0:00:37 > 0:00:40It was August the 4th, 1914.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42The clock was ticking to catastrophe.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48The deadline was midnight, Central European Time,
0:00:48 > 0:00:5011 o'clock in London.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Britain and Germany were on the brink of war.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01Germany's ruler, Kaiser Wilhelm II,
0:01:01 > 0:01:03wanted to extend his empire.
0:01:06 > 0:01:09German troops were already on the march through Europe
0:01:09 > 0:01:11and had invaded Belgium.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16He also planned to conquer Russia and France.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20The British Government had warned
0:01:20 > 0:01:23that, if Germany didn't back down by 11:00pm, it was war.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28LOUD TICKING
0:01:34 > 0:01:37The Cabinet and the nation held its breath.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43From Germany, silence.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54Then the sound of the apocalypse.
0:01:57 > 0:01:59- BELL CHIMES - Doom.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03- BELL CHIMES - Doom.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06- BELL CHIMES - Doom.
0:02:06 > 0:02:09"The big clock..." wrote Chancellor of the Exchequer,
0:02:09 > 0:02:14David Lloyd George, "..echoed in our ears like the hammer of destiny."
0:02:20 > 0:02:23There was now no going back.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26At 11:20pm, British forces were sent the fateful telegram
0:02:26 > 0:02:31which read simply, "War Germany Act".
0:02:37 > 0:02:40In the hours leading up to the fateful deadline,
0:02:40 > 0:02:44thousands of people had drifted towards Buckingham Palace
0:02:44 > 0:02:47hoping to catch sight of their King, George V.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Silence fell upon the crowd.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58Now and again there was a surge of cheering
0:02:58 > 0:03:00and a mass chorus of the national anthem.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02CHEERING
0:03:05 > 0:03:08They stayed on long after nightfall.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14They reckon there were about 10,000 people here that night
0:03:14 > 0:03:17but they weren't baying for German blood.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22It's often claimed the British were naively enthusiastic about war.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24They weren't.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27There was a general sense of excitement
0:03:27 > 0:03:30once war had been declared, but there was anxiety too.
0:03:34 > 0:03:36With an army of over two million soldiers
0:03:36 > 0:03:39primed for a lightning campaign,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43the Germans would be a fearsome enemy which could only be stopped
0:03:43 > 0:03:45by even more fearsome force.
0:03:51 > 0:03:57But even though the entire British Army numbered only 120,000 men
0:03:57 > 0:04:00many people still expected a quick victory
0:04:00 > 0:04:03when troops set off for the Continent on August the 9th.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10"We had great hopes..." recalled one Irish soldier,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13"..a dose of that rapid fire of ours
0:04:13 > 0:04:17"followed by an Irish bayonet charge would soon fix things."
0:04:20 > 0:04:24Most people seemed to have accepted that the war had to be fought
0:04:24 > 0:04:29to honour treaties, to defend the Empire, to protect Britain.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32And what else were they supposed to do?
0:04:32 > 0:04:37To sit by and watch as Germany amassed an empire
0:04:37 > 0:04:39that ran from somewhere deep in Russia
0:04:39 > 0:04:42to the shores of the English Channel?
0:04:46 > 0:04:49Now war had broken out, almost everyone backed it.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Most trade unions suspended strikes, which had been common -
0:04:56 > 0:05:01their men went back to work supporting the war effort.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07This, they were told, would be the war to end war...
0:05:09 > 0:05:12..and almost overnight the British people united
0:05:12 > 0:05:14in determination to defeat the enemy.
0:05:24 > 0:05:29What they couldn't know was that this would be a new kind of war,
0:05:29 > 0:05:31one that was fought at home as well as abroad.
0:05:33 > 0:05:37It was a war that would affect every area of life in Britain.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42No-one - grandparent or child, blacksmith or aristocrat,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44boy scout or school girl -
0:05:44 > 0:05:49no-one escaped the furnace of this total war...
0:05:50 > 0:05:53..a war that would forge the country we know today.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10When Britain declared war on Germany on August the 4th, 1914,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13the British public hoped for a quick victory.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24By mid August, British troops were making their way through France
0:06:24 > 0:06:27and Belgium towards the enemy.
0:06:28 > 0:06:32They were often greeted as heroes by the local people.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39"It was a blissful period", remembered one soldier,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41"Roses all the way", said another.
0:06:53 > 0:06:56They were well trained and well equipped,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58but there were far too few of them.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02Britain's regular army was pitifully small.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Two thirds of it, a mere 80,000 professional soldiers,
0:07:07 > 0:07:10had crossed the Channel.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12Side by side with their French allies,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15they were about to clash with the far stronger forces
0:07:15 > 0:07:19of the invading Germans around the Belgian town of Mons.
0:07:33 > 0:07:36In the town square, some of the soldiers
0:07:36 > 0:07:38took a break before battle began.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Many of these men would never see their homes again.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59The first British soldier to be killed
0:07:59 > 0:08:02probably shouldn't have been here at all.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Private John Parr was a former golf caddy from North London
0:08:06 > 0:08:09who joined the Army to better himself.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13He was out on a bicycle reconnaissance patrol,
0:08:13 > 0:08:16when he was killed in an ambush.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24That was on August the 21st,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28two days later, World War One began in earnest.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41As the Germans launched a full-scale assault,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45this canal became part of a long and bloody battle front.
