0:00:02 > 0:00:04GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
0:00:21 > 0:00:25The Eastern Front was the conflict at the heart of the First World War.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32A struggle which devastated the lives of Eastern Europe's peoples,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36as old scores were settled, new hatreds forged.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40A harbinger of the Second World War.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46There has never been such a war as this,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48waged with such bestial fury.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37This was a racial war, between Teuton and Slav,
0:01:37 > 0:01:40between the Germans and Austro-Hungarians on one side,
0:01:40 > 0:01:44and Russia and her Slav ally, Serbia, on the other.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51Caught between the clashing giants were Poles,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Croatians, Jews.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59Without statehood or voice, with no means of defence.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07It was also a war of alliances stretched to breaking point.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Germany, hands full on the Western Front,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15looked to Austria-Hungary to bear the brunt of a Russian attack.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18But Austria-Hungary's empire was crumbling and weak.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22Theirs was a partnership with different agendas, many enemies.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27Germany's eastern flank bordered directly onto Russia,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29down what is now Poland.
0:02:30 > 0:02:33To Austria-Hungary's south lay her dreaded enemy, Serbia.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Around them, a ring of neutrals, as yet undecided which side to join.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52Russian troops are blessed before leaving for the war.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00One officer presented his men with a historic opportunity.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06Hey, brothers, our eternal enemy, Germany,
0:03:06 > 0:03:09is trying to enslave Russia, our country,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13which has long suffocated under Germany's dead weight.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16The time has come to end their Teutonic rule.
0:03:19 > 0:03:21Not everyone saw the conflict in such epic terms.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Russian conscript Vasily Mishnin
0:03:25 > 0:03:28left to fight the Germans filled with dread.
0:03:33 > 0:03:35A shiver ran through my whole body.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37The third whistle.
0:03:37 > 0:03:38Everybody breaks down.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44I kiss my Nurya for the last time, and all my family kiss me.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52Nurya shouts, "Why are you crying, the Vasyusha?
0:03:52 > 0:03:54"You said you weren't going to cry."
0:04:01 > 0:04:02The challenge to this war
0:04:02 > 0:04:05on the backward side of Europe was logistics.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14There were vast distances to cover, from the Urals to the Alps,
0:04:14 > 0:04:17with desperate problems of communications and supply.
0:04:27 > 0:04:31On 17th August 1914, the Russian 1st Army
0:04:31 > 0:04:34seized the initiative and invaded Germany.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43This would be a mobile war, and some units went in hard from the start.
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Russian cavalry officer Vladimir Littauer
0:04:53 > 0:04:57had already crossed the border, scouting ahead.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01We started while it was still dark.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Around seven o'clock in the morning,
0:05:03 > 0:05:08our squadron reached the objective for the day - a large German farm.
0:05:09 > 0:05:12The scene on the German side of the border was frightening.
0:05:12 > 0:05:16For miles, farms, haystacks and barns were burning.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22Like every army under the sun, we looted and destroyed,
0:05:22 > 0:05:23and later hated to admit it.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32The scope for atrocity was greatest where places suddenly changed hands.
0:05:32 > 0:05:34Where soldiers lived off the land.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36Where you weren't sure who the enemy was.
0:05:39 > 0:05:41EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Littauer's regiment was fired on
0:05:43 > 0:05:46at the village of Santopen in East Prussia.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51The Russians blamed locals for directing the attack
0:05:51 > 0:05:52from the church tower.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59Groten completely lost his temper and shouted,
0:05:59 > 0:06:00"They are all spies, shoot them!
0:06:00 > 0:06:02MACHINE GUN FIRE
0:06:02 > 0:06:04In a moment, they were all dead.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10Horror stories spread,
0:06:10 > 0:06:14as 12-year-old German Piete Kuhr recorded in her diary.
0:06:15 > 0:06:19Whole columns of East Prussian refugees came through our town.
0:06:19 > 0:06:21Many are crying.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23There are mothers with tiny children.
0:06:23 > 0:06:28They say Russians tie German women who stay behind to trees,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30set up wooden crosses in front of them,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and nail their little children to them.
