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00:00by summer 1918 the war had been going for four terrible years and the end seemed nowhere in
00:27sight unless we can look ahead and plan for 1919 we should be in the same melancholy position next
00:36year as we are this do the means of beating the german armies in 1919 exist have we the willpower
00:57so
01:06since spring 1918 the allies on the western front had been battered by german offensives
01:37but in august the allies secretly assembled a strike force in northern france
01:42a hundred thousand men of the australian and canadian corps were backed by 400 tanks
01:501900 planes 2 000 guns three cavalry divisions
01:57general sir henry rawlinson british commander at the somme in 1916 had learned from the past
02:07he embraced new ideas the close combination of men and machinery the importance of achievable goals
02:14my only difficulty will be to get enough divisions and to keep the thing secret
02:26rawlinson aimed his assault at a weak 12-mile sector of the german line east of amiens
02:33he had the french in support to the south
02:35general eric ludendorff joint commander-in-chief of the german army neither knew of an attack nor feared
02:43one we should wish for nothing better than to see the enemy launch an offensive
02:52a hundred thousand infantry are standing grimly silently
02:55all fields make sure their bayonets are firmly locked the section officer counts the last seconds
03:14the speed was terrific within a few moments of the huns running from our tanks and infantry
03:29our guns were coming up into new forward positions it was glorious to be in the rush of an advance
03:36the allied attack sent the germans reeling
03:49by nightfall rawlinson's fourth army had advanced eight miles
03:58they killed and seriously wounded 9 000 germans and captured 18 000 more
04:06bloodendorff declared the 8th of august the black day of the german army
04:14general paul von hindenburg steadied him but both knew the battle of amiens was the beginning of the end
04:24mighty as germany looked on the map her armies on the western front were near the end of their tether
04:29exhausted hungry fed up
04:32their generals had given them neither clear aims nor adequate supplies the germans had lost nearly a
04:41million men since march
04:49ludendorff blamed the home front for spreading defeatism
04:52i was told of behavior which i openly confess i should not have thought possible in the german army
05:00whole bodies of our men had surrendered to single soldiers
05:05germany's problems went beyond poor morale
05:07she'd lost a string of vital battles
05:19the battle of the factories and technology
05:23germany had built just 20 tanks the allies over 4 000
05:28she'd lost the battle of manpower a quarter of a million americans were pouring into france every month
05:40she'd lost the battle of command the allies worked together under the leadership of marshal ferdinand foch
05:48but ludendorff's generals despaired of his lack of strategic plan
05:52and some feared for his mental health
05:56great crisis this morning very nerve-wracking
06:00ludendorff is a bundle of nerves it's never his fault he looks everywhere for scapegoats
06:06after amiens foch orchestrated a series of attacks up and down the german lines first french then british now american
06:24the germans fell back under the rain of blows
06:26while the allies were pulling together the central powers were tearing apart
06:37in austria-hungary a third of a million soldiers had deserted
06:43the people at home were starving the multi-ethnic empire was splintering
06:47its poles czechs and bosnians saw defeat as their chance to pursue independence
06:57in mid-september the austrian emperor karl told the kaiser he wanted to negotiate with the allies
07:03the kaiser begged him not to i cannot refrain from expressing to you my astonishment and sorrow
07:10that you could even think of doing this you must know how destructive this course of action is
07:15but karl had already sent his proposal for talks to the allies and they just threw it back in his face
07:27another great empire allied to germany was dying
07:32the 600 year old ottoman empire was a spent force
07:36britain was driving the turks out of mesopotamia palestine and syria
07:40they were now fighting for their lives not for germany
07:48then the third link in germany's alliance chain started to give way
07:54germany needed bulgaria to hold the balkan front
07:57but by september 1918 a huge allied force had gathered in macedonia
08:03if the bulgarians folded the allies way would be clear to austria-hungary
08:10the bulgarians who dug into these trenches their morale cracking
08:21crown prince boris was almost attacked by his own soldiers when he visited the front
08:29we are naked barefoot and hungry
08:31the first world war had begun in the balkans with serbia as the tinderbox