0:08:48 > 0:08:50The British fought bravely,
0:08:50 > 0:08:54indeed, the first two VCs of the war were won right here,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57but they were forced back and, later that day,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59they had to abandon the town.
0:08:59 > 0:09:01What we call The Battle of Mons
0:09:01 > 0:09:05turned into a long and terrible retreat
0:09:05 > 0:09:09with Britain's finest fighting men facing total annihilation.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Pursued by the Germans, they pulled back,
0:09:16 > 0:09:20over 200 miles, deep into France.
0:09:24 > 0:09:27They marched 13 days and nights,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31so short of sleep they slept as they marched
0:09:31 > 0:09:33and they dreamed as they walked.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39This gruelling retreat
0:09:39 > 0:09:44saved the core of the British Army from disaster
0:09:44 > 0:09:48and it gave rise to one of the most famous stories of the war,
0:09:48 > 0:09:52the miracle of how they were rescued by heavenly guardians,
0:09:52 > 0:09:56the Angels of Mons, blocking the Germans' path
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and guiding our boys to safety.
0:10:03 > 0:10:08There's one very simple explanation for the Angels of Mons.
0:10:08 > 0:10:10Exhaustion.
0:10:10 > 0:10:15"March, march, march for hour after hour without a halt",
0:10:15 > 0:10:19one private remembered, "very nearly everyone was seeing things,
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"we were all dead beat."
0:10:22 > 0:10:24There was no angel,
0:10:24 > 0:10:27but there had been a humbling defeat.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35The British public was about to register
0:10:35 > 0:10:38the first great shock of World War One.
0:10:50 > 0:10:54For a week, little news of the Battle of Mons had filtered home,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57all press reports were strictly censored.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02But then, on August the 30th,
0:11:02 > 0:11:06The Times printed a brutally frank account of the battle
0:11:06 > 0:11:08and the retreat.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12"Broken British regiments,
0:11:12 > 0:11:16"German tidal wave.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18"Our losses are very great",
0:11:18 > 0:11:25writes the reporter. "I have seen broken bits of many regiments".
0:11:25 > 0:11:28Now, it was amazing that the Army's censor had allowed this through,
0:11:28 > 0:11:31but what was even MORE astonishing
0:11:31 > 0:11:34were the words he added afterwards.
0:11:34 > 0:11:39"The first great German offensive has succeeded,
0:11:39 > 0:11:43"the British Army has suffered terrible losses
0:11:43 > 0:11:47"and requires immense and immediate reinforcements,
0:11:47 > 0:11:52"it needs men, men and more men."
0:11:57 > 0:12:00In less than a month, it had become clear
0:12:00 > 0:12:04that World War One would NOT be ended by a quick victory.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10What was less clear to the British people
0:12:10 > 0:12:15was the huge numbers of men that would be needed to fight this war
0:12:15 > 0:12:19and the impact it would have on their families and communities.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24They were about to find out.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Following the heavy defeat at Mons
0:12:38 > 0:12:41and subsequent retreat in the autumn of 1914,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43the drive to recruit more men
0:12:43 > 0:12:47was led by the most famous soldier alive,
0:12:47 > 0:12:52Herbert Horatio, Lord Kitchener, the new Minister of War.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59He'd realised that Britain could only win the war
0:12:59 > 0:13:02by creating a massive new Army.
0:13:05 > 0:13:10Elsewhere in Europe, they forced young men into uniform.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13Kitchener's new soldiers would be volunteers
0:13:13 > 0:13:17and he was the perfect figurehead to rally the men of Britain.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26Targeting all able-bodied young men over five foot three,
0:13:26 > 0:13:29Kitchener launched a recruitment campaign.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34It began with a massive poster offensive.
0:13:37 > 0:13:4012 million published in one year alone.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45Many appealed to national duty.
0:13:48 > 0:13:49Some to virility.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55Some played on guilt.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Others on fear of invasion.
0:14:02 > 0:14:08This was an unprecedented campaign of mass persuasion by the state.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14Most of the time, most of the press were right behind the government.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19In late August, for example, an advertisement appeared in The Times,
0:14:19 > 0:14:22"Wanted. Petticoats.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26"For able-bodied young men who have not yet joined the Army".
0:14:29 > 0:14:32Recruiting centres were set up all over Britain.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Joining up was a very public business.
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Streets were cordoned off.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46Military bands played.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Volunteers made speeches.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56Fevered enthusiasm swept the land
0:14:56 > 0:14:59with 20,000 men volunteering every day.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09On the 3rd of September, 1914, more young men joined
0:15:09 > 0:15:11than on any other day of the war,
0:15:11 > 0:15:16over 33,000 of them heeding Lord Kitchener's call.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23You really can't fail to be impressed
0:15:23 > 0:15:26by this massive rush to arms.
0:15:26 > 0:15:30While nobody knew for certain the full horror that awaited them,
0:15:30 > 0:15:35there were plenty of people who had some idea, yet still they came.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37They did so for all sorts of reasons,
0:15:37 > 0:15:40but the most prominent among them seems to have been
0:15:40 > 0:15:43a sense of patriotic duty.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52Before they left Britain for battle,
0:15:52 > 0:15:55volunteers faced at least six months training,
0:15:55 > 0:15:58but this didn't turn out as they'd expected.
