All language subtitles for The.First.World.War.S01E01.DVDRip.MVGROUP.en

NARRATOR: Kosutnjak Park,
outside the Serbian capital, Belgrade.

In May 1914, a Bosnian student, Gavrilo Princip,

came here with a Browning pistol

for some target practice.

Princip was 19 years old

According to his instructor,
he was not a very good shot.

Other students were much more confident

Whenever Princip missed the target
people standing around would laugh at him

That would drive him to tears

Out of sight in the forest, he had
a chance to get his eye in, shooting at trees.

His ultimate goal was far more ambitious.

PRINCIP:
I am an adherent of the radical anarchist idea

which aims at destroying the present system
through terrorim

In 1914, Princip's wish was granted.

The First World War began almost by accident.

It ended just as strangely.

In between, it was more destructive
than any war had ever been.

More British, French and Italian soldiers died
in the First World War than died in the Second.

It was the first genuinely global conflict, fought
not just on the fields of France and Flanders,

but up mountains, across deserts,
at sea and in the air.

The First World War shaped the 20th century.

It sparked the Russian Revolution.

It launched America as a world power.

The fault lines from its failed peace settlement

led the world to a second terrible war
barely 20 years later,

then to the Cold War.

But the ideas the men of 1914 fought for

still shape our world today:

nationalism and democracy, the rule
of international law, and the rights of nations.

Now, after the collapse of Communism,

the European map resembles the one
redrawn by the First World War.

We live with its unresolved,
bitter consequences:

in the Middle East and the Balkans.

And it was in the Balkans that it all began,
nearly a hundred years ago.

At the start of the 20th century, as at its close,

the Balkans
were the most unstable part of Europe.

Here, three great empires
fought for power and influence:

the Austro-Hungarian,
the Russian and the Ottoman.

For hundreds of years,
the Ottoman Turks had the upper hand.

Serbia, Bosnia, Albania,
were under their control.

They built over 80 mosques
in Serbian Belgrade.

But by the 1900s, only this one was left.

Serbia had thrown the Turks out and
set herself up as an independent Slav kingdom.

(Chanting)

But right on Serbia's border was
an even greater challenge to Slav nationalism:

the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The old Turks of the south have gone

But new enemies come from the north

more fearsome and dangerous than the old

They want to take our freedom
and our language from us and crush us

Gavrilo Princip
was born in a poor, mountainous part of Bosnia.

His house was destroyed
in the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

His initials, carved in 1909,
are one of the few signs he ever lived here.

The year before,

control of Bosnia had been wrested
from the Turks by the Austro-Hungarians,

the enemy Princip wanted to destroy.

His particular target was the heir
to the Austro-Hungarian throne,

Franz Ferdinand,
member of the ruling family, the Hapsburgs.

That extraordinary empire known
as the Austrian-Hungarian Dual Monarchy

is less an empire or a kingdom or a state

than the personal property of the Hapsburgs

whose hereditary talent for the acquisition of
land is recorded on the map of Europe today

The Empire was ruled
by Franz Ferdinand's uncle, Franz Joseph.

He sat on two thrones,

as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary.

By 1914, he'd been in charge for 66 years.

He'd spent them
trying to resist change of any kind.

Hardly ever seen out of military uniform,
he hated the idea of political reform.

As he told US President Theodore Roosevelt,

You see in me the last European monarch
of the old school

Austria-Hungary
was a key part of European security,

a multi-national empire
keeping the peace on the borders of the West.

The capital, Vienna, was one
of the great cosmopolitan centres of Europe.

This was the Empire that produced Freud
and Mahler, Schiele, Kafka and Strauss.

It contained at least ten different nationalities.

Not just Austrians and Hungarians,
but Czechs, Slovaks,

Poles, Romanians, Italians,
Croats and Bosnians.

A guide was prepared
by the British Foreign Office,

to help work out who was who.

Teutons anti-Slav vigorous and unpleasant

manly and patriotic very tall big noses

Slovaks Ignorant but artitic

Ruthenes savage and ignorant but musical

Czechs energetic forceful intensely national

But it was also an empire
in a state of constant crisis.

