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The idiocy of those commanders is even more unacceptable because if you're the guy everybody reports the results to and therefore knows how ridiculous that strategy was. If all you know is "go over the top" until you die. ...well how many times can you storm a fixed fortification before your hit? Once, maybe twice. The Generals, however were given innumerable chances to see the futility of such tactics and despite every after action report continued to throw them over the top again
I had the privilege of knowing many Great War survivors as I worked in an old people's home in the Seventies. One New year's Eve (about '73) 'Pop' Dancy told me 'They say Haig was great a leader, but I never saw him in front of me, he was always behind me." Their narratives made me a pacifist.
Superb and heart chilling, enraging and so important for the world to know about. My grandfather, at 19 was a soldier at the Battle of the Somme. George Frederick Biddulph. Suffering beyond comprehension. Thankyou for posting this.
it amazes me that Sir Douglass Haig is given credit for 'defeating the Germans' when the credit should go to the millions who signed up, fought and died on those killing fields
@@denisegore1884 What could have been worse than Haig? Well Ludendorff for a start and Joffre getting in at a close second. Im not defending Haig so much as pointing out that in the morass of incompetence that was First World Generalship he was one of he best out there save for Rawlings or Currie. (Canadian) . Lions led by Donkeys Im afraid is popular myth which attempts to describe a complex situation with a simplistic explanation
@@stephenvince9994 Look up John Monash some time - the first general to combine artillery, tanks and aircraft in battle to support infantry (including air dropped supplies and ammunition).
My own father was in the Engineers during the Second World War. He too would only ever tell me the funny stuff, but there were times when he was drinking with his mates that their faces would darken and you knew that the sadder memories were intruding. Today's wars do not create the in-built support network that arose from the mass armies of old, and veterans today have to seek out help when before- like the old men of our families - the support was there when you walked into the pub.
+R Chapo Technically correct, but the gas used in that attack (at the rawka River) was non-lethal tear gas (and it didnt work) the first gas attack using lethal gas (chlorine) was near Langemark on the Ypres Salient in 1915
+Dr Alan Brown think you're right ,, i used to go to a pub in the 70s & 80s older top bods (who were too young to be in the army in ww2) i knew were always joking they had money & would buy anyone a drink ,,,, one night they turned round to me , chins wobbling tears in their eyes told me about the blitz & how they ran all the way up to blackheath & saw it,, they said could feel the heat from the docks 8 miles away ,,, they may have also been remembering the worst loss of life from a V2 rocket in ww2 that happened during daylight hours ,, silence is always the golden rule
Dad had seen too much he said.He was in Every campaign in the Pacific and the American campaign in The Atlantic.Lost his Battleship at Pearl and his Carrier at Midway-on his Birthday.He never spoke about it. Took him to his first reunion in 1976 and learned more about Coral Sea andMidway than I’ve ever read.The sheer terror of being below decks down in the bottom of the ship while it sank was unreal.as he spoke to his shipmates the looks in their eyes told it all.Mostly it was “Where were you during the battles” You think you’ve heard or read it all after 55 years of studying Military History but I was very wrong.On the other hand I’ve learned so many things that never reached the books its Amazing.
As a child i would walk with my grand father (a ww1 war vet) down to the village pub for a pineapple juice. On the way we would sometimes stop at the war memorial , usually because he was out of breath ( he`d been gassed during ww1) and he would point to some name and tell stories about the person .Never the blood curdling stories which the child in me wanted to hear, but some funny story or what a great cricket player or rugby player they had been. Only later did i comprehend how many friends he had lost to that war.
Nice memory Paul. My grandfathers never talked about their experiences from WW2 or 1, one was a submariner and the other was a navigator in the bombers.
Thank you for uploading this. I'm fascinated by the complex events of the Great War. Thought I'd watched all available on RUclips till I watched this vid Great vid. Hats off to you. Cheers.
@@drgeorgek Yes your right thinking about it, I seen quite a you documentaries on the treaty of Versailles and they never mention it once, how weird is that... Well spotted, take care George..
@@oasis6767 Hi Alan, yes indeed I am very interested in seeing that. I will definitely watch it. Thanks again, and a very happy new year to you and yours. Best regards, Myra ~~~~~
For all those blind people out there the First World War didn't end, just run out of soldiers, bred a few then it started again in 39, the Second World War never ended, sides took stock and changed sides, now we all await the start again. And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
My grandfather Bill Tallier was in the battle of the Somme, he lost his thumb and had a metal plate put in his head. The description he gave me was true as described in this documentary. He was poor Irish and not given a choice about enlistment when he lost his land. The generals sat far behind the front lines sending 10 s of thousands in each skirmish running into direct machine gun fire while thousands died immediately after going "over the top". They took and lost and took again the very same ground. The shelling lasted for 24 to 48 hours constantly before the Germans would charge. 35,000 soldiers had to be treated for "shell shock" if they weren't shot for cowardess. There was no honour or victory in war of the arrogant only rats to eat your corpse while your brother soldiers had to watch. Those same generals made the terms of the armistice so severe and impossible it created the second world war.
One good thing that’s happened since this documentary was made is that all those shot at dawn in the First World War have been pardoned. It doesn’t bring them back of course, but hopefully it brings some comfort to families. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to know that’s happened to a loved one, but feel so ashamed that you can’t even speak about it or share it as part of family history. It’s almost as if they were expected to forget their loved ones ever existed, many of whom weren’t guilty of anything.
The army has changed little in some ways from Nov 1918 our soilders today are being sent home after wars (Sorry Conflicts) in Iraq and Afgan some are being made Redundant some are comeing home with wounds very similer to WW1 after leaving the army you have very little reward from the govt who you have served our vets are given nothing other than a little badge to wear If you want to see how vets are treated just look at the USA the USA hold in high regard there service men and reward them through the rest of there lives Do you know what the yanks call soilders in afgan SKIP RATS because we pick up the kit that is thrown away by the Yanks We just don't get the right kit its always done on the cheap we have just sent a sgt in the Royal Marines to prison for a very long long time for killing a Talaban No he has not been shop as it was in 1917 but if the death sentince had been there he would have been belive me the govt is so two faced and always has been I see we are getting a new Army Hospital provided by a donation of the Duke Of Westminster how disgracefull that is I am not knocking the Duke But should it not be the Govt paying for this 100% we still have the same forces charites we had after the war it says it all yes very little has changed and its always the man and women in green who pays the price I know we all joined up as voulinteers but god can our Govt not respect Us without charity Nothing has changed I am very sorry to say Let me give you a thought In Yepra in Belgium the Fire service sound the last post every night at 8.00pm We do nothing in our capital city London to show the same respect could we not have a last post every night in London The guards are there 24/7 and have a band but nobody gives a fig and that's the truth I know the Genaral Public do care but Its the govt who dosent there more wrapped up in there fantersy world OLd men plan young me die just as it was in 1918
How many GAS victims in this last mess. 6.5 million men died in WWI Most Drafted men !!! My father made it to his fifties after Mustard Gas. Artillery, ate their horses.
an uncle of mine went down on 2 shipsin ww2 another was in the RAF both lied about their age both said to me never volunteer as they country only wants its working class when theres a war on nothing rerally changes
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That film of the Lancaster fusilliers says it all. My God, look at those faces. How easy to tell the difference between real combat footage and a re-enactment .
Not having read all the "Comments", I wonder if anyone knows about the British staff officer who changed the time of the armistice from 14:30 hours (2:30 pm) to 11:00 hours (11:00 am)? Which made it the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Selwyn Lloyd was so annoyed, that this chap lost the chance of a "Knighthood" (sic) and a shedload of cash, handed out to senior British staff officers after the war, eg "Earl" Haig, aka Butcher Haig. I had a Great Uncle who was called up in August 1914 - The Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry. Didn't talk about the war much. Wounded and captured, he survived. Lovely man who was not enamoured with senior officers especially Haig, clearly psychological damaged from his experiences.