08:46now as part of the allied force she was in at the kill and for the serbs it was personal
08:52in 1915 the bulgarians had helped kick them out of their homeland
08:56here was the serbs chance for revenge
09:06the heavy artillery made the bulgarians crawl deep into their shelters
09:11all the excitement made my hair stand on end my blood was up
09:15the allies smashed through the bulgarian lines and rolled north
09:29on the 28th of september bulgaria sued for peace
09:35when he heard this ludendorff suffered a fit collapsing to the floor foaming at the mouth
09:40the very next day he learned the allies had breached the hindenburg line along the saint-contin canal
09:50germany's last fixed line of defense on the western front
09:52of the south of the south of the south of the south of the south of the south of the south
10:05two days later on the 1st of october ludendorff summoned his senior staff to his headquarters in spa
10:12among them colonel albrecht von terre
10:16ludendorff stood up his face was pale and full of deep worry
10:20he said it was his duty to tell us that our military condition was terribly serious
10:28bulgaria has already been lost austria and turkey are both at the end of their strength
10:35any day now our western front could be breached
10:40therefore the supreme army command demands
10:44that a proposal for bringing about peace be made without delay
10:50it was a terrible shock
10:59generals quietly sobbed
11:02when ludendorff left the room tear followed him
11:06i grabbed his right arm with both hands and said your excellency can it be true is that the last word am
11:13i awake or dreaming i was completely beside myself
11:18he remained calm and gentle and said to me with a deeply sorrowful smile
11:23unfortunately that is how it is and i see no other way out
11:36that's what's happening to the german people in october 1918 the prospect of an armistice seemed heaven sent
11:54a great sigh of relief escapes from the lips of the tormented nation
11:59this means peace you can hear at every corner of the streets
12:04and peace smiles in the eyes of every little shop girl in the bakers or grocers
12:14germany's soldiers had kept her politicians in the dark about the string of military disasters
12:18so the news that they wanted an armistice came as a bolt from the blue
12:29the deputies were absolutely broken abert turned white as a sheet and didn't utter a single word
12:36strazerman looked as if he'd had an accident
12:39secretary valdo is believed to have left the room saying the only thing left to do is to shoot oneself in the head
12:48the peace talks were still a way off first the terms of the ceasefire would have to be settled
12:59germany approached u.s president woodrow wilson asking him to broker the armistice with the allies
13:05they chose him because he'd already proposed a peace plan the 14 points french prime minister
13:12clemenceau was unimpressed 14 points the good lord has only 10
13:23wilson's points were an idealistic package of liberal principles including rights to national
13:28self-determination and a league of nations to watch over it all germany believed wilson would secure a
13:35fair deal for them on this basis we are ready to be just to the german people to deal fairly with the
13:44german power as with all others to propose anything but justice to germany would be to renounce and
13:50dishonor our own cause but wilson also insisted germany had to admit defeat and democratize
13:59and britain and france didn't want to talk about a new world order until the war was over
14:11while the politicians argued the fighting raged on germany's u-boats continued to sink allied ships
14:17in the atlantic and as her armies retreated across france they looted and laid waste
14:29in the atlantic and in the atlantic and in the atlantic and in the atlantic and in the atlantic and
14:36fourteen-year-old yves conga had kept a diary throughout the german occupation of his hometown of sedan
14:44he longed for freedom but dreaded the price the french would have to pay for it
14:59so here it is the great moment we spent the last four years waiting hoping begging for and yet it
15:09brings with it the horror of bombing gas fire perhaps death we may never see our friends again
15:19many might be killed the entire town destroyed our one great hope is an armistice
15:27the first world war did not go quietly
15:38the final months were more lethal than the trench war of past years had been
15:43men now had to leave the safety of trenches and cross open ground with little place to hide from
15:48sweeping machine gun and shell fire
15:58british casualties in autumn 1918 were higher than those exactly a year before
16:03during the terrible battle of passion dale the epitome of trench slaughter
16:07and the closer to peace the harder it was to bear the losses
