0:00:07 > 0:00:09SOFT MILITARY DRUMBEAT
0:00:14 > 0:00:17It was August 4th, 1914.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19The clock was ticking to catastrophe.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25The deadline was midnight, Central European Time -
0:00:25 > 0:00:2711 o'clock in London.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30Britain and Germany were on the brink of war.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38German troops were on the march throughout Europe
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and had invaded Belgium.
0:00:42 > 0:00:43The British government had warned
0:00:43 > 0:00:48that if Germany didn't back down by 11, it was war.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50CLOCK TICKS
0:00:58 > 0:01:01The Cabinet, and the nation, held its breath.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07From Germany, silence.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13TICKING ECHOES
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Then, the sound of the apocalypse.
0:01:21 > 0:01:22BELL TOLLS
0:01:22 > 0:01:24Doom!
0:01:25 > 0:01:27Doom!
0:01:28 > 0:01:30Doom!
0:01:30 > 0:01:33"The big clock," wrote Chancellor David Lloyd George,
0:01:33 > 0:01:37"echoes in our ears like the hammer of destiny."
0:01:44 > 0:01:46There was now no going back.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50At 11:20, British forces were sent the fateful telegram
0:01:50 > 0:01:55which read simply, "War. Germany. Act."
0:02:01 > 0:02:05So Britain joined the bloodiest conflict the human race had ever known.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Ten million soldiers killed.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16Every one of them somebody's father or son.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23But this war wasn't just fought on foreign fields.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26It affected every area of life at home.
0:02:28 > 0:02:32No-one - grandparent or child, blacksmith or aristocrat,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Boy Scout or schoolgirl -
0:02:35 > 0:02:37no-one escaped.
0:02:38 > 0:02:43This is the epic story of how that conflict changed their lives
0:02:43 > 0:02:45and forged the country we know today.
0:02:48 > 0:02:55In 1914, Britain faced its biggest threat for nearly 1,000 years.
0:02:55 > 0:02:59This was a land gripped by fear of invasion.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05Horrified at the sight of badly wounded men returning home.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10Civilians were murdered by shells from ships at sea.
0:03:12 > 0:03:15Schoolchildren slaughtered in the first air raids.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21The technology made possible by science
0:03:21 > 0:03:24was now used for mass killing.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32This would be the first truly modern war.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35A total war, pitting the resources
0:03:35 > 0:03:39and resolve of entire populations against each other.
0:03:39 > 0:03:42A war that would visit new terrors on British households,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46a war that would turn the country upside down.
0:04:19 > 0:04:20BIRDSONG
0:04:33 > 0:04:37Two days before Britain went to war, an unlikely visitor
0:04:37 > 0:04:39turned up at London Zoo.
0:04:41 > 0:04:46He spent an hour in the birdhouse trying to calm his troubled mind.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53It was the Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, a man who loved birds.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57But today he was sick with worry.
0:04:57 > 0:05:00The war he'd tried so tirelessly to prevent
0:05:00 > 0:05:03was now getting closer by the moment.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07And those around him were beginning to fall apart.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09BIRD CALLS
0:05:10 > 0:05:15The German ambassador, Prince Lichnowsky, was crazed with anxiety,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18such a nervous wreck that one afternoon
0:05:18 > 0:05:22he received a visiting dignitary in his pyjamas.
0:05:22 > 0:05:25The British Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28wept as two of his Cabinet resigned,
0:05:28 > 0:05:30both of them also crying.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37Gaunt with stress, Grey himself would burst into tears twice -
0:05:37 > 0:05:41in Cabinet, and in front of the startled American ambassador.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45What WAS going on?
0:05:45 > 0:05:49This was Britain in 1914, the land of the stiff upper lip,
0:05:49 > 0:05:53where men, let alone leaders of men, simply didn't cry.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56It wasn't that they were pacifists, far from it.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00But Britain hadn't fought a war in Europe for a century,
0:06:00 > 0:06:02and they were appalled by the prospect
0:06:02 > 0:06:06of something on such a large scale and so close to home.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17The Germans had an army of over two-million soldiers
0:06:17 > 0:06:20and detailed war plans for the conquest of Europe.
0:06:23 > 0:06:27When Grey and his colleagues looked into the future,
0:06:27 > 0:06:30they caught a glimpse of Armageddon.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41That Bank Holiday weekend,
0:06:41 > 0:06:45the British people had tried to make the most of the sun.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50It was looking increasingly as if war on the Continent was inevitable.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54But perhaps Britain could stand apart.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59The men of the British navy were massed, just in case,
0:06:59 > 0:07:01in 180 warships,
0:07:01 > 0:07:03the pride of the empire.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07The British Army, small by continental standards,
0:07:07 > 0:07:11but well-trained and used to winning, adjusted to the possibility
0:07:11 > 0:07:16of fighting in Europe for the first time in generations.
0:07:17 > 0:07:23And across Britain, 100,000 people demonstrated for peace.
0:07:25 > 0:07:30In Trafalgar Square, the Labour MP Keir Hardie told the crowds,
0:07:30 > 0:07:33"YOU have no quarrel with Germany!"
0:07:38 > 0:07:42As the deadline approached on August 4th, thousands drifted towards
0:07:42 > 0:07:46Buckingham Palace, hoping to catch a sight of their king, George V.
0:07:50 > 0:07:52Silence fell upon the crowd.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Now and again, there was a surge of cheering
0:07:58 > 0:08:01and a chorus of the National Anthem.
0:08:01 > 0:08:03CHEERING
0:08:03 > 0:08:06NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS
0:08:06 > 0:08:08They stayed on long after nightfall.
