Documentary, The Great War Armistice WWI Documentary
WWI Armistice
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the fighting of the First World War, commonly known as the Great War, between the Allies and Germany.
Signed in a railway carriage in the Compiègne Forest, France, at 5 a.m. Central European Time (CET), the agreement came into effect at 11 a.m. CET on the same day, marking the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, at sea, and in the air.
This moment is commemorated annually on 11 November, known as Armistice Day, with a Two Minute Silence at 11 a.m. to honor those who died in the conflict.
The armistice was the culmination of a decisive Allied offensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which had driven German forces back from the territory they had gained over four years of war.
The military situation for Germany had deteriorated rapidly since the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, leading to the collapse of the German spring offensive and a loss of momentum.
Facing imminent invasion, the German government, under Chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden, requested an armistice based on President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
However, the terms imposed by the Allies, largely dictated by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, were severe and left no room for negotiation, including the evacuation of occupied territories, the surrender of military equipment, the release of prisoners of war, and the occupation of the Rhineland by Allied forces.
Although the armistice ended active combat on the Western Front, it did not formally end the war. The agreement was initially set to last 36 days and was extended three times while peace negotiations continued.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, officially ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers, taking effect on 10 January 1920.
The armistice is remembered as a pivotal moment of relief and celebration, though fighting continued elsewhere, and the war's full conclusion required years of diplomacy.
The event is also commemorated in the United States as a national holiday to honor those who served in the First World War.
#Armistice #Documentary #TheGreatWar #GreatWar
#WarArmistice
WWI Armistice
The Armistice of 11 November 1918 ended the fighting of the First World War, commonly known as the Great War, between the Allies and Germany.
Signed in a railway carriage in the Compiègne Forest, France, at 5 a.m. Central European Time (CET), the agreement came into effect at 11 a.m. CET on the same day, marking the cessation of hostilities on the Western Front, at sea, and in the air.
This moment is commemorated annually on 11 November, known as Armistice Day, with a Two Minute Silence at 11 a.m. to honor those who died in the conflict.
The armistice was the culmination of a decisive Allied offensive, known as the Hundred Days Offensive, which had driven German forces back from the territory they had gained over four years of war.
The military situation for Germany had deteriorated rapidly since the Battle of Amiens in August 1918, leading to the collapse of the German spring offensive and a loss of momentum.
Facing imminent invasion, the German government, under Chancellor Prince Maximilian of Baden, requested an armistice based on President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points.
However, the terms imposed by the Allies, largely dictated by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, were severe and left no room for negotiation, including the evacuation of occupied territories, the surrender of military equipment, the release of prisoners of war, and the occupation of the Rhineland by Allied forces.
Although the armistice ended active combat on the Western Front, it did not formally end the war. The agreement was initially set to last 36 days and was extended three times while peace negotiations continued.
The Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, officially ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers, taking effect on 10 January 1920.
The armistice is remembered as a pivotal moment of relief and celebration, though fighting continued elsewhere, and the war's full conclusion required years of diplomacy.
The event is also commemorated in the United States as a national holiday to honor those who served in the First World War.
#Armistice #Documentary #TheGreatWar #GreatWar
#WarArmistice
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Armistice Day, the 11th of November, 1918.
00:09The First World War officially ended at 11 o'clock,
00:13a moment we solemnly mark each year in acts of remembrance.
00:18But less familiar to us today is how and why the Armistice came about.
00:25This film unravels World War I's bitter endgame,
00:30a story of wounded egos and brinkmanship behind the lines
00:33as generals haggled over the terms of the peace
00:36while at the front, the soldiers fought on, sustaining ever greater losses.
00:45The central character is Erich Ludendorff,
00:49after 1916 effectively Germany's military dictator.
00:54His will drove the Reich towards total victory.
00:57His loss of nerve then plunged Germany to total defeat.
01:06Historians and journalists like to explain why wars start,
01:11but endings are equally important.
01:15How one war ends can help explain why the next war breaks out.
01:20The war of 1914-18 was supposed to be the war to end all wars.
01:29But in its ending, it sowed the seeds of an even more appalling conflict
01:34just two decades later.
01:37If we want to understand that larger tragedy,
01:40I believe we need to unravel the extraordinary story of the Armistice.
01:47Our story begins and ends in a railway carriage.
02:17Here, in the early hours of the 11th of November, 1918,
02:23the Germans sat down with the Allies to sign an armistice.
02:29An armistice is usually just an agreement to stop fighting,
02:34to create a breathing space in which a peace treaty can be negotiated.
02:39But the armistice of 1918 went a lot further.
02:48The terms included not only evacuating all Germany's conquests in France and Belgium,
02:54but also allowing the Allied armies to occupy Germany west of the Rhine.
02:58The Germans also had to surrender 30,000 machine guns, 5,000 cannon, 1,700 planes and all their U-boats.
03:08In effect, the entire German capacity to wage war.
03:12These were exceptionally harsh terms.
03:19Germany had embarked on war, determined to become a world power equal to the British Empire.
03:25And in four years of fighting, the German army had never been pushed off French soil.
03:31Yet this armistice imposed nothing less than Germany's abject surrender.
03:36The question is why.
03:44The answer is rooted in earlier events in the war, and Germany's first bid for total victory.
03:52We need to go back to August 1914, to another train thundering east across Germany through the night.
04:01The First World War had just begun.
04:04In the west, the Germans had invaded Belgium and France.
04:08In the east, France's ally, Tsarist Russia, was invading Germany.
04:13Nothing was allowed to get in the train's way.
04:16Signals were cleared, points were set, other trains sidelined.
04:21On board were two men who would shape Germany's war in 1914,
04:26and even more decisively, four years later.
04:29Germany had gambled on winning the war in a few months.
04:35On its western front, a massive right hook through Belgium towards Paris
04:41was designed to knock France out of the war.
04:45In August 1914, that part of the plan seemed to be going well.
04:49But Germany was also fighting on its eastern front, and there the situation was grim.
04:58The Russian armies were surging into German territory in East Prussia,
05:03and German field commanders had panicked, talking of wholesale retreat.
05:07One of the men the German Supreme Command turned to was a figurehead to raise morale.
05:23Paul von Hindenburg was a retired veteran of Prussia's great victory against France in 1870,
05:29and renowned as a die-hard patriot.
