 00:13:13,150 He refused and appealed to King George for support. 161 00:13:15,410 --> 00:13:20,670 Germany's Bettmann-Holweg voiced astonishment that London would go to war 162 00:13:20,670 --> 00:13:23,010 over what he called a scrap of paper. 163 00:13:23,390 --> 00:13:28,970 World opinion abandoned Germany, and on August 4th, Britain declared war. 164 00:13:31,080 --> 00:13:35,340 The army Britain mobilized was blooded in colonial wars and deeply 165 00:13:35,340 --> 00:13:36,340 professional. 166 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:43,320 But it was tiny in this maelstrom, just 125,000 men. 167 00:13:46,260 --> 00:13:50,920 The British expeditionary force rushed to the continent for what all presumed 168 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:52,100 would be a short war. 169 00:13:55,140 --> 00:13:59,980 They recognized that a modern war with modern weapons, the capabilities of 170 00:13:59,980 --> 00:14:03,200 armies and navies at the time, would lead to great slaughter. 171 00:14:04,060 --> 00:14:10,280 But for this very reason, the cost both in blood and treasure would be so great 172 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:12,180 that the war would have to be over very quickly. 173 00:14:12,500 --> 00:14:15,280 This became known as the short war illusion. 174 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:21,680 The von Schlieffen plan was no longer in the hands of its late originator. 175 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:27,560 The general staff was now headed by General Helmut von Moltke, a gloomy 176 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:32,160 shadow of the titan father who had engineered Prussian victory in 1870. 177 00:14:33,340 --> 00:14:37,580 Von Moltke had been forced to tinker fatally with the von Schlieffen plan 178 00:14:37,580 --> 00:14:42,680 when a massive French offensive on his left wing in Lorraine threatened to cut 179 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:45,140 off the German armies advancing through Belgium. 180 00:14:45,700 --> 00:14:50,600 So where Schlieffen had demanded a left wing with only 9% of the forces on the 181 00:14:50,600 --> 00:14:54,600 right, But Moltke had to divert 42% of his armies there. 182 00:14:56,800 --> 00:15:00,960 The British army had deleted the entrenching spade from its equipment. 183 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:07,240 Audacity, audacity, always audacity was the French creed. Their horses were 184 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:13,380 ready. All the powers, England, France, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, held 185 00:15:13,380 --> 00:15:18,880 these great reserves of cavalry equipped with swords and lances, ready for the 186 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:20,340 ride through to victory. 187 00:15:22,700 --> 00:15:29,140 On August 4, 1914, the cavalry spearhead of 60,000 Germans hurtled at the mouth 188 00:15:29,140 --> 00:15:30,940 of the Liege gateway to Belgium. 189 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:36,080 The batteries of great forts dominated the attack corridors. 190 00:15:36,400 --> 00:15:41,360 Some 25,000 Belgians manned the defensive works, and the bridges over 191 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:43,280 the Meuse River had been demolished. 192 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:49,840 The Germans found the going heavy, their attacks sinking bloodily in the Meuse. 193 00:15:52,110 --> 00:15:54,390 But a German legend was being born. 194 00:15:54,590 --> 00:15:59,590 An obscure colonel of fusiliers, Erich Ludendorff, became separated from his 195 00:15:59,590 --> 00:16:01,550 own unit in the confusion of battle. 196 00:16:03,770 --> 00:16:06,390 In the chaos, Ludendorff shone. 197 00:16:06,810 --> 00:16:11,810 He got the milling German cavalry onto the right road to swing behind the Liege 198 00:16:11,810 --> 00:16:12,810 defense. 199 00:16:13,270 --> 00:16:17,830 When the commanding general fell, Ludendorff leaped into his place. 200 00:16:18,280 --> 00:16:21,960 entered Liege and became Germany's Wagnerian hero. 201 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:28,680 Lost in the battle smoke was the real hero of the siege, the war's first 202 00:16:28,680 --> 00:16:35,360 secret weapon, enormous 420-millimeter siege guns that wrecked the thick-walled 203 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,380 forts one by one with man-sized shells. 204 00:16:44,260 --> 00:16:50,120 We might say now that the Germans had no sense of public relations. 