0:08:11 > 0:08:15They reckon there were about 10,000 people here that night.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18But they weren't baying for German blood.
0:08:18 > 0:08:23It's often claimed the British were naively enthusiastic about war.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27They weren't. There WAS a general sense of excitement
0:08:27 > 0:08:29once war had been declared,
0:08:29 > 0:08:31but there was anxiety too.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38The Emperor of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm,
0:08:38 > 0:08:41aimed to dominate all of Europe
0:08:41 > 0:08:43by invading both France and Russia.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47He also had his eyes on a chunk of the British Empire.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49SOLDIERS CHANT
0:08:49 > 0:08:53With a huge army primed for a lightning campaign,
0:08:53 > 0:08:55the Germans would be a fearsome enemy,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00which could only be stopped by even more fearsome force.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04BOMBS WHISTLE AND EXPLODE
0:09:07 > 0:09:09The much smaller British Army
0:09:09 > 0:09:13began to embark for the Continent on August 7th.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16Many expected a quick victory.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20"We had great hopes," recalled one Irish soldier.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22"A dose of that rapid fire of ours,
0:09:22 > 0:09:27"followed by an Irish bayonet charge, would soon fix things."
0:09:33 > 0:09:38Most people seem to have accepted that the war had to be fought -
0:09:38 > 0:09:43to honour treaties, to defend the Empire, to protect Britain.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46And what else were they supposed to do?
0:09:46 > 0:09:50To sit by and watch as Germany amassed an empire
0:09:50 > 0:09:53that ran from somewhere deep in Russia
0:09:53 > 0:09:56to the shores of the English Channel?
0:09:56 > 0:10:00MARCHING BAND PLAYS
0:10:00 > 0:10:04Now war had broken out, almost everyone backed it.
0:10:06 > 0:10:11Most trade unions suspended strikes, which had been common.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Their men went back to work, supporting the war effort.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21This, they were told, would be the war to end war.
0:10:22 > 0:10:24And almost overnight,
0:10:24 > 0:10:28the British people united in determination to defeat the enemy.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34MARCHING MUSIC SWELLS
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Despite widespread hopes of a quick victory,
0:10:49 > 0:10:51many feared a German invasion.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57The British High Command believed the enemy might land at any time.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06The south coast seemed especially at risk.
0:11:12 > 0:11:15The first British trenches weren't in Belgium or France.
0:11:15 > 0:11:17They were in England.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20There was such worry that August about a German invasion
0:11:20 > 0:11:24that all over the south coast, people started digging in.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28There were even defensive positions here on the White Cliffs of Dover.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36"The enemy is almost in sight of our shores,"
0:11:36 > 0:11:41warned the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44"There is the possibility of disaster."
0:11:44 > 0:11:47THUNDER RUMBLES
0:11:51 > 0:11:57With most soldiers now abroad, at home it was all hands to the pump.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04Men too old or unfit to fight enrolled as Special Constables.
0:12:06 > 0:12:09They manned roadblocks and patrolled day and night,
0:12:09 > 0:12:11on the lookout for the enemy.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Boy Scouts helped out this Dad's Army.
0:12:19 > 0:12:23They trained to give first aid to the wounded.
0:12:23 > 0:12:27They also watched the coast for signs of the invader.
0:12:27 > 0:12:30When on night duty, they were let off school the next day.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37People on the south coast now started receiving some pretty alarming advice.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41They were told that if there WAS an invasion, they should flee,
0:12:41 > 0:12:43and take to the fields if necessary.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47And just along the coast here, animals owners were advised
0:12:47 > 0:12:49that if the Army had no use for their animals
0:12:49 > 0:12:51and they couldn't evacuate them,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54they should be "rendered useless to the enemy."
0:12:59 > 0:13:03The nation with the greatest empire the world had ever seen
0:13:03 > 0:13:06was now an island in fear of invasion.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Throughout Britain, people waited anxiously
0:13:12 > 0:13:15for news from the battlefields in Europe.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28By mid-August, British troops were making their way
0:13:28 > 0:13:31through France and Belgium, towards the enemy.
0:13:33 > 0:13:37They were often greeted as heroes by the local people.
0:13:40 > 0:13:45It was "a blissful period," remembered one soldier.
0:13:45 > 0:13:47"Roses all the way," said another.
0:13:58 > 0:14:01They were well-trained and well-equipped,
0:14:01 > 0:14:03but there were far too few of them.
0:14:05 > 0:14:08Britain's regular army was pitifully small.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12Two-thirds of it, a mere 80,000 professional soldiers,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15had crossed the Channel.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17Side by side with their French allies,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19they were about to clash
0:14:19 > 0:14:22with the far stronger forces of the invading Germans
0:14:22 > 0:14:24around the Belgian town of Mons.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40In the town square,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43some of the soldiers took a break before battle began.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Many of these men would never see their homes again.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04The first British soldier to be killed
0:15:04 > 0:15:07probably shouldn't have been here at all.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Private John Parr was a former golf caddy from North London
0:15:11 > 0:15:14who'd joined the Army to better himself.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18He was out on a bicycle reconnaissance patrol
0:15:18 > 0:15:21when he was killed in an ambush.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24GUNFIRE
0:15:28 > 0:15:32Early on August 23rd, World War I began in earnest.
0:15:44 > 0:15:46As the Germans launched a full-scale assault,
0:15:46 > 0:15:51this canal became part of a long and bloody battlefront.
0:15:54 > 0:15:55The British fought bravely.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59Indeed, the first two VCs of the war were won right here.