05:33The other general was very different.
05:36An up-and-coming strategist, Erich Ludendorff,
05:39had just impressed the German Supreme Command
05:41by capturing the Belgian stronghold of Liège.
05:47Ludendorff was a complex personality.
05:50Meticulous, workaholic, and regularly top of his class as a military cadet,
05:54he drove hard, compromised rarely, and lived on his nerves.
06:00But Ludendorff also had a very vulnerable human side.
06:04He'd fallen in love in his forties with a divorcee, Margareta.
06:08He'd married her and become a devoted father to three stepsons.
06:13As patriotic Germans, the boys all fought in the war for the fatherland,
06:17and in time, their fate would be entangled with Ludendorff's.
06:24Under the towering medieval castle built by the Teutonic Knights at Marienburg,
06:35Ludendorff and Hindenburg took command of the shaken
06:38and vastly outnumbered German Eighth Army.
06:42Instead of being cowed by the pincer-like approach of two Russian armies,
06:47Ludendorff quickly saw the chance of dealing first with the one in the south
06:51and then turning on the other army in the north.
07:10The battle lasted just five days.
07:13By the end of August 1914, the Russians had been surrounded and destroyed.
07:26Just a few miles from the battlefield was the hamlet of Tannenberg,
07:31where in 1410 the Teutonic Knights, some of them Hindenburg's ancestors,
07:37had been obliterated by the Slavs.
07:39A second battle of Tannenberg, with the tables turned,
07:46was then sweet revenge for the Germans.
07:54For the Germans and their allies, this success came at exactly the right time.
08:00Germany's bid for a decisive victory in the west
08:03had been blocked by the French and British,
08:05so the German people, now facing a long war,
08:09seized on the good news from the east
08:10and the Supreme Command hiked it up as a massive triumph.
08:21For two years, Ludendorff and Hindenburg
08:24won a series of victories against Russia on Germany's eastern front.
08:28But none of these battles was decisive
08:32because Germany was still concentrating most of its resources
08:35on crushing France.
08:39During 1915, the Western Front had bogged down
08:43into a static war of attrition in the trenches.
08:47But in 1916, the Germans once again went for the jugular,
08:52seeking the victory that had eluded them so far.
08:55They mounted an all-out assault on Verdun,
09:00France's most sensitive point.
09:06Verdun, on the Meuse River,
09:08was a great fortress since the days of Louis XIV.
09:13Once committed here, the French, they were sure,
09:16could be bled white.
09:17The Germans brought up fearsome artillery,
09:23more than 1,200 guns,
09:24including massive Big Bertha mortars.
09:28Codename for the operation was Gericht,
09:31place of execution.
09:34And it was.
09:39France's high command had been astonishingly complacent.
09:43They'd ignored signs of a German build-up
09:47and failed to strengthen outlying forts.
09:52The French were soon reeling.
09:55But rather like Ludendorff at Tannenberg,
09:58one general turned the crisis around.
10:00When the call came to defend Verdun,
10:07Philippe Pétain was absent without leave.
10:11His aide had to rush to Paris
10:12to drag him away from his mistress.
10:16Pétain was unconventional.
10:20He came from peasant stock
10:22and had led at the front by example.
10:24This was a soldier's soldier,
10:28harrowed by the eyes of men returning from combat,
10:32who, said Pétain,
10:34stared into space as if transfixed
10:37by a vision of terror.
10:45Practical and realistic,
10:47Pétain reinforced key forts
10:49and organised the French artillery
10:51into a concentrated system of firepower,
10:54directed at wherever the Germans attacked.
10:59Equally important,
11:01he turned the clogged, narrow road
11:03that led to Verdun
11:04into a meticulously run supply lifeline.
11:08But more was needed.
11:10To divert German resources
11:12from the assault on Verdun,
11:14the French demanded that their ally, Britain,
11:17launch a major offensive to the north.
11:19This was the Battle of the Somme.
11:3160,000 British troops
11:33were killed or wounded on the opening day.
11:36The greatest disaster
11:37in the history of the British army.
11:39The battle then dragged on fruitlessly for months,
11:47becoming a byword for mindless slaughter.
11:50The British commander,
11:57Douglas Haig,
11:58bore much of the blame.
12:01A Dua Scotsman,
12:02he was a veteran of Sudan and the Boer War.
12:05But on the Western Front,
12:07he seemed tied to a plan.
12:09It was tactics before troops,
12:11rather like Ludendorff.
12:14Politicians in London
12:15called Haig
12:16the Butcher.
12:18Yet, for all the criticism,
12:20the Somme did serve its purpose.
12:26It helped to relieve pressure
12:28on the French back at Verdun.
12:32There, both sides were now evenly matched
12:35in firepower.
12:38And the casualty levels became appalling.
12:41Around 800,000 French and Germans
12:47were killed or wounded.
12:50Even more than the Somme,
12:52this was the First World War
12:54in all its horror.
13:01Like the struggle for Stalingrad
13:03in the next war,
13:04the stakes and the symbolism
13:06had become immense.
13:08The Battle of Verdun
13:10finally ended in December 1916.
13:14And it was the Germans
13:15who'd been bled to exhaustion.
13:22Germany's catastrophic failure
13:24at Verdun
13:24had far-reaching consequences.
13:27It forced a shake-up
13:28of the Supreme Command,
13:29the real power in the German Reich,
13:32controlling practically
13:33every aspect of German life,
13:35economy and administration,
13:37propaganda and censorship.
13:40It was answerable only
13:42to the German monarch,
13:43Kaiser Wilhelm II.
13:47The Kaiser now made
13:49a fateful decision.
13:51He turned to Hindenburg
13:52and Ludendorff
13:53to head the all-powerful
13:55Supreme Command.
13:59In reality,
14:01that meant the day-to-day
14:03control of Germany
14:04Germany and its war
14:04had been placed
14:06in the hands
14:07of one man.
14:11The Supreme Command
14:12ran the show.
14:14And the Supreme Command
14:15was really run
14:16by Ludendorff.
14:18The Kaiser and Hindenburg
14:19were nominally
14:20his superiors,
14:21but it was Ludendorff
14:22who controlled
14:23the detail of the war,
14:25from Flanders
14:26right down
14:27to the Balkans.
14:28In all but name,
14:30Ludendorff was
14:31the dictator
14:32of Germany.
