0:00:02 > 0:00:07This programme contains scenes that some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25In August 1914,
0:00:25 > 0:00:28the two greatest navies in the world made ready for war.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Now the Royal Navy will settle the question of the German fleet,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37and if they do not come out and fight,
0:00:37 > 0:00:40they will be dug out like rats from a hole.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42But the two fleets rarely met.
0:00:42 > 0:00:48Instead, a new kind of war evolved, more stealthy, more cruel.
0:00:48 > 0:00:51A war not against battleships, but people.
0:01:31 > 0:01:37The world's capital ships in 1914 were the products of a cold war.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40Britain's HMS Dreadnought had set the benchmark -
0:01:40 > 0:01:42heavy armour, big guns, fast.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Dreadnoughts were bargaining chips in a great naval poker game.
0:01:59 > 0:02:01Germany had 13, and seven building.
0:02:01 > 0:02:04Austria-Hungary, three, America, ten,
0:02:04 > 0:02:06Britain, 20.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14They kept the peace, but then the cold war turned hot.
0:02:28 > 0:02:30Britain and Germany were the main opponents,
0:02:30 > 0:02:33staring each other down across the North Sea.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43The longer they looked at the map, the more obvious their problems.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46Germany's ships couldn't get clear of the North Sea.
0:02:46 > 0:02:51To the south, the Channel, blocked by mines and the Dover Patrol.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54To the north, the British Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow.
0:02:58 > 0:03:00But Britain couldn't get at the German fleet
0:03:00 > 0:03:04unless it came out from its heavily protected bases.
0:03:04 > 0:03:07And if they actually met in the North Sea,
0:03:07 > 0:03:09the result could be catastrophic.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19The sight everyone feared.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22Austro-Hungarian battleship the Istvan,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26sunk late in the war by a tiny Italian torpedo boat.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37In 1914, the German navy believed torpedoes and submarines
0:03:37 > 0:03:40might tip the balance their way.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44A hit-and-run war with little history and no rules.
0:03:48 > 0:03:53Jackie Fisher, Britain's sharpest admiral, predicted radical change.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57The use of submarines has convinced us
0:03:57 > 0:04:00that in wartime, nothing can stand against them.
0:04:00 > 0:04:04The submarine is the coming war vessel for sea fighting.
0:04:04 > 0:04:10It means the whole foundation of our naval strategy has broken down.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Two days into the war,
0:04:15 > 0:04:17Germany unleashed ten U-boats into the North Sea
0:04:17 > 0:04:20to hunt down the British fleet.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24One of them, U21, made her way to the Firth of Forth,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27where the British cruiser HMS Pathfinder
0:04:27 > 0:04:29was leaving Rosyth naval base.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36U21 sunk her with a single torpedo.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43Within a fortnight, the Germans had more good news.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48This 1927 film celebrates the voyage of Captain Weddigen and the U9.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Through my prismatic glasses,
0:04:57 > 0:05:02I noticed a small masthead come into view near the Maas lightship.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04It looked like a mast of a warship.
0:05:04 > 0:05:10Could it be the first sight of the enemy we were to have in the war?
0:05:12 > 0:05:16The U9 had found the British cruisers Hogue, Aboukir and Cressy
0:05:16 > 0:05:18on patrol off the Dutch coast.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27Practically obsolete, they were nicknamed the Live-Bait Squadron.
0:05:28 > 0:05:31Captain Weddigen seized his chance.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Fired torpedo at 500m.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Target was middle ship in a three-ship formation.
0:05:38 > 0:05:4231 seconds later, the torpedo struck Aboukir.
0:05:48 > 0:05:50On board was Kit Musgrave.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53We were woken by a terrific crash.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57The ship shook and all the crockery in the pantry fell.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Cressy and Hogue arrived and let down their boats.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05Then Aboukir went down and we slid down her side into the water.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Musgrave jumped into the North Sea
0:06:09 > 0:06:12and became the only man in the war to be sunk on three ships
0:06:12 > 0:06:13within one hour.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18I swam to the Hogue and was going on board
0:06:18 > 0:06:21when she was struck and sank in three minutes.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24I then swam to the Cressy and was hauled up the side,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27but she was struck also and we sank.
0:06:31 > 0:06:35Georg von Muller was chief of Germany's Imperial Naval Cabinet.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38On our return from the morning ride,
0:06:38 > 0:06:42the first news of the successful torpedo attack by the U9
0:06:42 > 0:06:44on three English cruisers.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48We are all delighted and the Kaiser is in seventh heaven.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55The British were appalled.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill got the blame.
0:06:59 > 0:07:02Over 1,400 men, many of them cadets,
0:07:02 > 0:07:05had died in a single submarine attack.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Winston's War Babies, they were called.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16British submarine lieutenant Ronald Trevor wrote to his parents.
0:07:16 > 0:07:17The news tonight is sad,
0:07:17 > 0:07:21but what we submariners have been expecting for weeks.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24The commodore has repeatedly warned the Admiralty
0:07:24 > 0:07:26that those ships ought not to patrol the North Sea.