0:06:33 > 0:06:35When the kiddies have died before their mothers' eyes,
0:06:35 > 0:06:38the Russians mutilate the women and kill them.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51The German Army fell back 100 miles.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Two men took over Germany's defence in the east.
0:07:00 > 0:07:04General Paul von Hindenburg, brought out of retirement,
0:07:04 > 0:07:05and General Erich Ludendorff,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08poached from the offensive in the west.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14They would, in time, become more powerful than the Kaiser.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26The Germans planned to hit the Russian 2nd Army in these woods,
0:07:26 > 0:07:28near the East Prussian town of Tannenberg
0:07:28 > 0:07:31where, 500 years before,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34a Polish army had defeated a force of Teutons.
0:07:36 > 0:07:41The stakes were high, Germany fighting to defend her native soil.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Julius Boldt's regiment was whisked from Western to Eastern Front.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56After a 60 hour train ride,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00a quick march for nearly four hours straight to the battlefield.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02I had my baptism of fire.
0:08:02 > 0:08:06Oddly enough, it left me completely cold.
0:08:06 > 0:08:09In a flash I thought of home, gave one glance to heaven,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12and then straight into the line of fire.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22When the injured scream, your heart clams up.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29There's almost nothing left of this hospitable town.
0:08:29 > 0:08:32What's left of the buildings is either still burning or in ruins.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Charred corpses lie in the streets.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Tannenberg stopped the Russians in their tracks
0:08:48 > 0:08:51and made up for the lack of German victory in the west.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58Hindenburg and Ludendorff were seen as saviours of the nation,
0:08:58 > 0:09:00as schoolgirl Piete wrote.
0:09:00 > 0:09:05Paul von Hindenburg is mighty big and strong.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09He has a square head with a moustache and many wrinkles on his face.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14The people here in the east worship him.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20Germany needed heroes.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22The battle entered pan-German mythology -
0:09:22 > 0:09:24payback for the Russian invasion,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27final revenge for that ancient defeat.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34This massive monument was completed in 1927,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37a rallying symbol for Germany's ambitious right.
0:09:44 > 0:09:46A few years later,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49Hindenburg showed Adolf Hitler the site of Germany's historic triumph.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57Today, the monument lies in ruins,
0:09:57 > 0:10:00blown up by the Russians after the Second World War,
0:10:00 > 0:10:03last blow in the saga of Slav-Teuton clashes at Tannenberg.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Poland, January 1915.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18The Russians were firmly dug in.
0:10:19 > 0:10:23The Germans were now on the offensive, trying to dislodge them.
0:10:26 > 0:10:29The village of Bolimow in the front line.
0:10:34 > 0:10:36The Germans turned to technology
0:10:36 > 0:10:38to give them the edge over the Russians.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44Bolimow would be the test bed for an experimental weapon.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50Francis Smolinski, a civilian, raised the alarm.
0:10:52 > 0:10:54I got up, went outside,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57and then I saw this something which looked like smoke.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59I ran back home, shouting, "Fire! Fire!"
0:11:06 > 0:11:08Behind the Russian lines, General Basil Gourko
0:11:08 > 0:11:12got snippets of information that didn't add up.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14Hundreds mysteriously killed,
0:11:14 > 0:11:18trenches full of corpses that might not be dead.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Bodies in a state of collapse with little sign of life
0:11:22 > 0:11:24were lying in the wood.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27What was the reason for this unusual occurrence?
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Had some of those already buried in a state of coma
0:11:30 > 0:11:31and not dead at all?
0:11:38 > 0:11:39From this church tower,
0:11:39 > 0:11:44German observers watched the first major use of chemical warfare ever.
0:11:49 > 0:11:53The Germans fired 18,000 tear gas shells onto the Russians.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04The conventional wisdom is that the wind was blowing the wrong way
0:12:04 > 0:12:07and it was too cold for the gas to work.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The Russians withstood the attack.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17But there were victims, as General Gourko heard,
0:12:17 > 0:12:19and Francis Smolinski saw.