0:16:01 > 0:16:07At first, the Army simply couldn't keep up with the rush of men.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Some had to train in their own clothes,
0:16:09 > 0:16:13with caps for helmets or broom handles for rifles.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19One unit's practise attack came to a halt
0:16:19 > 0:16:23when the volunteers went off to pick blackberries,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26a senior officer claimed they were the laughing stock
0:16:26 > 0:16:29of every soldier in Europe.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35"We were play acting", said one volunteer.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38"It required a lot of confidence to remember
0:16:38 > 0:16:42"we were training to face the gigantic German war machine."
0:16:50 > 0:16:52But Kitchener persisted.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56That autumn, to boost the number of volunteers still further,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00he bagged a bold new idea.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Join up with your friends.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06After all, it'd be much less frightening,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09if you knew you were going to war with your pals.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16The so-called Pals Battalions were comprised of men
0:17:16 > 0:17:20from the same area, club, background or profession.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26There were battalions for artists,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29for railway men, for city stockbrokers.
0:17:31 > 0:17:35There were battalions for men under five foot three,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38many of them sturdy miners.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44The first Sportsmen's Battalion included several county cricketers,
0:17:44 > 0:17:47plus England's lightweight boxing champion.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55But men who joined together, often died together
0:17:55 > 0:17:59and the effect on communities at home would be devastating.
0:18:02 > 0:18:06The war was about to come to Britain itself
0:18:06 > 0:18:09and you didn't have to be in uniform, or even an adult,
0:18:09 > 0:18:11to become a casualty.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24In August 1914, Britain had gone to war against Germany.
0:18:29 > 0:18:33Only five months later, the enemy brought the war to Britain.
0:18:40 > 0:18:42On the North East coast of England,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47the morning of December the 16th, 1914, was still and misty.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56The first signs of anything unusual were the flashes
0:18:56 > 0:19:00coming from unidentified ships several miles out to sea.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08One family realised what was happening
0:19:08 > 0:19:11when a German shell fragment struck the house
0:19:11 > 0:19:14and smashed into the front of the family alarm clock,
0:19:14 > 0:19:19stopping it forever at three minutes past eight.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26It was the start of a ferocious bombardment.
0:19:29 > 0:19:34The people of Hartlepool felt the full horror of modern war.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43Homes were death traps, but so too were these streets.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46The German shells burst on impact,
0:19:46 > 0:19:50sending shards of screaming hot metal, in all directions,
0:19:50 > 0:19:53at hundreds of miles an hour.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01It was the first successful big attack on Britain since 1066.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Many thought the nightmare of a German invasion had become reality.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Terrified children had simply no idea what was happening.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19All we could hear is bang, these noisy bangs,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21but see, it was far out to sea,
0:20:21 > 0:20:24it didn't sound like bombs dropping against here.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26What did you think the sound was?
0:20:26 > 0:20:28We didn't know!
0:20:28 > 0:20:33My older sister... My mother shouted her upstairs
0:20:33 > 0:20:36and she said, "I think somebody's beating their carpets,"
0:20:36 > 0:20:38that's what she said.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42So anyway she goes out and she finds out, she says, "Oh, Mum,"
0:20:42 > 0:20:45she come running back, "Mum, the Germans are here,
0:20:45 > 0:20:50"they're on the beach and everybody's running away."
0:20:50 > 0:20:53I went upstairs and looked out the bedroom window.
0:20:53 > 0:20:54I could see big flashes.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58- Out at sea? - Flashes out at sea, yeah.
0:20:58 > 0:20:59And how were people reacting?
0:20:59 > 0:21:06Oh, crying, and some of them crying, running with the prams and...
0:21:06 > 0:21:10Anyway, there was hardly anybody left in Hartlepool,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12it's all up the country.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18- People were scurrying along outside, were they?- And then somebody come
0:21:18 > 0:21:20and said, "Oh, somebody's had his head blew off."
0:21:20 > 0:21:23- Well, that frightened me.- Mm.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26- Somebody had their head blew off.- Mm.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29What did you, do you remember what you felt? You were seven years old.
0:21:29 > 0:21:34I was horrified, I thought they were coming any minute to the door
0:21:34 > 0:21:37to take us, to kill us.
0:21:37 > 0:21:42I was sitting shivering, I just sat on the end of the bed
0:21:42 > 0:21:46and I was like that, shivering, mm, terrified.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48What, thinking a German might walk through the door?
0:21:48 > 0:21:51I thought they were coming any minute to take us away,
0:21:51 > 0:21:52you know, to get us, yeah.
0:22:07 > 0:22:10The children of Hartlepool were among the many victims
0:22:10 > 0:22:12of Kaiser Wilhelm's navy that day.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17Three members of the Dixon family were killed by a shell
0:22:17 > 0:22:19as they ran for it, holding hands -
0:22:19 > 0:22:21George,
0:22:21 > 0:22:23his sister Margaret,
0:22:23 > 0:22:25and their brother Albert, aged seven.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29Their mother's leg was blown off.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Suddenly the dead of World War I had different faces -
0:22:38 > 0:22:41the faces of British children.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49For most British people, what happened here
0:22:49 > 0:22:53in the North East that day was a war crime, an atrocity.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57A line had definitely been crossed.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59From now on, civilians in Britain
0:22:59 > 0:23:03knew they too could be in mortal danger.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22Before 1914 was over, the War in Europe had already reached
0:23:22 > 0:23:24a deadly stalemate.