Pols all for Polish independence

Bosnian Serbs Pro-Yugoslav

Italians anti-Austrian

In all the Empire, only the Hungarians
and Austrians had any real power,

and the Hungarians
refused to share it with the rest.

For countries like Serbia,
Austria-Hungary was the prison of nations,

a repressive, undemocratic state,
that ground small peoples under its heel.

In 1905,
there were nationalist demonstrations in Vienna.

In 1912, there was rioting in Budapest.

By 1914, there had been ethnic unrest in nearly
every part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Local parliaments were suspended,
troops brought in to restore order.

Austria-Hungary's domestic problems
gave opportunities to her enemies.

Serbia wanted the break-up of the Empire.

She welcomed national unrest,
particularly in Croatia and Bosnia.

Backed by Slav Russia, Serbia saw herself
as the only independent hope

for Slavs living under foreign rule in the Balkans.

She wanted to unite them
into a single South Slav state: Yugoslavia.

Dragutin Dimitrijevic
was an officer in the Serbian Army.

He opposed any kind of friendship with Austria.

DIMTRIJEVIC:
The blind surrender to Austria's embrace

was a most shameful betrayal
of Serbian traditions

I realised that Serbia must in full measure
become the leader not only of Serbs

but of Yugoslavia

Dimitrijevic believed
killing kings could bring political change.

It had worked for him in the past.

In 1903 he led a palace revolution,
killing the old King of Serbia,

who was too close to Austria
for the army's liking,

and installing a new one.

The crowds expressed enormous joy

They stuck flowers and leaves in their caps

Windows were decorated with banners
flowers garlands

Belgrade was celebrating!

(Cheering)

The rest of the world was horrified
at Serbia's bloody coup.

Serbia was treated like a rogue state:

''a nest of revolutionaries,''
one Foreign Minister complained.

Only two countries sent ambassadors
to King Peter's coronation:

Russia, Serbia's greatest ally,

and Austria, her greatest enemy.

Dimitrijevic was also one of
the founding members of the Black Hand,

a secret military society

that used terrorism and assassination
to try and establish Yugoslavia.

He is said to have sent men
to murder Austro-Hungarian military leaders

and cabinet ministers.

He allegedly tried to kill Emperor Franz Joseph.

One saw him nowhere
Yet one knew that he was doing everything

By the spring of 1914,

Gavrilo Princip was also in Belgrade,
talking revolution with his friends.

Then the Young Bosnians heard that Archduke
Franz Ferdinand would visit Sarajevo in June.

Here was their chance to match deeds to words.

Luckily for them, their plans reached the ears
of Dimitrijevic and the Black Hand.

Dimitrijevic worked in
the Kalemegdan Fortress in Belgrade,

as Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence.

ln the spring of 1914, Major Voja Tankosic,
also in the Black Hand,

walked into his office with a question.

TANKOSIC: I've got some Bosnian youths
pestering me

These kids want to pull off some ''great deed''
at any cost

They've heard
that Franz Ferdinand is coming to Bosnia

and have begged me to let them go there

What do you say?
I have told them they cannot go

but they give me no peace

Franz Ferdinand was going to Bosnia

to observe the Austro-Hungarian Army's
manoeuvres in the hills outside Sarajevo.

As intelligence chief, Dimitrijevic feared
these manoeuvres were a smokescreen,

that what Franz Ferdinand really planned
was an invasion of Serbia.

As leader of the Black Hand, he believed
anything that destabilised Austria-Hungary

was good for his beloved Serbia.

Princip's plan to murder Franz Ferdinand
suited him perfectly.

''Fine,'' he said. ''Let him go.''

Unlike Gavrilo Princip, Archduke
Franz Ferdinand was an excellent shot.

One of his castles,
Konopischt, in what is now the Czech Republic,

is full of the evidence.

By the age of 50, he'd shot 5,000 stags,

as well as 200,000 other animals,

all carefully numbered.

Anyone who diturbed the Archduke's peace
at Konopicht

by trespassing on his land as unsuspecting
trippers sometimes did on Sundays

had to reckon with being shouted at
by an irascible and almost apoplectic proprietor

who threatened to shoot anyone who dared
set foot in his grounds a second time

By 1914,
Franz Ferdinand was Emperor-in-waiting.

Everyone knew it couldn't be long
before his uncle died.

