World War 1 (All Parts, 4k)

[music]

1914

the great powers of Europe are divided

into two rival alliances the tripolon

taunt France Britain and Russia united

by fear and suspicion of Germany

Europe's new strongest [music] power and

the Triple Alliance. Germany, which

fears encirclement by its rivals.

AustroHungary clinging on to a fragile

empire, and Italy seeking gains at

French [music] expense.

The spark comes on the 28th of June in

the city of Sievo.

Archduke France Ferdinand, heir to the

Austrohungarian throne, is assassinated

by a 19-year-old Slav nationalist named

Gabrielo Princip. Austrohungary accuses

its Balkan rival Serbia of having aided

the assassin and sends an ultimatum

demanding humiliating [music]

concessions.

Serbia rejects the ultimatum and

Austrohungary declares war.

Within hours, Austrian forces are

shelling Belgrade.

The Russian Zar Nicholas II [music]

feels honor bound to defend Serbia, a

fellow Slav nation, and orders the

Russian army to mobilize.

German Emperor Wilhelm II has promised

his support to Austrohungary.

He and his generals see conflict with

Russia as inevitable and the sooner the

better as Russian strength grows year on

year. Russian mobilization is used to

justify German mobilization followed by

a declaration of war on Russia.

Germany knows war with Russia means war

with Russia's ally France. It has

developed the Schlieen plan to meet this

threat of a war on two fronts.

First, its armies will advance rapidly

through neutral [music]

Belgium to encircle and destroy French

armies near Paris and win a quick

victory.

Then, its forces can move east to deal

with Russia, whose huge [music] army

will take much longer to mobilize.

And so, Germany declares war on France.

6 million men are now marching to war

across Europe.

[music]

Italy, however, remains neutral. The

terms of the Triple Alliance don't bind

[music] it to join an offensive war. The

United States also declares its

neutrality. President Wilson and the

American public [music] have no desire

to get entangled in Europe's war.

Britain is France's ally, but at first

it's not clear if it will join the war

against Germany.

But when German troops invade Belgium,

whose neutrality Britain has [music]

guaranteed, an ultimatum is sent from

London to Berlin, demanding they

withdraw.

It's ignored, and Britain declares war.

[music]

A British expeditionary force lands in

France while the German invasion is held

up for crucial days by Belgian

resistance at the fortress city of

Leazge.

German troops commit several massacres

against [music] Belgian civilians. The

atrocities are inflated by Allied

propaganda [music]

and help turn public opinion in neutral

countries against Germany.

France, unaware of Germany's great

encircling attack, launches Plan 17, an

offensive into German territory.

But in the Battle of the Frontiers,

they're driven back with enormous losses

on both sides.

[music]

The British Expeditionary Force clashes

with the German army at Mons, but the

British are heavily outnumbered and soon

join the French in retreat.

[music]

The Allies make their stand at the river

Mann, 40 mi outside Paris. Their

desperate counterattack saves the city

and drives the Germans back.

Both sides suffer a quarter of a million

casualties.

The race to [music] the sea begins as

both sides try to outflank each other to

the north. A series of clashes leads to

the first battle of Epra, where the

Allies desperately cling on and prevent

a German breakthrough.

There are more heavy losses on both

sides.

The two armies then dig in along the

entire 350 [music] m front, seeking

shelter from deadly machine gun fire and

artillery shells.

Trench warfare has begun.

[music]

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British warships win the first naval

battle of the war at Heland bite sinking

three German cruisers.

Britain has the most powerful navy in

the world. 29 modern battleships to

[music] Germany's 19.

They now impose a naval blockade on

Germany, preventing contraband goods,

including food, from reaching it by sea.

The aim is to bring Germany's economy to

its knees and force it to surrender.

But a week later, [music] the British

cruiser HMS Pathfinder becomes the first

victim in history of a lethal new

weapon, [music]

the submarine launched torpedo.

German submarines or Ubot have a surface

range of 9,000 mi and can attack

undetected from beneath the waves.

They herald a deadly new challenge to

Britain's command of [music] the seas.

On the Eastern front, Russian armies

invade East Prussia, but they blunder

into disaster at the Battle of

Tannenburg, where General Von Hindenburg

and his chief of staff, Eric Ludenov,

mastermind a brilliant German victory,

taking 90,000 prisoners and destroying

an entire Russian army. The Russians

contribute to their own defeat by

transmitting uncoded wireless messages.

A second massive German victory at

Msuran Lakes forces the Russians into

retreat. In just 6 weeks, the Russian

army suffers nearly a third of a million

casualties.

[music]

Meanwhile, Austrohungary's invasion of

Serbia suffers a humiliating reverse at

the Battle of Sir.

Austrahungary's offensive against Russia

also ends in disaster and retreat with

the loss of more than 300,000 men.