Sehr gelungene Dokumentation, die weit über die Trivialitäten hinausgeht, die in heutigen Fließband-Dokumentationen über den Ersten Weltkrieg reproduziert werden und sehr quellennah Aspekte beleuchtet, die noch nicht unendlich oft erzählt wurden. Oder in Kürze: BBC-Qualität. Sehenswert.
Unfortunately when it comes to British films of war, patriotism takes all the space it can, if there's any left then you may get some truth but you cannot count on it, they had horrible failures to hide and forget.
@@afwalker1921 Apologies to all english-speakers for commenting in german. It's just so, that I can express myself much more precise and clearly in my native language. I hope the translation was not to much work. :)
I'm the one who should apologize! Verzeiung, bitte! I AM an Englisch speaker! My grandmother came here from Germany, and that is the only claim I have to the language. achimvetter7943 taught me something valuable, and I am grateful. Tschuss!
Haig was a religious zealot and he honestly thought his God was on his side which allowed him to continue. He wasn't a duffer and he leapt at the chance of new tactics and weapons such as tanks and all arms co-operation. He was in the thick of the action during 1st Ypres when the Germans almost broke through and the British were absolutely shattered and he was convinced that had the Germans just made one more push they'd have destroyed what was left of the British army and quite possibly won the war. This lesson stayed in the forefront of his mind throughout the war; 'Just one more push'.
The man is right, it wasn't his fathers fault. It was about the training he received when he was training as a cadet. They had a rigit mindset where training and order's we're concerned. No thinking outside the box, they rested on their lorals. The German's we're always innovating new idea's from all ranks. This is how the Stormtroopers came into being. They mixed it up and were successful when doing this but it cost and they couldn't replenish their losses, allies could and did they had big losses to but could field a new army with the Americans coming in at the right time. This to take pressure of Verdun. The French spiled their blood it was the British turn. All the while the Germans are losing economically and have to call a halt to the war. You can't fight if you haven't the weapons, no MUN no FUN. ✌️☘️
Those were inhuman conditions that these young men had to tolerate in the trenches: "the fetid smell of unwashed bodies, sweat, fear, cooking and then of course the smell of the lavatories... the trenches waste deep, so you waded along through this filth which smelled of sewers and excrement, dead bodies rotting... "
All British troops were rotated in the trenches and none spent more than 8-10 days a month in the forward trenches unless there was an expected attack or a planned attack. One battalion spent the whole month of January 1917 out if the line. Unlike the French who were left fir months no wonder they mutinied. Not all trenches were trenches were ‘waste deep’ in water. Buy a copy of Mud Blood and Poppycock by Gordon Corrigan.
Abraham Lincoln towards the end of the USA civil war said this. The poorest use of a soldier was to shoot him ???? The man had brains and heart. More than all these Royal gentlemen generals combined. You Brit’s can fight like hell but find better bettors.
Actually, the final decision on commuting the sentence passed out to Australian deserters etc. was made by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, who was English. The death sentences handed down were made by Australian Courts Martial, not British. Edit : It's never quite as simple as you think, is it?
So where do you think the generals should be, at the front. It is childish thinking. Bomber Harris was never asked to fly a Lancaster to Berlin. By the way 37 of the 311 shot were shot for murder. Read military history and do not rely on sentiment.
HAIG WAS A BUTCHER PLAIN AND SIMPLE. men were nothing but numbers to him. Cold indifference was about the most mercy his men ever got from him. ???? YES OR NO the war to end all wars. My favorite. Dreamers always do the most damage in life
I've spent years reading and watching WW-1 topics. It seems to me that, of course, Kaiser Wilhelm II and his pre-Nazi Bettman Hollweg were the antagonists. However, the British royal family hadn't worked on their rather poor relations with their cousin Willy. After the troops deployed, no human on earth could've predicted the absolute carnage nor created a plan to stop it. I blame the politicians- they never bear any consequences.
The airplane was invented in 1903, the automobile about 5 years or so before that. Both used gasoline and oil. WW1 was the first war about Oil. Germany found oil in the Ottoman Empire (where Iran now is located) Germany went to get it. The British Empire had been using Coal to power their Navy but Kerosene was lighter and has more energy for the same volume. The war was fought, it resulted in a lasting stalemate, Woodrow Wilson who campaigned on keeping Americans out of the war nevertheless sent Dough Boys (Americans, because they were well fed compared to Eurpoeans) to die and the War was won. So, guess the name of the Secretary of the British Navy during WW1? Winston Churchill. Who created the country of Iran, carved out of the Ottoman Empire? England drew the new maps of the Middle East and their new countries. Some wars were about Salt before refrigeration, Vietnam was about Rubber and Tin. "War is a Racket" by decorated US Marine General and Military Commander Smedley Butler.
Iran was not part of the Ottoman Empire. It was the independent and neutral Persian Kingdom. During WW1 it was invaded by the Ottomans, Russians and British in turn. Iraq however was part of the Ottoman Empire. The oilfields in Iran were run by the Anglo Persian Oil Company, better known today as British Petroleum (BP). The primary customer was the Royal Navy who bought just over half its production prior to WW1. Oil in Iran was discovered by APOC in 1912 and the fields were being developed when war started.
A great Montage of moments and a snippet from a book by C.E.M Montague called 'Disenchantment' who was there at the end. What is so tragic today, as it was then, how few of our leaders actually have a son or daughter in a conflict zone. Shouldn't we lead by example? Also they were all fighting for King & country, we fight for resources like oil and later, water. The corporate world doesn't care, they will sell to both sides if there's a profit.
There is a great movie, one of Brando's best. 'Young Lions' After WWI and the French punishing treaty, he plays a German Ski instructor that is tired of being spit on by French and other tourist, and joins the German Army. Very Sad.
***** I seriously doubt that the Yanks were a defining factor with regard to new inovations. Despite being lectured by British officers on new infantry tactics upon their arrival in France; they continued to blunder on with old tactic`s to the surprise of the Germans who concluded that they were oblivious of modern tactical warfare. Also they initially turned up without any planes, tanks or artillery. With regard to "the use of tanks could have ended the war in 1916" You have a point. However The Battle of the Somme could not be delayed (until there were sufficient tanks to make a difference) because it was partly set in motion (requested by the French) to relieve the French who were hard pressed at Verdun. Interestingly Haig is only remembered for the ennormous causualities from the 1916 battle of the Somme. Less known is his victory at the second battle of the Somme (1918) and that he was one of the chief architects; behind the 100 day offensive that finally broke the Germans resolve to continue the war. .
***** I wouldn't normally respond to an older post but The Americans did not bring the SPANISH FLU to the batllefield. There were 20,000 American deaths from the Flu but the term Spanish Flu should indicate where it came from.
hi thx for the vids i just wanted to say one of my uncles was in the desert with monty in ww2 and he said once under heavy shell fire he was to scared to even wet himself peace out all
Thank you, BM! I'm glad you found the films interesting. About your uncle, I shall be uploading two films on 'shell shock' soon. One of them is about shell shock in WW2, so you might find that one interesting. Subscribe to my channel and you'll be notified automatically. Thanks again, Alan.
Alan Brown Alan are there any documentaries on these films and pictures? often we see the film and there is no description of where it was shot, which battles etc,
Sure what I mean is that much of the original footage of actual battles shot at the time even the still photos Where were they shot? during which battles? Who took them what was the exact location etc
Le civin I understand. No, as far as I know these clips are all gleaned from film archives around the world and they are rarely captioned regarding their origins. A friend of mine worked for a production company for a few years and they tended to mine libraries for film clips and then sometimes make the narration fit the clip. He told me that footage was often unlabelled to begin with other than 'Battle scene' or 'Behind the lines', That said, it would be a great documentary in itself if one were dedicated to how WWI footage is sourced. I wonder if there's much left out there to find, or do we as a culture have all there is to have?