0:23:26 > 0:23:28German and Allied forces faced each other
0:23:28 > 0:23:34across a line of trenches that stretched for over 500 miles -
0:23:34 > 0:23:36what become known as the Western Front.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45Soon, wounded from the front
0:23:45 > 0:23:49were arriving on the south coast in tens of thousands.
0:23:55 > 0:23:58How long could Britain maintain this level of casualties?
0:24:03 > 0:24:06Already the country was calling on soldiers
0:24:06 > 0:24:11from across The British Empire, including men from the Indian Army.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Many Indian wounded were sent to Brighton
0:24:16 > 0:24:19to be treated in a very unusual temporary hospital.
0:24:28 > 0:24:33The Royal Pavilion had been built long before to evoke India,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37the jewel in Britain's Imperial crown.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41That winter, it looked very different.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09The Pavilion was filled with badly wounded men.
0:25:09 > 0:25:15Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus lay in their hundreds
0:25:15 > 0:25:18beneath the chandeliers of a royal palace.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Where princes had once dallied and danced,
0:25:27 > 0:25:32row upon row of Indian soldiers.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40The huge Georgian kitchen was an operating theatre.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49The dome nearby was another vast ward, complete with khaki lino.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55All in all, some 4,000 Indians were treated here.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Every possible care was taken of the men.
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Each religion had its own kitchen
0:26:04 > 0:26:09and, unheard of then in British India, white women nursed Indians.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17One patient wrote to his family in India,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21"Our hospital is in the place where the King used to have his home.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25"The men are tended like flowers."
0:26:27 > 0:26:31In fact, the royal family had sold the Pavilion to Brighton Council
0:26:31 > 0:26:33many years before.
0:26:33 > 0:26:38But if these troops believed the King had vacated it just for them,
0:26:38 > 0:26:40the authorities didn't tell them otherwise.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47And in January 1915, King George V and Queen Mary
0:26:47 > 0:26:50honoured them with a visit.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54King George had come to pay his respects
0:26:54 > 0:26:59to the men who'd served Britain so bravely, so far from home.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04EXPLOSIONS
0:27:06 > 0:27:09World War I had been fought for less than a year.
0:27:12 > 0:27:18All of the suffering, grief, anxiety and fear endured so far -
0:27:18 > 0:27:21all of this was just the start.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37EXPLOSION
0:27:37 > 0:27:41The First World War was the first industrial war.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Soldiers at the front needed millions of shells,
0:27:45 > 0:27:48bullets and guns, known as munitions.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54In May 1915, David Lloyd George
0:27:54 > 0:27:59was appointed the new Minister in charge of Munitions.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04Lloyd George knew there just weren't enough workers
0:28:04 > 0:28:05to produce what the troops needed.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14He'd have to mobilise a new workforce,
0:28:14 > 0:28:20a new industrial army - the women of Britain.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28Women in the workforce were nothing new,
0:28:28 > 0:28:32but now women began to do jobs which only men had done.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38Suddenly, Britain began to look very different
0:28:38 > 0:28:44on the streets, in the fields and in the factories.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58The biggest change in the fortunes of women
0:28:58 > 0:29:02would take place in a strange, sometimes frightening new world.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21In 1915, this was one of the most dangerous places in Britain.
0:29:27 > 0:29:32It's pretty hard to believe now, but this peaceful place was once alive
0:29:32 > 0:29:37with 6,000 people making explosives for the armies on the front.
0:29:40 > 0:29:43These strange structures were designed to withstand
0:29:43 > 0:29:45accidental blasts.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51Here, the workers, many of them women, mixed deadly nitro-glycerine,
0:29:51 > 0:29:57or made cordite, providing the bang that powered shells and bullets.
0:30:01 > 0:30:04The women were known as Munitionettes.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08The ones who worked at the Royal Gunpowder Mills
0:30:08 > 0:30:13formed just a part of the million-strong female workforce
0:30:13 > 0:30:17employed by Lloyd George's new Ministry of Munitions.
0:30:17 > 0:30:22The experience was exciting, new...
0:30:22 > 0:30:24and dangerous.
0:30:26 > 0:30:29Inevitably, there were casualties.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38This is a photograph of a woman called Charlotte Mead,
0:30:38 > 0:30:40mother of five children,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42with a husband away fighting in France.
0:30:42 > 0:30:45It's taken in a photographer's studio
0:30:45 > 0:30:49where she's posing in munitions factory overalls.
0:30:49 > 0:30:52It's probably just as well it's in black and white, because working in
0:30:52 > 0:30:56close contact with high explosives could do terrible things to you.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00It could, for example, turn your skin yellow.
0:31:01 > 0:31:04Within a year of this photograph being taken,
0:31:04 > 0:31:07she was dead of toxic jaundice -
0:31:07 > 0:31:11not that you could have read about it in the newspapers,
0:31:11 > 0:31:15because the press was banned from reporting such things.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19By the time her husband returned from the front, it was too late.