205 00:16:52,840 --> 00:16:59,740 And they proved that again and again in their invasion of Belgium 206 00:16:59,740 --> 00:17:01,600 and of northern France. 207 00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:07,819 There would be suspected guerrilla action and they would simply line 208 00:17:07,819 --> 00:17:10,859 hundreds of men from 209 00:17:11,660 --> 00:17:18,540 eight-year-olds to eighty-four-year-olds up against a wall and kill them they 210 00:17:18,540 --> 00:17:24,040 burned the great library of louvain 211 00:17:24,040 --> 00:17:28,780 one of the great centers of culture in the middle ages 212 00:17:28,780 --> 00:17:35,700 and the legend of the raping burning 213 00:17:35,700 --> 00:17:39,420 murdering hun would be a formidable weapon in the hands of allied 214 00:17:39,420 --> 00:17:40,420 propagandists 215 00:17:41,740 --> 00:17:46,740 The ghosts of the murdered Belgians would form themselves in armies, 216 00:17:46,980 --> 00:17:49,020 haunting Germany to its death. 217 00:18:12,270 --> 00:18:16,830 With the war only days old, the German momentum was building as they plunged 218 00:18:16,830 --> 00:18:21,690 deeper into Belgium, heading for Namur and the Meuse. 219 00:18:24,410 --> 00:18:30,190 The French chief of staff, Marshal Joseph Jacques César Joffre, massive, 220 00:18:30,290 --> 00:18:34,310 pugnacious, remote from the welfare of his troops and the true situation, 221 00:18:34,630 --> 00:18:38,430 followed von Schlieffen's script like one of his soldiers. 222 00:18:40,010 --> 00:18:46,410 The French attacks in Lorraine, it had to be Lorraine and Alsace because part 223 00:18:46,410 --> 00:18:49,730 of the rhetoric was getting the lost provinces back. 224 00:18:56,670 --> 00:18:59,950 They were destroyed by the Germans. 225 00:19:00,550 --> 00:19:07,450 Do you realize that the French lost 300,000 men in 226 00:19:07,450 --> 00:19:08,890 the first three months? 227 00:19:19,020 --> 00:19:24,780 In England, its hero war minister, Field Marshal Lord Horatio Kitchener, the 228 00:19:24,780 --> 00:19:28,920 legendary Kitchener of Khartoum, saw things with brutal clarity. 229 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,200 Kitchener argued that the Germans were readying their knockout punch through 230 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:35,200 Belgium. 231 00:19:35,950 --> 00:19:40,610 He saw the British officer corps as the preserve of gentlemen who dislike having 232 00:19:40,610 --> 00:19:46,030 to take their profession seriously and stated that the war would be won by the 233 00:19:46,030 --> 00:19:48,090 nation with the last million men. 234 00:19:49,350 --> 00:19:53,370 Squarely in the path of the huge and unrushing German right wing, the scant 235 00:19:53,370 --> 00:19:58,450 100,000 men of the British Expeditionary Force deployed where the Belgian front 236 00:19:58,450 --> 00:20:01,530 hinged on the mining center of Mons. 237 00:20:02,110 --> 00:20:03,450 The British commander, 238 00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:09,800 Amiable, skittish Sir John French was nowhere up to the job, but was blessed 239 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:14,040 with a brilliant subordinate, Tigerish General Horace Smith Dorian. 240 00:20:15,700 --> 00:20:19,840 French's position lay squarely in the path of the belligerent gambler General 241 00:20:19,840 --> 00:20:24,780 Alexander von Kluck, leading the powerful First Army, northernmost force 242 00:20:24,780 --> 00:20:25,780 of the German wheel. 243 00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:33,300 Von Kluck rushed directly at the best-trained riflemen in the world. 244 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:38,040 So deadly was the fire of the British professionals that the Germans could not 245 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:40,320 believe they were not up against machine guns. 246 00:20:41,140 --> 00:20:42,940 Their dead piled up. 247 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,020 Although German artillery finally drove the British back, 248 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:53,020 Mons was taken as a British victory, and the survivors were thereafter called 249 00:20:53,020 --> 00:20:57,400 Mons men and wore a special medal called the Mons Star. 250 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,240 The French in particular were so... 251 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:08,320 inexperienced with war come 1914 and so untrained in the future 252 00:21:08,320 --> 00:21:12,800 