The fortress town of Shememes is cut off

and besieged by the Russians. The

Germans are forced to come to the

rescue, launching a diversionary attack

towards Warsaw.

It leads to weeks of brutal winter

fighting around the Polish city of

Woods, but there is no clear winner.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Ottoman Empire

has joined the Central Powers, declaring

war on its old enemy, Russia. [music]

Turkish warships bombard the Russian

ports of Odessa and Seasto.

While in the Caucuses, Russian troops

cross the Turkish frontier.

[music]

Beyond Europe, the war rages on the

world's oceans and in far-flung European

colonies.

German troops cross into British East

Africa, modern Kenya, and occupy [music]

Taveta,

while Allied forces seize the German

colony of Togo land, modern Togo. But

British forces invading German Cameroon

are defeated at Gowa and in Sangakon.

While a 3,000 strong force attacking

German southwest Africa, modern Namibia

is captured at San Fontaine.

A month later, British landings at Tanga

end in chaos and defeat at the hands of

a much smaller German force led by

Colonel Vonletto Verbbeck. Cut off from

Germany, Leto Vorbeck goes on to wage a

highly successful guerilla war against

the Allies, tying down huge numbers of

troops.

In Asia, Japan honors its treaty with

Britain and declares war on Germany.

Japanese forces go on to seize the

German naval base at Singtowo.

The German colonies of Samoa and New

Guinea surrender to troops from New

Zealand and Australia.

But in the Pacific off the coast of

Chile, German Admiral Vonbay's powerful

East Asia squadron sinks two British

cruisers at the Battle of Coronel. Both

ships are lost with all hands.

5 weeks later, he runs into a British

naval task force at the Falkland

Islands. Four of the five German

cruisers are sunk. Von goes down with

his flagship.

Meanwhile, in the Middle East, British

troops seize control of the Ottoman port

of Bazra, securing access to the vital

Persian oil that fuels the British

fleet.

[music]

[music]

That winter, Austrian troops finally

capture Belgrade,

but the Serbs then counterattack and

drive them back once more.

[music]

The fighting in Serbia has already cost

around 200,000 casualties [music]

on each side.

In the North Sea, [music] German

warships mount a hit and run raid

against English coastal towns, shelling

Aru, Whitby, and Scarbor and killing

more than 100 civilians.

On the Western Front, the French [music]

launch their first major offensive

against the German lines, but the first

battle of Champagne leads to small gains

at a cost of 90,000 casualties.

While in the Caucuses, [music]

an Ottoman offensive through the

mountains in mid-inter ends in disaster

at Sarakamish.

Turkish casualties total 60,000,

many [music] frozen to death.

On the Western front, that first

Christmas is marked in some sectors by a

short truce and games of football in no

[music] man's land, the killing zone

between the trenches.

[music]

[music]

January 1915.

World War I is just 5 months old and

already [music] around 1 million

soldiers have fallen. A war that began

in [music] the Balkans has engulfed much

of the world. The central powers,

Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the

Ottoman Empire, fight the Allies,

Britain, France, Russia, Serbia, and

Montenegro, Belgium, and Japan.

In Poland and the Baltic, [music]

the Russian army has suffered a string

of massive defeats, but continues to

battle German and Austrohungarian

forces.

AustroHungarian troops have also

suffered huge losses [music] and are

humiliated by their failure to defeat

Serbia.

In the Caucus' mountains, Russian and

Ottoman forces fight each other in

freezing winter conditions.

While on the Western front, French,

British, and Belgian troops are dug in

facing the Germans in trenches

stretching from the English Channel to

Switzerland.

As part of the world's first strategic

bombing campaign, Germany sends two

giant airships known as Zeppelins to

bomb Britain. They hit the ports of

Kings Lin and Great Yarmouth, damaging

houses and killing four civilians.

[music]

At sea at the battle of Dogger Bank, the

British Navy sinks one German cruiser,

but the rest of the German squadron

escapes.

Command of the seas has allowed Britain

to impose a naval blockade of Germany,

preventing vital supplies, including

food, from reaching [music] the country

by sea.

Germany now retaliates with its own

blockade.

It [music] declares the waters around

the British Isles to be a war zone where

its Ubot [music] will attack Allied

merchant ships without warning.

Britain relies on imported [music] food

to feed its population. Germany plans to

starve her into surrender.

[music]

On the Eastern front, German Field

Marshal Von Hindenburg launches a winter

offensive and inflicts another massive

defeat on the Russian army at the second

battle of Missurian Lakes.

The Russians lose up to 200,000 men,

half of them surrendering amid freezing

winter conditions.

The Russians have more success against

Austria Hungary. The city of Shamishel

falls after a 4-month siege, netting the

Russians 100,000 prisoners.

Austria Hungary's total [music] losses

now reach 2 million.

