Customer Reviews

The First World War - The Complete Series

5 star:		(73)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This series is to the First World War what the classic World at War series was to the Second World War. It is shorter but excellent nonetheless.

Although the First World War gets less attention than its successor, it was really the watershed event of the 20th century. This conflict shaped the world that came after to this day. It was the catalyst for the rise of soviet communism in Russia, whose unravelling less than a decade and a half ago continues to affect worldwide diplomacy and economics. Germany's defeat provided the opportunity for fascism and Hitler to come to power there, causing the Second World War and its greater destruction. The defeat of the Ottoman Empire during the First World War and the diplomatic and political morass that followed was the precursor for the reconstitution of Israel and eventually brought the Middle East into center stage today.

This series is based upon the books and encyclopedic knowledge of Professor Hugh Strachan. It examines every aspect of the war, from its causes to the conduct of the war on and behind the front lines to its aftermath. In doing so, it covers the diplomatic, political, military and social aspects, each of which played a role in shaping what happened and why. It does not just present the summary facts but goes in depth in its explanations. For example, instead of simply depicting the spring 1918 German offensive on the western front, it gives detail about how they accomplished it, the attitudes of the troops on each side and the thought processes of the respective high commands.

Not having seen Kenneth Branagh's World War 1 in Color, this reviewer is incompetant to compare the two. However, because this series is thorough and draws upon the professor who may well be THE authority on this era of history, it is likely the best presentation on the subject available today.

"The First World War-The Complete Series" is a marvelous introduction to the world we now live in. Arranged in ten parts and based on historian Hugh Strachan's insightful observations, this eight hour plus look into the "War To End All Wars" is always engaging and amazingly contemporary. Mixing film elements of the period with contemporary footage, this four disc program offers insightful explanations into such controversial topics as Jihad and the troubled Middle East, Ireland, Africa, the rise of the nation state, and the rise of the United States to name but a few. What "The World At War" is to World War Two, "The First World War-The Complete Series" is to its predecessor; simply the best documentary on the subject I've yet seen.

I cannot praise this series enough. Remarkably complete and ultimately absorbing, this series does for WWI what "World At War" (1973) did for WWII. Every installment is a fascinating, up-close and comprehensive examination of the often complex elements and participants fighting in the world's first truly "modern war."

Special attention is paid to specific details that most other series leave out; for example, the role of the Ottoman Turks, the significant naval battles between Germany and Great Britain, the battles in the Middle East, and the contributions of the British Commonwealth soldiers from across the Empire. It makes the old CBS series narrated by Robert Ryan a mere footnote and PBS's politically-correct "The Great War" resemble something of a mere amateur documentary filmmaker. Much of the unseen footage secured by Channel 4 in making the documentary was recently discovered from archives in Central and Eastern Europe. The series also takes a close-up look of the weaponry and the letters/diary entries of soldiers from both sides.

Can a excellent documentary compel you to read more on the subject? Well, this one certainly can. This series makes WWI a most fascinating subject worthy of further study and analysis. Too often, what has been mistakenly taught in school is that WWI was merely a "dress rehersal" for the rise of fascism and WWII. This series proves otherwise and we need more first-class documentary series like this. Kudos to Johnathan Lewis and Channel 4 for putting together such a superb series. I liked the series so much, I purchased the Hew Strachan book the series is based on! A real gem....

I've read a lot about WWII, and have a decent understanding of period in history. Yet I can't say the same thing about WWI, which has never been that accessible to me. I am familiar with some of the campaigns (for example, from reading Alan Moorehead's excellent Gallipoli), but my attempts to slog through some of the longer, more comprehensive histories (such as Hew Strachan's 1200-page To Arms) left me swimming in details but not understanding the "big picture" of the war.

Until I watched The First World War. It's a fantastic introduction to the war-why it was fought, how it was fought, and why it mattered, and still matters today. Everything makes a lot more sense to me now, and I feel like I can dig deeper into specific areas of interest. So, if you're like me-frustrated in your attempts to understand a pivotal event in 20th-century history--spend eight hours watching this DVD. You won't be sorry.

The other reviewers have mentioned why this is a quality production, so there is no point in repeating what they have already said. A year ago, I was able to hear Hew Strachan, the historical consultant, give a talk about the making of the series (it would have been nice to have that talk filmed and included as a special feature, but I guess no one thought of that). He noted the labor that went into locating accurate images for the scenes being described: if you are looking at the 1914 German offensive into France, you'll see soldiers in 1914 uniforms, not substitutions from later battles. Equally interesting was the care taken to maintain a balance between historical accuracy and dramatic effect. It was decided deliberately not to include interviews with historians, as in many historical documentaries nowadays, in order not to interrupt the flow of the narrative. There are some beautiful color sequences of what the landscapes look like today, from the Marne to Przemysl, and even some rare color photos from the period.
Of course, some of the interpretations are judgement calls. I personally think the Germans get off rather easily in the discussion of war origins (the famous "blank check" is interpreted in the traditional sense as more of an accident than the Fritz Fischer view of a deliberate provocation for war). But this is more than made up in coverage of German, Austrian, and Turkish atrocities (though there is some mention of what the Russians did in East Prussia in 1914 and how they treated Jewish populations in general in Eastern Europe). If you're using the series in school classes, coverage of these issues makes excellent starting points for further discussion.
Finally, a note on the packaging. The four DVDs come in a handsome box with maps of the major areas of conflict. There is also a 32-page pamphlet of Viewing Notes. Since the overall packaging is so good, some minor oversights are a bit surprising. First, while the contents of each DVD are spelled out on the box and in the pamphlet, they are not actually printed on the DVDs themselves. All you get are the disk numbers. So, if you're a teacher and use them a lot and the box wears out, you might have some trouble remembering which program is on which disk. Navigation is also a bit more difficult than it needs to be. Each program is broken into four segments, but there is no selection item on any of the main menus on the disk for scene selection. To get to the scene menu pages, you have to either have a remote that distinguishes between main and root menus, or else you start the episode you want to watch and then select the menu option on the remote to get the page with the scene choices.
Overall, The First World War is a bargain for the price. It is serious about showing what the war was really like, and in keeping Hollywood to a minimum.