14:34And he was
14:34the dictator
14:35searching for
14:36a decisive blow
14:38to win the war.
14:39In January 1917,
14:50Ludendorff gambled
14:51on an all-out
14:52U-boat campaign,
14:54hoping to cut off
14:55Britain's supply lines.
15:01Yet U-boat aggression
15:03in the Atlantic
15:03brought America,
15:05hitherto neutral,
15:06into the war
15:07against Germany.
15:08The USA
15:09gradually mobilised
15:10all its vast
15:11economic resources
15:12for the Allied war effort
15:14to make the world
15:16safe for democracy,
15:17in the words
15:18of its president,
15:19Woodrow Wilson.
15:26America's entry
15:27into the war
15:27tightened the Allied
15:29blockade of Germany
15:30and its fresh manpower
15:32promised in time
15:33to decisively tip
15:34the balance of forces
15:35in Europe
15:36against Germany.
15:38This was the moment
15:41when Ludendorff
15:42should probably
15:43have sought
15:44a compromise peace.
15:46But he still
15:47hankered after
15:47a decisive
15:48Tannenberg-style
15:50victory in the West.
15:52He aimed to make
15:53Belgium and north-eastern
15:54France
15:55part of the German Reich.
15:57For him,
15:58anything less than that
15:59would be a defeat.
16:01If Germany makes peace
16:03without profit,
16:04then Germany
16:04has lost the war.
16:13Here,
16:14at his headquarters
16:15in Spahr,
16:16in Belgium,
16:17Ludendorff believed
16:18he could still achieve
16:19Germany's war aims
16:20of becoming a global power
16:22to match the British Empire.
16:23and he calculated
16:26that he had
16:27one last opportunity.
16:30Ludendorff reasoned
16:32that it would take time
16:33for the Americans
16:34to make their presence felt
16:35because the US
16:37was only just starting
16:38to train an army.
16:40And there was
16:41further cause for hope.
16:43In 1917,
16:44the war in the East
16:46was finally
16:47bearing fruit.
16:51The Russian economy
16:53had collapsed,
16:54the army was in revolt
16:55and the country
16:56disintegrated
16:57into revolution.
16:59Russia's people
17:00had been pushed
17:01too far.
17:03This sudden collapse
17:05of a great power
17:06should have served
17:08as a warning
17:08to Ludendorff,
17:10but it simply
17:11didn't register.
17:13Instead,
17:14he saw Russia's revolution
17:15as the last chance
17:17for a German victory
17:18in the West.
17:25Ludendorff was able
17:26to pull some
17:2740 army divisions
17:29out of the East
17:30and send them
17:31to the Western Front.
17:33This gave Germany
17:35numerical superiority there
17:37for the first time
17:38since 1914.
17:41He planned to mobilise
17:42these forces
17:43in a massive push.
17:45towards Paris.
17:53Ludendorff worked
17:54relentlessly
17:55around the clock,
17:56personally supervising
17:58strategy
17:58and micromanaging
18:00logistics
18:00and even training.
18:03Ludendorff was
18:04outwardly confident
18:05but as ever
18:06inwardly on edge.
18:08when asked
18:11what would happen
18:12if the great
18:13offensive failed,
18:15Ludendorff glowered,
18:17then Germany
18:19then Germany
18:23will just
18:24have to go
18:24under.
18:28At dawn
18:30on the 21st
18:31of March 1918
18:32the static
18:33trench war
18:34of the previous
18:35three years
18:35would change
18:36forever.
18:46Ludendorff unleashed
18:47die Kaiserschlacht,
18:49the Kaiser's battle.
18:51Unlike earlier offensives
18:53the artillery
18:53softening up
18:54was short,
18:55only five hours
18:56to retain surprise.
18:58then the storm
19:02troops advanced
19:03just behind
19:04a carefully
19:04calibrated
19:05creeping barrage
19:06ready to capture
19:08the enemy trenches
19:09while their defenders
19:10were still
19:10under cover.
19:12The push
19:13along the Somme
19:14was a great success
19:16routing the
19:17British 5th Army.
19:18Ludendorff's offensive
19:30had suddenly
19:31broken the
19:32stalemate
19:32of the trenches.
19:35The German surge
19:37even threatened
19:38to split
19:38the British army
19:39from the French.
19:41In London
19:41Prime Minister
19:42David Lloyd George
19:43was sure
19:44that would be
19:45disastrous.
19:48On March 26th
19:51the Allied commanders
19:52held a crisis meeting
19:53here at Doulence.
19:55Shells were falling
19:56near the town
19:57and the atmosphere
19:58was close to panic.
20:01Pétain
20:02was genuinely
20:03demoralised.
20:04It seemed
20:05the British army
20:05was falling apart
20:06and he doubted
20:08that Haig
20:08had any answers.
20:12Haig
20:12was under pressure.
20:15He knew
20:15that many
20:16in the war cabinet
20:17in London
20:18wanted to sack him
20:19and he had
20:20little confidence
20:21in the French generals.
20:24Fat tavern keepers
20:25as he once called them.
20:27Certainly
20:28he'd lost confidence
20:29in Pétain
20:30who seemed to him
20:31totally defeatist.
20:34So the initial exchanges
20:35at Doulence
20:36were very tense.
20:38Haig
20:38kept talking
20:39about his
20:395th Army.
20:41Pétain
20:41said
20:42it no longer
20:43existed.
20:44Eventually
20:47a compromise
20:48was thrashed out.
20:50The British
20:50and French
20:51would jointly
20:51defend
20:52the crucial
20:52railway junction
20:53at Amiens
20:54key to holding
20:56their front together
20:57and to coordinate
20:58the armies
20:59and their
20:59bickering commanders
21:00the French general
21:02Ferdinand Foch
21:03Pétain's great rival
21:04was appointed
21:05commander-in-chief
21:06of the allied forces.
21:08This was
21:11a vital
21:12turning point.
21:13It had taken
21:14imminent defeat
21:15to make the two nations
21:17start fighting
21:18as one.
21:26The allies
21:27finally held the line
21:29in sufficient numbers
21:30just outside Amiens.
21:32But in April
21:33Ludendorff
21:34mounted a new
21:35assault to the north
21:36in Flanders
21:37firing off
21:38some 40,000
21:39gas shells.