0:12:22 > 0:12:27They were carried, crowded onto wagons, some lying on top of others.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Those who could, walked.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Their faces were pale blue.
0:12:32 > 0:12:33They had foam at their mouths.
0:12:35 > 0:12:39Three months later, Ypres on the Western Front,
0:12:39 > 0:12:41wrongly earned the morbid distinction
0:12:41 > 0:12:44of being the site for the first gas attack.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47Bolimow went unreported, never investigated.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Meanwhile, Germany's main ally, Austria-Hungary,
0:12:58 > 0:12:59was fighting for survival.
0:13:01 > 0:13:02The Russians had invaded
0:13:02 > 0:13:05and were now besieging the fortress city of Przemysl.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11If it fell, so might Hungary herself.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22The Russians sat outside for six months, lobbing shells, waiting.
0:13:29 > 0:13:34Inside, 300 Austro-Hungarians a day were dying of starvation.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Przemysl was a microcosm of the Austro-Hungarian Empire itself,
0:13:42 > 0:13:43a crucible of ethnic frictions.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Orders of the day had to be issued in 15 languages.
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Austrian patriots cheek by jowl with Russian sympathisers.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55Questions of race, questions of loyalty,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57fears of the enemy within.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04There was execution after execution.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11The Austrians are hanging people by the dozen now.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Innocent ones, too.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35March, 1915.
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Nikolai Myaskovsky was one of the Russians
0:14:37 > 0:14:39preparing for the final assault.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41EXPLOSIONS
0:14:48 > 0:14:51Instead of the total shoot-out we expected
0:14:51 > 0:14:53there were only a few shots of shrapnel,
0:14:53 > 0:14:55and then we reached the fort quite easily.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10The Austro-Hungarian garrison had fallen apart.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18Przemysl surrendered to the Russians without a fight.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25The first Russian train crosses the river San.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39British Observer Bernard Pares
0:15:39 > 0:15:43quickly realised how divided the Austro-Hungarians were.
0:15:45 > 0:15:48The troops, instead of being all Hungarians,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50were of various nationalities.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53The conditions of defence led to brawls,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56and in the end open disobedience of orders.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Austro-Hungarian prisoners were paraded through Moscow.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13A German official said, referring to Austria-Hungary,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16that his country was now "shackled to a corpse".
0:16:27 > 0:16:31Russians bury the German dead after yet another battle.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51While great armies tore at one another's throats
0:16:51 > 0:16:53on the Eastern Front,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56a circle of small nations watched, like vultures.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Waiting to see which side to join.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08Forget liberal ideals and high principles.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12The question was, who would offer them the most?
0:17:12 > 0:17:14And who would win this war?
0:17:19 > 0:17:24These smaller nations - Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania -
0:17:24 > 0:17:28also had scores to settle, lands they wanted back.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30The price of any alliance would be high.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Marie, Queen of Romania, at her post-war coronation.
0:17:48 > 0:17:50British-born as Princess of Edinburgh,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Marie had effectively led Romania
0:17:53 > 0:17:55as Britain's loyal ally in the First World War.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03She kneels before her husband, King Ferdinand.
0:18:09 > 0:18:12But behind closed doors Marie called the shots.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16She was instrumental in brokering the critical deal.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25Marie had written to the Russian Tsar - cousin Nicky -
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and to the British King - cousin George -
0:18:28 > 0:18:31putting Romania's entry in the First World War out to tender.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37Being neutral, I get news from all sides.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Each tries to persuade us that defeat for them is impossible.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Promises and threats being dangled over our heads.
0:18:49 > 0:18:51The Romanian government, prodded by Marie,
0:18:51 > 0:18:54fixed the price for entry on the Allied side -
0:18:54 > 0:18:58Transylvania, the Banat, and Bukovina.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03She added for George V's benefit...
0:19:03 > 0:19:07These geographical explanations must be Chinese to you,
0:19:07 > 0:19:09but the places can be found on a map.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14Her Prussian-born husband, Ferdinand,
0:19:14 > 0:19:15rather fancied joining Germany,
0:19:15 > 0:19:20but by August 1916 the Allies agreed Romania's terms in full.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34In Rome, Italy's leaders had already cashed in.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38Instead of joining the Central Powers,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42in line with pre-war treaties, Italy initially declared neutrality.