It seems to be a characteristic of newer documentaries that they have to intersperse historical (usually) black and white footage with filler clips in colur of modern day views of the general area in discussion. This series certainly falls into that category. I find this annoying as without adding any specific value, it detracts from the dialogue, which is actually quite good.

After purchasing and viewing (several times) this series and the other one, "1914-1918" I am still convinced that the difinitive series "The Great War" produced by the BBC in 1965 has yet to be bettered. The Great War series provides some other elements of detail, but for real substance stick to the original BBC series, it is FAR better value for money. At 24+ ephisodes it is far more comprehensive and it also includes first hand interviews with veterans who were still alive at the time - adding a great value in itself.

By the way the "1914-1918" series is very lightweight despite the excellent cast of readers. Its focus is more associated with sociological issues than the hard history of the military and political manoeuvres, and inevitably being half the size is much skimpier than the "Great War" series.

I purchased this series and I have to say that this was one of the best purchases I've made. The series is very complete and detailed. I am a history buff and I thought I knew all the reasons why and how regarding the world and the First World War, but this series was even more detailed and complete than others I have viewed. I highly recommend this series to anyone.

The film footage is probably enough to make this worth having, especially for $18. The character development of some of the main protagonists leading up to the war is also good. But as far as military history goes, it is very frustrating. It doesn't explain the battles very well... or at all. Verdun was glossed over so quickly they didn't even mention Falkenhayn's name. In fact I knew more about the battle than they did. The description of Jutland was puzzling - no description of the battle, no explaination of the difference between Battleships and Battlecruisers. In fact nothing the entire series about the air war. But a rather long discussion of a British secret service troop disguised as a circus trying to enter Afghanistan... but never making it there. I guess this is more of a humanist view of the war - causes and effects. But when a country moves several million men into one area and is willing to have them killed, I want to know why. Why were they willing to make this sacrifice? Why did they think this would work? I like military history and this really isn't it. Nothing like World at War in that respect.

This DVD series has its moments. There is an excellent beginning that describes the fragile state of the Austro-Hungarian empire and the alliances and ambitions of the European nations that would inexorably drive the world to war as the result of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand.

There are also other excellent pieces, among them: the adventures of Admiral Graf Spee and the several German surface ships that had avoided being bottled up in their home ports, the South African conflict, the Arabs and Lawrence of Arabia, and an explanation of the Armenian massacre.

The intent of this series seems to be to focus on those events of WWI that have relevance to the conflicts and controversies of today. So we see how the British cruelly preyed upon rising Arab nationalism to pry away most of the Middle East away from the Ottoman Empire. We see how Japan was asked by Britain to attack German interests in China, thus giving it a foothold and a beginning to its later full-scale invasion of China (which would eventually engulf the U.S. at Pearl Harbor). We see how the futile efforts of the British to track down a wily German adversary in southern Africa ended up devastating large swaths of African native villages. We see how the modern day conflicts of Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia had their starts in the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian empire. We see how Lenin and the Bolsheviks got started with the Russian Revolution with help from the Germans.

All of this is just grand. But what get lost are the usual centerpiece stories of WWI - there are only the briefest mentions of major battles such as the Somme, Ypres, Paschendale, barely any mention at all of the dawn of aviation warfare in WWI, only a passing reference to the presence of American soldiers in WWI (portrayed only as obstinately independent and grossly over-eager to repeat all the same mistakes of the British and French forces).

Many of the same shots of battle footage get repeated over and over again. This obviously makes you wonder just exactly which battles these scenes really came from, and severely discredits the whole series.

The old footage also gets interspersed with scenes from modern times. Presumably these modern scenes are of the battlegrounds being described by the narrator, but frequently there is no commentary at all to explain the significance of these modern scenes. A farm field! Great! Another farm field! A forest! Just what the heck are we looking at, I wanted to ask, many times?

All in all, a mediocre series that could have been so much better.

I found the series itself was full of interesting details. Someone had gone to considerable trouble to make sure that the facts were properly checked.

I also was quite surprised at the quality of much of the film. I did not realize that so much good film was available. It was well put together too.

What I did think is that too much was said about the British experience. I would liked to have seen more on the French, Austro-Hungary and Eastern Fronts in particular Russian and the Austro-Hungary where some of the deadliest fighting of the war took place. A better discussion of the weapon systems. A better analysis of the tactical problems faced by both sides.

I would also have liked more about the killings of Armenians. The situation in Palestinian. Japanese part in the conflict. Not because these are so relevant to the war as such but because of its major impact these events had later.

I suppose you could say that I wanted another 4 DVDs in say an expansion pack to this series.

Overall you could say that I am recommending this documentary because its the best available not because of its own qualities. This war needs better.