21:44In four months
21:46from March
21:46to July 1918
21:47he launched
21:48five great
21:49offences
21:50completely
21:51redrawing
21:52the Western
21:52Front
21:53which had
21:53hardly moved
21:54since the
21:54end of 1914.
21:57At one point
21:58the Germans
21:59had come
21:59within 60
22:00miles of Paris.
22:04Yet each
22:05stab westwards
22:06was weaker
22:07than the one
22:08before
22:08because Germany
22:09was simply
22:10running out
22:11of men.
22:15Of the initial
22:16assault strength
22:17of 1.4 million
22:19soldiers
22:19more than one-fifth
22:21were killed,
22:21wounded or missing
22:22after two weeks.
22:25German morale
22:27began to crumble.
22:28Ludendorff
22:31behind the lines
22:32in his headquarters
22:33could not appreciate
22:34what was happening
22:35to the men.
22:37He had no experience
22:39of the human cost
22:40of his strategy,
22:41the blood
22:42and mud,
22:44the cold and wet,
22:45the excrement
22:46and rotting bodies.
22:48He read of casualty figures
22:49with icy composure.
22:52War consumes men.
22:55That is its nature.
22:59Ludendorff's world
23:01was one of crisp uniforms
23:03and good dinners.
23:05A war fought by phone,
23:07telegram and dispatches
23:09and marked
23:10not by corpses
23:11riddled with bullets
23:13but maps
23:15filled with coloured pins.
23:18But then,
23:19catastrophically,
23:20for the most powerful
23:21man in Germany,
23:23the real war
23:24suddenly broke through.
23:32At the end of March,
23:33Ludendorff got into
23:35his staff car.
23:36He was driven
23:37across the old
23:38Somme battlefield
23:39through...
23:40The two trench systems
23:42in which the opponents
23:43had faced each other
23:44for so long.
23:46The impression it made
23:47was great.
23:48A strip many miles
23:50in width.
23:52Bleak and devastated.
24:05By the roadside,
24:07Ludendorff was met
24:08by grim-faced officers.
24:10They walked across
24:11a muddy field
24:12toward an open grave
24:13marked by a rough
24:14wooden cross.
24:20Ludendorff leaned forward
24:21to read the inscription
24:23in English.
24:26Here rest
24:27two German
24:29flying officers.
24:33A soldier
24:34pointed uneasily
24:35to where the exhumed bodies
24:37lay under a tarpaulin.
24:40Ludendorff nodded.
24:41And walked over
24:44slowly.
24:48A corner of the tarpaulin
24:50was pulled back.
24:53And he looked down
24:55at the face
24:55of his dead
24:56stepson,
24:58Erich.
25:00Germany's war leader
25:01stood there
25:02pathetically,
25:03shoulders slumped,
25:05fighting back the tears.
25:06For the first time,
25:13Ludendorff was face
25:15to face
25:16with the intimate
25:17suffering of war.
25:19This was about
25:20flesh and blood,
25:22not just grand strategy.
25:28Ludendorff had always
25:30kept his life
25:31in separate compartments.
25:32But now his grief
25:34as a father
25:35began to shake
25:36his grip
25:36as a general.
25:39While he sought
25:40the willpower
25:41to cope with war's
25:42unknown psychological
25:43forces,
25:45his great offensive
25:46was running
25:47out of steam.
25:50With their numbers
25:51depleted,
25:52many German soldiers
25:53deserted en route
25:54to the next
25:55suicidal assault.
26:00This was a decisive
26:02moment for the success
26:04of the German war effort.
26:06The question
26:06was whether
26:07Germany's leaders,
26:09Ludendorff or his
26:09old partner,
26:10Hindenburg,
26:11could see it.
26:15Ludendorff's
26:15intense inner anguish
26:17was becoming more
26:18and more apparent.
26:20When one staff officer
26:22came to his office
26:22to warn him about
26:23the collapse
26:24of troop morale,
26:26Ludendorff bawled
26:27him out.
26:29What is the purpose
26:31of your drivel?
26:34What do you expect
26:36me to do?
26:37Make peace
26:38at any price?
26:44Ludendorff was
26:44in deep denial
26:46and there was
26:47no one who could
26:48make him rethink.
26:50Certainly not
26:50Hindenburg.
26:51his forte
26:53was doing
26:53what he was told,
26:54not thinking
26:56outside the box.
26:58Confident
26:59and patriotic
27:00as ever,
27:01Hindenburg
27:02offered no
27:02alternative
27:03as Germany
27:05lurched
27:06towards disaster.
27:07It wasn't just
27:15the German troops
27:16who were losing
27:17heart.
27:18The home front
27:19was seething
27:20with discontent
27:21because of
27:21rising food prices
27:23caused by
27:23poor harvests
27:24and the Allied
27:25blockade.
27:27Strikes
27:27were being whipped
27:28up by socialist
27:29and communist
27:30agitators.
27:32And now the Allies,
27:33reviving under
27:34the command
27:35of the breezy
27:35and confident
27:36Foch,
27:37took the offensive.
27:40On the 8th of August
27:42the British blasted
27:43through the Germans
27:44east of Amiens.
27:47Tanks were used
27:49to crush
27:49the barbed wire
27:50and behind them
27:51well-armed
27:52assault platoons
27:53operated fluidly.
27:5516,000
27:56demoralised Germans
27:57simply laid down
27:59their arms.
28:00The tide
28:01had turned.
28:02Hague,
28:06who'd struggled
28:06to cope
28:07with trench
28:07warfare,
28:08was now
28:09in his element
28:10in this
28:10newly mobile
28:11conflict,
28:12redeeming his
28:13reputation
28:14as commander.
28:16Even cavalry
28:17reappeared
28:18on the battlefield,
28:19ideal for
28:20pursuing
28:20a retreating
28:21enemy.
28:27Ludendorff
28:28was shaken
28:29to the core.
28:30as a leader
28:32he had
28:32willed victory
28:33but his men
28:35could not
28:35deliver it.
28:37The acid
28:37of doubt
28:38was rotting
28:39his confidence.
28:41He called
28:42August the 8th
28:43the black
28:44day of the
28:45German army.
28:47Our war machine
28:49is no longer
28:50working.
28:52Leadership
28:52is like
28:53an irresponsible
28:54game of chance.