Even the official portrait was ready,

Franz Ferdinand with the stars and sash
only the Emperor could wear.

He had no time for the etiquette and convention
that hemmed in the Vienna court.

He defied his uncle by marrying Sophie Chotek,
who was not of royal blood.

FRANZ FERDINAND: The most intelligent thing
I've ever done in my life

has been the marriage to my Soph

She is everything to me my wife my adviser

my doctor my guardian angel

In a word my entire happiness

Franz Ferdinand
also had radical ideas for political reform.

He recognised that the less power
national minorities had within the Empire,

the more they'd look to other countries for help.

The old system allowed ethnic Germans
and Hungarians to dominate the government.

It was a system that couldn't last.

FRANZ FERDINAND: I can't help
being surpried that there is any loyalty

left among the nationalities
after their treatment for so many years past

I must have them with me
This is the only salvation for the future

In 1914, the German Emperor came to stay
with Franz Ferdinand at Konopischt.

The Kaiser had a simple solution
for dealing with troublesome national minorities.

KAISER:
The Slavs are born not to rule but to obey

This must be brought home to them

And if they imagine
they can look to Belgrade for their salvation

they must be cured of this belief

But Franz Ferdinand had a better idea.

He thought political reform was the best way
to keep the Austrian Empire on its feet,

and protect his own future as Emperor.

He had this map drawn up,

showing how the Hapsburg Empire could
become the United States of Great Austria.

Above all, Franz Ferdinand
wanted to avoid war in the Balkans.

One night, he made a toast after dinner.

To peace!

What would we get out of war with Serbia?

We'd lose the lives of young men
and we'd spend money better used elewhere

And what would we gain for heaven's sake?

A few plum trees some pastures full of goat
droppings and a bunch of rebellious killers

Gavrilo Princip crossed the border from Serbia
into Austria-Hungary here at the Drina river.

He paddled out to Isakovic Island,

where there was a Serbian guard post.

The soldiers helped him
wade ashore into Bosnia.

From here, he made his way to Sarajevo,
where he met up with six others in on the plot.

The Serbian Major Tankosic
had supplied them with four pistols, six bombs,

and suicide pills in case of capture.

They were already in Sarajevo

when Franz Ferdinand arrived
outside the capital on 25 June.

They planned to attack him three days later,

as he drove from the railway station
to the Town Hall.

One would be stationed
at the first bridge on this road.

Princip and the others
would cover the rest of the route.

Franz Ferdinand
chose the date of his visit badly.

Sarajevo was decked in flags for the occasion.

But 28 June was Serbian National Day,

a natural focus for hatred of the Hapsburgs,

as the Serbian Ambassador to Vienna warned.

This will cause much discontent

Some young Serb might put a live round
rather than a blank in his gun and fire it

Therefore it might be good if Archduke
Franz Ferdinand were not to go to Sarajevo

But the Austrians
laughed off the Ambassador's fears.

On the morning of 28 June, Franz Ferdinand
and Sophie arrived by train in Sarajevo.

Despite the warnings, security was light.

No soldiers lined the streets,
just a handful of policemen.

The royal car was a Gr�f & Stift tourer.

At Franz Ferdinand's request,
it travelled with the top down, very slowly,

so the crowds could see him,
and he could see the sights.

As the procession passed the first bridge,
the conspirator there threw his bomb.

Sitting opposite the royal couple
was Oskar Potiorek.

POTIOREK: The explosion came immediately
after the Archduchess's cry to ''drive on quickly!"

I was sure
no damage had been done to our car,

and the Archduke commented very calmly,

I've always thought
something like this might happen

The bomb had bounced off the car,

exploding behind it and wounding two officers
and some onlookers.

Franz Ferdinand stopped to ask after the
casualties, before hurrying on to the Town Hall.

There the Mayor of Sarajevo
began his official welcome speech.

The Archduke interrupted.

Lord Mayor
what is the good of your speeches?

I come to Sarajevo on a friendly visit
and someone throws a bomb at me

This is outrageous!

So far, the Young Bosnians' plans
had gone badly wrong.

Franz Ferdinand was alive.

Official security was now on high alert.

Gavrilo Princip turned to go home,

stopping on the corner of Franz Joseph Street
to buy a sandwich.