16:21it was a slaughterhouse just a mass of mangled flesh and blood bob's head was hanging off
16:38you couldn't tell which was harris and which was kempton what was left of them was in pieces
16:44we knew the enemy was beaten after three years in france and the end so near bob killed harris who'd left
16:56a young bride killed jimmy fuchs whose time was nearly up killed kempton who also was due for leave killed
17:07in france
17:11general haig had seemed careless with his men's lives at the battle of the somme in 1916
17:17now he argued for stopping the war without a total defeat of the germans
17:23the british alone might bring the enemy to his knees but why expend more british lives and for what
17:29french general charles mangin insisted this would only store up trouble for the future
17:38no no no we must go right into the heart of germany the germans will not admit they were beaten
17:46it is a fatal error and france will pay for it
17:53but with winter setting in any invasion of germany would have to wait till spring 1919
17:59by then the germans might have renewed their strength
18:06marshal foch believed france would get what she wanted by negotiation no need to battle on to berlin
18:15so the allies set out to achieve on paper what their armies had not done in the field
18:20obtained germany's unconditional surrender
18:28foch chose to meet the germans in campion 45 miles northeast of paris
18:33in a secluded forest through which a railway line conveniently ran
18:41in his train on the 8th of november foch handed the armistice conditions to politician
18:46matthias erzberger leader of the german delegation
18:49erzberger was visibly shaken by the terms germany would have to accept just to obtain a ceasefire
19:01germany would have to evacuate belgium and france surrender her fleet and pay compensation
19:06the allies would continue their blockade disarm the germans and occupy the left bank of the rhine
19:15germany was being forced to capitulate
19:17meanwhile the country erzberger represented was falling apart its cities swept by revolution
19:28the german people exhausted by war and hunger wanted democracy in and the kaiser out
19:41but it was the german army which forced the kaiser to abdicate
19:55he asked his generals to turn the army against the people but the generals refused
20:00the army will return home in good order under its generals but not under the command of your majesty
20:13it no longer stands behind your majesty
20:19the prussian dynasty of frederick the great was over
20:22the next day the kaiser slipped into exile in holland
20:33he would live long enough to hear that germany had beaten france in 1940
20:39he never accepted that in 1918 his army had been defeated
20:45for 30 years the army was my pride now after four and a half brilliant years of war
20:51war with unprecedented victories it was brought down by a stab in the back from the dagger of the
20:58revolutionaries at the very moment when peace was within reach
21:07most germans rejoiced at the news that the kaiser had gone
21:12i felt as if a heavy weight had suddenly been lifted from my heart
21:16this definitely means the armistice will be signed
21:25back in the forest at compi n
21:27erzberger now found himself representing the german republic
21:30at 5 a.m on the 11th of november he signed the armistice
21:47hostilities temporarily cease 1100 today when all offensive action will cease
22:00present outpost line to be maintained and no troops to pass east of it
22:04other than road etc reconnaissance and working parties
22:07the most remarkable feature was the uncanny silence
22:34the war was over
22:41peace and safety was a new thing
22:44it could not be grasped in a moment
22:51a dreadful blow i was just beginning to enjoy it
23:02i was just beginning to enjoy it
23:07i was just beginning to enjoy it
23:09no more slaughter
23:11no more maiming
23:13no more mud and blood
23:16no more shoveling bits of men's bodies and dumping them into sandbags
23:21no more writing those dreadfully difficult letters to the next of kin of the dead
23:25the strange and unreal thought was running through my mind
23:32i had a future
23:41it was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
23:58a great cheer arose all along the line
24:00we could hear the men a thousand yards in front raising holy hell
24:05the french behind our position were dancing shouting and waving bottles of wine
24:17we were stupefied to see crowds of boss running over to us between the minefields with their hands up and yelling like mad
24:23they were crazy for cigarettes and chocolate we had some burned rice that our boys wouldn't eat and they fell on it like wolves
24:31we had some more
24:32we had some more
24:47our soldiers were choked with emotion
24:50i thought about my family
24:52about all the women of france
24:56except those who are alone