So many think that WWII because of statistics was the most grievieous one . Of course, not counting the Holocaust and the genocides, the worst for infantrymen, sailors and airmen was WWI.
Signalman Albert Rochester was an early Whistle-blower, if only he had sent his letter signed the Rebel to the Daily Mail, it was well known that the officers had cushy conditions, had other soldiers do their bidding and drank a lot.
Unimaginable, isn't it? I cannot foresee any conditions of modern warfare that would lead to those numbers by conventional weapons. Thankfully, the era of mass armies is probably behind us.
Alan Brown It's an odd paradox, isn't it, that modern firepower pretty much makes it impossible to put massive troop formations into the field. I think the phrase, "War to end all wars," was more prescient than is realized. The phrase is usually mocked as ironic and shortsighted. But while it certainly wasn't the last war, technology was quickly moving in the direction where the world's greatest powers can no longer afford to declare open warfare on one another.
Alan Brown I can think of a few. North Korea, Iran, Taiwan/ China, Ukraine if Russia invades. The Balkans had numbers like that. The Iran Iraq war had numbers like that.
The American's believe they intervened and won the war in Europe for the Allies. However Germany's offensive failed before the American armies could arrive on mass. The majority of all Allied divisions who stopped Germany's offensive was either French or British. The majority of Allied divisions who took part in the Hundred Day offensive was either French or British although the American's had started to arrive in greater numbers especially towards the end of 1918. The arrival of the USA basically gave the Allies too much influence at negotiations resulting in a harsh treaty.
+Marty Robinson There is no doubt in my mind the arrival of the American armies tipped the balance. Russia quit the war and all Germany's resources headed Westward. Germany might have won the war or at least forced a stalemate and favourable terms. You underestimate the United State's of America.
+HistorianJustin Historian Russia accepted negotiations due to Revolution and Civil War. (Rise of Communism) Germany's spring offensive failed to defeat the Allies before the American armies arrived on mass. The Allied counter attacks were inevitable and I do not dispute the American armies played a huge role in the final stages, offensive of the war. However the same results could and would have been achieved with or without the American armies. I agree Germany would have more "favourable terms" without the arrival of American armies at the last stages of the war. This is my point it was the arrival of the American armies which gave the Allies too much influence at negotiations resulting in a harsh treaty. Underestimating America? No I basically stated the Americans gave the Allies too much influence at negotiations!
Americans my ass. Canadians are the reason for the name "no mans land" they put riffles in their hand and ran off boats trying to run as close as possible to the enemy
Germany wasn't losing in 1918...at the very least, it was a stalemate . Evidence shows, France was literally bled dry of man power...more so than Germany or Britain and most of the other participants had already sued for peace. The history of war is always convoluted , biased participants hold tight to their own version of events. As evident; History is written by the winner, but not necessarily the truth. Not to suggest Germany was perched for victory , but the German position wasn't as dire as this documentary would indicate. This is exactly the reason for the controversy , they didn't need to sign a armistice at this time even with America's entrance and certainly not one suggesting total surrender or humiliation. A cloud of suspicion hung over the signing of this armistice from the beginning ...No military representative for the surrender of a country was literally unheard of at the time and then the immediate abdication of the Kaiser adds more doubts about what was honestly taking place. This goes full circle ...the only way to make sense of the end is to know the honest reasons for the beginning. The partial truth...the British government wanted Germany's ability for industrial growth and financial independence/ security destroyed long before 1914...the excused they popularized for declaration of war on Germany was bogus but very effective propaganda and they were not particularly concerned about who suffered to accomplish this. British Imperialism held no empathy ...Study the Boer war and the death epidemic of children held in BRITISH concentration camps. Funny thing, if you really understand the participants involved....and not simply what your told to believe...the design and purpose of this, and all war, begins to revel itself. The significance of, Smedley Butlers claim, " War is a Racket" becomes alarmingly evident.
When Russia left the war Britan needed a source of man power that didn't exist anywhere else in the world, except in America. Without USA involvement the Germans would have eventually won, but the war may have lasted until 1920 or so...France was bled dry by 1918, and Germany was better at war than were the English. The USA may not have won the war. But the war wouldn't have been won without them. In hindsight the USA should have stayed out of it as it was a European conflict. If the Germans had won, WWII would never have happened. Today's Geopolitical problems would be different.
A maximum of 200,000 British/German was the combined death toll on the Somme. If there had been a million dead both armies would have ceased to exist. Here is a statistic. c75% of all Allied troops that served on the Somme came out without so much as a scratch. Please do not exaggerate.
I believe that the news should show everything they see. I was a glorified medic toward the end of Viet Nam, I was stationed in Germany and was watching German news one evening. They showed a video of a man's head and torso, still alive. I said to my comrades, that man's dying. Even without seeing his injury, I knew the Vietnamese man was a goner, by his grimace, and the movement of his head and arms. But mostly the grimace. Mostly. The camera panned out and he was cut-off at the waist. The powers that be would never let that video be shown in the USA. West German News changed my mind about our dirty little war. Okay, so yeah, I'm a TV veteran. Haha
Looking at the portrait of Haig you can see or I can see the terrible pain he must of suppressed to try and do a job like he did. I am not making excuses for the man, he was a soldier, but he was a human being. It's a sad picture...
Haig and all his aristocratic cronies who sat behind well groomed dinner tables, whilst their men bit the dust and muck, should be all be stripped from their medals in retrospect, desecrated, blamed and shamed unto eternity. Especially where they refused to change tactics, as the “creeping barrage” was already invented and tried at the very moment the Somme battle began. Nevertheless, these incompetent representatives of the Army’s upper class willingly chose to stick to the strategic doctrine, of which they very well knew thousands and thousands would lose their lives without even slightly being able to achieve the fantasized objectives.
i wonder how many soldiers were killed or wounded by that cavalry officer on that last raid surely enough people had died already just keep your head down until 11 am. why waste more people for nothing except pride.
Ww1 showed how humans can be selfish and cruel, it was as if all the worlds leaders decided it's the best way to rid the world of the poor, it's always the poor bastards of this regard world that dies in war🙄🙄
They all celebrated the victory but all the countries that took part was broke millions dead and wounded and large parts of France destroyed Germany humiliated and lost large parts of German territory was annexed by the French and it was all for nothing...
What was wrong with the ww1 europe´s prewar generation? Suddenly all people of europe wanted the adventure war! But there were only few people who realy knew what a war of machine guns realy is and means for the european people.
Haig and his Muppet's could see of sorts the disaster that was unfolding...yet they sent wave after wave of puppets ....role of honour ......haig congratulated on a grt battles when war was over .medals pined to old farts chests,,,women can not visit the graves of husband brothers and sons graves....thats the reward they get..so yeah women had a right to have a go at haig,he planned battle and give the ok....
"One of the Germans, General Winterfeld, wept." I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. German - especially Prussian - generals would NOT do that - they'd lose face big time!
How was Britain responsible forWW1 and 2 ? Both occasions it was German aggression combined with treaty obligations , oil had nothing g to do with it . The one fact is that Britain was on both occasions not prepared for war . Britain was not looking for a war ! What brought them in was a treaty with Belgium in WW 1and then in 1939 the invasion of Poland .
