How A Wrong Turn Started World War 1 | First World War EP1 | Timeline

Courtney act Park outside the Serbian capital Belgrade in May 1914 a Bosnian student gabrielle o Princip came here with a Browning pistol for some target practice [Music] Princip was 19 years old according to his instructor he was not a very good shot other students were much more confident whenever Princip must the target people standing around would laugh at him that would drive them to tears out of sight in the forest he had a chance to get his eye in shooting at trees his ultimate goal was far more ambitious I am an adherent of the radical anarchist idea which aims at destroying the present system through terrorism in 1914 princip's wish was granted [Music] the first world war began almost by accident it ended just a strangely in between it was more destructive than any war had ever been more British French and Italian soldiers died in the first world war then died in a second [Music] it was the first genuinely global conflict fought not just on the fields of France and Flanders but up mountains across deserts at sea and in the air [Music] the first world war shaped the 20th century it sparked the Russian Revolution it launched America is a world power [Music] the fault lines from its failed peace settlement led the world to a second terrible war barely 20 years later then to the Cold War but the ideas the men of 1914 fought for still shape our world today nationalism and democracy the rule of international law and the rights of nations now after the collapse of communism the European map resembles the one redrawn by the first world war we live with its unresolved bitter consequences in the Middle East and the Balkans and it was in the Balkans that it all began nearly a hundred years ago at the start of the 20th century as at its close the Balkans were the most unstable part of Europe here three great empires fought for power and influence the austro-hungarian the Russian and the Ottoman for hundreds of years the Ottoman Turks had the upper hand Serbia Bosnia Albania were under their control they built over 80 mosques in Serbian Belgrade but by the 1900s only this one was left Serbia had thrown the Turks out and set herself up as an independent Slav Kingdom but right on Serbia's border was an even greater challenge to Slav nationalism the old Turks of the south have gone but new enemies come from the north more fearsome and dangerous than the old they want to take our freedom and our language from us and crushes the enemy to the north was the austro-hungarian Empire that extraordinary Empire known as the austrian-hungarian Dual Monarchy is less an empire or a kingdom or a state than the personal property of the Hapsburgs whose hereditary talent for the acquisition of land is recorded on the map of Europe today [Music] the Empire was ruled by Franz Joseph he sat on two thrones as emperor of austria and king of hungary by 1914 had been in charge for 66 years he had spent them trying to resist change of any kind in all the empire only the Hungarians and Austrians had any real power for countries like Serbia Austria Hungary was the prison of nations a repressive undemocratic state that grounds small peoples under its hue austria-hungary is also a key part of European security a multinational Empire keeping the peace on the borders of the West it contained at least 10 different nationalities not just Austrians and Hungarians but Czechs Slovaks poles Romanians Italians Croats and Bosnians but it was also an empire in a state of constant crisis by 1914 had been ethnic unrest in nearly every part of the austro-hungarian Empire local Parliament's were suspended troops brought in to restore order austria-hungary's domestic problems gave opportunities to her enemies [Music] chief amongst them Serbia she welcomed national unrest particularly in Croatia and Bosnia Serbia wanted the breakup of the empire then she could incorporate all the Slavs within it into a South Slav super state Yugoslavia that our guten dmitriyevitch was an officer in the Serbian army he opposed any kind of friendship with Austria the blind surrender to Austria's embrace was a most shameful betrayal of Serbian traditions I realized that Serbia must in full measure become the leader not only a Serbs part of Yugoslavia dmitriyevich was also one of the founding members of the Black Hand a secret military society they used terrorism and assassination to try and establish Yugoslavia [Music] he is said to have sent men to murder austro-hungarian military leaders and cabinet ministers he allegedly tried to kill Emperor Franz Joseph one saw him nowhere yet one knew that he was doing everything by the spring of 1914 Gavrilo Princip was in belgrade talkin revolution with his friends [Music] then they heard that Archduke Franz Ferdinand the heir to the austro-hungarian throne would visit Sarajevo in June the plans hatched by the young Bosnians reached the ears of dmitriyevich