The First World War

Incredibly detailed account of the war and the European political landscape in the early 1900s. The only thing I took issue with is the perspective of Russia going into the war. Russia had come off a long unproductive conflict on the Korean peninsula. The Russian generals were well aware of Germany's military might and superiority over their capability. They tried in vain to advise the czar against getting involved as they strongly believed they would be crushed by the Germans. I'm also not sure that Germany went into the war with the trepidation that is expressed in the documentary. This is the first documentary I've seen that correctly depicts the Kaiser for the monster he was. Also it does an excellent job of reviewing the worldwide nature of the war and the broad scope of the German attack including fomenting internal turmoil within its adversaries. This is must viewing for any student of history.

A very interesting and detailed WWI series which is based on the excellent book. The series consists of 10 episodes.

Call to Arms Under the Eagle Global War Jihad Shackled to a Corpse Breaking the Deadlock Blockade Revolution Germany's Last Gamble War Without End

The series uses a mixture of narration, maps, archive pictures, archive videos and also filming from the battlefields as they exist today. It gives a good deal of focus to the eastern front which not all British TV programmes do. The series also makes excellent use of first hand diary accounts of ordinary people such as a 12 year old Serbian girl fleeing her country or a Belgium boy living in his now occupied town to give you a taste of how it was experienced by those who were there. While nothing will probably ever top the 1964 series this comes close. The program attempts to explain the causes of the war and the forces which kept the enemy countries locked in mutual embrace for so long.

The music in the series is also superb, it also goes on into 1919-1921 examining the way in which those affected continued to reflect on it. The series also rightly acknowledges the results of the war: a communist Russia, a contained Austria and Germany, a powerful position for the USA and also what it failed to achieve.

The series for me also manages to convey the mass scale of the suffering without falling into the usual trap of blaming all of this on bad tactics by the leadership or arguing it was all for nothing.

This IS a very well done documentary. In fact, it is so well done that it leaves me speechless that the credits are so poor, both in the original 10 episodes and at IMDb.com. Who, for example, actually wrote the series? At the closing of each episode, the series is credited as being "based on a book by Hew Strachan." Does this mean he actually wrote the script? If not, who did? Was it Jonathan Lewis, who was credited as the series narrator? Even more irritating is that NONE of the actors who read from diaries and other primary source material are credited at all. The IMDb site credits the actual historical figures, as if they were still alive to read out loud material that is now almost 100 years old! Very weird at best, and unnecessarily dodgy at worst.

All aspects are very good. Music, narration, animation and script. Best WW 1 doc by far.

I had to write this comment because the person whose comment I saw first was absolutely ridiculous, saying that this documentary is slanted and biased toward a British point of view. I disagree.

I watch everything I can about WWI & WWII, and have been repeatedly dissatisfied with most WWI doc.s because they are too few and often do not even attempt to take on the monumental task with such depth as did this series. Specifically, I recall thinking to myself several times how honest and objective the documentary was.

I came away from the series with an understanding of the gray aspects of all the sides concerned and their respective actions (sometimes ethically questionable, sometimes not - on all sides). This war was not like WWII in many ways, not as clear cut, not as linear. Each nation, each major player, had its own entry and mode of operating during the war, which differed as time passed. No one was clearly the knight in shining armor, nor does this documentary propose such a thing, though the players involved at the time may have. I dare say it would not hold your attention for ten episodes if it was not masterfully nuanced in its portrayal of this under-studied, seldom understood war. This series satisfies the desire to know the time line in much deeper detail, spans many countries, people, and reminds the viewer to try and see the story unfold from the perspective of the contemporary.

Wonderfully produced. A must see.

10 out of 10 !