So WW1 was caused by the ruling monachies that we had at the time. There was not one good side, thay all had played this game of bi-partial agreements. When the Austrians started the whole thing, what followed was a chain reaction. Monarchy and stupidity started WW1. On top of it most monarchies at the time were related. This even continued in WW2 when the Brits would not bomb Coburg. Yes, even today King Charles speakes German (which is a good and very un-english thing), and the tune God save the King origally came from Austria. At the end of WW1, the allies, predominately the French, forced a treaty on the Germans that was innevitably going to lead to war in some shape or form. This is why the USA learned their lesson and took a different aproach as WW2 ended. So what we can learn from all of this is that absolute rulers is a very very bad thing@@davidhunt3808
Was this made by the British? Oh really? I had no idea. That war and the other one as well were conceived and organized a generation earlier by British imperialists in a scheme called the balance of power where they associated with minor European powers to have them fight and destroy what was considered a threat to the survival of the empire. In this case Lord Palmerston was at the center of the planning of it all, forcing Belgium into a neutrality that would prove very useful, if not now, later on. Therefore, anyone who takes the time to study the documents that haven't been conveniently stashed away by the Imperial Waqr Museum will soon realize that the Kaiser did everything he possibly could to avoid the war until it was all too late, leading him to realize that he had been tricked and surrounded by the old vicious empires who prefered murder to a healthy commercial competition. Then in 1916 the Kaiser having all but won the war made a peace offer that looked more like a truce than a British surrender, offer that of course was refused , and the butchery went on, and on, and on... As the armies from both sides were being devastated by the terrible flu, and the motivation was all but gone, and the Americans were coming soon, the Germans contacted pres. Wilson to ask for his help, this war made no sense anymore, let's all go home and call it quits. He said yes, if you make Germany a republic and force the Kaiser out, the Germans complied, disarmed and went home, convinced that peace had finally come to Europe which means that Germany did not want the war, did not start it, did not sustain it and did not lose it on the battlefield, she lost it in the back rooms of the Palais de Versailles, justifiably believing she had been stabbed in the back... and then the British propaganda machine gave you this fantastic version of events which sadly, havs nothing to do with the truth, at the end of the war the BEF had been so disgraced thatn its name was not told for many years afterward.
Sorry , but I am not buying this. It's wrong on many many levels. Britain had no wish to fight a land war and only committed late having made great diplomatic efforts to avoid one. If Germany had wanted peace she could have accepted the 14 points from President Wilson when issued, for example, but she launched a major offensive in the Spring of 1918 instead and sued for peace only when her situation was militarily hopeless. Germany provided the blank cheque in 1914 for Austria to invade Serbia knowing the risks it posed. Germany , lest we forget, was just as much an imperial power as the rest. In no way in 1916 after Verdun and the Somme had anyone, let alone Germany nearly won anything and yes, Germany was soundly beaten by 1918. Her allies had all sought terms and she was alone, beaten and desperate to accept any terms offered.
@@willjennings5252 The Germans did accept the 14 points, in fact they didn't even surrender, they got in touch with president Wilson and told him they had had enough of that blood shed, and asked for his help to talk to all the armies involved. They all agreed to go with the 14 points, but only afterthe threat of economic sanctions. If you want to know more there's a few very interesting videos here on YT called: another one called: "Kaiser Wilhelm II Lays the Blame for WW1 // From His Memoirs (1922) // Primary Source" And a very well made: "The WW1 Conspiracy (Full Documentary | 2018)" A good owne: "Who Financed the Great War? - World War I DOCUMENTARY" And the most revealing: "Belgian Neutrality and the British Decision for War" Terry Boardman" Oh and you are right, Britain usually had her wars fought by others because she was not ready, the military lacked experience, hadn't realized war was coming, had forgotten to rearm, etc... all while secretly pushing her allies, new and old to invest more and more... Germany made very acceptable peace offers in 1916, 1917, you can read about it here "Documents - Germany at War, 1914-1918: Seeking an End to War GHDI" So in the end, it is not a matter of buying it or not, it's all about research and cold facts. Cheers.
@@rosesprog1722 Germany accepted the 14 points because she was beaten and defenceless. Her armies had been driven back and beaten time and again since the beginning of August. Lest we forget the German home front had collapsed, her navy had mutinied and her soldiers were surrendering en masse. The game was up, the Kaiser knew it , Ludendorff knew it on August 8th when the Battle Of Amiens was launched. It called it the 'black day of the German army', he wrote even then 'the war must be ended' A death bed conversion to democracy counts for nothing. The German chancellor (Baden or Von Baden) had a letter intercepted decrying democracy when he was talking a good game through diplomatic channels to the Americans. It was all for show until events drove change through. If Germany didn't want the war they could have made it clear to Austria Hungary they would not support them in a war against Serbia which even the Kaiser accepted was not justified after the Serbian response to the Austrian ultimatum in late July 1914. He knew what would happen when the alliances were enacted but chose to let it happen. Call it sad if you will but research on World War 1 is something I do and long since academic necessities have passed
You know the Japaneses were on our side and got up in discus and went home during the Treaty negotiations with the vindictive behavior of the French. One of the causes as I see it for WWII
Oh really, 400k vs 600k? Fact: Germany had far fewer dead at the Somme, far fewer injured and not a lot POW...Propaganda even after all these years huh...
Please visit our new site for the serious history enthusiast: www.historyroom.org We have recent history, old history, ancient history, debates, reviews, quizzes and much more. You might even consider contributing something of your own! See you there!
very much impressed....thank you for this
Please explain why so many of your uploads are banned here in England, you must agree its rather hypocritical and in bad taste?
The idiocy of those commanders is even more unacceptable because if you're the guy everybody reports the results to and therefore knows how ridiculous that strategy was. If all you know is "go over the top" until you die. ...well how many times can you storm a fixed fortification before your hit? Once, maybe twice. The Generals, however were given innumerable chances to see the futility of such tactics and despite every after action report continued to throw them over the top again
I like Timothy West as a narrator. He's got such a nice voice - gentle and comforting.
I had the privilege of knowing many Great War survivors as I worked in an old people's home in the Seventies. One New year's Eve (about '73) 'Pop' Dancy told me 'They say Haig was great a leader, but I never saw him in front of me, he was always behind me." Their narratives made me a pacifist.
Superb and heart chilling, enraging and so important for the world to know about. My grandfather, at 19 was a soldier at the Battle of the Somme. George Frederick Biddulph. Suffering beyond comprehension. Thankyou for posting this.
it amazes me that Sir Douglass Haig is given credit for 'defeating the Germans' when the credit should go to the millions who signed up, fought and died on those killing fields
He was the one who ordered men executed for "cowardice". Only the Australians would not allow their men to be executed.
@@denisegore1884 What could have been worse than Haig? Well Ludendorff for a start and Joffre getting in at a close second. Im not defending Haig so much as pointing out that in the morass of incompetence that was First World Generalship he was one of he best out there save for Rawlings or Currie. (Canadian) . Lions led by Donkeys Im afraid is popular myth which attempts to describe a complex situation with a simplistic explanation
I find it amazing that so many died for nothing.
@@stephenvince9994 Look up John Monash some time - the first general to combine artillery, tanks and aircraft in battle to support infantry (including air dropped supplies and ammunition).
The whole war was ridiculous in its origins. Fighting for some pompous cunts so they feel better.
My own father was in the Engineers during the Second World War. He too would only ever tell me the funny stuff, but there were times when he was drinking with his mates that their faces would darken and you knew that the sadder memories were intruding. Today's wars do not create the in-built support network that arose from the mass armies of old, and veterans today have to seek out help when before- like the old men of our families - the support was there when you walked into the pub.
+R Chapo Technically correct, but the gas used in that attack (at the rawka River) was non-lethal tear gas (and it didnt work) the first gas attack using lethal gas (chlorine) was near Langemark on the Ypres Salient in 1915
+Dr Alan Brown think you're right ,, i used to go to a pub in the 70s & 80s older top bods (who were too young to be in the army in ww2) i knew were always joking they had money & would buy anyone a drink ,,,,
one night they turned round to me , chins wobbling tears in their eyes told me about the blitz & how they ran all the way up to blackheath & saw it,, they said could feel the heat from the docks 8 miles away ,,,
they may have also been remembering the worst loss of life from a V2 rocket in ww2 that happened during daylight hours ,, silence is always the golden rule
Dad had seen too much he said.He was in Every campaign in the Pacific and the American campaign in The Atlantic.Lost his Battleship at Pearl and his Carrier at Midway-on his Birthday.He never spoke about it. Took him to his first reunion in 1976 and learned more about Coral Sea andMidway than I’ve ever read.The sheer terror of being below decks down in the bottom of the ship while it sank was unreal.as he spoke to his shipmates the looks in their eyes told it all.Mostly it was “Where were you during the battles” You think you’ve heard or read it all after 55 years of studying Military History but I was very wrong.On the other hand I’ve learned so many things that never reached the books its Amazing.
