Customer Reviews

The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century [VHS]

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have never seen a more courageous portrayal of human-kind's tendency to hate and destroy in titanic, catastrophic proportion. It is an easy and expected thing for war documentaries to show and describe the physical horrors of war in the fake attempt to bare its darkest aspects; but, we have become immune to violence and frankly most of us enjoy it. The bloodier the battle, the higher the body-count the more entertaining the story. So the experience becomes just that - a story, an abstraction where the lives portrayed have no connection to the viewer. "The Great War" doesn't hide the shocking facts of war. The death toll and the acts of depravity are depicted in great detail, but where this film stands apart is in its near complete failure to portray war as a necessary evil where boys become men, where heroes are made, where evil is conquered, where it all turns out all-right in the end. No, I believe this film is out of print because it is a danger to those who need wars to be started and fought with ignorant enthusiasm and for the terrible aftermath to be viewed in a delusional fog. The good people at PBS need to honor the bravery it took to make this film by re-releasing it on DVD.

I watch perhaps more documentaries than is healthy, but I do tend to learn a lot. In my many years of watching I've never found a documentary as well done as this. It's entertaining and disturbing at the same time. The use of photographs and voices in this production are put together quite well and by far surpass any other production I've ever seen. I would definately recommend this to even new students of the war, although this is done well enough to impress even historians who have spent many years in study.

This is perhaps the only filmed attempt to weave social history into the fabric of World War I. For that alone, the series deserves much praise. Most documentaries of war give explicit detail as to troop movements and tactics, but leave the social backdrop very much out of focus. Here the intent is not to be a definitive resource on the war's progress, but to give a sense of what the war was like to endure, what effect it had on the shape of the rest of the century, and why it started.

I found it intriguing to think of Kaiser Wilhelm as an actual person, bedeviled by childhood ailments and childhood rivalries, rather than the simplistic jingoistic icon he would become. Likewise, it was interesting to have all the major European social movements at home brought into the exposition of what was going on at the front. I never knew that the whole of France, workers and soldiers alike, went on strike in the middle of the war-and somehow managed to keep the fact from the French. Likewise, I was fascinated by the attempts of a lone French legislator to keep war from starting through the use of a particularly theatrical speech in a church, and how his ultimate murder dashed all hopes of civility.

While it may be true that this series won't offer much in the way of battlefield detail-the producers wisely realized that there were already documentaries about that-it does much to recreate the feel of the era. You come to appreciate what it was like to be alive then, both on the battlefield and at home. It is in short a textural experience that will leave any viewer affected by the horror of that war, and the price the world had to pay to enter the 20th century.

I'll not presume to bore you with too much detail, but as one man's opinion I thought this documentary was extraordinary. It breaks into chapters that both stand on their own and also intertwine into a comprehensive storyline. It offers an excellent beginning to explain in simple terms how the entire conflict began, and never loses the sight that the war is a series of human casualties as well as tactical gains and losses. With a musical score by Mason Daring which can vary from narrative to heroic to absolutely chilling, and many texts readily available for the more serious devotee of the subject, I give this documentary my highest rating. No longer satisfied with checking it out from my local library, I bought it to own, and consider it one of my best intellectual investments. Enjoy!!

I saw this series on PBS several years ago. It is one that I still remember. The series provided an overview of WWI including the factors leading to the start of the war to the effects of the war on people and events of the 20th and 21st centuries. Some of the events of this war are still affecting the foreign policy of the current time.

The pictures are graphic, but so are any available pictures of actual combat. The companion book looked at some of the art of the time. One artist's rendition of the war was so "out there" that people did not know he was depicting the horrors of the war he had observed. One of the pictures in this series shows an actual photo of what the artist depicted.
WAR is indeed HELL. This series may be disconcerting to those who are not familiar with its real horror, but it helps to explan why we as a species and a nation should never go to war unless our very lives depend on it.

This war was started by fullfilling alliance agreements. It changed the world completely and it has never been the same. Like the US Civil War, its end helped to cause WWII.

Like others I wish this series would come out on DVD. I have been waiting for it for some time.

This is a truly superb documentary and ranks alongside The World At War as a 'must see' production. In particular it excels by introducing a wide variety of very relevant human interest elements as a backdrop to the titanic events that were unfolding globally.

With many of the incidents and personalities fast receding into the mists of time it was fascinating viewing to be exposed to the naievete of the millions who marched off willingly into the cauldron as well as the ignorance of those left behind.

As the history of the 20th century has tended to be dominated by material focusing on the Second World War this production covered the events leading up to the outbreak of hostilities in a simple and understandable fashion.

The series delivers a number of additional bonuses in that it encourages the viewer to source additional material on the fascinating characters showcased in it - from artists and poets through to philosophers and politicians.

At the end of the century it is sobering and chilling to note that many of the nationalities closely associated with events that sparked ' the war to end all wars' are once again prominent in the media in localised conflict.

If 'The Great War' had come into my possession as a work of fiction I would have struggled with its credibility. As a documentary work - whether completely accurate or not - it once again highlights the intensely fascinating saga of mankind's history.

I've seen all 4 WWI documentaries available but this is the only one not available on DVD which is frustrating because it is the best in my view. Grim alla the Civil War series from Ken Burns as some have said, but it covers the whole terrible war in such different ways it's worth it. When you realize that 3 of the principle countries that started up the war Germany, England, Russia, were led by leaders who were all 1st cousins of each other your compelled to watch the rest of the series. The narration; the human details; the social ramifications it reveals about the war which are all done so well, make it the best documentary not available on DVD. 50kmwalk

i saw this when broadcast on pbs a few years back it is fascinating informative and harrowing to watch at times.given the brainless trash on tv these days it is beyond me why it has not been seen again and even worse that it has not been made available on dvd as of yet!i hope it is rereleased at some point soon.tony plowden richmond b.c.canada

This is the finest documentary on the first world war that I have ever seen. It is essential learning for an understanding of the events that are unfolding before us today. When I first purchased this series on VHS it cost me + $80.00. As you can see now, the price is almost double. The good news is that with an inexpensive DVD recorder these tapes duplicate nicely. Sadly, I don't believe we'll ever see documentaries of this quality again on TV in the U.S.

A grueling, comprehensive documentary on WWI. Enough to make you a pacifist. Definitely worth the money