0:19:45 > 0:19:48But in October 1914 Prime Minister Salandra
0:19:48 > 0:19:51said Italy must act for her own national good.
0:19:53 > 0:19:55He called this policy "Sacro Egoismo" -
0:19:55 > 0:19:57sacred self-interest.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01In practice, it meant joining the side of the highest bidder.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Few Italians wanted to fight.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15But the Allies offered a chunk of Austria-Hungary,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19part of the Dalmatian coast, and threw in a few islands.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22So, without consulting parliament, Salandra accepted,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26landing his people with one of the harshest fronts in the entire war.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36Italy's border with Austria-Hungary
0:20:36 > 0:20:40zigzagged for 375 miles into Europe's highest peaks.
0:20:45 > 0:20:47The Austro-Hungarians had the advantage,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50holding the high ground along the entire front.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58It was brutal terrain.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Italian Alpine troops inch up to the front line.
0:21:34 > 0:21:35An officer beats out a rhythm
0:21:35 > 0:21:38for men hauling a field gun up the slope.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02In May, 1915,
0:22:02 > 0:22:06Italian troops seized the mountain village of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12In front of them, the vast Lagazuoi mountain.
0:22:16 > 0:22:20By sunrise, the Italians had climbed its sheer rock face
0:22:20 > 0:22:22to a narrow ledge.
0:22:30 > 0:22:32They were now fighting a vertical war.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Above them, the Austro-Hungarians had fewer men,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45but showed a tenacity they lacked elsewhere.
0:22:56 > 0:22:58Austrian Colonel Viktor Schemfil
0:22:58 > 0:23:00watched his men attack the Italians below.
0:23:03 > 0:23:05They threw several hand grenades on the ridge,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07which was about 100 metres below them.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11Judging by the screams of the wounded
0:23:11 > 0:23:13and from the fact that the machine gun
0:23:13 > 0:23:17hasn't fired a single shot all day, we must have been successful.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24But the Italians clung on, two miles above sea level.
0:23:30 > 0:23:33Each side burrowed into the mountains
0:23:33 > 0:23:35and spent the next two years trying to dislodge the other.
0:23:44 > 0:23:4715 men slept in this cave carved out of the rock.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Both sides worked 24-hour shifts, digging tunnels,
0:24:07 > 0:24:11trying to reach the enemy's position and blast the mountain under them.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16EXPLOSION
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Some went mad listening for the sound of enemy drills.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29My nerves are shot to pieces. I've got to calm down.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32I've now been in the front line four months,
0:24:32 > 0:24:35amid constant fear and torment.
0:24:46 > 0:24:48Avalanches became another hazard of war.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53Sometimes triggered by shellfire.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Austrian Eugenio Mich was caught in one
0:25:01 > 0:25:05that wiped out nine barrack huts, killing 272.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09I stayed squashed under the debris of the beds.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13For the first quarter of an hour
0:25:13 > 0:25:16I could feel 50 or so men moving around me,
0:25:16 > 0:25:19and then, one by one, they fell silent and died.
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Italy's frontier with Austria-Hungary
0:25:30 > 0:25:32levelled out along the Isonzo river.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39Italy's first attack failed, with heavy loss of life,
0:25:39 > 0:25:41but General Luigi Cadorna
0:25:41 > 0:25:43bloody-mindedly ordered another, and another.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48Eleven battles in all, at a cost of 300,000 lives.
0:25:56 > 0:25:59They never reached their main objective, the Port of Trieste.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08Giuseppe Cordano served in the Julian Alps in a trench system
0:26:08 > 0:26:11just 15 metres below the Austrian positions.
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Between the two trenches it's a cataclysm.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30The dead are scattered everywhere half buried,
0:26:30 > 0:26:34haversacks, rifles, rags of clothing and human body parts.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39A couple of grenades fall in the middle of the dyke
0:26:39 > 0:26:41where some soldiers are sheltering,
0:26:41 > 0:26:43and everything is thrown up in the air.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Rocks fly and fall with furious destruction.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Laments and screams for help can be heard everywhere,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52but how can one move?