Meanwhile, the British and French send

warships to the Dardinels to threaten

Constantinople, capital of the Turkish

Ottoman Empire. They believe a show of

force will quickly cause Turkey to

surrender.

They bombard [music] Turkish shore forts

in the narrow straits, but three

battleships [music] are sunk by mines

and three more damaged. The attack is

called off. [music]

[music]

On the western front, the British attack

at Nerv Chappelle,

but the advance is soon halted by German

barbed wire and machine guns.

British and Indian units suffer 11,000

casualties, about a quarter of the

attacking force.

6 weeks later at the second battle of

Ipra, the Germans attack with poison gas

for the first time on the Western Front.

A cloud of lethal [music] chlorine

forces Allied troops to abandon their

trenches, but the Germans don't have

enough reserves ready to exploit [music]

the advantage.

Soldiers on both sides are quickly

supplied with crude gas masks as a

chemical weapons arms race begins.

The Allies land ground troops at

Gallipoli, including men of the

Australian and New Zealand Army Corps,

the ANZACs.

Their goal is to take out the shore

forts that are preventing Allied

warships reaching Constantinople.

But they immediately meet fierce Turkish

resistance and are pinned down close to

the shore.

The day before the landings, the Ottoman

Empire begins the [music] systematic

deportation and murder of ethnic

Armenians living within its borders.

The Armenians are a long persecuted

ethnic and religious minority suspected

of [music] supporting Turkeykey's

enemies.

Tens of thousands of men, women, and

children are transported to the Syrian

desert and left to die.

In all, [music] more than a million

Armenians perish.

The Allies condemn the [music] events as

a crime against humanity and

civilization and promise to hold the

perpetrators criminally responsible.

To this day, [music] the Turkish

government disputes the death toll and

that these events constituted a

genocide.

[music]

On the Eastern front, [music] a joint

German Austrohungarian offensive in

Galysia breaks through Russian defenses,

recapturing Shemeishaw and taking a

100,000 prisoners.

It is the beginning of a steady advance

against Russian forces.

At sea, the British passenger liner

Lucitania sailing from New York to

Liverpool is torpedoed by a German hubot

[music] off the coast of Ireland without

warning.

1,198

[music] passengers and crew perish,

including 128 Americans. [music]

US President Woodro Wilson and the

American public [music] are outraged,

but Germany insists the liner was a fair

target as the British used her to carry

military supplies.

In May, the Allies launch the second

battle of Artois in another effort to

break through the German lines.

The French make [music] the main attack

at Vimei Ridge while the British launch

supporting attacks [music] at Ober Ridge

and Festoair.

The Allies sustain 130,000 casualties

and advance just a [music] few thousand

yds.

That summer, above the Western [music]

Front, the Fauler Inda helps Germany win

control of the air. It's one of the

first aircraft with a machine gun able

to fire forward through its propeller.

Thanks to a new invention known as

interrupter gear, allied aircraft losses

mount rapidly in what becomes known as

the Fauler scourge.

[music]

Italy, swayed by British and French

promises of territorial gains at

AustriaHungary's expense, joins the

Allies, declaring war on AustriaHungary

and later the Ottoman Empire and

Germany. The Italian army makes its

first assault against Austrohungarian

positions along the Isso River, but is

repulsed with heavy losses.

Meanwhile, the Allies face a crisis on

the eastern front.

The Russians have begun a general

retreat, abandoning Poland.

German troops enter Warsaw on the 5th of

August.

Zar Nicholas II dismisses the Russian

army's commanderin-chief, Grand Duke

Nicholas, and takes personal command.

It will prove disastrous for Thesar as

he becomes more and more closely tied to

Russian military defeat.

At Gallipoli, the Allies land

reinforcements at Sula Bay, but neither

they nor a series of fresh attacks by

the ANZACs can break the deadlock.

Conditions for both sides are terrible.

Troops are tormented not only by the

enemy but by heat, flies, and sickness.

In the Atlantic, a German yubot sinks

the liner SS Arabic. 44 are lost,

including three Americans.

In response to further US warnings,

Germany ends all attacks [music] on

passenger ships.

[music]

On the Western front, the Allies mount

their biggest offensive of the war so

far. Designed to smash through the front

and take pressure off their belleaguered

Russian ally.

The French attack in the third battle of

Artois and second battle of Champagne.

The British with the help of poison gas

attack at loss.

Despite initial gains, the attacks soon

get bogged down with enormous losses on

all sides.

[music]

Allied troops land at Salonica in Greece

to open a new front against the central

powers and bring aid to Serbia.

But the allies are too late. Bulgaria

joins the central powers

and their joint offensive overruns

Serbia in two months.

That winter, the remnants of the Serbian

army escape through the Albanian

mountains.

Their losses are horrific. By the end of

the war, a third of Serbia's army has

been killed, the highest proportion of

any nation.