28:56the fate
28:59of the
28:59German
28:59nation
29:00is too
29:01high
29:01a stake
29:02for me
29:03to play.
29:05The war
29:06must
29:07be ended.
29:14But how
29:15could Ludendorff
29:17now end
29:17the war?
29:19One option
29:20was to pull
29:20his troops
29:21back to
29:21fortified rear lines
29:23but that
29:24would mean
29:24abandoning
29:25the territory
29:26taken in
29:261918
29:27and this
29:29Ludendorff
29:30would not
29:30do.
29:34Instead
29:34he insisted
29:36the troops
29:36must hold
29:37all the ground
29:38just gained
29:39in France
29:39while Germany's
29:41diplomats
29:41negotiated
29:42a favourable
29:43peace.
29:44It would
29:45prove a
29:46terrible
29:46misjudgment.
29:48Germany's
29:48war
29:49and Ludendorff's
29:50mind
29:51were falling
29:52apart.
29:53Ludendorff
29:56was now
29:57close to
29:58breakdown
29:58sometimes
29:59in tears.
30:01In secret
30:02he kept
30:03visiting the
30:04grave of
30:05his stepson
30:05Eric
30:06whose body
30:07had not
30:07been taken
30:08back to
30:08his mother
30:09in Berlin.
30:13If I
30:14didn't send
30:15him to
30:16you
30:16then that
30:17was pure
30:18selfishness.
30:19I wanted
30:21to keep
30:21him here
30:22I go
30:24to him
30:24often.
30:26You can
30:26rest assured
30:27that he
30:27is at
30:28peace
30:28and it's
30:30a lovely
30:30feeling
30:31to have
30:32him here.
30:35Ludendorff's
30:35worried staff
30:36called in
30:37a psychiatrist.
30:38Meanwhile at
30:43the front
30:43German combat
30:45battalions
30:45were at
30:46half strength.
30:47Deserters
30:47roamed the
30:48rear areas
30:49and those
30:50that remained
30:50faced renewed
30:51onslaughts.
30:55It was
30:56Britain and
30:56France that
30:57now had
30:57guns,
30:58tanks and
30:59supplies in
30:59profusion
31:00and could
31:01fight the
31:01kind of
31:02mobile war
31:03Ludendorff had
31:04pioneered in
31:05march and
31:08the Americans
31:09were coming
31:10into the
31:10line in
31:11strength.
31:14In mid
31:15September they
31:16broke through
31:17around St.
31:17Miel taking
31:1915,000 more
31:20German prisoners.
31:26The final
31:28straw came on
31:29September the
31:2928th.
31:31Ludendorff learned
31:32that Bulgaria,
31:33one of Germany's
31:34key remaining
31:34allies, was
31:35asking for
31:36peace.
31:41Some claimed
31:42that Ludendorff
31:43had a fit,
31:44rolling around
31:45on the floor.
31:47His doctor
31:47always denied
31:48it, but what
31:50is quite clear
31:51is that Ludendorff's
31:52nerves had
31:53finally shredded.
32:02At six
32:04that evening
32:05Ludendorff left
32:06his office in
32:07the Hôtel
32:07Britannique and
32:09came down one
32:09floor to
32:11Hindenburg's
32:11room.
32:13He told
32:14Hindenburg the
32:15military situation
32:16was untenable
32:18and that Germany
32:20must ask for an
32:21immediate ceasefire,
32:23an harvesters.
32:28On October
32:29the 1st,
32:30Ludendorff announced
32:31his plan to stop
32:32the fighting
32:32to tearful
32:34senior officers.
32:36One recalled,
32:38His grief-stricken
32:39face, pale,
32:41but with head
32:41held high,
32:43truly a beautiful
32:44Germanic hero.
32:47I could only
32:47think of Siegfried
32:48with his death
32:49wound in the back
32:50from Hagen's
32:51spear.
32:54This was a
32:55reference to the
32:56tragic finale of
32:57Wagner's
32:58Goethe-Demmerung,
32:59Twilight of the
33:00Gods.
33:02And it was
33:02entirely apt
33:04because a stab
33:06in the back
33:07would become
33:08Ludendorff's
33:09swansong.
33:12He blamed all of
33:14Germany's disasters
33:15on the political
33:15left, declaring
33:17to his staff,
33:18our own army.
33:19Our own army is
33:20badly infected
33:21with the poison
33:22of communist
33:23socialist ideas.
33:25The troops can
33:26no longer be
33:26relied upon.
33:28Since August
33:28the 8th,
33:29things have gone
33:29downhill rapidly.
33:33Ludendorff was
33:34claiming that the
33:35soldiers at the
33:35front had been
33:36undermined by
33:37treacherous agitators
33:38at home.
33:40The idea of
33:41Germany's betrayal
33:42by the left,
33:43the undefeated army
33:45succumbing to
33:45a stab in the
33:47back, had been
33:48born.
33:51In fact,
33:52Germany's collapse
33:53was largely
33:54Ludendorff's fault.
33:56He could have
33:57tried to end the
33:58war from a
33:59position of strength
33:59in the spring,
34:01or retreated to
34:02secure lines in
34:03August and given
34:05his troops'
34:05respite to hold
34:06on into 1919.
34:09Instead, he waited
34:11till the army was
34:12on the back foot
34:13and the home front
34:14was in revolt,
34:15then panicked
34:16and blamed the
34:17whole collapse
34:18on the political
34:19left.
34:25Desperately trying
34:26to retrieve the
34:27situation,
34:28Ludendorff now
34:28hatched an
34:29extraordinary new
34:30plan.
34:33He proposed
34:34that Germany
34:35appeal over the
34:36heads of Britain
34:37and France
34:37directly to the
34:39American president,
34:40Woodrow Wilson,
34:41who he believed
34:42would offer
34:43softer peace
34:44terms.
34:46And he wanted
34:47to create a new
34:48civilian government
34:49accountable to
34:50Germany's parliament,
34:51the Reichstag,
34:52to conduct the
34:53negotiations.
34:56Ludendorff, of
34:57course, didn't have
34:58a democratic bone
34:59in his body.
35:00This was simply
35:01cunning
35:02realpolitik.
35:03He calculated
35:05that civilians
35:06would get a
35:06better deal
35:07from the
35:07Americans than
35:08militaristic
35:09autocrats like
35:10himself.