24:58and who cry
25:01one great wave of joy swept round the world and found its way to every nook and cranny
25:25no one was more delighted than our african soldiers who cheered themselves hoarse
25:31so
25:34everybody came out
25:35disabled old men
25:37old women in slippers
25:39and housewives leaving lunch on the stove
25:43i wept with joy
25:45five thousand indian soldiers lit their torches
25:48the hilltops burst into fire with scores of bonfires
25:53i found myself arm in arm with soldiers i had never seen before
25:57i forgot where we went toward the streets and sang and sang the significance of what it means was overwhelming
26:07peace
26:11people whose lives were shaped by the war went home
26:21people the world did not yet know
26:25ernest hemingway bertol brecht
26:27harold mcmillan
26:29harold mcmillan vera britain
26:30charles de gaulle
26:32joseph tito
26:33benito mussolini
26:35david ben-gurion
26:36mustapha kamal
26:40and one of the most insignificant of them all for now
26:44adolf hitler
26:55the german armies in france and belgium headed home
27:01how we had looked forward to this moment
27:04we used to picture it as the most splendid event of our lives
27:08and here we are now humbled our souls torn and bleeding
27:14but we can be proud of our performance
27:17never before has a nation a single army had the whole world against it and stood its ground
27:25we protected our homeland they never got into germany
27:37in mid-december 1918 the first german troops arrived in berlin
27:47the people welcomed them as an army with no cause to feel ashamed
27:52the men wore green laurel wreaths over their steel helmets
27:56the machine guns were garlanded with green branches
28:00many a soldier had a child or sweetheart on his flower wreathed horse
28:04a feeling of confidence a fresh hope in the future seems to have returned with the troops
28:17germany's new republican chancellor friedrich ebert
28:20reinforced the dangerous illusion that they had not been beaten in this war
28:23so i salute you you will return unvanquished from the field of battle
28:41the allies were in no doubt who had beaten whom allied troops moved into germany and began their watch on the rhine
28:47the german fleet was surrendered to britain the german fleet was surrendered to britain
28:53and the allies assembled in paris to dictate the terms of the peace
29:01the united states of the united states of the united states
29:08u.s president woodrow wilson crossed the atlantic to put his idealism to the test
29:15we have used the great words right and justice now we are to prove whether or not we understand those
29:22words and how they are to be applied
29:30but the world had not stood still between the end of the war and the start of the peace talks
29:40on the 22nd of november 1918 the belgian king albert came home in triumph to brussels
29:53occupied lands had been won back
30:06the french repossessed alsace-lorraine
30:13what a moving welcome the people were so happy and smiling some were pale and cried while they greeted us
30:21us they all speak absolutely pure french they really are french all those locals we were treated like victors
30:30like saviors
30:44these scenes confirmed that france and belgium had been liberated from an evil grip
30:49that this was a victory for the allies
31:01and in eastern europe new nations arose out of shattered empires
31:08they didn't wait for the peace conference to bring them self-determination
31:11they tore down all signs of foreign rule and put up new frontiers
31:20poland carved a vast territory out of germany and russia
31:26czechoslovakia took land from austria and hungary
31:28and serbia realized the aim she'd started the war over by founding her own slav super state
31:38the peace talks would recognize these new nations they did not create them
31:4227 countries met in paris to divide the spoils and define the peace
31:55the losers were not invited
31:57we are going into these negotiations with our mouths full of fine phrases
32:06and our brains seething with dark thoughts
32:08the big decisions were made by the council of four prime ministers orlando of italy lloyd george of britain
32:18clémenceau of france and u.s president wilson
32:21all liberals but with very different agendas and forceful personalities
32:29arguments between lord george and myself were so violent wilson had to interpose between us with
32:35outstretched arms saying pleasantly i have never come across two such unreasonable men
32:42clémenceau wanted germany restrained for the sake of french security
32:52orlando wanted more territory for italy
32:56lloyd george looked beyond europe to safeguard the british empire
33:02wilson wanted his new world order with justice and democracy for all
33:07but first there was the little matter of settling the war
33:10and that would force wilson to compromise his ideals