Fierce fighting [music] continues on the

Italian front as Italian troops launch

the third and fourth battles of the

Isso.

Austrohungarian [music] forces, though

outnumbered, are dug in on the high

ground and impossible [music] to

dislodge.

In the Middle East, a British advance on

Baghdad is blocked by Turkish forces at

the Battle of Tessifon, 25 mi south of

the city.

The British withdraw to Kut, where they

are besieged.

[music]

The Allies abandon the Gallipoli

campaign. 83,000 [music]

troops are secretly evacuated without

alerting Turkish forces.

[music] Not a man is lost.

It's one of the best executed plans of

the war.

The campaign [music]

has cost both sides a quarter of a

million casualties.

1915 is a bad year for the Allies,

enormous losses [music] for no tangible

gains.

But there is no talk of peace.

Instead, all sides prepare for even

bigger offensives in 1916.

With new tactics developed from earlier

failures,

all sides still believe a decisive

battlefield victory is within grasp.

World War I was supposed to have been a

short and glorious war, but by 1916,

a new kind of industrialized warfare had

seen the death toll sore into the

millions with no end in sight.

Naval blockades were beginning to cause

shortages of food and fuel across

Europe.

While thousands of women had entered the

workforce,

replacing the men sent to fight in their

millions.

All sides were [music] preparing for a

long war.

[music]

The war has raged for a year and a half

as the allies continue to battle the

central powers recently [music] joined

by Bulgaria.

At sea, the British maintain their

[music] naval blockade of Germany,

preventing the import of food and other

vital raw materials. [music]

Germany has retaliated with a yubot

blockade of Britain, but has to limit

[music] its attacks to avoid provoking

the neutral USA, whose citizens have

already been caught in the crossfire.

On the Western front, French, British,

and Belgian troops are dug in opposite

the Germans. Both sides trapped in

[music] the bloody stalemate of trench

warfare.

On the Eastern front, the Russians have

ended [music] their long retreat and

stabilized the line, but their army has

suffered huge [music] losses.

On the Italian front, Italian troops

have launched a series of costly,

unsuccessful attacks against strong

Austrohungarian defenses.

While on the Balkan front, the Central

Powers have overrun Serbia, whose army

is forced to make a [music] bitter

retreat through the Albanian mountains.

Now on the 5th of January,

Austrohungarian troops attack

Montenegro. [music]

They are delayed at the battle of

Movats.

But 3 weeks later, Montenegro [music] is

forced to surrender.

On the Caucus' front, the Russians

launch a surprise winter offensive

against Ottoman Turkish forces.

6 weeks later, Russian [music] troops

occupy the city of Erzur. In April, they

capture the Black Sea port of Trebzand.

Meanwhile, the British transport two

motorboats to Lake Tangana in Africa.

They finally arrive after a 10,000mile

trip by sea and land and help the

British seize control of the strategic

lake from local German forces.

The same month in German Cameroon,

German troops besieged on Mora Mountain

for 18 months finally surrender to the

Allies.

It marks the end of the Cameroon

campaign.

[music]

On the Western front, the Germans

unleash a devastating assault on the

French fortress town of Verdan.

German General Eric vonfalenheine knows

France will defend this symbolic town to

the last man.

His plan in his own words is to bleed

France white in its defense. It is the

strategy of attrition. Verdon becomes

one [music] of the most terrifying

battles of the war. A mincing machine

where infantry divisions are destroyed

almost as fast as they can be fed into

the line.

In Britain, 1 million men have already

volunteered for military service. But

the government realizes it won't be

enough. Britain becomes the last major

power to introduce [music] conscription.

That spring on the Western Front,

British troops are the last to be issued

with steel helmets.

The nature of trench warfare produces a

high proportion of head wounds. The

German style helm, the French Adrian

helmet, and the British Mark1 steel

helmet offer limited protection from

shell splinters [music]

and shrapnel.

Neutral Portugal has been cooperating

with the British, which seems to offer

the best chance of holding on to her

African colony, [music] Portuguese

Angola. On the 9th of March, Germany

retaliates by declaring war on Portugal.

On the eastern front, Russia launches an

attack near Lake Narok to relieve

pressure on the French at Verdan. But

it's a disaster. There are 100,000

Russian casualties and the attack fails

to divert any German troops from the

fighting at Verdan.

In Dublin, Irish Republicans launch an

armed revolt against British rule. It

becomes known as the Easter Rising. and

is put down after 6 days of street

fighting.

In the Middle East, after a 5-month

siege, British forces at Kut surrender.

General Townsend leads 9,000 British and

Indian soldiers into captivity. About

half later die from starvation or

disease.

Britain wants Arab support in its fight

against the Ottoman Empire. So it's

promised Arab leaders an independent

Arab state after the war.