So True.
Thank you for sharing these Great War documentaries. There is much in them I didn't know.
As a child i would walk with my grand father (a ww1 war vet) down to the village pub for a pineapple juice. On the way we would sometimes stop at the war memorial , usually because he was out of breath ( he`d been gassed during ww1) and he would point to some name and tell stories about the person .Never the blood curdling stories which the child in me wanted to hear, but some funny story or what a great cricket player or rugby player they had been. Only later did i comprehend how many friends he had lost to that war.
Bravado/ stupidity you think you could go there? yes no better alive coward than a dead hero
Nice memory Paul. My grandfathers never talked about their experiences from WW2 or 1, one was a submariner and the other was a navigator in the bombers.
Thank you for uploading this.
I'm fascinated by the complex events of the Great War.
Thought I'd watched all available on RUclips till I watched this vid
Great vid. Hats off to you.
Cheers.
I find it amazing we have been living in the shadow of this war ever since.
Absolutely... led to WW2, Cold War, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan which takes us to this day. Insane when you think about it.
@@drgeorgek Agreed and to think, it was basically all down to 2 people being shot, talk about the Butterfly effect..
@@chriswilde7246 yup... no one mentioned archduke Ferdinand at Versailles... he was long forgotten despite being the trigger for WW1
@@drgeorgek Yes your right thinking about it, I seen quite a you documentaries on the treaty of Versailles and they never mention it once, how weird is that... Well spotted, take care George..
@@chriswilde7246 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Thank you Alan Brown for all your uploads. I really appreciate your efforts!
And thank you for that kind comment! I endeavour to please, and there are many more to come.
Alan Brown
Ya I've been trying to find more Vietnam stuff lately! I've literally watched 1000's of hours of WWII stuff. there's almost none left!
Alan Brown
But I haven't seen a lot of the videos you posted.. So I'm really enjoying them!
Hello again! Your comment inspired me to dig out a video from my collection on the Vietnam conflict. I uploaded it today.
Thank you for such poignant documentaries, yours are a cut above. Love the channel, appreciate your work so much. Many thanks!
You're very kind. I've just uploaded a new Great War documentary -'The Necessary War' - which you might find interesting too. Thanks again ~~ Alan.
@@oasis6767
Hi Alan, yes indeed I am very interested in seeing that. I will definitely watch it. Thanks again, and a very happy new year to you and yours. Best regards, Myra ~~~~~
For all those blind people out there the First World War didn't end, just run out of soldiers, bred a few then it started again in 39, the Second World War never ended, sides took stock and changed sides, now we all await the start again. And I think to myself what a wonderful world.
Great show! Excellent writing as well
Excellent! Thank You for posting.
Haig's son was backtracking the entire time he spoke. He knows what really happened.
Quote on the end of hostilities 11/11/1918 @ 35:30 "From now on, war will be recognized as an obsolete anachronism, never
to be revived." Sad.
Poor Beatrice - losing both her brothers in the war! What a terrible thing!
Thank you for this!
My grandfather Bill Tallier was in the battle of the Somme, he lost his thumb and had a metal plate put in his head. The description he gave me was true as described in this documentary. He was poor Irish and not given a choice about enlistment when he lost his land. The generals sat far behind the front lines sending 10 s of thousands in each skirmish running into direct machine gun fire while thousands died immediately after going "over the top". They took and lost and took again the very same ground. The shelling lasted for 24 to 48 hours constantly before the Germans would charge. 35,000 soldiers had to be treated for "shell shock" if they weren't shot for cowardess. There was no honour or victory in war of the arrogant only rats to eat your corpse while your brother soldiers had to watch. Those same generals made the terms of the armistice so severe and impossible it created the second world war.
"The war to end all wars"
Hitler: I’m about to destroy this whole mans career
"It was horrible, at least we won't have to go through that again."
One good thing that’s happened since this documentary was made is that all those shot at dawn in the First World War have been pardoned. It doesn’t bring them back of course, but hopefully it brings some comfort to families. I can’t imagine what it must have felt like to know that’s happened to a loved one, but feel so ashamed that you can’t even speak about it or share it as part of family history. It’s almost as if they were expected to forget their loved ones ever existed, many of whom weren’t guilty of anything.
The army has changed little in some ways from Nov 1918
our soilders today are being sent home after wars (Sorry Conflicts) in Iraq and Afgan some are being made Redundant some are comeing home with wounds very similer to WW1
after leaving the army you have very little reward from the govt who you have served
our vets are given nothing other than a little badge to wear
If you want to see how vets are treated just look at the USA
the USA hold in high regard there service men and reward them through the rest of there lives
Do you know what the yanks call soilders in afgan SKIP RATS because we pick up the kit that is thrown away by the Yanks We just don't get the right kit its always done on the cheap
we have just sent a sgt in the Royal Marines to prison for a very long long time for killing a Talaban
No he has not been shop as it was in 1917 but if the death sentince had been there he would have been belive me
the govt is so two faced and always has been
I see we are getting a new Army Hospital provided by a donation of the Duke Of Westminster
how disgracefull that is I am not knocking the Duke But should it not be the Govt paying for this 100%
we still have the same forces charites we had after the war
it says it all
yes very little has changed and its always the man and women in green who pays the price
I know we all joined up as voulinteers but god can our Govt not respect Us without charity
Nothing has changed I am very sorry to say
Let me give you a thought
In Yepra in Belgium the Fire service sound the last post every night at 8.00pm
We do nothing in our capital city London to show the same respect
could we not have a last post every night in London The guards are there 24/7 and have a band but nobody gives a fig and that's the truth
I know the Genaral Public do care but Its the govt who dosent
there more wrapped up in there fantersy world
OLd men plan young me die just as it was in 1918
Nothing changes does it......I'm reminded of term PBI....
Moral of the story. Don't join the army.
How many GAS victims in this last mess. 6.5 million men died in WWI Most Drafted men !!! My father made it to his fifties after Mustard Gas. Artillery, ate their horses.
an uncle of mine went down on 2 shipsin ww2 another was in the RAF both lied about their age both said to me never volunteer as they country only wants its working class when theres a war on nothing rerally changes
You might also be interested in a new paper I recently published, available direct from Amazon. Simply search *'How socialist was National Socialism'* in the Amazon search box.
The crowd scenes in these videos is the Reason for these horrific wars - too many people.
Thanks Dr. Brown.
That film of the Lancaster fusilliers says it all. My God, look at those faces. How easy to tell the difference between real combat footage and a re-enactment .
Not having read all the "Comments", I wonder if anyone knows about the British staff officer who changed the time of the armistice from 14:30 hours (2:30 pm) to 11:00 hours (11:00 am)? Which made it the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Selwyn Lloyd was so annoyed, that this chap lost the chance of a "Knighthood" (sic) and a shedload of cash, handed out to senior British staff officers after the war, eg "Earl" Haig, aka Butcher Haig.
I had a Great Uncle who was called up in August 1914 - The Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry. Didn't talk about the war much. Wounded and captured, he survived. Lovely man who was not enamoured with senior officers especially Haig, clearly psychological damaged from his experiences.
i still can't believe that the ww1 ended today a 100th year and The last living veteran of World War die in 2012!!!!!