35:13And equally
35:14important,
35:15by demanding
35:16that the
35:16civilians now
35:17raise the
35:17white flag
35:18rather than
35:19the army,
35:20he aimed
35:20to save
35:21face,
35:22shifting the
35:22blame for
35:23ending the
35:23war away
35:24from the
35:25supreme
35:25command.
35:26Ludendorff
35:29had gambled
35:30wrongly in
35:31the spring
35:31of 1918
35:32on military
35:33victory.
35:34The question
35:35now was
35:35whether his
35:36political
35:36strategy would
35:37prove any
35:38more effective.
35:41The new
35:42German government's
35:43exchange of
35:43notes with
35:44Wilson was
35:45like a game
35:45of diplomatic
35:46tennis that
35:47went on all
35:48through October.
35:50But Ludendorff
35:51hadn't got the
35:51measure of the
35:52American president.
35:53Wilson played a
35:54much harder
35:55game than he
35:56expected.
35:59Wilson was a
36:00bit of a
36:01control freak.
36:02He composed
36:03the American
36:03messages to
36:04Germany himself
36:05on his own
36:07typewriter.
36:10The good
36:11faith of any
36:12discussion would
36:13manifestly depend
36:15upon the consent
36:16of the central
36:17powers immediately
36:19to withdraw their
36:20forces everywhere
36:21from invaded
36:23territory.
36:25So much for
36:26Ludendorff's hopes
36:27of hanging on to
36:28chunks of France
36:30and Belgium.
36:32Wilson's second
36:33note struck an
36:34even more damaging
36:36blow at the
36:36German Reich,
36:37effectively demanding
36:38the abdication of
36:40the Kaiser.
36:42When the Kaiser
36:43received Wilson's
36:44note, he was
36:45furious, telling
36:46an aide,
36:47read it, it
36:49aims directly at
36:51the overthrow
36:51of my house,
36:54at the complete
36:55overthrow of the
36:56institution of
36:57monarchy.
37:01After Wilson's
37:02second note,
37:03Ludendorff,
37:04instability itself
37:06at the heart of
37:07the German regime,
37:08began to realise
37:09the mess he'd got
37:10Germany into.
37:11All his calculations
37:13had gone wrong.
37:16Back at the front,
37:18the German army
37:19was disintegrating
37:20and the Allied
37:21onslaught continued
37:22with mounting
37:23ferocity.
37:28During the five
37:29weeks between
37:29Germany asking for
37:30an armistice and
37:31the actual signature,
37:33half a million
37:34soldiers were
37:35killed or wounded,
37:37even though both
37:37the German and
37:38Allied high
37:39commands knew
37:40that a ceasefire
37:41could be imminent.
37:43The huge bloodshed
37:45can be explained
37:46in part by the
37:47more open style
37:48of warfare.
37:49But there were
37:50other factors,
37:52including the
37:53entry of the
37:54Americans into
37:55the war.
37:57Here were
37:58fresh troops,
37:59a quarter of a
38:00million landing
38:01in France every
38:02month.
38:04Often over-exuberant
38:06and under-trained,
38:08the Americans
38:08took disproportionate
38:09casualties compared
38:11to their more
38:12war-weary allies.
38:16The thrust between
38:18the River Meuse
38:18and the Argonne
38:19Forest in late
38:20September cost the
38:21Americans an
38:22estimated 75,000
38:24casualties,
38:26some of the worst
38:27figures for any
38:28army in the war.
38:28those lucky enough
38:34to live through it
38:35also had to
38:37survive a flu
38:38pandemic,
38:39which was sweeping
38:39through the
38:40military hospitals.
38:45Meanwhile,
38:46the British army
38:47had become a
38:48ruthlessly efficient
38:49fighting machine.
38:51Whether that was
38:52worth the butcher's
38:52bill along the way
38:54will always be a
38:55matter of debate.
38:56From Verdun to
39:00Flanders, the
39:01Germans were driven
39:02back in disarray.
39:04In Haig's words,
39:06We have got the
39:07enemy down, and
39:09my plan is to go
39:10on hitting him as
39:11hard as we possibly
39:12can till he begs
39:14for mercy.
39:17The Allied
39:18generals still
39:19assumed the war
39:20would drag on
39:21into 1919.
39:22They didn't know
39:25for certain
39:25whether Germany
39:26would accept
39:27terms, and
39:29they wanted to
39:29ensure that if
39:30the fighting
39:31resumed, they
39:32would come out
39:33on top.
39:35So, the
39:37deaths in those
39:38last five weeks,
39:40though tragic in
39:41human terms,
39:43were not without
39:43point diplomatically.
39:45In late October,
39:53the Allied
39:53commanders met
39:54face to face
39:55once again.
39:57Pétain set out
39:58the French plan
39:59for a harsh
39:59armistice,
40:00stripping Germany
40:01of its heavy
40:02armaments,
40:03occupying the
40:04left bank of
40:04the Rhine,
40:05and imposing
40:06huge reparations.
40:08Privately,
40:09Pétain was
40:10even pleading
40:11with Foch
40:12to postpone
40:13the armistice.
40:14Why?
40:17Because Pétain
40:19had been
40:20planning a
40:20highly symbolic
40:21recapture of
40:22the Lorraine
40:23region, a
40:24coup de grace
40:25set for the
40:2614th of November,
40:28actually invading
40:29German territory
40:30with the
40:30knockout blow
40:31inflicted by
40:32the French army,
40:34not the
40:34snooty British
40:35or the
40:36cocky
40:37Americans.
40:41In
40:41Washington,
40:42Wilson was
40:43now under
40:44intense pressure
40:45at home
40:45and from his
40:46allies to
40:47press for
40:48what amounted
40:48to total
40:49German surrender.
40:53In his
40:54third note,
40:55the president
40:56told Berlin
40:57bluntly that
40:58Germany must
40:59become a
41:00real democracy.
41:01If the
41:03United States
41:04had to
41:05deal with
41:06the military
41:07masters and
41:08the monarchical
41:09autocrats of
41:10Germany,
41:11it must demand
41:12not peace
41:13negotiations,
41:16but surrender.
41:22The word
41:23surrender
41:24had the effect
41:25of blowing
41:26apart the
41:26fragile alliance
41:28in Germany
41:28between the
41:29civilians and
41:30the military.