But now Britain and France secretly sign

the Sykes Pico agreement, planning after

the war to divide the Middle East into

British and French zones of control.

Unaware of this deal, Hussein bin Ali,

Sharif of Mecca, leads the Arabs in

revolt against Turkish Ottoman rule. In

the Battle of Mecca, his forces seize

control of the holy city.

On the Italian front, Austrohungarian

forces launch a surprise attack at

Asiago.

Italian defenses give way.

Austrohungarian troops are poised to

break through into northern Italy.

That month in the North Sea, the German

high seas fleet clashes with the British

Grand Fleet at the Battle of Jutland. In

the only major naval battle of the war,

the British suffer heavier losses, but

claim victory as the German fleet

withdraws and does not reemerge from its

base for the rest of the war.

For the summer of 1916, the Allies have

planned major simultaneous offensives

against the Central Powers from east and

west. Now they are needed more than ever

to relieve pressure on the French at

Verdan and the Italians at Asiago.

The Russians launch their attack first.

On the eastern front, General Alexe

Brucilov has carefully maintained the

element of surprise.

His troops break through the enemy

lines, in some places, advancing 60 mi

and taking 200,000 prisoners.

This brilliant, though costly, Russian

attack achieves its aim as the Central

Powers are forced to [music] redeploy

troops from other fronts to shore up the

line.

At sea, British cruiser HMS Hampshire on

route to Russia hits a mine and sinks

off Orcne.

Among the 650 dead is Britain's iconic

Secretary of State for War, Lord Kiter.

3 days later, in the Adriatic, Italian

troop ship Principe Ombberto is sunk by

a German submarine.

It's the deadliest sinking of the war

with 1,900 lives lost.

On the Western Front, Britain and France

launch their major summer offensive, the

Battle of the S.

Hopes are high for a breakthrough. But

the first day is a disaster. [music]

A long Allied artillery bombardment

fails to knock out German defenses, and

waves of British infantry are cut down

by machine gun fire as they advance

[music] into no man's land. In the space

of a few hours, the British suffer

57,000 casualties, a third of them

killed. It's the worst day in the

history of the British army.

But more attacks are ordered and the

battle will rage for another 5 months.

Encouraged by the Russian advance,

Romania joins the Allies.

But despite an initially successful

advance into Transylvania, Romania

quickly faces a counteroffensive from

German, Bulgarian, and Austrohungarian

forces.

The Allied force at Salonica tries to

support Romania by launching their own

offensive towards Monastere.

With Serbian troops in the lead, there

are small gains, but dogged Bulgarian

resistance prevents a breakthrough.

On the western front, General

Vonfalenheim

finally calls off the attack at Verdan.

The French army has honored their

commander, General Neville's promise,

[music]

ilasaron Pa. They shall not pass.

[music]

But victory comes at a terrible price.

365,000

casualties.

The Germans lose almost as many.

Verdun remains one of the bloodiest

battles in human history.

For his defeat at Verdan, Falconheine is

sacked and Germany's heroes of the

Eastern Front, Von Hindenburg and

Ludenorf, take command in the [music]

west. Meanwhile, the battle of the Song

continues.

Near the village of Flair, the British

introduce a new weapon they hope can

break the deadlock of the trenches. It

is called the tank.

But despite some small successes, the

first tanks [music] are too few in

number and too prone to mechanical

failure to make any real impact.

On the Eastern front, Russia's Brussil

offensive comes to an end. Casualty

estimates vary wildly, but it's clear

both sides have suffered [music]

catastrophic losses.

Neither the Russian nor the

Austrohungarian army ever fully

recovers.

On the Italian front, heavy fighting

rages throughout the autumn as Italian

forces make [music] repeated costly

assaults against Austrohungarian

positions along the Isso River.

The Battle of the Som comes to an end

amid autumn rain and mud.

The Allies have advanced 10 mi at the

cost of 600,000 casualties.

German losses are about 450,000. [music]

The Allies reassure themselves that this

is a winning strategy because at this

rate, Germany will run out of men first.

Meanwhile, disaster engulfves Romania as

the country is overrun by the Central

Powers. Romanian forces [music] suffer a

quarter of a million casualties.

The remnants of its army take position

alongside the Russians on the Eastern

[music] front.

That winter, France Joseph, emperor of

Austria since 1848, dies.

He is succeeded [music] by Carl

In Britain, Prime Minister Herbert

Aswith is forced [music] from office and

succeeded by David Lloyd George,

while General [music] Joffre is replaced

as French commander-in-chief by General

Neville, who promises [music] victory

through bold aggressive action. Amid the

comingings and goings, US President

Woodro Wilson's attempts to mediate a

peace settlement come to nothing.

Neither side is willing to make

concessions.

In 1916,

World War I became a war of attrition.