0:15:59 > 0:16:01But they were forced back,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and later that day, they had to abandon the town.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06What we call the Battle of Mons
0:16:06 > 0:16:10turned into a long and terrible retreat
0:16:10 > 0:16:14with Britain's finest fighting men facing total annihilation.
0:16:14 > 0:16:17SHOUTING AND GUNFIRE
0:16:18 > 0:16:20Pursued by the Germans,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24they pulled back over 200 miles, deep into France.
0:16:30 > 0:16:32They marched 13 days and nights,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36so short of sleep they slept as they marched
0:16:36 > 0:16:38and they dreamed as they walked.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44This gruelling retreat
0:16:44 > 0:16:47saved the core of the British Army from disaster.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53And it gave rise to one of the most famous stories of the war -
0:16:53 > 0:16:57the miracle of how they were rescued by heavenly guardians,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01the "Angels of Mons", blocking the Germans' path
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and guiding our boys to safety.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13There's one very simple explanation for the Angels of Mons -
0:17:13 > 0:17:15exhaustion.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17"March, march, march,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21"for hour after hour, without a halt," one private remembered.
0:17:21 > 0:17:27"Very nearly everyone was seeing things. We were all dead beat."
0:17:27 > 0:17:32There was no angel. But there had been a humbling defeat.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40The British public was about to register
0:17:40 > 0:17:43the first great shock of World War I.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59For a week, little news of the Battle of Mons had filtered home,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02with all press reports strictly censored.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10But then, on August 30th, The Times printed a brutally frank account
0:18:10 > 0:18:11of the battle and the retreat.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17"Broken British regiments",
0:18:17 > 0:18:20"German tidal wave".
0:18:21 > 0:18:25"Our losses are very great," writes the reporter.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28"I have seen broken bits of many regiments."
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Now, it was amazing the Army censor had allowed this through,
0:18:33 > 0:18:39but what was even more astonishing were the words he added afterwards.
0:18:39 > 0:18:44"The first great German offensive has succeeded.
0:18:44 > 0:18:48"The British Army has suffered terrible losses
0:18:48 > 0:18:52"and requires immense and immediate reinforcements.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56"It needs men, men, and more men."
0:19:04 > 0:19:08The call to arms was led by the most famous soldier alive -
0:19:08 > 0:19:11Lord Kitchener, the new War Secretary.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18Kitchener was a national hero
0:19:18 > 0:19:22after ruthless victories in colonial campaigns.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24He was arrogant and unbending,
0:19:24 > 0:19:27a maverick who did things his way.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31He'd realised that Britain could only win the war
0:19:31 > 0:19:34by creating a massive new army.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Elsewhere in Europe, they forced young men into uniform.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42Kitchener's new soldiers would be volunteers.
0:19:42 > 0:19:48And he was the perfect figurehead to rally the men of Britain.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52MUSIC: "Pomp and Circumstance March 4" by Elgar
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Targeting all able-bodied young men over five foot three,
0:19:56 > 0:19:58Kitchener launched a recruitment campaign.
0:20:01 > 0:20:04It began with a massive poster offensive.
0:20:07 > 0:20:1012 million published in one year alone.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Many appealed to national duty.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20Some to virility.
0:20:23 > 0:20:25Some played on guilt.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31Others on fear of invasion.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35This was an unprecedented campaign
0:20:35 > 0:20:38of mass persuasion by the state.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45Most of the time, most of the press were right behind the government.
0:20:45 > 0:20:49In late August, for example, an advertisement appeared in The Times.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52"Wanted - petticoats,
0:20:52 > 0:20:56"for able-bodied young men who have not yet joined the Army."
0:20:59 > 0:21:02The local press followed suit.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04That September, a Leicestershire paper featured
0:21:04 > 0:21:07proud mother Mrs Martha Ainsworth.
0:21:09 > 0:21:13There were other families who'd made an even bigger contribution
0:21:13 > 0:21:16to Kitchener's army.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19MUSIC: "Land of Hope and Glory"
0:21:19 > 0:21:22Recruiting centres were set up all over Britain.
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Joining up was a very public business.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31Streets were cordoned off.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35Military bands played.
0:21:38 > 0:21:41Volunteers made speeches.
0:21:43 > 0:21:45Fevered enthusiasm swept the land,
0:21:45 > 0:21:49with 20,000 men volunteering every day.
0:21:49 > 0:21:55# God, who made thee mighty Make thee mightier yet... #
0:21:55 > 0:21:57On 3rd September, 1914,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01more young men joined than on any other day of the war,
0:22:01 > 0:22:06over 33,000 of them heeding Lord Kitchener's call.
0:22:10 > 0:22:12He was the only man who could hope
0:22:12 > 0:22:14to carry the public with him.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16I mean, we know what war is,
0:22:16 > 0:22:21and they, up to that point, they had enjoyed wars that were over there,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24and the Army went away somewhere and they fought a war
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and everyone had a lovely medal and it was all lovely.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29And they didn't fully appreciate the extent to which
0:22:29 > 0:22:33their whole way of life was going to go before the cannon,
0:22:33 > 0:22:36and he was what was needed at that time,
0:22:36 > 0:22:39and, you know, they loved him.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42What sort of a man do you think Kitchener was?
0:22:42 > 0:22:45Almost a medieval type, really.
0:22:45 > 0:22:50Tremendously moral, and with...
0:22:50 > 0:22:55at times, a naive feeling that others were as moral as he was,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59you know, when he would instruct the troops, you know, that they must,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02- I forget the phrase... - Refrain from women and wine, yes.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06- Well, refrain from intimacy.- Yes. - How did he think that would happen?
0:23:06 > 0:23:10He was a very odd chap to be sitting in a War Cabinet, wasn't he?