conduct of war that they sent soldiers to the front this in the fall of 1914 in 253 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:17,380 red pants lo and behold because of course the german machine gunner could 254 00:21:17,380 --> 00:21:22,380 spot them in a second this practice was immediately changed 255 00:21:22,380 --> 00:21:28,560 joffre remained blind to the mortal danger to his armies 256 00:21:30,060 --> 00:21:35,980 His futile Plan 17, the frontal assault of the German center in Lorraine, was 257 00:21:35,980 --> 00:21:36,980 stopped cold. 258 00:21:38,780 --> 00:21:43,780 The French made no use of stealth, ground, or short rushes. They chanced 259 00:21:43,780 --> 00:21:46,500 all on audacity and died for it. 260 00:21:48,240 --> 00:21:52,940 To the north, the gallant British expeditionary force was being expended 261 00:21:52,940 --> 00:21:56,940 in a series of tragic battles, sometimes to slow the Germans. 262 00:21:57,420 --> 00:22:02,260 and sometimes because the exhausted men had strength to shoot but not to walk. 263 00:22:04,300 --> 00:22:07,220 Von Moltke's grip was closing upon Paris. 264 00:22:08,680 --> 00:22:13,360 But where were the reports of huge prisoner bags and captured guns, the 265 00:22:13,360 --> 00:22:15,600 only sure sign of a foe defeated? 266 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:22,580 The one bright spot in the Allied picture was General Joseph Simon 267 00:22:22,580 --> 00:22:23,580 Gallieni. 268 00:22:24,690 --> 00:22:31,350 Galliani was old, he was retired, but he was the best of the French generals, and 269 00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:35,070 he was pulled out of retirement to set up defenses around Paris. 270 00:22:41,210 --> 00:22:44,530 The French government was prepared to evacuate Paris. 271 00:22:46,470 --> 00:22:48,790 Women were weeping in the streets. 272 00:22:51,850 --> 00:22:56,830 so unstoppable seemed the german wheel on paris that general french proposed a 273 00:22:56,830 --> 00:23:02,210 retirement of the british expeditionary force to england only a furious rebuttal 274 00:23:02,210 --> 00:23:08,330 by kitchener held in england sir arthur conan doyle spoke of the most terrible 275 00:23:08,330 --> 00:23:14,210 august in the history of the world one thought that god's curse hung heavy when 276 00:23:14,210 --> 00:23:18,510 cluck meeting galling resistance and beginning to feel his overextension 277 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:24,260 began the undoing of his rampaging right wing by invoking a crucial change in the 278 00:23:24,260 --> 00:23:25,860 plan that had served him so well. 279 00:23:26,820 --> 00:23:31,940 Instead of swinging southwestward around Paris, he began turning inward to the 280 00:23:31,940 --> 00:23:35,080 south to pin the French armies between two German forces. 281 00:23:35,900 --> 00:23:40,980 This presented the flank of his army, already weakened by two corps sent to 282 00:23:40,980 --> 00:23:45,680 East Prussia on the Russian front, to a flanking counterattack from forces in 283 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:49,980 Paris. This seemed not to concern his impetuous nature. 284 00:23:51,300 --> 00:23:56,280 The new aerial reconnaissance capability proved its mettle by spotting the 285 00:23:56,280 --> 00:23:58,720 godsent inward wheel along the marne. 286 00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:05,560 Von Kluck with the bit in his teeth drove his stretched, exhausted forces 287 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:06,560 forward. 288 00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:13,320 When men march day in, day out, day in, day out, there comes a point where they 289 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:14,320 get a little tired. 290 00:24:15,630 --> 00:24:22,350 And furthermore, they did not anticipate what hauling guns over these 291 00:24:22,350 --> 00:24:25,030 distances was going to do to their horses. 292 00:24:26,830 --> 00:24:28,710 Paris began to panic. 293 00:24:29,370 --> 00:24:32,590 Crowds demanded that it be declared an open city. 294 00:24:33,010 --> 00:24:37,210 Dropped German leaflets declared there is nothing you can do but surrender. 295 00:24:39,550 --> 00:24:41,870 Refugees rushed toward the railway stations. 