Then his luck changed.

Franz Ferdinand had left the Town Hall.

He should have been driven along the river,

travelling too fast
to give any other assassins a chance.

But his driver took a wrong turn ,
at the corner of Franz Joseph Street.

As the royal car
tried to reverse onto the main road,

Princip came face-to-face with his target.

At that moment
I heard the crack of a pistol shot

followed swiftly by another

and saw in the same split second

a man standing right in front of me being thrown
to the ground by the people around him

and the shining sabre of a security guard
descending on him

A thin stream of blood spurted
from His Highness's mouth onto my right cheek

The Duchess cried out
''In heaven's name what has happened to you?''

Then she slid off the seat
and lay on the floor of the car

I thought she had simply fainted

Then I heard His Imperial Highness say

''Sopherl Sopherl don't die
Stay alive for the children!"

I asked him if he was in great pain

He answered me quite distinctly ''It's nothing''

Franz Ferdinand and Sophie
died on the way to hospital.

The people of Sarajevo didn't know

that a clutch of Serbian army officers
had secretly sponsored the assassination.

But they made the same leap the world did:

that Serbia
had as good as pulled the trigger herself.

The pro-Austrian element in the crowd
went wild

The excitement of the moment turned into fury
against everyone and everything Serbian

Serbian shops school and churches
were smashed and looted

the streets choked with furniture
clothes bicycles books

even icons and crosses twisted and befouled
lying in heaps in the gutters

Over 200 Serbs
were arrested in Sarajevo alone.

Local officials hanged some in the city prison.

Many more died in pogroms
across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The funeral of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie
was held in Vienna on 4 July.

Oskar Potiorek
had already written to the Foreign Ministry,

calling for Austria-Hungary
to take revenge against Serbia.

We must take the first opportunity
for a destructive blow against Serbia

to give the Monarchy
a few decades of calm internal development

Serbia must learn to fear us again

Austro-Hungarian Chief of Staff
Conrad von H�tzendorf agreed.

This is not the crime of a single fanatic

Assassination represents
Serbia's declaration of war on Austria-Hungary

If we miss this occasion the Monarchy will be
exposed to new explosions of ethnic unrest

Austria-Hungary
must wage war for political reasons

In life, the Crown Prince had been a champion
of peaceful co-existence with Serbia.

In death he was becoming a cause for war.

The murder of Franz Ferdinand
did not immediately set Europe alight.

International tensions in early July
remained low.

But behind the scenes in Vienna,
Austria-Hungary's leaders were planning

how to take revenge on Serbia, without getting
stamped on by Serbia's powerful friends.

Even before the assassination,
Army Chief of Staff Conrad von H�tzendorf

had pressed for war against Serbia
no fewer than 20 times.

Now he made his case again .

I expressed to His Majesty my opinion
that war with Serbia was unavoidable

''That is entirely correct'' said His Majesty

''But how are you going to wage war if everyone
in particular Russia is going to attack us?''

"We have backing from Germany," I replied

His Majesty gave me a searching look and said
''Can you be certain of that?''

This was the moment when what could have
been just another war in the Balkans

began to turn into the First World War.

Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph
now asked the German Kaiser for support.

On 6 July, he got just the answer he wanted.

The German Government is of the opinion
that we must decide what is to be done

Whatever we decide we may always be certain
that we will find Germany at our side

a faithful ally and friend of our monarchy

Germany's crucial decision to back Austria
was made with no care for the consequences.

Neither the Kaiser nor his senior political
and military leaders took any steps to find out

what Austria-Hungary had in mind.

It was an extraordinary oversight...

..because nothing in the Balkans
happened in isolation.

Europe was divided into two camps.

On one side were Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Italy.

On the other were France and Russia.

War with one could mean war with the others.

No-one knew how Russia would respond if one
of the leading Balkan countries was attacked.

She might go to war with Austria
to protect Serbia.

Then Germany would have to fight
to protect Austria.

(General conversation)

The Germans thought
the Russians might stay out of it.

The German Ambassador
in St Petersburg insisted

Russia couldn't risk war
for fear of internal revolution.

The German Foreign Minister decided
Austria would quietly settle with Serbia.

The German Chancellor, Bethmann-Hollweg,
was almost as confident.