Sehr gelungene Dokumentation, die weit über die Trivialitäten hinausgeht, die in heutigen Fließband-Dokumentationen über den Ersten Weltkrieg reproduziert werden und sehr quellennah Aspekte beleuchtet, die noch nicht unendlich oft erzählt wurden. Oder in Kürze: BBC-Qualität. Sehenswert.
Unfortunately when it comes to British films of war, patriotism takes all the space it can, if there's any left then you may get some truth but you cannot count on it, they had horrible failures to hide and forget.
Thank you for teaching me the word "sehenswert." Ich habe es lange gebrauchtet!
@@afwalker1921
Apologies to all english-speakers for commenting in german. It's just so, that I can express myself much more precise and clearly in my native language. I hope the translation was not to much work. :)
I'm the one who should apologize! Verzeiung, bitte! I AM an Englisch speaker! My grandmother came here from Germany, and that is the only claim I have to the language. achimvetter7943 taught me something valuable, and I am grateful. Tschuss!
Haig was a religious zealot and he honestly thought his God was on his side which allowed him to continue.
He wasn't a duffer and he leapt at the chance of new tactics and weapons such as tanks and all arms co-operation.
He was in the thick of the action during 1st Ypres when the Germans almost broke through and the British were absolutely shattered and he was convinced that had the Germans just made one more push they'd have destroyed what was left of the British army and quite possibly won the war.
This lesson stayed in the forefront of his mind throughout the war; 'Just one more push'.
The man is right, it wasn't his fathers fault. It was about the training he received when he was training as a cadet. They had a rigit mindset where training and order's we're concerned. No thinking outside the box, they rested on their lorals. The German's we're always innovating new idea's from all ranks. This is how the Stormtroopers came into being. They mixed it up and were successful when doing this but it cost and they couldn't replenish their losses, allies could and did they had big losses to but could field a new army with the Americans coming in at the right time. This to take pressure of Verdun. The French spiled their blood it was the British turn. All the while the Germans are losing economically and have to call a halt to the war. You can't fight if you haven't the weapons, no MUN no FUN. ✌️☘️
And none of these people are considered mass murderers
because war was legal
@@thetruth-xb4yh Isn't it still?
Those were inhuman conditions that these young men had to tolerate in the trenches: "the fetid smell of unwashed bodies, sweat, fear, cooking and then of course the smell of the lavatories... the trenches waste deep, so you waded along through this filth which smelled of sewers and excrement, dead bodies rotting... "
All British troops were rotated in the trenches and none spent more than 8-10 days a month in the forward trenches unless there was an expected attack or a planned attack. One battalion spent the whole month of January 1917 out if the line. Unlike the French who were left fir months no wonder they mutinied. Not all trenches were trenches were ‘waste deep’ in water. Buy a copy of Mud Blood and Poppycock by Gordon Corrigan.
Abraham Lincoln towards the end of the USA civil war said this. The poorest use of a soldier was to shoot him ???? The man had brains and heart. More than all these Royal gentlemen generals combined. You Brit’s can fight like hell but find better bettors.
He ordered that men be shot for cowardice sitting at headquarters well out of range of German artillery. The Australians told him to “get stuffed”
Actually, the final decision on commuting the sentence passed out to Australian deserters etc. was made by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Ronald Munro Ferguson, who was English. The death sentences handed down were made by Australian Courts Martial, not British.
Edit : It's never quite as simple as you think, is it?
So where do you think the generals should be, at the front. It is childish thinking. Bomber Harris was never asked to fly a Lancaster to Berlin. By the way 37 of the 311 shot were shot for murder. Read military history and do not rely on sentiment.
some of those shot for cowardice were so shell shocked they didn’t even know they were being shot.
HAIG WAS A BUTCHER PLAIN AND SIMPLE. men were nothing but numbers to him. Cold indifference was about the most mercy his men ever got from him. ???? YES OR NO the war to end all wars. My favorite. Dreamers always do the most damage in life
I've spent years reading and watching WW-1 topics. It seems to me that, of course, Kaiser Wilhelm II and his pre-Nazi Bettman Hollweg were the antagonists. However, the British royal family hadn't worked on their rather poor relations with their cousin Willy. After the troops deployed, no human on earth could've predicted the absolute carnage nor created a plan to stop it. I blame the politicians- they never bear any consequences.
Ah, yes. The Great Peace To End All Peace. ;)
I went to Mells, to take part in a reenactment of the English Civil War Society, in the late 1980's, and I saw inside that church,
There was 8 spitfire plains in total 1 set near spitfire island during the war when it started
Thankfully they were pardoned, bless them, but it was disgraceful treatment of such brave lads.
The airplane was invented in 1903, the automobile about 5 years or so before that. Both used gasoline and oil. WW1 was the first war about Oil. Germany found oil in the Ottoman Empire (where Iran now is located) Germany went to get it. The British Empire had been using Coal to power their Navy but Kerosene was lighter and has more energy for the same volume. The war was fought, it resulted in a lasting stalemate, Woodrow Wilson who campaigned on keeping Americans out of the war nevertheless sent Dough Boys (Americans, because they were well fed compared to Eurpoeans) to die and the War was won.
So, guess the name of the Secretary of the British Navy during WW1? Winston Churchill. Who created the country of Iran, carved out of the Ottoman Empire? England drew the new maps of the Middle East and their new countries.
Some wars were about Salt before refrigeration, Vietnam was about Rubber and Tin.
"War is a Racket" by decorated US Marine General and Military Commander Smedley Butler.
Iran was not part of the Ottoman Empire. It was the independent and neutral Persian Kingdom.
During WW1 it was invaded by the Ottomans, Russians and British in turn.
Iraq however was part of the Ottoman Empire.
The oilfields in Iran were run by the Anglo Persian Oil Company, better known today as British Petroleum (BP). The primary customer was the Royal Navy who bought just over half its production prior to WW1.
Oil in Iran was discovered by APOC in 1912 and the fields were being developed when war started.
A great Montage of moments and a snippet from a book by C.E.M Montague called 'Disenchantment' who was there at the end. What is so tragic today, as it was then, how few of our leaders actually have a son or daughter in a conflict zone. Shouldn't we lead by example?
Also they were all fighting for King & country, we fight for resources like oil and later, water. The corporate world doesn't care, they will sell to both sides if there's a profit.
There is a great movie, one of Brando's best. 'Young Lions' After WWI and the French punishing treaty, he plays a German Ski instructor that is tired of being spit on by French and other tourist, and joins the German Army. Very Sad.
And very fictional
Thompson was the Admiral for Britain during the Falkland islands war with Argentina.
My husbands great grandfather never came home from WWI …. Never found his body.
May he rest in peace.
Haige was typical of the breed.Bought his commission,and achieved high rank despite being rather slow witted and without any clue.
The sale of commissions was abolished in 1871 when Haig was 10 years old. He graduated from Sandhurst as a junior officer in 1885.
***** I seriously doubt that the Yanks were a defining factor with regard to new inovations. Despite being lectured by British officers on new infantry tactics upon their arrival in France; they continued to blunder on with old tactic`s to the surprise of the Germans who concluded that they were oblivious of modern tactical warfare. Also they initially turned up without any planes, tanks or artillery.
With regard to "the use of tanks could have ended the war in 1916" You have a point. However The Battle of the Somme could not be delayed (until there were sufficient tanks to make a difference) because it was partly set in motion (requested by the French) to relieve the French who were hard pressed at Verdun.
Interestingly Haig is only remembered for the ennormous causualities from the 1916 battle of the Somme. Less known is his victory at the second battle of the Somme (1918) and that he was one of the chief architects; behind the 100 day offensive that finally broke the Germans resolve to continue the war. .
***** I didn`t know it was the Yanks that brought the flu to Europe. Are you sure they were on the Allied side. ;-)
Strange was he not the Commander of the victorious English Army.!