296 00:24:42,670 --> 00:24:43,870 Ministers wept. 297 00:24:45,939 --> 00:24:50,640 Gallieni responded, I have received a mandate to defend Paris against the 298 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:53,720 invader. This mandate I shall carry out to the end. 299 00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:00,380 Joffre finally began to see the possibilities of the Germans' flank 300 00:25:00,380 --> 00:25:01,380 being in the air. 301 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:06,600 He sent Gallieni to see if Sir John French's British expeditionary force was 302 00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:07,820 ready to join an attack. 303 00:25:08,400 --> 00:25:13,550 Sir John became lost in the Gallic language and finally blurted, tell him 304 00:25:13,550 --> 00:25:19,890 that all that men can do our fellows will do the battle of the marne was a 305 00:25:19,890 --> 00:25:24,770 series of fused deadly clashes that began on september 5th and bled on 306 00:25:24,770 --> 00:25:26,370 through seven dreadful days 307 00:25:26,370 --> 00:25:32,050 the 308 00:25:32,050 --> 00:25:36,770 germans had not looked to their flags and gaps in their line appeared 309 00:25:36,770 --> 00:25:40,720 everywhere They botched their communications. They attacked without 310 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:45,660 reconnaissance or artillery preparation and advanced in the open against mass 311 00:25:45,660 --> 00:25:46,660 fire. 312 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:52,820 All the mistakes their despised foes had made in the early going. 313 00:25:53,060 --> 00:25:55,860 The big wheel was bound to run out of gas. 314 00:25:56,220 --> 00:25:59,260 They had gone too far too quickly. 315 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:06,340 Some days they would average 26 miles marching and they 316 00:26:06,340 --> 00:26:11,990 didn't have the logistical ability to keep up with this march. 317 00:26:15,670 --> 00:26:21,050 At one critical juncture, as the French line began to bend, General Gallieni 318 00:26:21,050 --> 00:26:26,570 collected 1,200 French taxicabs to rush decisive reinforcements to the front. 319 00:26:27,950 --> 00:26:33,410 It was history's first important use of gasoline-powered mobility in war. 320 00:26:37,150 --> 00:26:40,150 By bit, the German wedge fell back to the river end. 321 00:26:41,230 --> 00:26:42,670 Paris was saved. 322 00:26:43,250 --> 00:26:47,330 Nobody could know it, but the wild mobility that had characterized the 323 00:26:47,330 --> 00:26:50,350 war's first weeks in the West was over for good. 324 00:26:51,790 --> 00:26:55,850 Obviously, we will never know what would have happened if the Germans had taken 325 00:26:55,850 --> 00:26:57,290 Paris in 1914. 326 00:26:58,410 --> 00:27:04,690 But the evidence that we do have on this general issue 327 00:27:04,690 --> 00:27:11,410 is... that there is nothing to suggest that the French were going to throw 328 00:27:11,410 --> 00:27:12,970 in the towel. 329 00:27:15,750 --> 00:27:19,310 Meanwhile, in the East, the death machine had not been idle. 330 00:27:20,310 --> 00:27:25,270 The German rebuff on the Marne was more than recouped at the gates of Prussia. 331 00:27:34,060 --> 00:27:38,140 While the Battle of the Marne had raged on the Western Front throughout August, 332 00:27:38,460 --> 00:27:42,420 the huge Russian army had tried for decisive victory in the East. 333 00:27:43,160 --> 00:27:49,880 The Germans had relatively few troops in the East because 334 00:27:49,880 --> 00:27:56,720 their intention was to deal with France as quickly as 335 00:27:56,720 --> 00:27:58,980 they could, and they were convinced they could. 336 00:27:59,420 --> 00:28:05,220 take France out of the war in a matter of a month or six weeks. 337 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:14,480 The Russians then started their offensive in what was then called East 338 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:19,940 Prussia. The defenders of the wide German front covering over 200 miles of 339 00:28:19,940 --> 00:28:25,960 East Prussian border numbered barely 135,000 men under General Max von 340 00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:26,960 Prittwitz. 341 00:28:28,140 --> 00:28:33,980 The Russian armies bearing down on them numbered 650,000 men, an advantage of 342 00:28:33,980 --> 00:28:34,980 four to one. 343 00:28:37,780 --> 00:28:43,380 They moved in two armies commanded by Generals Alexander Samsonov and Pavel 344 00:28:43,380 --> 00:28:44,380 Renenkov. 345 00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:51,480 The Russians were good soldiers. The trouble was they just didn't have the 346 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:52,480 right arms. 347 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,840 Sometimes they didn't even have rifles. 