and the black hand [Music] major wire tank usage also in the black hand went to dmitriyevitch with a question about some bosnian nudes pestering me these kids want to pull off some great deed in any cost they've heard that Franz Ferdinand his Carrington Bosnian and I'm begged me to let him go there what do you say Franz Ferdinand was going to Bosnia to observe the austro-hungarian armies maneuvers in the hills outside Sarajevo [Music] as chief of serbian military intelligence dmitriyevich feared these maneuvers were a smokescreen that what franz ferdinand really planned was an invasion of Serbia princip's planned to murder Franz Ferdinand's suited him perfectly fine he said let him go unlike every laprincia Archduke Franz Ferdinand was an excellent shot one of his castles Connor pitched in what is now the Czech Republic is full of the evidence by the age of 50 he'd shot five thousand stags as well as two hundred thousand other animals all carefully numbered by 1914 franz ferdinand was emperor in waiting everyone knew it couldn't be long before his uncle died even the official portrait was ready franz ferdinand with the Stars and sash only the Emperor could well he had no time for the etiquette and convention that hemmed in the Vienna Court he defied his uncle by marrying sophie ho tech who was not of royal blood the most intelligent thing I've ever done in my life has been the marriage to myself she is everything to me my wife my adviser my doctor my guardian angel Franz Ferdinand also had radical ideas for political reform he thought this was the best way to keep the multinational Austrian Empire on its feet and protect his own future as Emperor above all Franz Ferdinand wants to avoid war in the Balkans one night he made an after-dinner toast to peace what would we get out of war with Serbia we'd lose the lives of young men and would spend money better used elsewhere and what would be gained for heaven's sake a few plum trees some pastures full of goat dragons and a bunch of rebellious killers Gavrilo Princip crossed the border from Serbia and austria-hungary at the Drina River from here he made his way to Sarajevo where he met up with six others in on the plant the Serbian major tank usage had supplied them with four pistols six bombs and suicide pills in case of capture franz ferdinand chose the date of his visit badly Sarajevo was decked in flags for the occasion but the 20th of June was Serbian National Day a natural focus for hatred of a hapsburgs as a Serbian ambassador to Vienna warned this will cause much discontent some young Serb might put a live round rather than a blank in his gun and fire it therefore it might be good if Archduke Franz Ferdinand were not to go to Sarajevo but the Austrians laughed off the ambassador's fears on the morning of the 28th of June Franz Ferdinand and Sophie arrived by train in Sarajevo despite the warning security was light as the procession passed the first bridge The Conspirator there threw his bomb it bounced off the car exploding behind and wounding two officers and some on lookers Franz Ferdinand stopped to ask after the casualties before hurrying on to the town hall official security was now on high alert Gavrilo Princip gave up and turned to go home stopping on Franz Josef Street to buy a sandwich then his luck changed Franz Ferdinand had left the town hall but his driver took a wrong turn at the corner of Franz Josef Street [Music] as the Royal car tried to reverse on to the main road Princip came face to face with his target at that moment I heard the crack of a pistol shot followed swiftly by another and saw in the same split-second a man standing right in front of me being thrown to the ground by the people around him and the shining saber of a security guard descending on him a thin stream of blood spurted from his Highnesses mouth onto my right cheek the Duchess cried out in heaven's name what has happened to you then she slid off the seat and lay on the floor of the car I thought she had simply fainted then I heard his imperial Highness say suffer suffer don't die stay alive for the children I asked him if he was in great pain he answered me quite distinctly it's nothing Franz Ferdinand and Sophie died on the way to hospital their funeral was held in Vienna on the 4th of July Oskar Potiorek the governor of Bosnia had already written to the foreign ministry calling for austria-hungary to take revenge against Serbia [Music] we must take the first opportunity for a destructive blow against serbia to give the monarchy a few decades of calm internal development Serbia must learn to fear us again [Music] in life the crown prince had been a champion of peaceful coexistence with Serbia in death he was becoming a cause for war [Music] even before the assassination austro-hungarian chief of staff conrad von hotzendorf had pressed for war against serbia no fewer than 20 times now he made his case again I expressed to his majesty my opinion that war