33:19the big four did not go into the talks planning to pin guilt for the war on germany
33:25but when they realized how much the war had cost they looked for someone to foot the bill
33:31france owed billions to britain and america for financing her war
33:36britain couldn't afford to waive the debt and america wouldn't
33:39so the allies turned to germany but she could only be made to pay up if she accepted blame for the
33:46war so the allies included a clause pinning the guilt on germany
33:55germany accepts the responsibility of germany and her allies
33:59for causing all the loss and damage to which the allied and associated governments
34:05and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them
34:11by the aggression of germany and her allies
34:20on the 7th of may 1919 the german delegation came to collect the treaty expecting to find an
34:26even-handed settlement infused with wilson's sense of fair play
34:30they were horrified by what they read 440 articles beating germany into submission
34:40the germans protested so vehemently particularly against the requirement to admit war guilt
34:46that lloyd george worried that the allies had gone too far
34:52a member of his own delegation the renowned economist john maynard canes was openly critical
34:57he felt that forcing germany to pay reparations could ruin europe politically and economically
35:06the policy of reducing germany to servitude for a generation
35:11of degrading the lives of millions of human beings should be abhorrent and detestable
35:21but clemenceau believed the terms were fully justified and wilson's line had toughened
35:28he had wanted to treat germany fairly but as a liberal he was appalled by the way she'd waged war
35:34and as president of the united states he wanted america's loans repaid
35:41it is a good thing that the term should be so hard so that germany may know what an unjust war means
35:48if the germans won't sign then we must renew the war
35:58germany did sign on the 28th of june 1919 in the hall of mirrors in versailles
36:04five years to the day after the sarajevo assassination that had triggered the war
36:08the settlement was far from perfect
36:17the much-touted principle that people should govern themselves
36:20was not applied outside europe and imperialism was condoned
36:26but wilson achieved his great goal the creation of the first global forum the league of nations
36:31in the event the allies wound up with the worst of both worlds the germans paid little in reparations
36:42and the league of nations proved powerless to force them
36:46and the versailles terms left some germans like future nazi rudolf hess smouldering with resentment
36:53with disastrous consequences
36:54the only thing that keeps me going is the hope for the day of revenge however far off it may be
37:02i wonder whether it'll happen in my lifetime
37:09marshal ferdinand foch felt the allies hadn't been tough enough and realized the world would have to go
37:14to war again this is not peace it is an armistice for 20 years
37:21it is he got it wrong by just 65 days
37:39men were killed in the war's final hours whose last letters did not reach home for weeks
37:46men like maria socas who wrote to his father in morocco
37:51and i would only be doing my duty and would die like many others for a noble cause a great ideal
38:11i am proud to be your son and i want to tell you today because who knows what the future holds
38:17i love you more than i have ever shown you love and kisses marius
38:35around 10 million soldiers were killed in the war prompting lloyd george's sardonic comment
38:40when i look at the appalling casualty lists i sometimes wish it had not been necessary to win
38:48so many great victories
38:56the tidy rows of crosses sanitize the deaths
39:00they often cover mass graves with a man represented only by the part of him that could be found and
39:05identified verdun in france has a huge fault full of bones
39:15some of the millions posted missing in the war the place and circumstance of their death unknown
39:25no one is certain how many civilians died women children and elderly caught in the mayhem of the eastern
39:31front in the flight of the serb nation in 1915 in the armenian massacres in occupied france and belgium
39:44then in 1918 influenza broke out eventually killing 20 million soldiers and civilians around the world
39:5120 million men were wounded by the war of whom several million were badly mutilated
40:07the french called one category the girl cassay the broken faces
40:11some were given human masks to hide their wounds
40:27new faces new legs new arms
40:31new minds were more difficult no one really knew what to do with the victims of shell shock
40:46soldiers with a range of disorders were filmed including 19 year old private preston
40:51his memory blank responsive only to the word bombs
41:01so