0:31:29 > 0:31:32The need for munitions was insatiable
0:31:32 > 0:31:35in this relentless total war.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39Meeting that need required the most dramatic
0:31:39 > 0:31:42transformation of production the country had ever seen.
0:31:46 > 0:31:51Lloyd George's impact on the munitions industry was spectacular.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Within six months, the number of shells being manufactured
0:31:55 > 0:31:57had increased 20-fold.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00Weapons which had previously taken a year to manufacture
0:32:00 > 0:32:04were now being turned out in three weeks.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08In order to win this new industrial war,
0:32:08 > 0:32:12David Lloyd George had called on women to take the place of men.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16A social revolution was under way.
0:32:19 > 0:32:22And it would play a decisive part in helping to win the war.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38SEA BIRDS CALL
0:32:41 > 0:32:45By February 1917, the war was locked in a brutal stalemate.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50The German High Command decided that if they couldn't defeat
0:32:50 > 0:32:55Britain's army, then they would crush her people.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02In the words of the German Kaiser, "We will starve the British people
0:33:02 > 0:33:08"who have refused peace until they kneel and plead for it."
0:33:08 > 0:33:10The plan was to sink the merchant shipping
0:33:10 > 0:33:15which brought the food and supplies on which the country lived.
0:33:15 > 0:33:19The weapon would be the submarine - U-boats.
0:33:26 > 0:33:30On a desolate mud bank in the salt marshes of Kent
0:33:30 > 0:33:34lies the metal carcass of a First World War German U-boat.
0:33:45 > 0:33:49British ships were blockading German ports,
0:33:49 > 0:33:52but the U-boat was a new and terrifying way to wage war,
0:33:52 > 0:33:55and it came close to defeating Britain.
0:34:00 > 0:34:05The Germans knew that Britain imported two-thirds of her food
0:34:05 > 0:34:07and they made a simple calculation.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12If they sank 600,000 tonnes of merchant shipping every month,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16they could starve Britain into submission in a mere five months.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24So on 1st February 1917,
0:34:24 > 0:34:28the Germans sent their U-boats in for the kill,
0:34:28 > 0:34:33ordering them to attack all merchant shipping supplying Britain.
0:34:33 > 0:34:37The devastation in the shipping lanes was catastrophic.
0:34:37 > 0:34:40EXPLOSIONS
0:34:48 > 0:34:55In 1917, 46,000 tonnes of meat was sent to the bottom of the sea.
0:34:55 > 0:35:01Between February and June, 85,000 tonnes of sugar were also sunk.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04Flour and wheat were soon in short supply,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07and a stunned House of Commons was told
0:35:07 > 0:35:11that, very soon, Britain would not be able to feed herself.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18The U-boat stranglehold seemed unbreakable.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24Britain faced a stark choice -
0:35:24 > 0:35:29to grow much more food, or to starve.
0:35:30 > 0:35:33But British farms were in crisis.
0:35:33 > 0:35:38Many farmhands were now at the front, and so were the horses.
0:35:41 > 0:35:45So a new force was sent into the fields.
0:35:47 > 0:35:5084,000 disabled soldiers,
0:35:50 > 0:35:5430,000 German prisoners of war,
0:35:54 > 0:35:57and over a quarter of a million British women.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07By the following year, over seven million extra acres
0:36:07 > 0:36:09had been dug up to grow more food.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Well, it helped, eventually yielding
0:36:19 > 0:36:21about a month's extra food each year,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24but that was still nothing like enough
0:36:24 > 0:36:26to make up for the thousands of tonnes
0:36:26 > 0:36:29being sent to the bottom of the sea by German U-boats.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32War was being waged on civilians,
0:36:32 > 0:36:35and it was up to civilians to save themselves.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49The order came to plough up Britain,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53to hand over land to the people so they could provide for themselves.
0:36:53 > 0:36:58This strip of land was waste ground until 1917.
0:36:58 > 0:37:04Then it was dug up to provide cabbages, potatoes and marrows
0:37:04 > 0:37:05for a hungry nation.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11Armies of women, children and the elderly
0:37:11 > 0:37:16set about transforming the landscape of Britain's towns and cities.
0:37:16 > 0:37:22The nation had a new craze which the press called "allotmentitis".
0:37:25 > 0:37:30Before the war, allotments had been a hobby for eccentrics.
0:37:30 > 0:37:32By the end of the war,
0:37:32 > 0:37:35there were over one and a half million of them
0:37:35 > 0:37:38squeezed into any scrap of earth that could be dug up,
0:37:38 > 0:37:42from grass verges to village greens to railway embankments.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57But no amount of allotment digging
0:37:57 > 0:38:01could hide the fact that things were simply getting worse.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05The U-boat blockade was biting.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11In autumn 1917, shortages were so severe
0:38:11 > 0:38:15that huge queues formed outside butchers and grocers.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20In some cities people looted the shops for food,
0:38:20 > 0:38:23breaking the windows and beating up the shop owners.
0:38:28 > 0:38:32Finally, the Food Controller had to think the unthinkable.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35"It may well be," he told a colleague, "that you and I
0:38:35 > 0:38:39"are all that stands between this country and revolution".