The crime of Sarajevo was reprehensible

But politically it would have the positive result

of making Russia
thoroughly digusted with the Serbs

It was Germany's confident support
that pushed Austria forward.

But far from plunging the world into war
out of aggression,

Germany was just nudging it closer,
out of incompetence and wishful thinking.

The Kaiser was so sure no war was brewing
that he went on holiday.

In Sarajevo,
the trial of Gavrilo Princip was underway.

The court heard plenty of evidence to prove
that Serbian army officers had helped him,

and with Germany's unconditional support,
that was enough for Austria.

She sentenced Princip to 20 years in jail,

where he died in 1918.

She sent Serbia an ultimatum.

This document was Austria's excuse for war.

It was filled with demands so extreme and
insulting that Serbia could never accept them.

But just in case they did,
the Austrian Ambassador in Belgrade

was ordered to reject any reply
as unacceptable.

He delivered the ultimatum
at 6pm on 23 July 1914.

Slavka Mihajlovic was a Belgrade doctor.

The news of the ultimatum spread quickly

and soon there was a real alert

Streets and bars
were crowded with anxious people

Everybody wondered
what answer our Government would give

whether a new war would be avoided

Austria's ultimatum
caught the world's diplomats napping.

The French Government
the French press and public opinion

have been inconceivably surprised

Paris is almost dead

All the ambassadors but one are out of town

The Italian Ambassador is in Ireland

The Kaiser was on his yacht in Norway
when the text of the Austrian ultimatum arrived.

The Kaiser arrived on deck
as usual after breakfast

and said to me -
I was still holing the wirelss message

''That's a pretty strong note for once in a while''

''It certainly is'' I replied ''but it means war''

Whereupon the Kaiser observed
that Serbia would never risk a war

She might not have risked it on her own.

But on 24 July, the Serbian Regent,
Prince Alexander, telegrammed Russia for help.

In St Petersburg, the Russian Foreign Minister
spoke frankly to the British Ambassador.

Austria would not have acted so aggressively
without the consent of Germany

I hoped the Britih Government would declare
itself on the side of France and Russia

without delay

Russia was convinced
that Germany was warmongering.

On 26 July, she called up her reserves.

This was the second key stage of the crisis,

as Britain's Foreign Secretary,
Edward Grey, warned on the 28th.

From the moment the dispute ceases
to be one between Austria-Hungary and Serbia

and becomes one
in which another Great Power is involved

it cannot but end in the greatest catastrophe
that has ever befallen the continent of Europe

Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia
that same day.

The first shots of the war were fired from here,

the Austrian fortress of Zemun ,
just across the river from Belgrade.

In the dead of night, Voja Tankosic had
the Black Hand blow the only railway bridge.

Windows shattered to smithereens
and broken glass covered the floor

Patients started screaming

Then there was another explosion
and another one

(Cannon fire)

So it was true

The war had begun

How well our old city deserved the name
the Turks had given her

the House of Wars

Shells fired from all sides
were cris-crossing above her

The Austrians had peculiar weapons

the so-called ''monitors''

little boats armed with heavy guns
circling Belgrade like rabid dogs

and firing from every direction

(Gunfire)

It was still only a war
between Austria-Hungary and Serbia...

..and on 29 July, as the shells fell on Belgrade,

there was a final attempt to keep it that way.

A series of last-minute telegrams
flashed across Europe.

Tsar to Kaiser. Cousin to cousin.

Dear Willy An ignoble war
has been declared on a weak country

The indignation in Russia is enormous

Dear Nicky I am exerting my utmost influence
on the Austrians

I confidently hope you will help me

Dear Willy
My troops shall not take any provocative action

But by now, the crisis was beyond the control
of monarchs or politicians.

It was in the hands of the military.

From the moment Russia mobilised her army,

German generals knew
their own clock was ticking.

The alliance between France and Russia meant
that Germany faced a war on two fronts.

Her only hope
was to deal with France in the west,

before the main Russian armies
could invade from the east.

That left no time to wait and see.

For Germany, Russian mobilisation meant war.

(Marching steps)

Germany hadn't looked for a fight.

Her generals knew a European war would be
long and devastating, even for the victors.

But if it was going to happen ,
they thought, better sooner than later.