with Serbia was unavoidable that is entirely correct said his majesty but how are you going to wage war if everyone in particular Russia is going to attack us we have backing from Germany I replied His Majesty gave me a searching look and said can you be certain of that this was the moment when what could have been just another war in the Balkans began to turn into the first world war austro-hungarian Emperor Franz Josef now asked the German Kaiser for support on the 6th of July he got just the answer he wanted the German government is if the opinion that we must decide what is to be done whatever we decide we may always be certain that we will find Germany at our side a faithful ally and friend of our monarchy Germany's kaiser wilhelm ii was queen victoria's oldest grandson he was a flamboyant character with no eye for detail he had an immature streak desperate to be popular often petulant the Kings insecurities matter little if he has no power but the Kaiser was Germany's commander in chief its supreme warlord Germany's crucial decision to back Austria was made with no care for the consequences neither the Kaiser nor his senior political and military leaders took any steps to find out how far austria-hungary was prepared to go it was Germany's confidence support that pushed Austria forward but far from plunging the world into war in 1914 out of aggression Germany was just nudging it closer out of incompetence and wishful thinking the Kaiser was so sure no war was brewing that he went on holiday [Music] but any local Balkan conflict had the potential to set Europe alight given that Europe was divided into two volatile camps on the one side with Germany Austria Hungary and Italy on the other were France and Russia if austere attacked Serbia Russia might leak to her aid and attack Austria then Germany would have to fight to protect Austria this document was Austria's excuse for war it was filled with demands so extreme and insulting that Serbia could never accept them but just in case they did the Austrian ambassador in Belgrade was ordered to reject any reply as unacceptable he delivered the ultimatum at 6 p.m. on the 23rd of July 1914 slavka Mihailovich was a Belgrade doctor the news of the ultimatum spread quickly and soon there was a real alert streets and bars were crowded with anxious people everybody wondered what answer our government would give whether a new war would be avoided [Music] Austria's ultimatum called the world's diplomats napping the French government the French press and public opinion have been inconceivably surprised Paris is almost dead all the ambassador's but one are out of town the kaiser was on his yacht in norway when the text of the austrian ultimatum arrived the Kaiser arrived on deck as usual after breakfast and said to me I was still holding the wireless message that's a pretty strong note for once in a while it certainly is I replied but it means war whereupon the Kaiser observed that Serbia would never risk a war she might not have rested on her own but she had a powerful ally Russia [Music] convinced that Germany was warmongering Russia began partial mobilization on the 28th of July this was the second key stage of the crisis as Britain's foreign secretary Edward gray warmed from the moment the dispute ceases to be one between austria-hungary and Serbia and becomes one in which another great power is involved it cannot bid end in the greatest catastrophe that has ever befallen the continent of Europe austria-hungary declared war on Serbia that same day the first shots of the war were fired from here the Austrian fortress of Zimmermann just across the river from Belgrade in the dead of night major voya tank usage had the black hand blow the only railway bridge windows shattered to smithereens and broken glass covered the floor patients started screaming so it was true the war had begun it was still only a war between austria-hungary and Serbia and on the 29th of July as the shells fell on Belgrade there was a final attempt to keep it that way a series of last-minute telegrams flashed across Europe Tsar to kaiser cousin to cousin del Willie an ignoble war has been declared on a weak country the indignation in Russia is ignored dear Nikki I am exerting my utmost influence on the Austrians I confidently hope you will help me deal with here but if my truth shall not take any provocative action but by now the crisis was beyond the control of monarchs or politicians it was in the hands of the military from the moment Russia mobilized her army German generals knew their own clock was ticking the alliance between France and Russia meant that Germany faced a war on two fronts her only hope was to deal with France in the West before the main Russian armies could invade from the east that left no time to wait and see for Germany Russian mobilization meant war Germany hadn't looked for a fight her generals newer European war would be long and devastating but every year