0:07:26 > 0:07:29What happened is what we predicted -
0:07:29 > 0:07:32ships standby to rescue the sinking one's crew,
0:07:32 > 0:07:35then the submarine gets two sitting shots.
0:07:38 > 0:07:41Commander-in-chief of the British Grand Fleet
0:07:41 > 0:07:43was Admiral John Jellicoe.
0:07:43 > 0:07:47He'd joined the navy in 1874 as a midshipman.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49ADMIRAL IS PIPED ABOARD
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Known as Silent Jack, he was experienced, capable and cautious.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01He ended patrols off the German coast,
0:08:01 > 0:08:05confining his most valuable ships to Scapa Flow and Rosyth,
0:08:05 > 0:08:08the limits of the U-boats' range.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10He warned the Admiralty.
0:08:10 > 0:08:16The Germans rely to a great extent on submarines, mines and torpedoes,
0:08:16 > 0:08:22and they possess a superiority over us in these particular directions.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Germany's forward submarine base was on the island of Heligoland.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34The U-boats were ordered to sweep the North Sea.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40But the British had gone.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51On 16th December 1914, hoping to lure the British out,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55five German warships steamed across the North Sea.
0:08:57 > 0:09:01At seven in the morning, they opened fire on Scarborough and Hartlepool.
0:09:03 > 0:09:07There was a terrific crash, we thought it must be thunder.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11When another crash came, we rushed to the window and saw smoke
0:09:11 > 0:09:14and cried "It's the Germans!"
0:09:14 > 0:09:19Two wee girls hung on to me and said "Are the Germans going to kill us?"
0:09:20 > 0:09:23122 people died in the attack.
0:09:23 > 0:09:25It was the first time enemy warships
0:09:25 > 0:09:29had killed anyone on the British mainland in over a century.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35Jellicoe, too, had thought about attacking the enemy's homeland,
0:09:35 > 0:09:38not with a hit-and-miss naval bombardment,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42but a blockade, tight as a drum, and lethal.
0:09:46 > 0:09:49What we have to do is starve and cripple Germany.
0:09:50 > 0:09:54The destruction of the German fleet is a means to an end,
0:09:54 > 0:09:56and not an end in itself.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03Here was a use for those huge battleships,
0:10:03 > 0:10:07as sentinels sealing the exits from the North Sea,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12stopping Germany's fleet getting out and food and war supplies getting in.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20The North Sea would become no-man's-land - a dead sea.
0:10:28 > 0:10:30Jellicoe was helped by an invention
0:10:30 > 0:10:35more important than Dreadnoughts or even submarines - wireless.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38MORSE-CODE SIGNAL
0:10:38 > 0:10:41Every day, every German ship radioed its position
0:10:41 > 0:10:44back to fleet headquarters at Wilhelmshaven.
0:10:44 > 0:10:49MORSE CODE SIGNAL CONTINUES
0:10:52 > 0:10:56Over the North Sea, in the coastguard station at Hunstanton, Norfolk,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59British Naval Intelligence was listening.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08The German messages were passed on to code breakers
0:11:08 > 0:11:10in one of Britain's most secret departments -
0:11:10 > 0:11:15Room 40, deep in the heart of the Admiralty Old Building.
0:11:19 > 0:11:25According to one of their officers, the men in Room 40 were a mixed bag.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29They knew literary German fluently and they could be relied on,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33but of cryptography, of naval German,
0:11:33 > 0:11:38of the habits of war vessels of any nationality, they knew not a jot.
0:11:40 > 0:11:42Some, like Dillwyn Knox,
0:11:42 > 0:11:45would help crack the German Enigma code in the Second World War.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51But in 1914, they desperately needed some clues.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54The break came in the Baltic Sea,
0:11:54 > 0:11:58where a German cruiser, the Magdeburg, was captured by Russians.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05On board, they found one of the war's most valuable documents
0:12:05 > 0:12:08and passed it on to their British allies.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12This is the Magdeburg's code book.
0:12:12 > 0:12:14It allowed the men in Room 40
0:12:14 > 0:12:17to read nearly everything the German navy was planning.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29"Oh, well," the Kaiser said, on learning of the Magdeburg's capture,
0:12:29 > 0:12:33"sparks are bound to fly at a time like this."
0:12:33 > 0:12:37But the Kaiser had no idea his enemies had his code book,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41no idea of the immense advantage they now possessed.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Britain's sea strategy in the First World War was simple -
0:12:54 > 0:12:57to isolate and starve her enemies.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02At Scapa Flow and Rosyth to the north,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04at Dover and Harwich to the south,
0:13:04 > 0:13:08the Royal Navy closed the North Sea to German ships.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20The blockade was a brutal vision,
0:13:20 > 0:13:24brainchild of Maurice Hankey of the Committee of Imperial Defence.
0:13:24 > 0:13:28My belief in sea power amounted almost to a religion.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31The Germans, like Napoleon, might overrun the Continent.