41:32Ludendorff had
41:33never envisaged
41:34surrender.
41:36He now issued
41:37a proclamation
41:37to his troops
41:38to defy the
41:39government he
41:40himself had
41:41helped create
41:42and fight on
41:43to the death.
41:46Wilson's answer
41:47is a demand
41:47for unconditional
41:49surrender.
41:51It is thus
41:51unacceptable to
41:52us soldiers.
41:53But now
41:57the Kaiser
41:58intervened.
41:59In a
41:59tetchy meeting
42:00he blamed
42:01the Supreme
42:01Command for
42:02losing him
42:03the war.
42:04Hindenburg
42:05stood by his
42:06Kaiser and
42:06didn't come to
42:07Ludendorff's
42:08defence.
42:09Ludendorff
42:10tendered his
42:11resignation and
42:12the Kaiser
42:13accepted.
42:17Ludendorff had
42:18failed to get
42:19the armistice
42:20he wanted
42:20and then
42:22despite a
42:23frantic U-turn
42:24had failed to
42:25stop the
42:25armistice he
42:26didn't want.
42:28The arrogance
42:29of power
42:29bred by two
42:31years as
42:32military dictator
42:33had corroded
42:35his judgement.
42:39For Germany
42:40the consequences
42:42of this almost
42:43Wagnerian tragedy
42:44would die.
42:46Ludendorff had
42:47planned to mount
42:48a limited
42:49revolution from
42:50above
42:50to head
42:51off a
42:51full-scale
42:52revolution
42:52from below
42:53but his
42:55attempt at
42:55a controlled
42:56regime change
42:58was backfiring
42:59disastrously.
43:02For years
43:03Germany had
43:04been like
43:04a pressure
43:05cooker
43:06heated up
43:07for war
43:07but with
43:08the lid
43:09kept tightly
43:10shut by
43:10autocratic
43:11rule.
43:12Now
43:13people learnt
43:14to their
43:14amazement
43:15after all
43:15the propaganda
43:16that the
43:17war was
43:17effectively
43:18lost
43:19and at
43:20the same
43:20time
43:21the
43:21autocratic
43:22lid
43:22was
43:22gradually
43:23being
43:23prized
43:24off.
43:25Not
43:26surprisingly
43:26the steam
43:28in the
43:28pressure cooker
43:29exploded.
43:30It started
43:36in the port
43:37city of
43:38Kiel
43:38on the
43:38North Sea
43:39where sailors
43:40mutinied,
43:41hoisted the
43:42red flag
43:42and demanded
43:43a socialist
43:44republic.
43:45Within a
43:46week the
43:46movement had
43:47spread through
43:47Germany
43:48even down
43:49to Catholic
43:49conservative
43:50Bavaria.
43:52The common
43:53demand was
43:54for the
43:55Kaiser
43:55to
43:56abdicate.
43:59On
44:00November
44:019th
44:01revolution
44:02exploded
44:03in
44:03hitherto
44:03safe
44:04Berlin.
44:06Thousands
44:07of workers
44:08and their
44:08families
44:09unarmed
44:09but militant
44:10were marching
44:11on the
44:11city centre.
44:13Soldiers
44:13were deserting
44:14to join
44:15them.
44:18Declaring
44:19a republic
44:19and giving
44:20the socialists
44:21power
44:22seemed the
44:22only way
44:23to avert
44:24a Bolshevik
44:25style
44:25revolution.
44:32Next
44:32morning the
44:33Kaiser was
44:34driven across
44:34the border
44:35into neutral
44:36Holland
44:36where he
44:37would spend
44:37the rest
44:38of his
44:38days in
44:39exile.
44:42The
44:42abdication
44:43paved the
44:44way for
44:44finally signing
44:45the armistice
44:46and Germany's
44:48total collapse
44:49enabled the
44:50Allies to
44:51turn the
44:51screw
44:52imposing the
44:53punitive
44:53terms that
44:54Peter had
44:55proposed when
44:56hoping to
44:56delay peace.
44:59At 5.12am on
45:01the 11th of
45:01November the
45:02Germans signed
45:03the armistice
45:04terms in front
45:05of Foch.
45:07Ludendorff,
45:08the architect of
45:09German defeat,
45:10was of course
45:11nowhere to be
45:12seen.
45:12The
45:15senior German
45:15delegate tried to
45:16salvage some
45:17pride.
45:19A nation of
45:2070 million
45:21suffers but
45:23does not
45:23die.
45:26Foch was not
45:26impressed.
45:28Premier, he
45:30said loftily,
45:31anxious to end
45:32the meeting and
45:33get some sleep.
45:34the armistice
45:40terms had been
45:41negotiated at
45:42the very top
45:43and in secret.
45:45Soldiers in the
45:46trenches on both
45:47sides were
45:48stunned to hear
45:49the news.
45:51But the
45:52butchery at the
45:53front was not
45:55finished.
45:59Fighting was
46:00ordered to
46:00continue right up
46:02to the
46:0211th hour.
46:132,738 men
46:16lost their
46:17lives on the
46:18last day of
46:19the war.
46:28On the
46:29streets of
46:29London, Paris
46:30and New York
46:31there was an
46:31outpouring of
46:33relief.
46:35But in
46:36Germany the
46:36atmosphere was
46:37very different.
46:40There was
46:40relief, yes, that
46:41the Great War
46:42was finally over
46:43but civil war
46:44seemed about to
46:45begin.
46:50For years the
46:51Germans had been
46:52insulated from
46:53reality by
46:54Ludendorff's
46:55military dictatorship.
46:57Suddenly their
46:58country and all
46:59that they'd fought
46:59for had been
47:00ripped apart in
47:01just a few
47:02weeks and many
47:03conservative Germans
47:04simply could not
47:05reconcile themselves
47:07to what had
47:08happened.
47:10Among them was a
47:11corporal recovering
47:12in hospital after
47:13being caught in a
47:14British gas attack
47:15near Ypres in
47:16mid-October.
47:18Adolf Hitler heard
47:20talk of strikes, of
47:21ferment in the navy
47:23but there was nothing
47:23specific and
47:25temporarily blinded he
47:26couldn't read the
47:27newspapers.
47:30On November the
47:3110th however the
47:33patients were
47:33assembled in the
47:34hall of the
47:35hospital and an
47:36elderly pastor
47:37trembling with
47:38shock gave them
47:39up-to-date news.