0:38:39 > 0:38:43People would have to be told what they could and couldn't eat,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47and so, in January 1918, rationing was brought in.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49Now this was one person's ration for a week.
0:38:49 > 0:38:5115 ounces of meat,
0:38:51 > 0:38:53five ounces of bacon,
0:38:53 > 0:38:55four ounces of margarine
0:38:55 > 0:38:57and eight ounces of sugar.
0:38:57 > 0:39:02# Keep the home fires burning
0:39:02 > 0:39:07# While your hearts are yearning... #
0:39:07 > 0:39:09This was the first time a British government
0:39:09 > 0:39:12had ever rationed food... and it worked.
0:39:14 > 0:39:16The queues outside the shops disappeared.
0:39:16 > 0:39:21Rationing, allotments and a system of convoys to protect merchant ships
0:39:21 > 0:39:23kept starvation at bay.
0:39:29 > 0:39:31This had become a war that wasn't just being fought
0:39:31 > 0:39:36on the battlefields, but on every street in the land.
0:39:36 > 0:39:40It was a new kind of war and it brought a new term
0:39:40 > 0:39:44into the English language - the Home Front.
0:39:54 > 0:39:57In 1917, the situation
0:39:57 > 0:39:59on the Western Front had become bleaker than ever.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Britain's allies were tottering.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08There was mutiny in the French Army,
0:40:08 > 0:40:11while Russia - torn apart by revolution -
0:40:11 > 0:40:14was about to pull out of the War.
0:40:17 > 0:40:19And the death toll went on rising.
0:40:25 > 0:40:29Already, more than half a million British dead
0:40:29 > 0:40:31since the start of the War.
0:40:31 > 0:40:33Even decorated war heroes
0:40:33 > 0:40:37were now wondering what they'd risked their lives for.
0:40:39 > 0:40:44In 1917, one of them - the poet Siegfried Sassoon - went public
0:40:44 > 0:40:46with his doubts about the War.
0:40:48 > 0:40:51In the trenches, his men had known Lieutenant Sassoon
0:40:51 > 0:40:54as Mad Jack, for his astonishing fearlessness,
0:40:54 > 0:40:57and he'd won a Military Cross for bravery,
0:40:57 > 0:41:00but now he was denouncing the whole thing.
0:41:00 > 0:41:02"The war upon which I embarked
0:41:02 > 0:41:06"as one of defence and liberation," he wrote,
0:41:06 > 0:41:09"has become a war of aggression and conquest.
0:41:09 > 0:41:12"I am protesting against the political errors
0:41:12 > 0:41:16"for which the lives of fighting men are being sacrificed,
0:41:16 > 0:41:21"and against the callous complacency with which those at home
0:41:21 > 0:41:24"regard agonies they do not share."
0:41:24 > 0:41:28From a decorated war hero, this was incendiary stuff.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36Sassoon risked court-martial, imprisonment, even execution.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40But the Generals were cleverer than that.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43They pronounced him mad
0:41:43 > 0:41:47and sent him here, to a military hospital called Craiglockhart.
0:41:57 > 0:41:59Sassoon was surrounded by men
0:41:59 > 0:42:02suffering from the condition called shell shock.
0:42:04 > 0:42:07This war of endless artillery bombardment
0:42:07 > 0:42:10wasn't only killing and maiming soldiers,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12it was sending them mad.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18At first, doctors thought it was a physical condition -
0:42:18 > 0:42:21concussion, caused by exploding shells.
0:42:22 > 0:42:28Treatment was often brutal. Some doctors used solitary confinement
0:42:28 > 0:42:33and electric shock treatment to try to snap their patients out of it.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47But then they began to understand something of the stress
0:42:47 > 0:42:51of life in the trenches, the lack of sleep, the shattering noise,
0:42:51 > 0:42:55the sight of so much death and mutilation.
0:42:55 > 0:42:56As one lieutenant put it,
0:42:56 > 0:43:00"Quite apart from the number of people blown to bits,
0:43:00 > 0:43:02"the explosions were so terrible
0:43:02 > 0:43:06"that anyone within a hundred yards was liable to lose their reason."
0:43:15 > 0:43:18At Craiglockhart, doctors were pioneering
0:43:18 > 0:43:21a radical new approach to shell shock.
0:43:24 > 0:43:27Dr William Rivers believed that patients were repressing
0:43:27 > 0:43:30the terrifying experiences they'd had
0:43:30 > 0:43:34and that, in order to get better, they needed to talk about them.
0:43:37 > 0:43:40In 1917, Rivers' work was groundbreaking.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46But Craiglockhart's most famous patient -
0:43:46 > 0:43:48the anti-war Lieutenant Sassoon -
0:43:48 > 0:43:51wasn't suffering from shell shock,
0:43:51 > 0:43:55and he realised that unless he gave up his protest
0:43:55 > 0:43:57and returned to the Front,
0:43:57 > 0:43:59he'd be stuck here forever.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06After three months, Sassoon was restless.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08He hadn't changed his anti-war views,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13but he chose solidarity with his soldiers over private principles.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17As he wrote, when he returned to the Western Front,
0:44:17 > 0:44:20"I'm only here to look after some men."