41:03over the decades which followed the suffering and the dying and the sense of futile waste
41:08central themes in the war's poetry came to dominate our perceptions
41:15come back come back you didn't want to die and all this war's a sham a stinking lie
41:22and the glory that our fathers lord so well a crowd of corpses freed from pangs of hell
41:31the war's a sham a stinking lie but in its immediate aftermath when the memorials went up around the world
41:45the first world war was not seen solely in terms of senseless slaughter
41:53their designs and inscriptions defined the war in positive terms
41:57for defense against aggression for love of one's country for glory
42:06so much hardship so much heroism and now such overwhelming glory anything after this can be no more than an anti-climax
42:16so much for the war
42:20germany too celebrated victory where she could
42:24a gigantic monument was built in 1927 at tannenberg
42:28to commemorate germany's triumph over the russians in 1914
42:31the war may have been lost but the dead were proclaimed as heroes the struggle itself honored
42:49though the aim for which i fought was not to be achieved
42:52we learned once and for all to stand for a cause and if necessary to fall as befitted men
43:03many allied memorials spelled out the values felt to be at stake during the war
43:12in the stained glass window in canterbury university new zealand
43:16the central powers are depicted as the dragon of brutality and ignorance
43:22the allied troops have humanity and justice on their side and are naturally victorious
43:37the years after the war were defined by the search for significance in the loss
43:40national symbols like the cenotaph and the unknown warrior helped answer the question in so many
43:47people's minds what did all the suffering mean
43:55in 1920 the body of an unidentified british soldier was exhumed in france and transported home
44:10on the 11th of november the unknown warrior was brought to whitehall
44:21he did not seem an unknown warrior he was known to us all he was one of our boys
44:29to some women he was their own boy who went missing
44:33to many men wearing ribbons and badges he was one of their comrades
44:46it was the steel helmet the old tin hat
45:01he was the steel helmet lying there on the crimson of the flag which revealed him instantly
45:10herbert thompson had lost his eyesight in the war
45:13he could not see the proceedings but he could feel them
45:19there was ineffable sadness and melancholy
45:23yet a message of inspiration and hope
45:25as if the spirit of the unknown soldier had whispered courage brother hope on
45:32i felt with my comrades almost ashamed that i had given so little
45:37while he who was sleeping by us had given all
45:39the war
45:51vera britain had served in france as a nurse during the war
45:56she lost her fiance two close friends her only brother
45:59she went back in 1921
46:11at amya we stood in the dimness of the once threatened cathedral
46:15we looked up with reminiscent melancholy at the still bordered stained glass windows smashed by german
46:21shells realizing with sudden surprise that in my own mind the anger and resentment had died long ago
46:30leaving only an everlasting sorrow and a passionate pity
46:41the first world war had achieved its basic aim of containing german and austrian militarism at least for the moment
46:47it moved europe from the age of empires to the era of nation states
46:56it gave eastern european peoples their independence
46:59it gave a sense of national identity to canada australia and new zealand
47:05it helped russia become the world's first communist state and launched america as a world power
47:11the ideas for which men fought have proved lasting democracy and liberalism religious faith and nationalism
47:29but the first world war solved few of the grievances over which it was fought
47:33we live with its unresolved consequences in the middle east the balkans ireland
47:41it wasn't the war to end all wars not just because it left dangerous loose ends
47:45but because it bequeathed the world a terrible message
47:49that war can affect change the war can fulfill ambitions that war can work
47:56the battlefields were tidied up or plowed over or just abandoned but they held their grip on the
48:08soldiers who'd fought on them on those who dared go back
48:17i saw again with a pang of anguish the trenches damp and muddy and was surprised to have lived there for
48:24four years so moving because of the endless silence the gloomy barren deserted look
48:35old churches pierced chipped ripped open and barbed wire everywhere
48:47life resumes things remain the same
48:50life resumes we're the only ones who've changed
49:12life resumes we're the only ones who've changed
49:16ORGAN PLAYS
49:46ORGAN PLAYS
50:16ORGAN PLAYS
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