According to all competent observation

Russia will be prepared to fight in a few years

Then she will crush us
by the number of her soldiers

Then she will have built her Baltic Sea Fleet
and strategic railways

Our side meanwhile
will have grown steadily weaker

On 1 August, Germany declared war on Russia.

Two days later,
she declared war on Russia's ally, France.

Across Europe,
ten million men headed off to fight.

For all the bands and flag-waving,
many went unwillingly to war.

Where are we off to?
France? Belgium ? Or the East?

At the station people waved goodbye
some with handkerchiefs

I thought of my wife and child left alone at home

In fact it wasn't so much a thought
as a fearful shadow flitting over my soul

God! How long is this town?

My bayonet's digging in
My collar 's strangling me

But when I look up I see a pretty girl

She was so full of admiration so moved by it all

that I realise
we've got to look handsome and walk tall

Off we march to the sound of shrill brass
although where we are going

you die you're defaced hacked up torn apart

All down the line
my comrades straighten up at the sight of her

There is great excitement among my comrades

The bachelors are calm
They're even joking about it

Family men are depressed

Some are saying we'll get nothing from this war
We'll get beaten by the Germans

What's in it for us peasant-soldiers?

Why have we got to fight
for some offended Serbs?

The leaders had little better idea
why they were fighting than the men.

They had no lists of war aims.

Germany and Austria,
Serbia, Russia and France

were all convinced
they were fighting a defensive war,

forced on them by someone else.

The only great power in Europe
still on the sidelines was Britain.

On 2 August 1914, Britain was still at peace.

But only just.

We've been in a state of great excitement

as the reservists are being called up

All the railways are guarded

Everything points to the great war
so long expected being upon us

But Britain was the only Great Power who could
not claim she was the victim of aggression.

Nobody had attacked her,
so why should she fight?

It wasn't really
to defend the rights of small nations,

at least, not Serbia,
according to the Manchester Guardian .

If it were physically possible for Serbia
to be towed out to sea and sunk there

the air of Europe would at once seem cleaner

Nor was Britain bound by treaty obligations,

as the Foreign Secretary,
Edward Grey, assured Parliament.

We are not parties
to the Franco-Russian alliance

We do not even know the terms of the alliance

(Ticking)

But in private, Grey and other leaders
knew that Britain had to fight.

If Britain stayed neutral, the war
would still threaten the country's vast empire,

its global trade and security.

And Britain needed to stay on friendly terms
with France and Russia.

Even in peacetime, she was not powerful
enough to defend her empire against everyone.

In Africa and lndia,

the safety of Britain's colonies
depended on French and Russian goodwill.

In 1914, Britain feared her friends
just as much as her enemies.

If we fail Russia now

we cannot hope to maintain
that friendly co-operation with her in Asia

that is of such vital importance to us

Above all, Britain could never afford to have
Europe dominated by a triumphant Germany.

If Germany overran the Channel ports, Britain's
control of the seas would be under threat.

Prime Minister Herbert Asquith
took a pragmatic view.

It is quite against Britih interests
that France should be wiped out

At 11 pm on 4 August,
Britain declared war on Germany.

It was like awaiting the signal for the pulling of
a leaver which would hurl millions to their doom

The deep notes of Big Ben
rang out into the night

the first strokes in Britain's most fateful hour
since she arose out of the deep

Every face was suddenly contracted
into a painful intensity

It's horrible to think of all the suffering
which may follow our mobiliation

I suppose the less one thinks of it the better

We never talk of death
and very selom think much about it

It's when everyone is asleep and you are awake

that sometimes you look into the future
and wonder

The British Government had a War Book,
listing all that had to be done in an emergency.

The country's leaders knew
war would be a long and painful struggle,

a slow, grinding process of blockade,
of starving the enemy out.

But most civilians had no idea
what they were getting into.

Across Europe, there was a run on the banks.

The war couldn't last longer than a year,

the French Finance Minister
told a British general,

because the money to pay for it would run out.

Most people expected Britain,

with the largest navy in the world,
to fight a sea war.

The Foreign Secretary reassured the nation.