Russia was growing stronger better war with her sooner than later on the first of August Germany declared war on Russia two days later she declared war on Russia's Ally France across Europe 10 million men headed off to fight for all the bands and flag waving many went unwillingly to war where are we off to France Belgium or the East at the station people wave goodbye some with handkerchiefs I thought of my wife and child left alone at home in fact it wasn't so much a thought as a fearful shadow flitting over my soul [Music] [Music] girl how long is this down my Bane is digging in my collar strangling me when I look up I see a pretty girl she was so full of admiration so moved by it all that I realized we've got to look handsome and walked all off we marked to the sound of shrill brass other where we're going he died who'd have faced hacked up torn apart all down the line my comrade straighten up at the sight of him [Music] there's great excitement among my comrades the bachelors are calm they're even joking about it family men are depressed some are saying we'll get nothing from this war we'll get beaten by the Germans what's in it for us peasant soldiers why have we got to fight for some offended Serbs the leaders had little better idea why they were fighting than the men they had no lists of war aims Germany and Austria Serbia Russia and France were all convinced they were fighting a defensive war forced on them by someone else the only great power in Europe still on the sidelines was Britain and she was most reluctant to go to war to help Serbian if it were physically possible for Serbia to be towed out to sea and sunk there the air of Europe would at once seen cleaner Britain did not regard herself formally bound by treaty obligations as foreign secretary gray assured Parliament we are not parties to the franco-russian Alliance we do not even know the terms of their lands on the 2nd of august 1914 Britain was still at peace but only just we've been in a state of great excitement as the reservists are being called up all the railways are guarded everything points to the great war so long expected being upon us in private gray and other leaders New Britain had to fight if Britain stayed neutral the war would still threaten her global position and if she failed to come to the aid of her allies France and Russia they too might become her enemies so at 11:00 p.m. on the 4th of August Britain declared war on Germany and the thing she was fighting to protect became the biggest single resource she brought to the wall her empire with its vast economic strength and worldwide network of trade routes Britain's economic strength underpinned her allies this was a war kept going by alliances and what happened on one front could have critical effect on another Germany was relying on her Ally austria-hungary to hold the Eastern Front with Russia massing on her borders Germany was horrified to learn Austria had concentrated her reserves not against Russia but down in the Balkans to deal with Serbia meanwhile the main Serbian army had marched up from the south of the country gathering numbers as it went on the 12th of August it finally met the Austrians at ser Mountain the Serbs easily beat off the austro-hungarian attack we could see the enemy retreating along the river their ammunition train left all their cards in the valley and ran away as soon as they were hit by our artillery a beaten army no an uncontrolled mob ran towards the border in senseless panic austro-hungarian prisoners captured in the first allied victory of the war Austria had thought Serbia will be a pushover Swift revenge for the murder of Franz Ferdinand and their reprisals against the Serbian people were vicious it was a fight not just against an enemy army but against whole peoples in the first month of the war 4,000 civilians in western Serbia were killed or disappeared their burnt houses down looted raped killed 17 people all women girls children tied with rope dead in a ditch by the road all of them slaughtered in this war civilians would often be the first to suffer as armies rolled over frontiers and settled old scores on the Western Front a French ambulance driver wrote to his son do you ever think of your daddy walking day and night over plowed fields and getting very used to shells exploding all over the place I'd really like to hear from you how school don't be too quick to learn the geography of Europe I think it's all about to change Germany's resources were split between two fronts and she couldn't easily smash through france's chain of forts along the border but belgium was weaker [Music] the Belgians put their faith in reinforced concrete faults armed with German Krupp guns the Germans brought their massive siege guns the big Bertha's named after crooks daughter to smash them by the 16th of August all the forts around the edge had fallen [Music] while Belgian and French forces bore the brunt of the German onslaught the British