Both sides began to focus less on

winning victory on the battlefield than

grinding down the enemy and inflicting

such enormous losses they would be

forced to surrender.

In 1917,

the strategy will push Europe's major

powers to the brink of collapse.

[music]

Germany knows [music] it will lose a

long war of attrition against the Allies

who have greater resources.

So, its leaders gamble. They resume

unrestricted submarine warfare,

believing their yubot [music] can cut

off Britain's food imports by sea and

starve the country into surrender within

6 months.

But the new shoot [music] on sight

tactics mean neutral American ships will

inevitably be caught in the crossfire,

risking America joining the war on the

Allied side.

Just 2 days into the campaign, the SS

Husatonic, an American steamer carrying

wheat from Galveastston, Texas to

England, is sunk by a yubot.

The British then pass to the US

government a telegram they've

intercepted from German [music] foreign

secretary Arthur Zimmerman to the German

ambassador in Mexico.

Germany is encouraging Mexico to attack

America. If America and Germany end up

at war,

the so-called Zimmerman telegram puts

yet more pressure on US President Wilson

to declare war on Germany.

[music]

In Russia, enormous casualties and bread

shortages lead to riots and revolution.

The zar abdicates.

A provisional government takes charge,

pledging to continue the war. But at the

front, Russian troops begin to desert on

mass.

After a string of German provocations,

the US finally declares war on Germany.

It brings immense [music] resources to

the Allied cause, but they will take

many months to mobilize.

And the German gamble of unrestricted

submarine warfare may still pay off.

April is the Yubot's most successful

month of the war. They sink 886,000

[music]

tons of Allied shipping, an average of

17 ships a day, all packed with urgently

needed food and supplies.

Britain will face starvation if the

Hubot are not defeated soon.

On the Western [music] Front, the

British launched the Battle of Aras, a

diversion to support a major upcoming

French offensive.

After heavy fighting, Canadian troops

seize the high ground of Vimei Ridge.

It's a limited Allied victory, but costs

150,000 Allied casualties to 130,000

German.

Above the trenches, the First Air War

has reached new levels of sophistication

and deadliness.

Reconnaissance aircraft are crucial for

spotting enemy positions and directing

artillery fire onto them.

Scout aircraft or fighters try to shoot

them down before they can execute their

mission.

New models of aircraft are developed

every few months. But that spring, the

superiority of German aircraft leads to

heavy Allied losses in what becomes

known as bloody April.

[music]

3 days after the fall of Vimeie Ridge,

French General Robert Neville launches

his [music] main offensive.

Expectations are high,

but after initial success, the advance

bogs down and casualties quickly mount

on both sides.

[music]

[music]

The apparently senseless losses cause

morale in the French army to collapse.

Whole units mutiny, refusing to attack.

General Neville is sacked as French

commanderin-chief

and replaced by General Petan, Hero of

Verdan, who promises no more suicidal

attacks.

That summer at Messin [music] Ridge, the

British tunnel under the German lines

and detonate 19 enormous mines under the

enemy position.

It's the largest man-made explosion in

[music] history to date and paves the

way to a brilliant but highly local

British victory.

[music]

In Greece, King Constantine, who has

[music] favored neutrality, is forced to

abdicate, and Greece joins the Allies.

[music] Russia's provisional government

orders a new attack, but the July

offensive is a disaster.

The morale and discipline of the Russian

army [music] has collapsed. It can no

longer be relied on to fight, and the

Central Powers counterattack is almost

unopposed.

At sea, the Allies begin to group their

merchant ships into convoys which sail

under naval escort. The new system leads

to a steady fall in losses.

The tide is turning in the Yubot War.

As discontent with the war grows in

Germany, the German Parliament, the

Reichag, passes a peace resolution,

calling for a piece of understanding and

reconciliation.

It's ignored by the German high command,

which now effectively rules the country

as a military dictatorship.

In Belgium, the British launched their

major offensive of 1917,

the third battle of Ep.

It will be remembered as Passanddale.

Heavy shelling, rain, and broken

irrigation channels turn the battlefield

into a sea of mud. In these impossible

conditions, all hopes of a breakthrough

soon fade.

The attack is called off after 3 months,

by which point the British have suffered

240,000 casualties, the Germans 200,000.

[music]

On the Italian front, at the 11th battle

of the Zanszo, Italian and

Austrohungarian forces [music] batter

each other into exhaustion.

There are 150,000 [music] Italian

casualties, 100,000 Austrohungarian.

[music]

That year, 1917,

the list of Allied nations grows.

[music]

Brazil, Liberia,

China, and Siam all declare war on

Germany as a result of German yubot

attacks or to curry favor with the

allies.

China will contribute [music] many

thousands of laborers working for the

allies in Europe, the Middle East, and

Asia.