0:23:10 > 0:23:12Well, you know, most of the Cabinet would have agreed with you
0:23:12 > 0:23:15because his viewpoint was so practical
0:23:15 > 0:23:20and was so far removed from the theoretical war of politicians.
0:23:20 > 0:23:23- He couldn't stand politicians! - He couldn't stand politicians.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25I mean, the wonderful quote which I always love about him
0:23:25 > 0:23:28is when he said, "The trouble with these politicians,
0:23:28 > 0:23:30"you tell them something's absolutely secret
0:23:30 > 0:23:33"and then they go home and tell their wives, except for Lloyd George,
0:23:33 > 0:23:36"who goes home and tells everyone else's wife."
0:23:36 > 0:23:40He believed that politicians and civil servants couldn't run anything.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45He knew this was a war that would be fought across Europe on land,
0:23:45 > 0:23:51and that we lacked the basic requirement to fight a war,
0:23:51 > 0:23:52which was an army,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and that was his job, was to make one.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04As men cheerfully committed themselves to fight,
0:24:04 > 0:24:08countless families across Britain said goodbye to a father or son.
0:24:10 > 0:24:12There were many tears.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20One woman in Scotland was so distraught,
0:24:20 > 0:24:25she wouldn't let go of her husband's hand as the train carried him away.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27She was dragged underneath it, and died.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42By Christmas, well over a million men had volunteered.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51We think of them as soldiers because the government put them in uniform.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54But till now, they'd all been civilians
0:24:54 > 0:24:57from all walks of life and all over Britain.
0:25:00 > 0:25:06You really can't fail to be impressed by this massive rush to arms.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10While nobody knew for certain the full horror that awaited them,
0:25:10 > 0:25:12there were plenty of people who had some idea.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Yet still they came.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17They did so for all sorts of reasons
0:25:17 > 0:25:19but the most prominent among them
0:25:19 > 0:25:23seems to have been a sense of patriotic duty.
0:25:23 > 0:25:26BRASS BAND PLAYS
0:25:28 > 0:25:32In this stirring climate, some made themselves rich and famous
0:25:32 > 0:25:37by persuading others to put their lives on the line.
0:25:37 > 0:25:41A self-serving MP, Horatio Bottomley, leapt at the chance.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49He staged the first of his bizarre rallies in a London music hall.
0:25:49 > 0:25:53Among the 5,000 spectators, women fainted and wept
0:25:53 > 0:25:56as he turned volunteering into theatre.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00DRUM ROLL
0:26:00 > 0:26:05The British were "the chosen leaders of the world," Bottomley ranted,
0:26:05 > 0:26:06chosen by God, of course.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10And the war was "a holy crusade" against Germany.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13He worked his audience into a patriotic frenzy,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16with actors declaiming The Charge of the Light Brigade,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19and he invited the men in the audience to approach
0:26:19 > 0:26:23the recruiting officers seated at tables draped in Union Jacks.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26The show was a barnstorming hit.
0:26:31 > 0:26:34Now Bottomley took his shows on the road.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39He played to packed audiences throughout Britain.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43It made him a star - and a fortune.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49At one show, over 1,000 men enlisted.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51Not for nothing was he sometimes called
0:26:51 > 0:26:55the second most important man in Britain after Kitchener.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02All his performances peddled hatred of the Germans,
0:27:02 > 0:27:05or "Germ-huns," as he called them.
0:27:05 > 0:27:11"You cannot naturalise an unnatural beast, a human abortion," he raged,
0:27:11 > 0:27:14"but you can exterminate it."
0:27:14 > 0:27:18Germany, he said, should be "wiped from the face of the map."
0:27:26 > 0:27:28Before they left Britain for battle,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32volunteers faced at least six months' training,
0:27:32 > 0:27:34but this didn't turn out as they'd expected.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42At first, the Army simply couldn't keep up with the rush of men.
0:27:43 > 0:27:46Some had to train in their own clothes,
0:27:46 > 0:27:49with caps for helmets or broom handles for rifles.
0:27:52 > 0:27:55One unit's practice attack came to a halt
0:27:55 > 0:27:59when the volunteers went off to pick blackberries.
0:27:59 > 0:28:01A senior officer claimed
0:28:01 > 0:28:05they were the laughing stock of every soldier in Europe.
0:28:08 > 0:28:11"We were play-acting," said one volunteer.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14"It required a lot of confidence to remember
0:28:14 > 0:28:18"we were training to face the gigantic German war machine."
0:28:26 > 0:28:29But Kitchener persisted.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32That autumn, to boost the number of volunteers still further,
0:28:32 > 0:28:35he backed a bold new idea...
0:28:37 > 0:28:40..join up with your friends.
0:28:40 > 0:28:42After all, it would be much less frightening
0:28:42 > 0:28:45if you knew you were going to war with your pals.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51The so-called "Pals" battalions
0:28:51 > 0:28:54were comprised of men from the same area, club,
0:28:54 > 0:28:56background or profession.
0:28:59 > 0:29:02There were battalions for artists,
0:29:02 > 0:29:04for railwaymen,
0:29:04 > 0:29:06for city stockbrokers.
0:29:08 > 0:29:11There were battalions for men under five foot three,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14many of them sturdy miners.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20The first sportsman's battalion included several county cricketers
0:29:20 > 0:29:23plus England's lightweight boxing champion.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33The passion for sport led to
0:29:33 > 0:29:37one of the most rousing volunteer stories of the war.
0:29:37 > 0:29:39It was set in the back streets of Edinburgh.