Expeditionary Force started to land in France [Music] a hundred thousand men crossed the channel in the early weeks of the war on the 21st of August British troops moved into position alongside the French fifth Army near the Belgian town of Mons close to the French border [Music] two days later the British with 70,000 men were hit by a German force four times the size I focused the telescope and saw a number of little grey figures more and more were appearing the Allies started an epic retreat south just ahead of the German tidal wave the war on the Western Front did not begin in the trenches these early months were mobile fast dangerous in the first four weeks the German army lost over a quarter of a million men killed wounded and missing the front was constantly shifting giving men no time to dig in there was nowhere to hide in fields swept by machine guns and rapid firing artillery nineteen year old British corporal Edward wah was the youngest soldier to receive the Victoria Cross in the war he was killed but with their enemy's capital almost in sight the Germans advanced was outstripping supply lines general von Moltke the German commander grew alarmed he had no illusions that victory was going to be quick or easy by the 2nd of September 1914 the Germans were just 30 miles from Paris [Music] trenches were dug sandbags filled barricades erected [Music] the government left the capital for Bordeaux triggering a general exodus a million Parisians a third of its inhabitants fled the city [Music] the fate of Paris and France would be decided on the river Marne for Terron a 300-mile front it was a battle France had to win [Music] when a battle begins upon which the nation's salvation depends we cannot look back we must make every effort to attack and repel the enemy suits who can no longer advance MUSC at all cops hold the captured ground and die rather than retreat the German right wing was sweeping down towards Paris the French had detached troops from the east moving them by rail to Paris to attack the Germans in their flank the Allies now outnumbered the Germans and chose their moment to strike as the Germans neared Paris a dangerous gap opened up between their first and second armies the British Expeditionary Force would be driven in like a wedge the fighting has begun French shells explode incessantly in front of us we seek shelter in a sunken Lane stomachs loudly remind us of our hunger constant shelling makes it impossible to reach up and fetch an apple a French plane suddenly appears it turns and drops something the air fills with a strange whistling followed by a violent explosion its dropped a bomb seven horses killed three men lost for us this is something completely new none of us know how to defend ourselves from this monster of disguise some thought the ear so as not to lose their nerve with the incessant machine-gun fire our ranks are decimated we cannot hold this position much longer [Music] German reconnaissance planes monitored the worsening situation at the man pilots reports when to count for Boulos Second Army headquarters of mom more handwritten reports like this one revealed the steady advance of the Allies into the lethal gap between his men and the first Army on the 8th of September 1914 von Bulow ordered his forces to retreat [Music] we continued to fall back passing through French villages in the faces of every inhabitant we source scorn and derision [Music] the women leaned out of their windows and thumb their noses and sneered at us to them we were the defeated army [Music] the French referred to the battle as the miracle on the Mon France had been saved but at a cost of a quarter of a million casualties the same losses as the Germans no future battle on the Western Front would average so many casualties per day 33 German generals were quietly sacked Malta was replaced by Erich von Falkenhayn after tactful polls the German people were never told the truth about the man indeed the myth at the war's end would be that the German army was undefeated in the field but in a sense they lost the first world war here never having again the chance they had at the man to win a resounding victory against the Allies [Applause] Germany was now committed to a long war and she didn't have the resources for it in November 1914 falcon hein ordered his troops to fall back to high ground and dig in unable to break through the Allies had few options but to dig in as well the pattern for the Western Front was now set with its line of trenches stretching from the channel to Switzerland 500 miles of mud and horror there will be home to the living and the dead for over three years [Music] and beyond no-man's land beyond the German lines 11 million French and Belgian civilians men women and children would live under German occupation Tuesday cruel Tuesday the German troops ride past my window I hear a guttural order ah soon the town is filled with boss the beasts the swine's they confiscate all