***** I wouldn't normally respond to an older post but The Americans did not bring the SPANISH FLU to the batllefield. There were 20,000 American deaths from the Flu but the term Spanish Flu should indicate where it came from.
hi thx for the vids i just wanted to say one of my uncles was in the desert with monty in ww2 and he said once under heavy shell fire he was to scared to even wet himself peace out all
Thank you, BM! I'm glad you found the films interesting. About your uncle, I shall be uploading two films on 'shell shock' soon. One of them is about shell shock in WW2, so you might find that one interesting. Subscribe to my channel and you'll be notified automatically. Thanks again, Alan.
Alan Brown Alan are there any documentaries on these films and pictures? often we see the film and there is no description of where it was shot, which battles etc,
I'm not sure what you mean, LC! Can you be a bit more specific?
Sure what I mean is that much of the original footage of actual battles shot at the time even the still photos Where were they shot? during which battles? Who took them what was the exact location etc
Le civin I understand. No, as far as I know these clips are all gleaned from film archives around the world and they are rarely captioned regarding their origins. A friend of mine worked for a production company for a few years and they tended to mine libraries for film clips and then sometimes make the narration fit the clip. He told me that footage was often unlabelled to begin with other than 'Battle scene' or 'Behind the lines', That said, it would be a great documentary in itself if one were dedicated to how WWI footage is sourced. I wonder if there's much left out there to find, or do we as a culture have all there is to have?
So many think that WWII because of statistics was the most grievieous one .
Of course, not counting the Holocaust and the genocides, the worst for infantrymen, sailors and airmen was WWI.
Signalman Albert Rochester was an early Whistle-blower, if only he had sent his letter signed the Rebel to the Daily Mail, it was well known that the officers had cushy conditions, had other soldiers do their bidding and drank a lot.
1914 to 1918.I wonder if the corn dog had been invented by then.If so,probably in Germany,or Tennessee.
Were there documents the British sealed for 100 years regarding WW1?
32:03 reminds me of a retro Russian-Canadian cartoon.
They were all heroes. They were shot because of the leaders incompitance...
Does that include the 37 shot for murder.
Please listen to the song:
The Great War the writers.
Thanks.
British casualties = 419,654. French Somme = 194,451. German casualties = 600,000.
Unimaginable, isn't it? I cannot foresee any conditions of modern warfare that would lead to those numbers by conventional weapons. Thankfully, the era of mass armies is probably behind us.
Alan Brown It's an odd paradox, isn't it, that modern firepower pretty much makes it impossible to put massive troop formations into the field. I think the phrase, "War to end all wars," was more prescient than is realized. The phrase is usually mocked as ironic and shortsighted. But while it certainly wasn't the last war, technology was quickly moving in the direction where the world's greatest powers can no longer afford to declare open warfare on one another.
Alan Brown I can think of a few. North Korea, Iran, Taiwan/ China, Ukraine if Russia invades. The Balkans had numbers like that. The Iran Iraq war had numbers like that.
Yes, good point. Let's hope it does not happen.
Ridiculous! The Germans had a western, an eastern and a south front - and the sea!
The American's believe they intervened and won the war in Europe for the Allies.
However Germany's offensive failed before the American armies could arrive on mass.
The majority of all Allied divisions who stopped Germany's offensive was either French or British.
The majority of Allied divisions who took part in the Hundred Day offensive was either French or British although the American's had started to arrive in greater numbers especially towards the end of 1918.
The arrival of the USA basically gave the Allies too much influence at negotiations resulting in a harsh treaty.
+Marty Robinson
There is no doubt in my mind the arrival of the American armies tipped the balance. Russia quit the war and all Germany's resources headed Westward. Germany might have won the war or at least forced a stalemate and favourable terms. You underestimate the United State's of America.
+HistorianJustin Historian
Russia accepted negotiations due to Revolution and Civil War. (Rise of Communism)
Germany's spring offensive failed to defeat the Allies before the American armies arrived on mass.
The Allied counter attacks were inevitable and I do not dispute the American armies played a huge role in the final stages, offensive of the war.
However the same results could and would have been achieved with or without the American armies.
I agree Germany would have more "favourable terms" without the arrival of American armies at the last stages of the war. This is my point it was the arrival of the American armies which gave the Allies too much influence at negotiations resulting in a harsh treaty.
Underestimating America?
No I basically stated the Americans gave the Allies too much influence at negotiations!
Americans my ass. Canadians are the reason for the name "no mans land" they put riffles in their hand and ran off boats trying to run as close as possible to the enemy
Germany wasn't losing in 1918...at the very least, it was a stalemate . Evidence shows, France was literally bled dry of man power...more so than Germany or Britain and most of the other participants had already sued for peace. The history of war is always convoluted , biased participants hold tight to their own version of events. As evident; History is written by the winner, but not necessarily the truth. Not to suggest Germany was perched for victory , but the German position wasn't as dire as this documentary would indicate. This is exactly the reason for the controversy , they didn't need to sign a armistice at this time even with America's entrance and certainly not one suggesting total surrender or humiliation. A cloud of suspicion hung over the signing of this armistice from the beginning ...No military representative for the surrender of a country was literally unheard of at the time and then the immediate abdication of the Kaiser adds more doubts about what was honestly taking place. This goes full circle ...the only way to make sense of the end is to know the honest reasons for the beginning. The partial truth...the British government wanted Germany's ability for industrial growth and financial independence/ security destroyed long before 1914...the excused they popularized for declaration of war on Germany was bogus but very effective propaganda and they were not particularly concerned about who suffered to accomplish this. British Imperialism held no empathy ...Study the Boer war and the death epidemic of children held in BRITISH concentration camps. Funny thing, if you really understand the participants involved....and not simply what your told to believe...the design and purpose of this, and all war, begins to revel itself. The significance of, Smedley Butlers claim, " War is a Racket" becomes alarmingly evident.
When Russia left the war Britan needed a source of man power that didn't exist anywhere else in the world, except in America. Without USA involvement the Germans would have eventually won, but the war may have lasted until 1920 or so...France was bled dry by 1918, and Germany was better at war than were the English. The USA may not have won the war. But the war wouldn't have been won without them. In hindsight the USA should have stayed out of it as it was a European conflict. If the Germans had won, WWII would never have happened. Today's Geopolitical problems would be different.
Why has the elite never been done for this war?
In the Battle of the Somme over a million men died.
The 2 world wars were a mechanism for the intentional systematic culling and relocation of the rural populations of europe
A maximum of 200,000 British/German was the combined death toll on the Somme. If there had been a million dead both armies would have ceased to exist. Here is a statistic. c75% of all Allied troops that served on the Somme came out without so much as a scratch. Please do not exaggerate.
35:59 "shot through the groin" nasty!
I believe that the news should show everything they see. I was a glorified medic toward the end of Viet Nam, I was stationed in Germany and was watching German news one evening. They showed a video of a man's head and torso, still alive. I said to my comrades, that man's dying. Even without seeing his injury, I knew the Vietnamese man was a goner, by his grimace, and the movement of his head and arms. But mostly the grimace. Mostly. The camera panned out and he was cut-off at the waist.
The powers that be would never let that video be shown in the USA. West German News changed my mind about our dirty little war. Okay, so yeah, I'm a TV veteran. Haha
Looking at the portrait of Haig you can see or I can see the terrible pain he must of suppressed to try and do a job like he did. I am not making excuses for the man, he was a soldier, but he was a human being. It's a sad picture...
I'm puzzled by "emotive". Isn't an emotive documentary a failure?
0:40 he watching you
😵
No statute of limitation on murder ever !!! 3/20/18 !!!
war is legal therefor not murder just like legal abortion
There's no one left alive to prosecute.