0:26:52 > 0:26:54How can one help them?
0:26:59 > 0:27:03I'm astride the crest, and I carry on, metre by metre,
0:27:03 > 0:27:06ducking my head under shrapnel fire.
0:27:06 > 0:27:10Ten metres in front of me Zani from Vicenza is hit in the head,
0:27:10 > 0:27:14screams and falls down the precipice.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17I watch his body tumbling down.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19He was a good lad.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21I keep going,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24for ever asking myself when my time will come.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40In the winter of 1914, Germany's high command
0:27:40 > 0:27:43told the Kaiser they'd decided to launch the major offensive
0:27:43 > 0:27:45of 1915 against the Russians.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53The Generals ruled out total victory,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57but a decisive blow might force the Russians to sue for peace.
0:28:02 > 0:28:05Germany moved eight divisions from the Western Front
0:28:05 > 0:28:08to the Eastern to try to break through the Russians at Gorlitse
0:28:08 > 0:28:11in the foothills of the Carpathian mountains.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15Now German fought alongside Austrian.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22Austrian Mathias Migschitz sensed the change of mood.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28It sounds wonderful to hear German troops speaking.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Everyone is sure of victory, conscious of their might.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35You hear no melancholy talk, no bleak forecasts.
0:28:38 > 0:28:42Florence Farmborough, a British nurse with the Russian Red Cross,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45travelled with her camera along the Eastern Front.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Her nursing team went by horse cart to Gorlitse.
0:28:52 > 0:28:55They had no idea a third of a million Germans and Austrians
0:28:55 > 0:28:57were massing to attack the town.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01We have already chosen our hospital.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05It is a well-built house, with several nice, airy rooms.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09We are surrounded by the copy Carpathians.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11I love watching them at night,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14when the mountains lie mysteriously quiet and passive.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42Then the wounded started to arrive.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46They came in their hundreds from all directions,
0:29:46 > 0:29:48some able to walk, others crawling,
0:29:48 > 0:29:50dragging themselves along the ground.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04As the Germans got near, Florence's team was ordered to evacuate.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07And the wounded?
0:30:07 > 0:30:10They shouted to us when they saw us leaving,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13called out to us in piteous language to stop.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16We had to wrench our skirts from their clinging hands.
0:30:21 > 0:30:25Caught by surprise and low on shells, the Russians retreated.
0:30:30 > 0:30:32Infantryman Myaskovsky wrote to his friend,
0:30:32 > 0:30:34the composer Sergei Prokofiev.
0:30:36 > 0:30:38My dearest Serezhenka,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42We are in a state of unstoppable, panicked retreat.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44Our troops are melting away like snow.
0:30:44 > 0:30:45Only 600-700 survived
0:30:45 > 0:30:49out of a 3,000-strong regiment in one day alone.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56The Russian army fled, but not towards the negotiating table.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04They scorched the earth.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Vasily Mishnin retreated through the village of Dombrovo.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18The locals received us well, but in the evening,
0:31:18 > 0:31:22when the Cossacks arrived and began to drive them out with cruelty,
0:31:22 > 0:31:25then there were tears and grief and cursing of the war.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39The Russians were looking for scapegoats,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42and the Jews of Eastern Europe fitted the bill.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47They didn't look Russian, and their language, Yiddish,
0:31:47 > 0:31:48sounded suspiciously like German.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02In 1914, there were 4 million Jews in the Russian Empire.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Battered by pogroms and denied rights
0:32:06 > 0:32:08allowed the Tsar's other minorities,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11Jews were forced to live in specified areas,
0:32:11 > 0:32:13known as the Pale of Settlement.
0:32:18 > 0:32:22And, even though 650,000 Jews served in the army,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26many Russian officers and men saw Jews as dirty, half human creatures.
0:32:37 > 0:32:391st April, 1915.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42The Russkies make fun of the Jews,
0:32:42 > 0:32:45saying they can munch their matzos for now,
0:32:45 > 0:32:49but when Passover's finished they'll sort them out.