0:44:25 > 0:44:28Siegfried Sassoon's protesting voice had been silenced,
0:44:28 > 0:44:32but his poetry remained clear and forceful.
0:44:32 > 0:44:35In 1918, he wrote,
0:44:35 > 0:44:39"You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
0:44:39 > 0:44:41"Who cheer when soldier lads march by
0:44:41 > 0:44:44"Sneak home and pray you'll never know the hell
0:44:44 > 0:44:47"Where youth and laughter go."
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Unlike many of his friends -
0:44:50 > 0:44:53including fellow writer Wilfred Owen,
0:44:53 > 0:44:56whom he'd met at Craiglockhart -
0:44:56 > 0:44:59Sassoon survived the War and died in 1967.
0:45:10 > 0:45:12By June 1918, the balance of power
0:45:12 > 0:45:14in The First World War
0:45:14 > 0:45:16had shifted violently towards Germany.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22Having made a peace with an exhausted Russia,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26Germany could now pour troops onto the Western Front.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32They now outnumbered the Allies by over 200,000 men
0:45:32 > 0:45:37and they were massing for an attack they believed would win the War.
0:45:46 > 0:45:50In the first five hours of the great Spring Offensive,
0:45:50 > 0:45:53over a million shells were fired into British lines.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09In a conflict where success was measured in yards,
0:46:09 > 0:46:13the Germans advanced 40 miles in a single day.
0:46:16 > 0:46:18In his diary, the Secretary to the British War Cabinet wrote,
0:46:18 > 0:46:22"The Germans are fighting better than the Allies.
0:46:25 > 0:46:29"I cannot exclude the possibility of disaster."
0:46:30 > 0:46:33The British Army Commander Sir Douglas Haig
0:46:33 > 0:46:36made one last desperate rallying call.
0:46:37 > 0:46:40"Every position must be held to the last man.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42"There must be no retirement.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44"With our backs to the wall
0:46:44 > 0:46:48"and believing in the justice of our cause,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51"we must all fight on till the end."
0:46:57 > 0:47:00The call to arms would be heard well beyond the trenches.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08The Home Front couldn't afford to buckle either.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12The country's war machine had to be kept running.
0:47:19 > 0:47:22Prime Minister Lloyd George had once called the British workforce
0:47:22 > 0:47:25the least disciplined in Europe.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29Could they be relied upon at this moment of crisis?
0:47:34 > 0:47:37Anyone searching for cracks in the nation's resolve
0:47:37 > 0:47:39might have come here -
0:47:39 > 0:47:41to the South Wales Coalfield.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51In 1918, this place was considered
0:47:51 > 0:47:54the Wild West of industrial relations.
0:47:55 > 0:47:57The Welsh miners had been
0:47:57 > 0:47:58a thorn in the Government's side
0:47:58 > 0:48:01throughout the War,
0:48:01 > 0:48:02calling strike after strike.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08This, the finest steam coal in the world,
0:48:08 > 0:48:10was a vital part of the war effort.
0:48:10 > 0:48:15It drove the foundries, the forges, the explosives factories,
0:48:15 > 0:48:18it powered the warships, and it gave the men
0:48:18 > 0:48:21who extracted it tremendous power.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25By 1918, there'd already been trouble in the pits
0:48:25 > 0:48:28over the practice of combing out -
0:48:28 > 0:48:33that was forcing men out of vital protected industries like this
0:48:33 > 0:48:35and into the Army.
0:48:35 > 0:48:39With the country now facing the real possibility of defeat,
0:48:39 > 0:48:42further industrial unrest could have been catastrophic.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49In fact, just the opposite happened.
0:48:49 > 0:48:52When it came to it, even the most bolshie miner
0:48:52 > 0:48:55wasn't prepared to see Britain lose the War.
0:48:58 > 0:49:01When asked to pull together for the sake of the troops,
0:49:01 > 0:49:05the response of the British workforce was emphatic.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08In all industries, strikes were suspended
0:49:08 > 0:49:11and people even turned out to work extra shifts.
0:49:13 > 0:49:14On the Clyde,
0:49:14 > 0:49:16thousands of ship builders gave up
0:49:16 > 0:49:18their Easter holiday to keep working.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Recruiting offices saw a rush from men in protected jobs
0:49:25 > 0:49:28coming forward to enlist.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34The Minister for Munitions, Winston Churchill,
0:49:34 > 0:49:35could scarcely believe his eyes,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39"The response to our appeal to work over the holiday," he said,
0:49:39 > 0:49:43"was excellent. Indeed, almost embarrassing."
0:49:52 > 0:49:55At the very worst point in the War,
0:49:55 > 0:50:00the Home Front had not only held, it had risen to the challenge.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05The forces didn't lack for supplies, for ammunition or for weapons.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07This was one time in the nation's history
0:50:07 > 0:50:12when we really were all in it together.
0:50:21 > 0:50:25In Germany, it was a very different story.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31With German ports blockaded by the British Navy,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34the country was being slowly starved out of the war.