[music]

[music]

That year in the Middle East, British

forces avenged their 1916 humiliation at

Kut by defeating the Ottoman Turks and

marching on to occupy Baghdad.

British forces in Egypt advance [music]

across the Sinai desert,

but are thrown back by Ottoman forces at

the first and second battles of Gaza.

In July, Arab rebels [music] capture the

strategic Ottoman port of Akaba.

They are accompanied by a British

military adviser, [music] Captain TE

Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of

Arabia.

That autumn, British Foreign Secretary

Arthur Balfur issues the Balfur

Declaration, expressing [music] support

for the creation of a national home for

the Jews in Palestine.

The aim is to rally Jewish support for

the Allies, but the declaration

contradicts [music] existing pledges to

Arab leaders.

[music]

In October, the British finally win at

Gaza, clearing the way for an advance

into Palestine.

6 weeks later, General Alenby leads

British troops into Jerusalem, ending

400 years of Ottoman rule.

With Russian forces in disarray, Germany

is able to move troops from the east to

the Italian front.

At the Battle of Caparto, they help to

smash through the Italian army,

advancing 70 mi and taking a quarter of

a million prisoners.

British and French divisions desperately

needed on the Western Front have to be

redeployed to shore up the line.

In Russia, a second revolution brings

Lenin's Bolevik party to power.

He is determined to end Russia's

involvement in the war.

In France, Gor Clemenso becomes prime

minister. Nicknamed the Tiger, he

promises total war and total victory.

But for the Allies in late 1917,

final victory looks uncertain.

Russia has stopped fighting. French

armies are recovering [music] from

mutiny.

The Italian front has almost collapsed

and American reinforcements still seem a

long way off.

For the time being, the British are the

only effective Allied force in the

field.

So the British attack at Camry with the

first major tank assault in history.

On the first day, nearly 400 tanks

spearhead an advance of several miles

through German defenses.

But then the tanks break down or are

knocked out. The Germans rush in

reinforcements

and the gains are lost.

Finland declares independence from

Russia.

Romania, isolated by the Russian

collapse, signs an armistice with the

Central Powers.

6 days later, Russia also signs an

armistice.

The Allied Eastern Front is no more.

1917 has seen one major Allied power,

Russia, knocked out of the war. But the

arrival of a fresh new ally, America.

Germany knows only military victory can

now save it from being overwhelmed by

Allied resources and begins planning one

last massive onslaught for the spring of

1918.

[music]

After 3 and 1/2 years of war, the allies

are in crisis.

Russia has been rocked by revolution and

its new bolevik government has signed an

armistice with [music] the central

powers.

Thousands of German troops will be freed

up to fight on the western front where

the carnage of trench warfare has

already claimed more than a million

lives.

But Germany is also desperate.

Britain's long naval blockade has led to

shortages and social unrest at home.

While America's entry into the war

brings fresh manpower and vast resources

to the Allied cause.

Germany faces [music] inevitable defeat

unless it can win a quick victory on the

Western front.

[music]

US President Wilson announces his 14

points.

They outline his vision for a post-war

world, including an end to secret

treaties, a reduction in the size of

armed forces,

self-determination for the people of the

Austrohungarian Empire, and an

international organization to settle

future [music] disputes.

But most European leaders dismiss his

ideas as wishful thinking.

At Breast Leovsk, [music]

Bolevik Russia signs a peace treaty with

the central powers.

Russia gives up vast amounts of [music]

territory in exchange for peace.

Half a million German troops can now be

redeployed from the east to the western

front where German General Eric Ludenorf

plans an allout lastditch offensive to

win the war.

Ludenorf's spring offensive catches the

Allies offguard.

German stormtroopers using new

infiltration tactics help to overwhelm

the British fifth army which is soon in

full retreat.

The German advance threatens to split

the British and French armies with

disastrous consequences.

So French General Ferdinand [music]

Foch is appointed Supreme Commander of

Allied forces to coordinate strategy.

Outside Amol, British and Australian

troops improvise a defense and finally

[music] halt the German advance.

The German offensive switches to the

north, targeting the channel ports.

But the British inflict [music] heavy

losses on the Germans and prevent a

breakthrough.

[music]

Above the trenches, the first air war

continues to escalate.

Each side now has more than 3,000

aircraft in service on the Western

Front. But by 1918, the Allies have won

air superiority thanks to greater

resources.

On the 21st of April, Germany's most

famous pilot, Manfred von Richtoven, the

Red Baron, is shot down and killed near

Among

with 80 victories. He's the war's

highest scoring ace and is buried by the

Allies with full military honors.

Britain's new independent bombing force

launches a daylight raid against

Cologne.

It marks the beginning of Britain's own

strategic bombing campaign.

On the ground, Ludenorf's offensive

switches south, targeting the French.