0:32:49 > 0:32:50Send them to Siberia.
0:32:53 > 0:32:56Helena Yablonska lived at number 20 Franciszek Street
0:32:56 > 0:32:59in the heart of old Przemysl.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06A third of the town's population were Jews.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09They'd been safe enough there under the Austro-Hungarians,
0:33:09 > 0:33:12but now Helena watched the Russians root them out
0:33:12 > 0:33:13within days of taking over.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17Tuesday, 30th of March.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21Jews are treated with no mercy.
0:33:22 > 0:33:26They cut the beard and sideburns off the old rabbi from Bircza
0:33:26 > 0:33:29then strapped him to a horse and dragged him away.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32They beat his wife.
0:33:32 > 0:33:35Jews are not allowed to own any shops.
0:33:42 > 0:33:44Saturday, 17th April.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49The Cossacks waited until the Jews went off to pray,
0:33:49 > 0:33:51then set upon them with whips.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57Taking them from synagogues, streets and doorsteps.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59Many hundreds of Jews.
0:34:00 > 0:34:02What'll they do with them?
0:34:03 > 0:34:06Some of the older, weaker ones, couldn't keep up and were whipped.
0:34:08 > 0:34:12The round-up will go on until they've caught the lot.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Such lamenting and despair.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20Some hide in cellars, but the Russians will find them.
0:34:24 > 0:34:27No-one knows how many Jews were killed in Eastern Europe
0:34:27 > 0:34:29during the First World War.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35600,000 were uprooted, of whom 200,000 never returned home.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44After their experiences under the Russians,
0:34:44 > 0:34:47many Jews looked to the Germans for better treatment.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55German officers entered the main Jewish street of Mlawa,
0:34:55 > 0:34:56north of Warsaw.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02The Germans tried to win the support of Jews in Eastern Europe
0:35:02 > 0:35:05by promising them liberation from the Russian yoke.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Meanwhile, the assimilated Jews of Germany
0:35:11 > 0:35:13showed their patriotism by joining up.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18Emma and Fritz Schlesinger see their friend, Ludwig Bornstein,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22off to the front - one of 100,000 Jews who fought for the Kaiser.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28German-Jewish soldiers mark Hanukkah,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31the Festival of lights, in 1916.
0:35:35 > 0:35:3712,000 were killed in the war.
0:35:37 > 0:35:40Nearly 30,000 received decorations.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48But, while Jews were tolerated within the German army,
0:35:48 > 0:35:50many soldiers despised them.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59Ernst Nopper passed columns of refugees,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03forced out of their homes by the Russians, and now returning.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09I couldn't bear to watch as a Polish family struggled on foot,
0:36:09 > 0:36:13while the entire lazy Jewish population travelled on carts.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16I hold a Jew off and gave his arse a good kicking,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19before making the three Poles with all their baggage
0:36:19 > 0:36:21climb up onto the cart.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24I let everyone know that I would have all the Jews shot
0:36:24 > 0:36:27if they didn't let the Poles continue on their journey.
0:36:31 > 0:36:33The breakthrough continued through the summer.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37This was the greatest victory of the Central Powers in the war,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40seizing present-day Poland, Lithuania,
0:36:40 > 0:36:42parts of Belarus and the Ukraine.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53As the Germans advanced, they entered a world half destroyed.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03German troops convert Russian railway lines
0:37:03 > 0:37:06to the narrower German gauge.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Rebuilding the communication system became a key task,
0:37:11 > 0:37:12rich in symbolic meaning.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Germany aimed to recast Poland as an independent state,
0:37:28 > 0:37:30but under her wing.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34Advancing troops saw themselves
0:37:34 > 0:37:37as bringing civilising order and discipline.