348 00:28:55,200 --> 00:28:56,920 They didn't have enough... 349 00:28:59,220 --> 00:29:04,640 Between the opposing armies lay a hump-filled countryside broken miserably 350 00:29:04,640 --> 00:29:06,860 with forests, lakes, and marshes. 351 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:13,200 The Russians could deploy only slowly over narrow fronts, enabling the Germans 352 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,200 to shift forces over their efficient railway systems. 353 00:29:17,060 --> 00:29:21,260 Seeing that the Russian armies would be split upon entering East Prussia and 354 00:29:21,260 --> 00:29:25,400 arrive on the battlefield at different times, The German high command made 355 00:29:25,400 --> 00:29:28,140 plans to defeat each in separate turn. 356 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:36,520 Von Moltke misinterpreted an adjustment in the line by von Prittwitz as defeat 357 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:39,840 and retreat and made a far-reaching decision. 358 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:42,920 He changed commanders. 359 00:29:44,060 --> 00:29:49,380 On August 28th, he cabled General Erich Ludendorff, the hero of Liege. 360 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,240 You may yet be able to save the situation in the east. 361 00:29:56,520 --> 00:30:00,240 On Ludendorff's train to Prussia, there was a fortuitous meeting. 362 00:30:01,180 --> 00:30:05,140 Aboard was General Paul von Hindenburg, called out of retirement. 363 00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:08,560 The commanders connected instantly in spirit. 364 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:14,560 Hindenburg and Ludendorff would become virtually one as military dictators of 365 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:15,560 Germany. 366 00:30:15,960 --> 00:30:19,780 Hindenburg and Ludendorff proceeded with the plan for which von Prittwitz had 367 00:30:19,780 --> 00:30:21,760 been fired. It worked perfectly. 368 00:30:22,250 --> 00:30:27,130 helped by the Russian propensity to send radio messages in the clear so that the 369 00:30:27,130 --> 00:30:28,510 Germans knew their plans. 370 00:30:31,390 --> 00:30:36,510 On August 26, the huge, pivotal Battle of Tannenberg began to unfold. 371 00:30:38,390 --> 00:30:43,510 Samsonov drove his split-off army into a trap baited by a purposely thin German 372 00:30:43,510 --> 00:30:44,510 center. 373 00:30:45,910 --> 00:30:50,210 As Samsonov wired vainly for Rennenkamp's army to be rushed to his 374 00:30:50,210 --> 00:30:55,280 rescue, The Germans methodically crushed his flanks and pinched off his center. 375 00:30:57,140 --> 00:31:01,860 When they closed behind him by capturing the rail and road center at Neidenburg, 376 00:31:02,060 --> 00:31:03,780 the disaster was complete. 377 00:31:07,860 --> 00:31:10,760 There were 92,000 Russian prisoners. 378 00:31:16,200 --> 00:31:19,700 Samsonov bade farewell to his staff and walked into the woods. 379 00:31:20,220 --> 00:31:22,260 A single pistol shot was heard. 380 00:31:24,660 --> 00:31:28,180 Nobody bothered to go into the woods to search for his body. 381 00:31:50,220 --> 00:31:57,100 in the terrible crisis of the war as the most likely people to bring Germany 382 00:31:57,100 --> 00:31:58,100 victory. 383 00:32:01,480 --> 00:32:05,980 Austria had pounced upon the Serbs to take the long-desired territory. 384 00:32:07,340 --> 00:32:13,060 On August 16, a ferociously fighting Serbian army under a defensive genius 385 00:32:13,060 --> 00:32:18,080 named Radomir Putnik smashed the Austrian attack at the Battle of the 386 00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:19,080 Jadar River. 387 00:32:20,520 --> 00:32:24,980 Then they were beaten by the Russians in 1914. 388 00:32:25,420 --> 00:32:32,020 They continually had to call on the Germans to save them. 389 00:32:32,180 --> 00:32:38,600 And this happened again and again. It's one of the motifs of that war. 390 00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:43,680 And when the Germans saved them, where did the Germans have to get the troops? 391 00:32:43,900 --> 00:32:45,300 From the Western Front. 392 00:32:46,190 --> 00:32:50,190 A German officer sighed gloomily, we are fettered to a corpse. 393 00:32:50,450 --> 00:32:53,150 And there was no comfort in the West either. 394 00:32:55,830 --> 00:33:01,450 No one realized the great implications of this many soldiers on a battlefield. 