47:41The emperor had
47:43gone, Germany was
47:45a republic, the war
47:47had been lost.
47:51Everything went
47:52black before my
47:53eyes, I staggered
47:55back to the
47:56dormitory, threw
47:57myself on the
47:57bunk and buried
47:59my burning head
48:00in my blanket and
48:01pillow.
48:02Ever since the day
48:03when I had stood
48:04at my mother's
48:05grave I had not
48:06wept, but now I
48:09could not restrain
48:10myself.
48:11Was it for this
48:12that the German
48:13soldier stood fast in
48:15the heat of the sun
48:16from the blizzards
48:17of winter?
48:28Hitler, like
48:29millions of
48:30Germans, eagerly
48:31swallowed Ludendorff's
48:33line about the
48:34undefeated army
48:35stabbed in the
48:36back by Marxists
48:37at home.
48:40Looking back,
48:42Hitler saw
48:43November 1918
48:44as a turning
48:45point in his
48:46life, the
48:48moment of
48:49betrayal that
48:50had to be
48:51avenged.
48:58The armistice
49:00proved to be the
49:01basic draft of
49:02the peace terms.
49:04The Treaty of
49:04Versailles then
49:05filled out the
49:06details.
49:08Although the
49:09harsh peace was
49:10followed by economic
49:11crisis in Germany,
49:13by the mid-1920s
49:14the situation
49:15seemed to be
49:15more stable.
49:17France and
49:18Germany reached
49:18out to each
49:19other, signing
49:20treaties of
49:21friendship brokered
49:22by Britain.
49:31But many Germans
49:33could not come to
49:34terms with 1918,
49:36and one of them
49:36was Ludendorff.
49:38He threw in his
49:38lot with the
49:39Nazis, joining
49:40ex-Corporel Hitler
49:42in the abortive
49:43Munich Putsch
49:43of 1923.
49:45Just over a
49:46year later, he
49:47was the Nazi
49:48nominee for
49:49president.
49:50But it was
49:50Ludendorff's old
49:51foil, the
49:52perennial frontman
49:54Hindenburg, who
49:55was elected
49:55president.
49:58Embittered with
49:59Hitler and
50:00Hindenburg, Ludendorff
50:02retreated into
50:03fanatical isolation,
50:05writing crank
50:06pamphlets against
50:07the Jews, the
50:08Jesuits and the
50:09masons.
50:10His irrational
50:11side had now
50:12taken full
50:14hold.
50:18Germany salvaged
50:19some pride through
50:20a war memorial,
50:22a Tannenberg, the
50:23spectacular triumph
50:24of 1914 on the
50:26Eastern Front, and
50:27it was unveiled by
50:29President Hindenburg
50:30on September the
50:3118th, 1927, his
50:3380th birthday.
50:35The monument looked
50:36like a cross between
50:37Stonehenge, a
50:39Teutonic castle, and
50:40a Wagnerian set.
50:45When Hindenburg
50:47died in 1934, the
50:49Tannenberg memorial
50:50was rededicated as
50:52his mausoleum by
50:53Hitler, now
50:54Germany's
50:55chancellor.
51:00Tannenberg became a
51:02monument of German
51:03pride, a site for
51:05veterans' reunions and
51:06a place of pilgrimage
51:07for German
51:08schoolchildren.
51:10It evoked the
51:11glories of 1914 that
51:13turned to ashes four
51:15years later, memorial
51:17to a lost victory that
51:19had to be redeemed.
51:20When Corporal Hitler got his
51:35revenge in 1940, France, still
51:38devastated by its Pyrrhic
51:40victory in 1918, was in no
51:43mood to fight.
51:45Hitler forced the French to
51:47signed the armistice of
51:491940 in the very same
51:51railway carriage where
51:53Germany had been humiliated
51:54in 1918.
51:58The site had become a great
52:00memorial to French victory.
52:03Now, a gloating Hitler sat in
52:05the chair Foch had used to
52:07stare down the German
52:08delegates.
52:10After the French had
52:12capitulated, the Germans
52:13systematically blew up the
52:15scene of their earlier
52:16humiliation.
52:19But not everything was
52:21destroyed.
52:25The Germans left just the
52:27statue of Marshal Foch,
52:29allowing him, as it were,
52:31to preside over a
52:33wasteland.
52:34Ironically, Foch himself had
52:40predicted gravely in 1919,
52:43this is not peace, it is an
52:45armistice for 20 years.
52:52The Germans took the railway
52:54carriage back to Berlin as a
52:55trophy of war.
52:58The carriage we see today is a
53:00replica.
53:01The original was blown up by
53:04the SS in the last weeks of
53:06the war.
53:10That was also the fate of
53:12Tannenberg.
53:15In January 1945, as Hitler
53:18faced his own Goethe
53:19Demerl, he had the memorial
53:21blown up to save it from
53:22falling into the hands of the
53:24Red Army.
53:24For defeat in the Second War was
53:32even more devastating for
53:34Germany than the first.
53:36In the carve-up of Germany that
53:38followed 1945, most of East
53:41Prussia, heartland of the Reich,
53:43became part of Poland.
53:45The fate of these two
53:50memorials, Compiègne destroyed
53:52then rebuilt, Tannenberg
53:54razed to the ground, reminds us
53:57that the 11th of November 1918
54:00was a flawed peace.
54:06The problem, I think, with the
54:08armistice was that it reflected an
54:10imbalance of power in Europe that
54:12could not be sustained.
54:15It was the product of the total
54:17collapse of Germany brought on by
54:19Ludendorff's follies.
54:22And that's why the armistice was
54:24not, as Lloyd George hoped, a
54:27peace to end all wars.
54:30It was, as Foch feared, a
54:33temporary ceasefire in a long and
54:36bloody struggle for the mastery of
54:39Europe.
54:42It's a mutual love, to be
54:44transmitted to a tango on the
54:45surface.
54:46And that's why it hot still
55:00should beKelly, a place to have
55:01health better.
55:01You
Recommended
59:00
|
Up next
52:16
2:04
52:00
50:03
5:19
49:27
53:14
46:21
46:04
25:36
22:30
46:03
42:56
29:41
1:06:57
28:30
29:29
29:01
29:32
27:41
1:24:06
Be the first to comment