0:37:40 > 0:37:42That which seemed for ever lost
0:37:42 > 0:37:46was created anew by the German battalions of Kultur
0:37:46 > 0:37:49the German spirit blows through the poor land
0:37:49 > 0:37:52and new life rises up out of the ruins.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05But that's not how it worked out, however keen the Germans were
0:38:05 > 0:38:08to present a caring image to their newsreel audiences.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17American woman Laura de Turczynowicz lived in the occupied town
0:38:17 > 0:38:20of Suwalki, near the Lithuanian border.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31To her, the rebuilt railways and roads
0:38:31 > 0:38:34weren't bridges between cultures.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38They were Germany's means of whipping war booty back home.
0:38:41 > 0:38:43Furniture was carted daily to East Prussia.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47The woods were cut down, every agricultural implement taken,
0:38:47 > 0:38:50every woman outraged.
0:38:50 > 0:38:52All Poland was to be emptied and carted away,
0:38:52 > 0:38:56beaten into the bargain, and made to pay such terrible contributions.
0:39:08 > 0:39:10Faced with a chronic labour shortage
0:39:10 > 0:39:13and with little love for Slav or Russian,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17the German Army began transporting men to the west for forced labour.
0:39:23 > 0:39:26The American Red Cross distributes food aid
0:39:26 > 0:39:28to starving Polish peasants.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Reluctance to feed conquered populations,
0:39:38 > 0:39:42the German Army became increasingly obsessed with cataloguing them.
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Everyone over ten was to be documented,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49and nearly 2 million photo passes were pursued.
0:39:54 > 0:39:58The Germans also began to view the East as a place of disease
0:39:58 > 0:40:01and started large-scale disinfecting programs.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07On 17th October 1915 the German field medical commander
0:40:07 > 0:40:11ordered all railway crossings on the eastern border be sealed off.
0:40:20 > 0:40:23Everyone crossing the frontier had to be deloused
0:40:23 > 0:40:25before setting foot on German soil.
0:40:42 > 0:40:44Winter 1915.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53The racial war of Teutonic versus Slav neared its peak.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01German and Austro-Hungarian forces moved south to destroy Serbia.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06This would win control of the Balkans,
0:41:06 > 0:41:10final revenge for the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
0:41:15 > 0:41:16And they had a new ally -
0:41:16 > 0:41:19Bulgaria, tempted by Germany's military muscle
0:41:19 > 0:41:22and certain this was the winning side.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30The bait dangled before Bulgarian leader Ferdinand
0:41:30 > 0:41:32was the promise of vast swathes of Serbia.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38Born in Vienna, Ferdinand had few sympathies for his Slav neighbours.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47The purpose of my life is the destruction of Serbia.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53On 6th October 1915
0:41:53 > 0:41:56a joint German Austro-Hungarian force invaded Serbia,
0:41:56 > 0:41:59taking the capital in just two days.
0:42:01 > 0:42:04The Bulgarian Army then entered from the south-east.
0:42:05 > 0:42:09The Serbs' only way out of their country was into Albania,
0:42:09 > 0:42:12but that lay across treacherous mountain ranges.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21As their enemies claws closed around them
0:42:21 > 0:42:23the Serbian Army slipped away,
0:42:23 > 0:42:25and the people fled with them.
0:42:30 > 0:42:33Serbian photographer Rista Marjanovic
0:42:33 > 0:42:35documented his nation's exodus.
0:42:53 > 0:42:57One of the refugees was 12-year-old Katarina Costic.
0:42:57 > 0:43:00We spent the nights in the open beside a fire,
0:43:00 > 0:43:04which would scorch one side of your body while the other froze.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11One morning, a woman refugee woke up and happily announced
0:43:11 > 0:43:15that she'd had something soft beneath her head that night.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19To our horror, the soft thing turned out to be a human corpse.
0:43:27 > 0:43:28One soldier threw away his rifle
0:43:28 > 0:43:31to carry an old woman who had collapsed.
0:43:32 > 0:43:35She gestured towards the sound of the enemy closing in
0:43:35 > 0:43:38and handed him back his weapon.
0:43:44 > 0:43:49They halted here, on the Field of Blackbirds, in Kosovo.
0:43:51 > 0:43:52The Serb nation drew breath
0:43:52 > 0:43:56while its leaders met in the town of Prizren.
0:43:56 > 0:43:58The choices were grim.