Haig and all his aristocratic cronies who sat behind well groomed dinner tables, whilst their men bit the dust and muck, should be all be stripped from their medals in retrospect, desecrated, blamed and shamed unto eternity. Especially where they refused to change tactics, as the “creeping barrage” was already invented and tried at the very moment the Somme battle began. Nevertheless, these incompetent representatives of the Army’s upper class willingly chose to stick to the strategic doctrine, of which they very well knew thousands and thousands would lose their lives without even slightly being able to achieve the fantasized objectives.
i wonder how many soldiers were killed or wounded by that cavalry officer on that last raid surely enough people had died already just keep your head down until 11 am. why waste more people for nothing except pride.
he was a flunkout of abortion school
Ww1 showed how humans can be selfish and cruel, it was as if all the worlds leaders decided it's the best way to rid the world of the poor, it's always the poor bastards of this regard world that dies in war🙄🙄
They all celebrated the victory but all the countries that took part was broke millions dead and wounded and large parts of France destroyed Germany humiliated and lost large parts of German territory was annexed by the French and it was all for nothing...
What was wrong with the ww1 europe´s prewar generation? Suddenly all people of europe wanted the adventure war! But there were only few people who realy knew what a war of machine guns realy is and means for the european people.
Ralf Rath Do you ever stop trolling?
War is over!!!! Coulda fooled me 🤕💀
No one mentions French and the butchers bill he was responsible for
Haig and his Muppet's could see of sorts the disaster that was unfolding...yet they sent wave after wave of puppets ....role of honour ......haig congratulated on a grt battles when war was over .medals pined to old farts chests,,,women can not visit the graves of husband brothers and sons graves....thats the reward they get..so yeah women had a right to have a go at haig,he planned battle and give the ok....
"One of the Germans, General Winterfeld, wept." I'm sorry, but I don't believe that. German - especially Prussian - generals would NOT do that - they'd lose face big time!
The guild sponsored a spitfires 🤔 then the Germans turned up on the beaches 🤔
So, still the Brits do not understand that they are also to blame for the both WW
How was Britain responsible forWW1 and 2 ? Both occasions it was German aggression combined with treaty obligations , oil had nothing g to do with it . The one fact is that Britain was on both occasions not prepared for war . Britain was not looking for a war ! What brought them in was a treaty with Belgium in WW 1and then in 1939 the invasion of Poland .
So WW1 was caused by the ruling monachies that we had at the time. There was not one good side, thay all had played this game of bi-partial agreements. When the Austrians started the whole thing, what followed was a chain reaction. Monarchy and stupidity started WW1. On top of it most monarchies at the time were related. This even continued in WW2 when the Brits would not bomb Coburg. Yes, even today King Charles speakes German (which is a good and very un-english thing), and the tune God save the King origally came from Austria.
At the end of WW1, the allies, predominately the French, forced a treaty on the Germans that was innevitably going to lead to war in some shape or form. This is why the USA learned their lesson and took a different aproach as WW2 ended.
So what we can learn from all of this is that absolute rulers is a very very bad thing@@davidhunt3808
Was this made by the British? Oh really? I had no idea.
That war and the other one as well were conceived and organized a generation earlier by British imperialists in a scheme called the balance of power where they associated with minor European powers to have them fight and destroy what was considered a threat to the survival of the empire. In this case Lord Palmerston was at the center of the planning of it all, forcing Belgium into a neutrality that would prove very useful, if not now, later on.
Therefore, anyone who takes the time to study the documents that haven't been conveniently stashed away by the Imperial Waqr Museum will soon realize that the Kaiser did everything he possibly could to avoid the war until it was all too late, leading him to realize that he had been tricked and surrounded by the old vicious empires who prefered murder to a healthy commercial competition.
Then in 1916 the Kaiser having all but won the war made a peace offer that looked more like a truce than a British surrender, offer that of course was refused , and the butchery went on, and on, and on...
As the armies from both sides were being devastated by the terrible flu, and the motivation was all but gone, and the Americans were coming soon, the Germans contacted pres. Wilson to ask for his help, this war made no sense anymore, let's all go home and call it quits. He said yes, if you make Germany a republic and force the Kaiser out, the Germans complied, disarmed and went home, convinced that peace had finally come to Europe which means that Germany did not want the war, did not start it, did not sustain it and did not lose it on the battlefield, she lost it in the back rooms of the Palais de Versailles, justifiably believing she had been stabbed in the back... and then the British propaganda machine gave you this fantastic version of events which sadly, havs nothing to do with the truth, at the end of the war the BEF had been so disgraced thatn its name was not told for many years afterward.
Sorry , but I am not buying this. It's wrong on many many levels.
Britain had no wish to fight a land war and only committed late having made great diplomatic efforts to avoid one.
If Germany had wanted peace she could have accepted the 14 points from President Wilson when issued, for example, but she launched a major offensive in the Spring of 1918 instead and sued for peace only when her situation was militarily hopeless.
Germany provided the blank cheque in 1914 for Austria to invade Serbia knowing the risks it posed. Germany , lest we forget, was just as much an imperial power as the rest.
In no way in 1916 after Verdun and the Somme had anyone, let alone Germany nearly won anything and yes, Germany was soundly beaten by 1918. Her allies had all sought terms and she was alone, beaten and desperate to accept any terms offered.
@@willjennings5252 The Germans did accept the 14 points, in fact they didn't even surrender, they got in touch with president Wilson and told him they had had enough of that blood shed, and asked for his help to talk to all the armies involved. They all agreed to go with the 14 points, but only afterthe threat of economic sanctions.
If you want to know more there's a few very interesting videos here on YT called:
another one called:
"Kaiser Wilhelm II Lays the Blame for WW1 // From His Memoirs (1922) // Primary Source"
And a very well made: "The WW1 Conspiracy (Full Documentary | 2018)"
A good owne:
"Who Financed the Great War? - World War I DOCUMENTARY"
And the most revealing:
"Belgian Neutrality and the British Decision for War" Terry Boardman"
Oh and you are right, Britain usually had her wars fought by others because she was not ready, the military lacked experience, hadn't realized war was coming, had forgotten to rearm, etc... all while secretly pushing her allies, new and old to invest more and more...
Germany made very acceptable peace offers in 1916, 1917, you can read about it here
"Documents - Germany at War, 1914-1918: Seeking an End to War GHDI"
So in the end, it is not a matter of buying it or not, it's all about research and cold facts. Cheers.
@@rosesprog1722 Germany accepted the 14 points because she was beaten and defenceless. Her armies had been driven back and beaten time and again since the beginning of August. Lest we forget the German home front had collapsed, her navy had mutinied and her soldiers were surrendering en masse.
The game was up, the Kaiser knew it , Ludendorff knew it on August 8th when the Battle Of Amiens was launched. It called it the 'black day of the German army', he wrote even then 'the war must be ended'
A death bed conversion to democracy counts for nothing. The German chancellor (Baden or Von Baden) had a letter intercepted decrying democracy when he was talking a good game through diplomatic channels to the Americans. It was all for show until events drove change through.
If Germany didn't want the war they could have made it clear to Austria Hungary they would not support them in a war against Serbia which even the Kaiser accepted was not justified after the Serbian response to the Austrian ultimatum in late July 1914. He knew what would happen when the alliances were enacted but chose to let it happen.
Call it sad if you will but research on World War 1 is something I do and long since academic necessities have passed
You know the Japaneses were on our side and got up in discus and went home during the Treaty negotiations with the vindictive behavior of the French. One of the causes as I see it for WWII
Lions led by Donkeys is right!
Who won the war?
Oh really, 400k vs 600k?
Fact: Germany had far fewer dead at the Somme, far fewer injured and not a lot POW...Propaganda even after all these years huh...
Please supply evidence for your claims (if you can).
I have been 2 vimy ridge u can see the flags of both canada & france
Who won the war?
Germany payed til Oct. 03 rd 2010 to her friends. To her really friends!