weapons and demand a quarter of a million francs in gold [Music] the extraordinary diary of a ten year old French schoolboy titled Journal of the Franco Bosch war Eve conga lived with his family in this house Insadong Eastern France Eve's mother encouraged him to write a diary to keep him busy during the summer holidays it became a unique record of the occupation and its brutalities they have taken rather stolen from us straw copper oats and the belongings of over 8 million people they have looted the cellars the empty houses the walnut trees the telegraph poles and the livestock the German army was ordered to live off the occupied territories what the soldiers wanted they took [Music] moved on towards formal the inhabitants were pensioners [Music] our boys found a stash of wine and eggs we helped ourselves in the meantime the church was shot to bits not a single house was spared the pressure to maintain a speedy advance through a hostile population led to atrocities these were not just the impetuous actions of frightened troops we've been ordered to kill everyone and wipe off the map part of the left bank of the mers it's a tremendously honorable task and will be famous forever many of the victims were French and Belgian civilians the belgian town of Tamim french troops have kept up a storm of fire of the advancing Germans from across the river song the Germans rounded up civilians including feminine school year for a special task we are forced to advance acting as a shield for the gems who follow behind us but they fall mon down by French bullets one of them charges at us like a man possessed and only stops when his bandit has gone right through vomit and who leaves behind a widow and three orphans after the French withdrew the Germans were convinced that Belgian snipers were active so they torched the town nearly 400 men women and children among them the priest fathered on a were herded into the main square by the riverbank a German firing squad was waiting for them a whistle blew and the shooting began there was total chaos among the crowd some fell dead others pushed blindly I found myself on the ground the tide moving above me I was suffocating I was hit by two bullets in the kidneys I felt their holes drill into me I'll talk for veil and fell on top of me dead no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get out from under the pile of corpses they cut the head of our shield or one of the comb I saw it the hand separated from the trunk [Music] the ultimate cruelty was when the soldiers checked the victims one by one any still alive they bayonetted violently and threw them in the song [Music] a total of six and a half thousand French and Belgian civilians including women and children were killed in the first month of the war [Music] and the Germans rounded up thousands of teenage boys and girls for forced labor the last three weeks we have spent in the most terrible anguish and moral torture possible for a mother's heart at 3:00 in the morning these German heroes go out with a military band and machine guns and bayonets fixed to hunt down women and children to take them away God knows where or why any resistance was mostly passive the Germans rounded up local leaders then posted notices of their execution and they used another method to ensure civil obedience they took hostages including Eve congas father the hour is near the last meal together the goodbyes the hugs I want to cry father walks to the station with just us boys I bite my lip and fill my eyes tightening father says I love you farewell remember me and he kissed us every night I'll say a prayer my father and the other hostages [Music] civilian men women and children were packed into cattle trucks sent to concentration camps as hostages and forced laborers several thousand French and 58,000 Belgians far from being broken by the German occupation Eve conga who became a prisoner in the Second World War was politicized by it there's hardly any bread the swine's will leave us to die of hunger too bad after all we are French and if we have to die we shall die but France will be victorious [Music] [Music] in the next episode of the First World War global conflict rocks empires as Germany takes the war across the high seas through Africa and into the Middle East [Music]

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 1,674,306

Rating: 4.7440758 out of 5

Keywords: 100 years since ww1 ended, 2017 documentary, History, world war i (military conflict), documentary history, Documentary Movies - Topic, 100 year anniversary of ww1, Documentary, world war 1, first world war, world war one, trench warfare, real, documentary (tv genre), Documentaries, history documentary, Full length Documentaries, Channel 4 documentary, TV Shows - Topic, BBC documentary, Full Documentary, armistice 1918, armistice 100th anniversary, stories

Id: 2JsFvcSr7BA

Length: 49min 44sec (2984 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 10 2018