395 00:33:02,790 --> 00:33:09,750 Now, in 1914, the machine gun and rapid fire artillery gave 396 00:33:09,750 --> 00:33:15,510 an individual the capability to cover about three times the ground that he had 397 00:33:15,510 --> 00:33:20,510 before in the war of 1870, and yet there were ten times the troops. 398 00:33:22,070 --> 00:33:26,370 As the fronts hardened, each side saw its only hope for advantage at the 399 00:33:26,370 --> 00:33:31,310 flanks, and there began a leapfrogging series of movements, the so-called race 400 00:33:31,310 --> 00:33:37,390 to the sea, to either get around the enemy or to defend against his end runs. 401 00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:43,680 There was no place where you could maneuver. 402 00:33:44,340 --> 00:33:51,200 And that became the great dilemma of the war in France and Belgium. 403 00:33:51,660 --> 00:33:53,160 How do you get through? 404 00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,260 By the end of September 1914, 405 00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:06,860 two months after the Great War began, the Western Front became a brutal 406 00:34:06,860 --> 00:34:08,880 honeycomb of astonishing complexity. 407 00:34:12,650 --> 00:34:18,469 The man-height trenches grew underground dugouts for men and horses, galleries to 408 00:34:18,469 --> 00:34:24,210 accommodate stores and headquarters, pillboxes, ammunition dumps, traverses, 409 00:34:24,210 --> 00:34:25,670 and communication tunnels. 410 00:34:25,949 --> 00:34:31,070 And the trenches appeared in successive lines, shrouding themselves in thousands 411 00:34:31,070 --> 00:34:32,670 of miles of barbed wire. 412 00:34:33,150 --> 00:34:35,030 Trench warfare was hell on earth. 413 00:34:38,850 --> 00:34:40,969 Mud, disease, typhus. 414 00:34:42,549 --> 00:34:49,270 Rats inside the trenches gas shells day after day of 415 00:34:49,270 --> 00:34:50,690 cold and filth 416 00:34:50,690 --> 00:34:57,890 With 417 00:34:57,890 --> 00:35:02,630 the front stabilized it was possible to begin the massing of artillery wheel to 418 00:35:02,630 --> 00:35:05,970 wheel in great packs for uses in defense and attack 419 00:35:07,950 --> 00:35:12,690 Artillery men soon became artists, masters of the creeping barrage and the 420 00:35:12,690 --> 00:35:14,350 pre-registered firestorm. 421 00:35:17,930 --> 00:35:22,390 The great killer of the First World War was artillery. 422 00:35:23,630 --> 00:35:30,490 Artillery accounted for 70% of the casualties in the 423 00:35:30,490 --> 00:35:31,690 First World War. 424 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:40,340 The Western Front, by the beginning of 1915, had become a line of entrenchments 425 00:35:40,340 --> 00:35:43,880 reaching from Switzerland to the Channel, over 400 miles. 426 00:35:46,020 --> 00:35:50,500 It was said that a man could walk from Switzerland to the Channel and never 427 00:35:50,500 --> 00:35:51,520 emerge above ground. 428 00:35:55,740 --> 00:35:57,660 It was more than most men could bear. 429 00:36:12,140 --> 00:36:17,180 With firepower in sheer numbers ending all Western Front mobility in the early 430 00:36:17,180 --> 00:36:19,780 war, Antwerp was evacuated. 431 00:36:30,860 --> 00:36:35,860 The remains of the Belgian and British forces fell back to dig in on a fragment 432 00:36:35,860 --> 00:36:40,860 of Belgian soil in Flanders that would become infamous for four years. 433 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,340 as the war's most lethal ground. 434 00:36:44,620 --> 00:36:48,840 Von Moltke's failures had brought command of the German army to General 435 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:55,500 Erich von Falkenhayn. He was enigmatic, dashing, and stopped cold by an old 436 00:36:55,500 --> 00:36:57,280 reliable weapon, mud. 437 00:36:59,520 --> 00:37:04,240 If they had overpowered the Belgians, they... 438 00:37:04,650 --> 00:37:11,330 could have gained the last real prizes of 1914, which were the channel ports. 439 00:37:12,290 --> 00:37:18,610 The Belgians under King Albert opted to flood that flat 440 00:37:18,610 --> 00:37:24,390 landscape, and that flooded landscape absolutely stopped the Germans. 441 00:37:26,370 --> 00:37:31,330 Defending the ports with the French, the British Expeditionary Force made a 442 00:37:31,330 --> 00:37:32,970 magnificent stand at Ypres. 