0:29:43 > 0:29:49It centred around the favourite game of the working man - football.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Many of the newspapers sneered
0:29:55 > 0:29:59that football was a sport for cowards and war-dodgers.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03Recruiting efforts at some games were often so unsuccessful
0:30:03 > 0:30:06that lots of people thought the professional sport
0:30:06 > 0:30:09should be banned until the war was over.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13And then one of Scotland's leading teams decided
0:30:13 > 0:30:14to change the sport's reputation.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21Tynecastle, in the west of Edinburgh
0:30:21 > 0:30:24was the home of Heart of Midlothian Football Club.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30After a string of victories, Hearts looked set
0:30:30 > 0:30:32to be Scotland's next champions.
0:30:34 > 0:30:38But that November, 11 players volunteered for the Army.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45They'd been persuaded to enlist by the local MP and Hearts shareholder,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Sir George McCrae - himself a volunteer, aged 54.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53He hoped the Hearts stars would inspire the fans
0:30:53 > 0:30:55to join his new battalion.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00BAGPIPE MUSIC
0:31:03 > 0:31:07CROWD CHEERING
0:31:18 > 0:31:21"In the presence of the god of battles..."
0:31:21 > 0:31:24McCrae wrote in the local newspaper,
0:31:24 > 0:31:28"..ask your conscience - 'Dare I stand aside?'"
0:31:28 > 0:31:30And then on December the 5th
0:31:30 > 0:31:33just before the start of the local derby against rivals Hibernian,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37an astonishing sight - McCrae comes down the tunnel onto the pitch
0:31:37 > 0:31:41in full military uniform followed by a pipe band
0:31:41 > 0:31:45and behind that, 800 new recruits.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Spectators watched from the most modern football stand in the world,
0:31:55 > 0:31:57completed that very year.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Hearts won the match 3-1.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Then, still more joined up, inspired by comradeship,
0:32:12 > 0:32:18collective folly, national pride or sporting glamour.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21The 16th Royal Scots - known as McCrae's Men -
0:32:21 > 0:32:25soon had over 1,100 volunteers...
0:32:25 > 0:32:27and started training for war.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34But as with so many such battalions, once these men saw action,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37there was only one likely outcome.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45Young star Harry Wattie, a local man and one of
0:32:45 > 0:32:49the finest forwards in the land, was among the players killed in action.
0:32:51 > 0:32:57Altogether, over 400 of McCrae's men never returned to Scotland.
0:33:01 > 0:33:05The deaths struck very deep in the Tynecastle community.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10So deep, that there were postmen and post boys who threw in their jobs
0:33:10 > 0:33:13because they couldn't stand any longer
0:33:13 > 0:33:15being the bearers of bad news.
0:33:40 > 0:33:42For the British public,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45one of the best ways to resist the enemy was to laugh at him.
0:33:50 > 0:33:55Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm became a comic-book bogeyman.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02That autumn, at selected newsagents, you could buy a postcard
0:34:02 > 0:34:06supposedly from the Kaiser to Britain's King George V -
0:34:06 > 0:34:08who happened to be his cousin.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15- IMITATES GERMAN ACCENT: - "Mine dear Cousin," it began,
0:34:15 > 0:34:16"Vot I kom for?
0:34:16 > 0:34:19"I vants der leedle Bank von England for mein Frau.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23"I vants der dockyards... I vants der leedle Isle von Wight
0:34:23 > 0:34:25"and her luffly cows...
0:34:25 > 0:34:30"I vant dose leedle places, India, Canadas, Australias for mein Sohns..."
0:34:30 > 0:34:34"Deutschland's uber alles. Top Dog... Gott im Himmel!" it finishes,
0:34:34 > 0:34:36"Greetings von Wilhelm."
0:34:39 > 0:34:43But with so much tension and anxiety in the air,
0:34:43 > 0:34:45the British sense of humour got a bit lost
0:34:45 > 0:34:47as wild rumours swept the nation.
0:34:49 > 0:34:52There were detailed stories about everything from
0:34:52 > 0:34:55a huge German arms dump near Charing Cross
0:34:55 > 0:34:58to thousands of Russian soldiers
0:34:58 > 0:35:01secretly shipped to Britain to help us.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05They were said still to have Arctic snow on their beards.
0:35:07 > 0:35:10No-one had actually SEEN these things
0:35:10 > 0:35:14but everyone knew someone who knew someone else who HAD.
0:35:17 > 0:35:20By far the most hideous rumours were about what the Kaiser's troops
0:35:20 > 0:35:24had apparently done when they invaded Belgium.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28They'd raped women. They'd chopped children's hands off.
0:35:28 > 0:35:31They'd bayoneted a five-year-old girl.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36They'd executed boy scouts.
0:35:38 > 0:35:42They'd crucified a British soldier and burned him alive.
0:35:46 > 0:35:51The land of the stiff upper lip had become a land of crazy rumour.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00One story which spread like wildfire and appeared in the national press
0:36:00 > 0:36:04was about a 23-year-old nurse from Dumfries called Grace Hume.
0:36:04 > 0:36:08She was said to have been working in a hospital in Belgium
0:36:08 > 0:36:11when the Germans arrived, burned the place down,
0:36:11 > 0:36:16beheaded the patients and lopped off her right breast.
0:36:17 > 0:36:20The truth turned out to be quite different...
0:36:20 > 0:36:24She was living quietly with both her breasts in Huddersfield.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27The whole thing had been made up by her sister.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40But there had been real savagery in Belgium.
0:36:42 > 0:36:45The Germans had laid waste ancient cities.