For us with a powerful fleet

which we believe able to protect our commerce
to protect our shores

and to protect our interests

if we are engaged in war

we shall suffer but little more
than we shall suffer if we stand aside

Bert Fielder was a sergeant
in the Royal Marines.

He reassured his wife.

My dear Nell I don 't think this war is going to be
half as bad as people expect it to be

You see it's not a hard job for England
so there is no need to worry yourself

As long as I can keep you informed
as to where I am it'll all be all right

But the weapons
with which the world went to war were so new

that few had ever been fired in anger.

Countries were armed with battleships
and submarines less than ten years old.

Nobody really knew how to use them.

All the European powers had been stockpiling
new artillery, machine guns, explosive shells.

But none had fought a major war in Europe
for over 40 years.

The crisis had begun in the Balkans,

and as the Austrians faced up to the Serbs,

the First World War started here
as it would go on everywhere else.

A war in which old scores would be settled
and the rule book thrown away.

The war is taking us into a country
inhabited by a population

inspired with fanatical hatred towards ourselves

An attitude of extreme severity

extreme harshness and extreme distrust
is to be observed towards everybody

In some sectors,
Serbian civilians did fight a guerrilla war,

not in uniform, not in the regular army.

It was hard for the Austrians to tell
who was a real enemy, who was not.

But their reprisals against the Serbian people
were vicious.

This was a war of nationalities and races.

Not just against an enemy army,
but against whole peoples.

In the first month of the war, 4,000 civilians
in western Serbia were killed or disappeared.

They burnt houses down looted raped killed

17 people - all women, girls

children tied with rope

dead in a ditch by the road

All of them slaughtered

At 9am I went to Le�nica
to get some supplies for the battery

In the town you could see the atrocities
left behind by the enemy

Ten people some children among them
had been hanged near the church

About a hundred people their throats cut
at the railway station

A terrible sight to cast your eyes on

At the Serbian town of Prnjavor,
this memorial commemorates those who died.

The Serbian Government commissioned
a report into the massacres

The massacres of the civil population
were systematically organised

by the command of the invading army

It's upon the command
that all responsibility must rest

and also the disgrace with which this army
has covered itself for all time

Austria-Hungary was far less ruthless
when it came to fighting the Serbian Army.

That too set a pattern for the war,
a foretaste of the military weakness

which would dog
Austria-Hungary's partnership with Germany.

This was a war in which events on one front
could have a critical effect on another.

Germany was relying on her ally
Austria-Hungary to hold the Eastern Front.

With Russia massing on her borders,

Germany was horrified to learn Austria had
concentrated her reserves not against Russia

but down in the Balkans, to deal with Serbia.

Meanwhile, the main Serbian army
had marched up from the south of the country,

gathering numbers as it went.

On 12 August, it finally met the Austrians,
at Cer Mountain.

The Serbs had taken up strong
defensive positions along the mountain range,

and waited for the Austrians
to walk into the trap.

(Explosion)

The Serbs surrounded us

The Serbian artillery had the range perfectly

Unluckily

so we were told by senior officers

we had arrived
at the Serbian artillery practice area

Laughable!

(Explosions)

The Serbs easily beat off
the Austro-Hungarian attack.

We could see the enemy
retreating along the river

Their ammunition train
left all their carts in the valley and ran away

as soon as they were hit by our artillery

A beaten army - no an uncontrolled mob
ran towards the border in senselss panic

Drivers whipped their horses officers
and soldiers shoved and squeezed through

between the columns of wagons

Austro-Hungarian prisoners,
captured in the first Allied victory of the war.

Austria had thought
Serbia would be a pushover,

swift revenge for the murder of Franz Ferdinand.

But Serbia had scattered the Austrian Army.

The victories of 1914 cost Serbia 130,000 men.

''They did not die in vain,'' reads the inscription
on this memorial to Serbia's dead.

Every nation would learn that nothing in this war
would be easy, quick or clean.

On the Western Front,
a French ambulance driver wrote to his son.

Do you ever think of your daddy
walking day and night over ploughed fields

and getting very used to shells
exploding all over the place?

I'd really like to hear from you

How's school

Don't be too quick
to learn the geography of Europe

I think it's all about to change

In the next episode of The First World War:

German armies roll into Belgium and France,
leaving a trail of atrocities.

And France, aided by Britain , fights for her life.