443 00:37:33,580 --> 00:37:38,320 called wipers forever by the british the british defensive salient was shaped 444 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:43,640 chillingly like a skull within it one million would die or be maimed 445 00:37:43,640 --> 00:37:49,940 slaughtered at triple the rate of any other sector kitchener cried out this 446 00:37:49,940 --> 00:37:56,020 isn't war the battle died down and the armies dug deeper 447 00:37:56,020 --> 00:37:58,960 we know 448 00:37:59,690 --> 00:38:03,810 that soldiers began to recognize that the conditions of war this war of 449 00:38:03,810 --> 00:38:08,910 attrition this bleeding of the enemy to death was forever changing their lives 450 00:38:08,910 --> 00:38:13,950 when they recognized themselves that probably their most important weapon for 451 00:38:13,950 --> 00:38:20,250 protection was the spade not the gun not the bayonet the germans did 452 00:38:20,250 --> 00:38:25,850 something very smart early on in the war and that was that they gained 453 00:38:25,850 --> 00:38:26,850 practically 454 00:38:27,420 --> 00:38:30,900 All the high ground on the Western Front. 455 00:38:39,060 --> 00:38:43,160 The nation suddenly understood that this was another sort of war. 456 00:38:44,920 --> 00:38:49,180 A munitions machine of unheard-of size had sprung up everywhere. 457 00:38:51,100 --> 00:38:56,560 The French 75mm guns alone were spewing 30,000 rounds a day. 458 00:38:57,260 --> 00:39:01,480 England was soon turning out 1,200,000 shells a month. 459 00:39:02,420 --> 00:39:05,700 The army's butchery would need every one of them. 460 00:39:10,500 --> 00:39:16,360 As 1915 began, the German planners broke into rival camps called Easterners and 461 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:22,460 Westerners, each seeing his own front as the decisive one to break the stalemate. 462 00:39:24,110 --> 00:39:28,230 The Hindenburg Ludendorff team managed to take Warsaw from the Russians, 463 00:39:28,430 --> 00:39:32,850 although the enemy retreat into the Russian vastnesses made it meaningless. 464 00:39:37,970 --> 00:39:42,750 The Austrians again knocked heads against the Serbs and came out with 100 465 00:39:42,750 --> 00:39:44,930 ,000 dead and nothing gained. 466 00:39:45,450 --> 00:39:48,290 The Germans hoped for more from Turkey. 467 00:39:48,610 --> 00:39:50,670 The Germans were successful. 468 00:39:51,420 --> 00:39:55,480 in drawing the Ottoman Empire into the war on their side. 469 00:39:55,980 --> 00:40:01,520 That meant that they had to fight Russia in the Caucasus. 470 00:40:02,740 --> 00:40:08,420 It meant that when British forces landed in what is today Iraq, they had to fight 471 00:40:08,420 --> 00:40:09,420 them there. 472 00:40:14,940 --> 00:40:20,660 Turkey, although the Ottoman Empire had lost most of its European territories, 473 00:40:21,180 --> 00:40:27,460 still had the area around what was then Constantinople, is now Istanbul, and the 474 00:40:27,460 --> 00:40:32,500 Dardanelles. In other words, the straits connecting the Aegean Sea with the Black 475 00:40:32,500 --> 00:40:33,500 Sea. 476 00:40:33,540 --> 00:40:40,440 And this was an area of enormous importance because it was the most 477 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:47,320 plausible route by which the Western powers could supply Russia with military 478 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:48,320 supplies 479 00:40:49,670 --> 00:40:53,610 Although Turkish attempts to break into Russia through the Caucasus in December 480 00:40:53,610 --> 00:40:58,410 were bloodily repulsed, the nervous Russians appealed to Britain for a 481 00:40:58,410 --> 00:41:01,150 British diversion to ease the threat from the south. 482 00:41:03,470 --> 00:41:06,870 The British and the French were determined to force the Dardanelles. 483 00:41:08,070 --> 00:41:14,850 They planned a combined land and naval campaign, the largest amphibious 484 00:41:14,850 --> 00:41:17,090 operation probably ever tried up to that point. 485 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:21,940 Winston Churchill, as Lord of the Admiralty, was one of the principal 486 00:41:21,940 --> 00:41:22,940 architects. 487 00:41:27,880 --> 00:41:32,580 An attempt by British and French fleets to force the Dardanelles by naval 488 00:41:32,580 --> 00:41:38,220 gunpower alone foundered in a series of spectacular sinkings of three attacking 489 00:41:38,220 --> 00:41:41,240 battleships by Turkish mines and shore battles. 490 00:41:42,730 --> 00:41:46,950 The seizure of the Dardanelles would have to be given over to an army landed 491 00:41:46,950 --> 00:41:47,950 by sea. 492 00:41:49,670 --> 00:41:54,110 The attack point chosen was the Gallipoli Peninsula, guarding the 493 00:41:54,110 --> 00:41:55,790 European side of the straits. 