0:36:45 > 0:36:49They'd executed civilians, including women and children,
0:36:49 > 0:36:50in cold blood.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58And, true or false, atrocity stories terrified
0:36:58 > 0:37:00a British public in fear of invasion.
0:37:00 > 0:37:05Life now became very difficult for the 50,000 or so
0:37:05 > 0:37:08German immigrants who had moved to Britain before the war.
0:37:10 > 0:37:14German governesses might have bombs hidden under their skirts.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16German barbers might slit your throat.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21German butchers might poison your meat.
0:37:22 > 0:37:25Suddenly all German names were out.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35But the public had caught spy mania.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41Scare stories abounded that Britain was riddled with German spies -
0:37:41 > 0:37:44the Kaiser's secret agents, here on our streets,
0:37:44 > 0:37:46and looking just like everyone else.
0:37:48 > 0:37:51And sure enough, one was about to show his face.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59In October 1914,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02a German called Karl Lody was caught red-handed,
0:38:02 > 0:38:04posing as an American tourist
0:38:04 > 0:38:08while sketching British dockyards and warships.
0:38:10 > 0:38:11He was put on trial in London.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20The story was a national sensation.
0:38:20 > 0:38:22Here, at last,
0:38:22 > 0:38:28was a real live German spy who was indeed living in our midst,
0:38:28 > 0:38:32and sending British naval secrets back to his spymasters in Berlin.
0:38:38 > 0:38:40Convicted of war treason,
0:38:40 > 0:38:44Lody was sentenced to death in the Tower of London.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50Here he prepared to die, as he put it -
0:38:50 > 0:38:52"In the service of the Fatherland."
0:38:58 > 0:39:03On the eve of his execution, Karl Hans Lody wrote what must be
0:39:03 > 0:39:07one of the strangest thank you letters ever written.
0:39:07 > 0:39:09It was to his British captors -
0:39:09 > 0:39:13"I feel it my duty as a German officer
0:39:13 > 0:39:16"to express my sincere thanks and appreciation...
0:39:16 > 0:39:21"for their kind and considered treatment even towards the enemy."
0:39:21 > 0:39:24That's what I call good manners.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32Despite his politeness,
0:39:32 > 0:39:35Lody seemed to represent a very real threat -
0:39:35 > 0:39:37the long arm of the Kaiser,
0:39:37 > 0:39:40reaching right into the heart of Britain.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46At dawn on November the 6th, Senior Lieutenant Lody
0:39:46 > 0:39:50of the Imperial German Navy, was led to his execution.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57GUNSHOTS
0:40:00 > 0:40:02He was the first of 11 German spies
0:40:02 > 0:40:04executed during the course of the war.
0:40:05 > 0:40:10It was nothing like the feared ARMY of agents.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14The British taste for spy scares wasn't borne out in reality.
0:40:16 > 0:40:19Britain had gone to war.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21Now, the war was about to come to Britain.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36On the north-east coast of England, December the 16th, 1914,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38was a still, misty morning.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46The first signs of anything unusual were the flashes
0:40:46 > 0:40:51coming from unidentified ships several miles out to sea.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53DISTANT BOOMING
0:40:57 > 0:40:59One family realised what was happening
0:40:59 > 0:41:02when a German shell fragment struck their house
0:41:02 > 0:41:05and smashed into the front of the family alarm clock,
0:41:05 > 0:41:09stopping it for ever at three minutes past eight.
0:41:14 > 0:41:17It was the start of a ferocious bombardment.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25The people of Hartlepool felt the full horror of modern war.
0:41:25 > 0:41:28BOOMING
0:41:30 > 0:41:34Homes were death traps. But so too were these streets.
0:41:34 > 0:41:37The German shells burst on impact,
0:41:37 > 0:41:41sending shards of screaming hot metal in all directions
0:41:41 > 0:41:44at hundreds of miles an hour.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52It was the first major attack on Britain since 1066.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55Many thought the Germans were invading.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02Terrified children had simply no idea what was happening.
0:42:06 > 0:42:08All we could hear was "Bam!"
0:42:08 > 0:42:12This noise, bams. You see, it was far out to sea,
0:42:12 > 0:42:15it didn't sound like bombs dropping against here.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17What did you think the sound was?
0:42:17 > 0:42:19We didn't know.
0:42:19 > 0:42:24Me oldest sister, me mother shouted her upstairs and she said,
0:42:24 > 0:42:27"I think somebody's beating the carpets!"
0:42:27 > 0:42:28That's what she said.
0:42:28 > 0:42:30So, anyway, she goes out,
0:42:30 > 0:42:34she bounds out, she says, "Oh, Ma!" and she comes running back,
0:42:34 > 0:42:37"Mam, the Germans are here, they're on the beach."
0:42:37 > 0:42:41And everybody's running, running away.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43I went upstairs and looked out the bedroom window.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45I could see big flashes.
0:42:45 > 0:42:49- Out at sea?- Flashes out at sea, yes.
0:42:49 > 0:42:51And how were people reacting?
0:42:51 > 0:42:56Oh, crying. Some were crying. Some were running with their prams.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00Anyway, there was hardly anybody left in Hartlepool,
0:43:00 > 0:43:02they were all up the country.
0:43:04 > 0:43:05Mm...
0:43:05 > 0:43:08People were scurrying along outside, were they?
0:43:08 > 0:43:09And then somebody came and said,
0:43:09 > 0:43:12"Oh, somebody's had his head blown off."
0:43:12 > 0:43:13- Well, that frightened me.- Mm.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16Somebody had their head blown off.
0:43:16 > 0:43:19What did... do you remember what you felt?
0:43:19 > 0:43:20You were seven years old.