0:50:39 > 0:50:42Angry crowds took to the streets, demanding peace.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47Anti-war strikes crippled German industry.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55When a horse dropped dead in a Berlin street,
0:50:55 > 0:50:57the locals fell on it for meat.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05On the battlefield, the huge German Spring Offensive
0:51:05 > 0:51:08had failed to break the Allies.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12If anything, it had broken the Germans.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18Their plan had devoured men and ammunition,
0:51:18 > 0:51:21troops were left exhausted, demoralised,
0:51:21 > 0:51:27and lacking supplies. And as the German war machine began to fail...
0:51:29 > 0:51:31..Britain's was at full throttle.
0:51:38 > 0:51:43By the summer of 1918, weapons were rolling off the production lines
0:51:43 > 0:51:44in greater numbers than ever before.
0:51:48 > 0:51:53The previous year, the United States had agreed to enter the war.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56Now American troops had at last arrived
0:51:56 > 0:51:59and were fighting with the Allies.
0:52:01 > 0:52:03The tide had turned,
0:52:03 > 0:52:07though victory would come sooner than anyone imagined.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19After four terrible years,
0:52:19 > 0:52:21the most devastating war in history
0:52:21 > 0:52:22came to an end,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25on November 11th, 1918.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31In London, expectant crowds gathered in Parliament Square
0:52:31 > 0:52:35and waited for the sound that would prove the War was finally over.
0:52:39 > 0:52:42Big Ben had been silenced at the outbreak of war.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48Now, at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month,
0:52:48 > 0:52:50it was about to strike again.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55BIG BEN CHIMES
0:52:59 > 0:53:03CROWD CHEERS
0:53:03 > 0:53:08It was the signal for a roar of relief and joy,
0:53:08 > 0:53:12and the start of celebrations which lasted three days.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25In the House of Commons, the Prime Minister, Lloyd George,
0:53:25 > 0:53:29addressed the House, "I hope we may say," he concluded,
0:53:29 > 0:53:34"that thus, this fateful morning, came an end to all wars."
0:53:43 > 0:53:45In Trafalgar Square, revellers
0:53:45 > 0:53:47climbed on the lions and seized buses.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52Australians and Canadians led the way.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56They tore down the advertising hoardings in Trafalgar Square
0:53:56 > 0:53:59asking people to buy war bonds,
0:53:59 > 0:54:04and they lit an enormous bonfire right here under Nelson's Column.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08The stones were left cracked and blackened as a consequence,
0:54:08 > 0:54:12and you can see the damage still here today.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17The last physical reminder of that amazing day.
0:54:42 > 0:54:46Soldiers recovering in a country hospital were told the news.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49There, the reaction was rather different.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53One of the men said the announcement was met with silence.
0:54:55 > 0:54:57"Our world was gone," he said,
0:54:57 > 0:55:00"a bloody world, a world of suffering, but also,
0:55:00 > 0:55:02"a world of laughter, excitement
0:55:02 > 0:55:05"and comradeship beyond description.
0:55:05 > 0:55:09"Now we were just some of the wreckage left behind."
0:55:19 > 0:55:23Even before the War ended, cities, towns and villages
0:55:23 > 0:55:27all across Britain had begun to build memorials to the dead.
0:55:37 > 0:55:42Over 5,000 went up in the two years following the Armistice.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Some, a few, celebrated victory.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56Most spoke of sacrifice.
0:55:56 > 0:55:59Men remembering their dead comrades,
0:55:59 > 0:56:03the ordinary soldier, rather than the Commander.
0:56:10 > 0:56:12In the village of Briantspuddle, Dorset,
0:56:12 > 0:56:14the war memorial was unveiled
0:56:14 > 0:56:18on November 12th, 1918, the day after the War ended.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25At the dedication of this memorial,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28the Bishop of Salisbury wondered whether
0:56:28 > 0:56:31there was really any need for further reminders of the War,
0:56:31 > 0:56:34and he answered his own question,
0:56:34 > 0:56:37"Yes, because there would be future generations
0:56:37 > 0:56:40"who would lead lives crowded with happenings
0:56:40 > 0:56:47"and they needed to be warned, lest they forget, lest they forget."
0:57:04 > 0:57:09Later generations would contend it had been a futile war.
0:57:09 > 0:57:13The War was terrible, certainly, but hardly futile.
0:57:16 > 0:57:19It stopped the German conquest of much of Europe
0:57:19 > 0:57:23and perhaps even of villages like this.
0:57:30 > 0:57:33Never before in the nation's history
0:57:33 > 0:57:36had a war required the commitment and the sacrifice
0:57:36 > 0:57:40of the whole population. And, by and large, for four years,
0:57:40 > 0:57:43the British people kept faith with it.
0:57:43 > 0:57:45It wasn't a war they had sought
0:57:45 > 0:57:47and had they known how it would turn out,
0:57:47 > 0:57:51they doubtless wouldn't have joined in. But they hadn't known.
0:57:51 > 0:57:52They couldn't have known,
0:57:52 > 0:57:56any more than the politicians or the generals could have known.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59And once it had started, there was no way of stopping it,
0:57:59 > 0:58:03any more than you could suddenly make the dead start to walk again.
0:58:03 > 0:58:09A century on, we should perhaps remember and respect that sacrifice,
0:58:09 > 0:58:13and realise that, more than any other event,
0:58:13 > 0:58:17this was the one that made modern Britain.