494 00:41:58,050 --> 00:42:02,690 Imposing cliffs looked down on the sea with points rising to 1,200 feet. 495 00:42:03,810 --> 00:42:08,610 Access from narrow rocky beaches was limited to a series of gullies running 496 00:42:08,610 --> 00:42:10,310 up through low, dense scrub. 497 00:42:11,630 --> 00:42:16,170 the capable general sir ian hamilton was sent by kitchener to command two 498 00:42:16,170 --> 00:42:20,610 divisions of australians and new zealanders under general sir william 499 00:42:20,610 --> 00:42:27,090 birdwood the anzacs and a french brigade numbered seventy thousand and were 500 00:42:27,090 --> 00:42:33,850 destined for valorous calamity trying for the impossible goals they would go 501 00:42:33,850 --> 00:42:35,430 over the mountains toward 502 00:42:36,570 --> 00:42:41,990 Constantinople, as it was called then, and others would go up into the Balkans. 503 00:42:41,990 --> 00:42:46,390 The idea would be to hit Germany from another side. 504 00:42:46,630 --> 00:42:51,570 Of course, it didn't work because, thanks to the Turkish machine guns, 505 00:42:51,890 --> 00:42:58,790 Gallipoli simply turned into the Western Front gone vertical. 506 00:43:01,580 --> 00:43:06,180 The defenders fought superbly under the capable German General Limon von 507 00:43:06,180 --> 00:43:09,800 Sanders, who soon commanded 84,000 Turks. 508 00:43:10,900 --> 00:43:15,560 The Gallipoli landings were made from small boats and awkward landing ships, 509 00:43:15,780 --> 00:43:18,680 bunching the troops for the murderous fire that met them. 510 00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:24,820 The forces were scattered around four small and unconnected beaches around the 511 00:43:24,820 --> 00:43:25,820 toe of the peninsula. 512 00:43:27,620 --> 00:43:32,280 Confused and floundering everywhere, the attackers missed key tactical and 513 00:43:32,280 --> 00:43:36,980 strategic opportunities to go forward where the Turks were weak and walked 514 00:43:36,980 --> 00:43:39,860 instead into a series of hornets' nests. 515 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:48,640 Quickly, the attacking forces found themselves pinned by Turkish forces on 516 00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:53,340 cramped strips of unsheltered beach beneath virtually unassailable heights 517 00:43:53,340 --> 00:43:56,860 from which defenders poured down non-stop death. 518 00:43:58,190 --> 00:44:03,050 As Turkish reinforcements arrived to freeze the lines, all Birdwood could 519 00:44:03,050 --> 00:44:06,790 think to tell his dying soldiers was to dig, dig, dig. 520 00:44:07,950 --> 00:44:12,050 The Anzacs did, picking up the permanent name of Diggers. 521 00:44:14,350 --> 00:44:19,010 Nowhere was courage expended more recklessly or hopelessly than at 522 00:44:19,010 --> 00:44:21,170 Gallipoli, in attacks on the heights. 523 00:44:21,470 --> 00:44:25,330 In three days, a third of the assault force had fallen. 524 00:44:27,310 --> 00:44:32,050 The Royal Navy came in close to help with big gunfire, but the German 525 00:44:32,050 --> 00:44:33,410 submarines were waiting. 526 00:44:35,690 --> 00:44:38,630 Three British battleships went to the bottom. 527 00:44:39,050 --> 00:44:40,990 Careers began to dissolve. 528 00:44:43,370 --> 00:44:48,230 British Prime Minister Asquith removed Winston Churchill as First Lord of the 529 00:44:48,230 --> 00:44:49,230 Admiralty. 530 00:44:51,670 --> 00:44:56,510 By July, Gallipoli battle casualties had passed the 50,000 mark. 531 00:44:57,390 --> 00:45:03,250 Names like Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove became symbols of useless courage and 532 00:45:03,250 --> 00:45:04,250 prodigious waste. 533 00:45:04,850 --> 00:45:10,910 Another 40,000 diggers fell in August for what a soldier called five acres of 534 00:45:10,910 --> 00:45:12,170 bad grazing ground. 535 00:45:12,710 --> 00:45:19,650 What you had as a result was a terrible, bloody fight that runs through most 536 00:45:19,650 --> 00:45:26,050 of 1915, in which approximately a million men from both sides 537 00:45:26,590 --> 00:45:31,850 fight over this small peninsula, and a quarter of them are buried there still 538 00:45:31,850 --> 00:45:32,850 today. 539 00:45:34,170 --> 00:45:40,890 Shortly after a December blizzard froze and drowned 280 men in trenches, the 540 00:45:40,890 --> 00:45:45,610 gallant diggers of Gallipoli were pulled out, and hell thereafter would hold no 541 00:45:45,610 --> 00:45:50,390 new terrors for them, such as the one they were due to endure on other 542 00:45:50,390 --> 00:45:52,670 miserable fronts of this great war. 543 00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:55,940 now consuming mankind without end.