0:43:20 > 0:43:24I was horrified. I thought they were coming...any minute
0:43:24 > 0:43:27to the door to take us, kill us.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Oh, I was sitting shivering,
0:43:30 > 0:43:32I just sat on the end of the bed.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35I was like that. Shivering.
0:43:35 > 0:43:36Terrified.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39What, thinking a German might walk through the door?
0:43:39 > 0:43:41I thought they were coming any minute
0:43:41 > 0:43:43to take us away, to get us...yeah.
0:43:57 > 0:44:01The children of Hartlepool were among the many victims
0:44:01 > 0:44:03of Kaiser Wilhelm's navy that day.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08Three members of the Dixon family were killed by a shell
0:44:08 > 0:44:10as they ran for it, holding hands.
0:44:10 > 0:44:11George,
0:44:11 > 0:44:13his sister Margaret
0:44:13 > 0:44:16and their brother Albert, aged seven.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19Their mother's leg was blown off.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29Suddenly, the dead of World War I had different faces -
0:44:29 > 0:44:31the faces of British children.
0:44:33 > 0:44:34For days after the attack,
0:44:34 > 0:44:39newspaper sales soared, as the public read of the horrors.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43Over 500 wounded, 152 killed.
0:44:43 > 0:44:46The eldest victim, 86.
0:44:46 > 0:44:48The youngest, only six months.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06Whitby and Scarborough were also shelled that day
0:45:06 > 0:45:08with another 21 civilians killed.
0:45:16 > 0:45:19The people of Scarborough barricaded the streets
0:45:19 > 0:45:21in case the Germans landed.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26They watched the funeral processions
0:45:26 > 0:45:29convinced that the attack confirmed the rumours
0:45:29 > 0:45:31about the viciousness of the Hun.
0:45:44 > 0:45:46For most British people, what happened
0:45:46 > 0:45:51here in the north-east that day was a war crime, an atrocity.
0:45:51 > 0:45:55A line had definitely been crossed.
0:45:55 > 0:45:58From now on, civilians in Britain knew
0:45:58 > 0:46:02they too could be in mortal danger.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12Early in the new year, a sinister new weapon
0:46:12 > 0:46:14claimed its first British victims -
0:46:14 > 0:46:16the Zeppelin airship.
0:46:18 > 0:46:23Four civilians were killed in Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, Norfolk.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28In other attacks, over 500 more would die a similar death.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33This new war made no distinction
0:46:33 > 0:46:35between soldiers at the front
0:46:35 > 0:46:37and women and children in their beds.
0:46:50 > 0:46:54Across the Channel, the war had reached a deadly stalemate.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59Nothing like the heroic battles these men had been trained for.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06To protect their positions, both sides had dug in
0:47:06 > 0:47:10and were now bogged down in trench warfare.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13They faced each other along what became known
0:47:13 > 0:47:14as the Western Front -
0:47:14 > 0:47:16the long line of trenches
0:47:16 > 0:47:18and defensive positions
0:47:18 > 0:47:21that stretched almost 500 miles.
0:47:26 > 0:47:30A campaign imagined as one of dash and movement
0:47:30 > 0:47:34had become a grinding, swampy slaughter.
0:47:40 > 0:47:44Uncountable numbers of men were eating,
0:47:44 > 0:47:48sleeping and praying to survive in holes in the ground.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57"This is not war..." one soldier wrote home,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59"it's the ending of the world."
0:48:07 > 0:48:13And now, the families left behind in Britain - whether rich or poor -
0:48:13 > 0:48:15had to deal with their grief.
0:48:22 > 0:48:27In January 1915, at St Mary's Church in Great Leighs,
0:48:27 > 0:48:29there was a memorial service for three men -
0:48:29 > 0:48:33the first victims of the war from the village.
0:48:36 > 0:48:39"The blow has fallen," said Squire Tritton.
0:48:39 > 0:48:44His son, Captain Alan Tritton, had been killed on Boxing Day.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48The farm worker, Mr Fitch had lost two sons - Dick, killed in August,
0:48:48 > 0:48:51and Arthur, killed on New Year's Day.
0:48:52 > 0:48:56This is the order sheet for the memorial service
0:48:56 > 0:48:59for all three men honoured here together.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10The youngest of the squire's sons, Captain Alan Tritton
0:49:10 > 0:49:12of the Coldstream Guards
0:49:12 > 0:49:15had told his family that autumn he'd never come back.
0:49:16 > 0:49:18He was shot in the head by a sniper.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Valerie Frost is the niece of the two Fitch brothers
0:49:27 > 0:49:30also mourned that January in Great Leighs.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33I do have photographs of Dick and of Arthur, um...
0:49:33 > 0:49:36Dick is the one sitting down...
0:49:36 > 0:49:39- He was the one in the Army? - He was in the Essex Regiment
0:49:39 > 0:49:41and he enlisted in 1913.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43And as Dick was under age at the time
0:49:43 > 0:49:45Grandmother went along to try
0:49:45 > 0:49:49and stop him from enlisting. And he said, "If you stop me, Mother,
0:49:49 > 0:49:51"you will never see me again."
0:49:51 > 0:49:54And she had to let him go.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00He then died on August the 26th, 1914, at the Battle of Mons.
0:50:02 > 0:50:04And so this one here is Arthur?
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Arthur was Grandmother's first-born child,
0:50:08 > 0:50:13he'd been in the Navy for several years and was due to leave.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18He was coming home, but the war started and he was not able to.
0:50:18 > 0:50:23And he went down with his ship, the Formidable, in the Channel
0:50:23 > 0:50:28in Lyme Regis Bay on January the 1st, 1915.