0:43:58 > 0:44:01Battle it out, surrender,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03or survive to fight another day.
0:44:05 > 0:44:07Journalist Gordon Gordon-Smith watched the debate
0:44:07 > 0:44:09inside the town seminary.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14The final councils did not last long.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18On November 24th the supreme resolution was taken.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23The King, army and Government would refuse to treat with the enemy
0:44:23 > 0:44:25and would leave for Albania.
0:44:30 > 0:44:33Hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians
0:44:33 > 0:44:34set off into the mountains.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Their plan - to reach the Mediterranean and sail to safety.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54This epic retreat shaped modern Serbian self perception,
0:44:54 > 0:44:57taking its place in national myth
0:44:57 > 0:45:00alongside the 1389 defeat by the Turks
0:45:00 > 0:45:02on the same Field of Blackbirds.
0:45:03 > 0:45:05Still an open wind today.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11A Serbian film, directed by a veteran of the march,
0:45:11 > 0:45:13reconstructed its agony.
0:45:17 > 0:45:20The further we went, the worse it got.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23You didn't hear the usual -
0:45:23 > 0:45:25men swearing, officers yelling orders.
0:45:27 > 0:45:29This huge funeral possession
0:45:29 > 0:45:32of the state of Serbia endured the pain in silence.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38Who tramped behind me? Who in front?
0:45:38 > 0:45:41Where was my company?
0:45:41 > 0:45:43All too soon, we fell apart.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47Now it was every man for himself.
0:45:59 > 0:46:01We staggered up mountains then clambered down,
0:46:01 > 0:46:04avoiding quagmires from which the hands reached out
0:46:04 > 0:46:06of poor people who'd got stuck.
0:46:08 > 0:46:12We stumbled, running out of strength, but could not turn back.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14We had to move on.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26The survivors gathered on the island of Corfu.
0:46:32 > 0:46:36Exhaustion, starvation and disease continued to take their toll.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52Half the army, over 200,000 men, had died on the march.
0:46:55 > 0:46:58No-one knows how many civilians.
0:46:58 > 0:47:02But Serbia's death rate was the highest of the First World War.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12There was no question who was winning the titanic struggle
0:47:12 > 0:47:14of Teuton versus Slav.
0:47:14 > 0:47:17The Central Powers were now the masters of the Eastern Front.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Columns of Russian prisoners became a familiar sight.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30The street was full of them, thousands,
0:47:30 > 0:47:34driven along like dogs, taunted, beaten if they fell down,
0:47:34 > 0:47:37kicked until they either got up or lay still for ever.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44Kaiser Wilhelm even suggested that 90,000 Russian prisoners
0:47:44 > 0:47:48be driven on to a barren peninsula along the Baltic shore
0:47:48 > 0:47:49and starved to death.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02The German and Austro-Hungarian high commands meet in the Tyrol.
0:48:08 > 0:48:10But behind the mutual congratulation,
0:48:10 > 0:48:12the partnership is rotten to the core.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18Practising his handshake, Archduke Frederick,
0:48:18 > 0:48:20the Austrian Commander in Chief,
0:48:20 > 0:48:23waits to meet one of the world's most powerful men -
0:48:23 > 0:48:24the German Kaiser.
0:48:28 > 0:48:32War has exposed their differences, not bound them closer.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38Germany thought the Austro-Hungarian Empire a shambles.
0:48:38 > 0:48:42She wondered whether to take the whole lot into the German Reich.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47Austria-Hungary found Germany arrogant and domineering.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51The Austrian Chief of Staff, on the left,
0:48:51 > 0:48:53called the Germans "our secret enemies".
0:48:59 > 0:49:02In time, the Austrians would even send
0:49:02 > 0:49:04secret peace feelers to the Allies.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10But they could never break away from Germany.
0:49:11 > 0:49:15It was alliances on both sides that would keep the war going.
0:49:30 > 0:49:32In the next episode of the First World War,
0:49:32 > 0:49:35the horrors of Verdun and the Somme,
0:49:35 > 0:49:39as both sides try to break the deadlock on the Western Front.