German troops advance 30 mi but are

halted at the river Mahm just as fresh

American divisions enter the line.

The US first division is the first to

see combat at the battle of Kini.

3 days later the US second division wins

victory [music] at the battle of Bellow

Wood.

By now, there are nearly a million

American soldiers in France with 10,000

more arriving every day. The fourth

phase of the German offensive leads to a

9-mile advance, but is finally halted by

a French counterattack.

In Italy, AustriaHungary launches an

attack at Asiago and the Pave River to

support Ludenorf's offensive in France.

But it's repulsed with heavy losses and

morale amongst the Austrohungarian army

collapses.

British and French troops land at

Mormansk in northern Russia.

It's the beginning of Allied

intervention in Russia's civil war on

the side of so-called white or

antibolchevik forces.

On the western front, the Germans final

attack is defeated in the second battle

of the mar.

Ludenorf's offensive has cost the

Germans more than 600,000 casualties and

has failed to make a decisive

breakthrough. Germany's final gamble has

failed.

[music]

The allies now go on the attack.

At the Battle of Among, British,

Australian, Canadian, and French troops

supported by tanks and aircraft advanced

7 miles in a single day.

General Ludenorf [music]

calls the 8th of August the black day of

the German army.

German troops [music] are exhausted,

hungry, and demoralized, and begin to

surrender in their thousands.

[music]

The battle of Among begins the Allies

100 days offensive.

Trench warfare is over. The Germans are

in full [music] retreat.

[music]

In the Balkans, a [music] new allied

offensive at Doapole breaks through

Bulgarian positions. The overstretched

Bulgarian army collapses [music]

and two weeks later, Bulgaria signs an

armistice.

[music] In the Middle East, British-led

forces defeat the Turks at the Battle of

Megiddo, taking 25,000 prisoners. Allied

troops soon occupy Damascus and Aleppo.

[music]

On the western front, Marshall Foch

orders a general attack.

British, French, and American armies

reach the Hindenburg line, a line of

reinforced German defenses

and break through.

[music]

Ludenorf informs the Kaiser that the

military situation is hopeless and that

Germany must seek an armistice.

[music]

Germany sends a request to [music] US

President Woodro Wilson

who in return demands German withdrawal

from all occupied territory

and the Kaiser's abdication.

On the Italian front, the Allies deliver

the final blow to Austria Hungary at the

Battle of Victoriao Venito.

The Austrohungarian army disintegrates

and 300,000 prisoners [music]

are taken.

With the Central Powers facing collapse,

the Ottoman Empire signs an armistice

with the Allies at Mudros.

4 days later, AustriaHungary signs an

[music] armistice with the allies at

Villai.

At Ke, the German high seas fleet is

ordered to make a suicidal attack on the

British Navy, but instead it mutinies.

Revolution [music]

spreads through Germany.

The Kaiser abdicates

and a German Republic [music]

is proclaimed.

On the 11th of November 1918, a German

delegation signs an [music] armistice

with the Allies inside Marshall Tho's

railway carriage at Compen.

It comes into [music] force at 11:00

a.m., but fighting continues until the

last moment.

American Private Henry Gunter is killed,

charging a German machine gun at 10:59.

He is thought to [music] be the last

soldier killed during World War I.

3 days [music] later in East Africa,

German General Vonletto Verbbeck

surrenders his army on the Chambzi

River. For 4 years, he has tied down

huge numbers of Allied troops, [music]

remaining undefeated while cut off from

home.

He is still considered one of history's

greatest guerilla leaders.

[music]

[music]

The Paris Peace Conference opens at the

Palace of Versailles, just outside the

French capital. Delegates accept a

proposal to create a League of Nations

to settle future international disputes.

The Versailles Treaty signed in June

imposes harsh terms on Germany.

Its military is restricted in size.

It must pay war reparations to the

Allies.

It loses territory to its neighbors.

And its colonies are seized [music] by

the victors.

Germany must also accept responsibility

[music]

for the war in a war guilt clause, a

source of lasting [music] resentment in

Germany.

[music]

The boundaries of Europe are redrawn.

Poland reemerges after a 100red years of

foreign rule. While Austria, Hungary,

Czechoslovakia,

Yugoslavia,

and an enlarged [music]

Romania emerge from the ashes of the

Austrohungarian Empire.

The Ottoman Empire is dismantled.

New states, most under European control,

are created in the [music] Middle East.

Here, as in Europe, the seeds of future

conflict are sown.

While in the Far East, former German

possessions in China are handed to Japan

to China's outrage.

[music]

World War I claimed the lives of 9 and a

half million soldiers,

one in eight of those who fought.

21 million more were wounded. [music] 7

million civilians also lost their lives.

Huge areas of Europe were left

devastated. [music]

Old empires vanished. New states were

born. Lives across the world were

transformed.

The world was never the same again.

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