0:50:28 > 0:50:31What do you think about the memorial service
0:50:31 > 0:50:33shared with the son of the squire?
0:50:33 > 0:50:36Well, I think that was a wonderful thing,
0:50:36 > 0:50:41it shows that...in death we are all the same, aren't we?
0:50:41 > 0:50:43And, really, that would have been...
0:50:43 > 0:50:48Their tragedy was as much felt as my grandmother's tragedy.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51And I think that's very sad
0:50:51 > 0:50:54because so many people lost...
0:50:54 > 0:50:56so many loved ones.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02- They're all very proud in these photographs, aren't they?- Yes.
0:51:02 > 0:51:06- I know Mother was proud of them. - Mm.- Yeah.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10I wonder what they'd think now if they was...
0:51:10 > 0:51:12watching all this talking about them?
0:51:12 > 0:51:14It would be amazing, really.
0:51:14 > 0:51:16THEY CHUCKLE
0:51:16 > 0:51:18..what they would be saying.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21I don't know. But I think they'd be pleased.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24I think they would be...
0:51:24 > 0:51:28proud that we are still remembering the...
0:51:28 > 0:51:31sacrifice that they made. Mm-hm.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39MUSIC: "The Last Post"
0:51:39 > 0:51:44Outside the church, a memorial lists the war dead of Great Leighs.
0:51:53 > 0:51:55Among them, four Fitch brothers.
0:51:57 > 0:52:02Altogether, of the 86 men of the village who served, 18 died -
0:52:02 > 0:52:06a scale of loss echoed throughout much of Britain.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29By early 1915, wounded from the Front were arriving
0:52:29 > 0:52:32on the south coast in tens of thousands.
0:52:37 > 0:52:41How long could Britain maintain this level of casualties?
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Already the country was calling on soldiers
0:52:49 > 0:52:53from across the British Empire, including men from the Indian Army.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58Many Indian wounded were sent to Brighton,
0:52:58 > 0:53:02to be treated in a very unusual temporary hospital.
0:53:10 > 0:53:15The Royal Pavilion had been built long before, to evoke India -
0:53:15 > 0:53:19the jewel in Britain's imperial crown.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23That winter, it looked very different.
0:53:46 > 0:53:50The Pavilion was filled with badly wounded men.
0:53:50 > 0:53:54Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus...
0:53:54 > 0:53:57lay in their hundreds
0:53:57 > 0:54:00beneath the chandeliers of a royal palace.
0:54:06 > 0:54:09Where princes had once dallied and danced...
0:54:11 > 0:54:14..row upon row of Indian soldiers.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22The huge Georgian kitchen was an operating theatre.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31The dome nearby was another vast ward, complete with khaki lino.
0:54:33 > 0:54:37All in all, some 4,000 Indians were treated here.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43Every possible care was taken of the men,
0:54:43 > 0:54:45each religion had its own kitchen
0:54:45 > 0:54:51and, unheard of then in British India, white women nursed Indians.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59One patient wrote to his family in India,
0:54:59 > 0:55:03"Our hospital is in the place where the King used to have his home.
0:55:03 > 0:55:07"The men are tended like flowers."
0:55:09 > 0:55:13In fact, the royal family had sold the pavilion to Brighton Council
0:55:13 > 0:55:14many years before.
0:55:15 > 0:55:19But if these troops believed the King had vacated it
0:55:19 > 0:55:22just for them, the authorities didn't tell them otherwise.
0:55:24 > 0:55:26And in January 1915,
0:55:26 > 0:55:31King George V and Queen Mary honoured them with a visit.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35King George had come to pay his respects to the men
0:55:35 > 0:55:39who'd served Britain so bravely so far from home.
0:55:40 > 0:55:43But not all the wounded could be saved.
0:55:45 > 0:55:46As the Last Post sounded,
0:55:46 > 0:55:50over 50 of these men were given their own traditional cremation
0:55:50 > 0:55:52on the hills above Brighton.
0:55:54 > 0:55:58Their ashes were then scattered in the sea off the south coast.
0:56:13 > 0:56:18By spring 1915, no-one in Britain could avoid the impact of the war.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23Over one and half million men had volunteered
0:56:23 > 0:56:26and were training at Army camps across the nation.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32Many had hoped the war would be over by Christmas.
0:56:33 > 0:56:38Now there was no end in sight - and victory far from certain.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46People could feel the country was changing all around them.
0:56:50 > 0:56:53London was a tense, jumpy place
0:56:53 > 0:56:58with searchlights and blackouts for fear of aerial attack.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01The street lamps were dimmed with brown paper.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05Buckingham Palace was clad in steel mesh to deflect bombs
0:57:05 > 0:57:08and Big Ben - Big Ben was silenced.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19No-one had expected all this.
0:57:22 > 0:57:25Children under attack from sea and from air.
0:57:27 > 0:57:29Trenches above the beaches.
0:57:32 > 0:57:33Barriers on the streets.
0:57:35 > 0:57:39Men coming home, not as victors, but as victims.
0:57:44 > 0:57:46The British people were no longer
0:57:46 > 0:57:49just supporting their soldiers in a foreign conflict.
0:57:51 > 0:57:53They too were part of the fighting.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02But this was just the start.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05What was coming was a new kind of war, a total war.
0:58:05 > 0:58:09And to win it, Britain would have to be totally transformed.
0:58:16 > 0:58:17Next time...
0:58:17 > 0:58:20Britain becomes a machine for waging war.
0:58:22 > 0:58:23Women fill the factories...
0:58:25 > 0:58:27..men are forced to fight.
0:58:29 > 0:58:30But has it all come too late?