0:13:31 > 0:13:33This might prolong the war,
0:13:33 > 0:13:38but the final issue would be decided by economic pressure.
0:13:40 > 0:13:43The Director of Naval Intelligence agreed.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Grass would sooner or later grow in the streets of Hamburg
0:13:47 > 0:13:50and widespread death and ruin would soon be inflicted.
0:13:52 > 0:13:57Germany began the war with a merchant fleet of nearly four million tons.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Within months, she lost a quarter of her ships,
0:14:00 > 0:14:03seized in harbours or caught making a dash
0:14:03 > 0:14:06into the no-man's-land of the North Sea.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12Lloyd's of London kept a log of every vessel sunk.
0:14:12 > 0:14:16Their records show that on one day alone, 8th August 1914,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19Germany lost 41 ships.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29Neutral countries - Holland, Denmark, Sweden - were not spared.
0:14:31 > 0:14:36Germany depended on ports like Rotterdam for grain and raw materials
0:14:36 > 0:14:40so Britain forced neutral ships to submit to the blockade.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49Starting with Holland, the British pressured companies to declare goods.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53In every country, she built up a network of agents.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58They tracked ships coming and going, who was sending what, where.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Any ship could be stopped.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Any found with banned supplies for Germany had its cargo seized.
0:15:07 > 0:15:11Within weeks, the German government started to ration food.
0:15:15 > 0:15:20Caroline Ethel Cooper was an Australian stranded in Leipzig.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23Every week, she wrote to her sister in Adelaide.
0:15:25 > 0:15:30Dear Emmie, the government's seized the bread, flour and meal supply.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35We're allowed four pounds of bread and one pound of flour at a time.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39Now the war against neutral ships and food supply has begun,
0:15:39 > 0:15:41prices rise every week.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46Sailors like Richard Stumpf were stuck in harbour,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48frustrated and hungry.
0:15:48 > 0:15:512nd April 1916.
0:15:51 > 0:15:54We spend our time worrying about our bellies.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57Even the officers are embittered and dissatisfied.
0:16:05 > 0:16:10To end Germany's isolation, her navy came up with a revolutionary plan -
0:16:10 > 0:16:13an unarmed submarine over 200 feet long,
0:16:13 > 0:16:15that could carry a cargo of 1,000 tons.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23In June 1916, the Deutschland set out for America,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27the first time a submarine had tried to cross the Atlantic.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Because of wet weather and high seas,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34the hatches were closed
0:16:34 > 0:16:37and diesel engines pumped hot, humid air through the boat.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Sweat ran down the bulkheads and water leaked around loose rivets.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45Drinking water tasted like diesel
0:16:45 > 0:16:48and every meal the cook cooked had a layer of oil across the top.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52Approaching the American coast,
0:16:52 > 0:16:58Captain Koenig ordered us to say nothing of the strain we'd undergone
0:16:58 > 0:17:00and to avoid mentioning our seasickness.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07Now, after two world wars, it's taken for granted
0:17:07 > 0:17:11that America and Britain are close allies, naturally on the same side...
0:17:12 > 0:17:15..but in the First World War, it wasn't so clear.
0:17:20 > 0:17:24Eight million Americans had German parents or grandparents.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27Four and a half million were of Irish descent.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30Many of them had little love for England.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32At the outbreak of war,
0:17:32 > 0:17:36thousands of US citizens had tried to enlist in the German army...
0:17:38 > 0:17:41..and America was enjoying a massive economic boom.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49Half Britain's war budget was spent in the States.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Companies like Bethlehem Steel were swamped with orders.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01They hauled in six times the profits they'd made before the war.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05The Deutschland was just another good customer.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17Her brave Atlantic crossing, dodging Royal Navy warships,
0:18:17 > 0:18:22was a rallying point for anyone who'd suffered from the British blockade.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29Our crossing became a triumph.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34All the neutral steamers, American or not, greeted us with sirens.
0:18:34 > 0:18:38Only an English steamer sailed past in deadly silence,
0:18:38 > 0:18:42while we were proudly raising the black, white and red flag.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48The Deutschland's crew received a hero's welcome.
0:18:48 > 0:18:53There were dinners in their honour, Captain Koenig met the President.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59The three weeks spent in the United States were a non-stop party.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Everywhere we went, people gathered round us,
0:19:02 > 0:19:04they all wanted a souvenir of some kind.
0:19:04 > 0:19:09I sold the buttons off my shirt and the stripes off my tunic.
0:19:09 > 0:19:14Germans introduced their daughters and we never had to pay for beer.
0:19:18 > 0:19:24The Deutschland returned to Germany with vital nickel and rubber.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29The help to the economy was nothing compared with the boost to morale,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31as even Caroline Ethel Cooper had to admit.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38The town is flagged because the Deutschland got safely back.
0:19:38 > 0:19:42Those red, white and black flags always makes me sick,
0:19:42 > 0:19:46but I'm glad she got across all the same. It was a sporting run.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52But the Deutschland was too small to break the blockade.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00In Germany and Austria, there were not enough people to work the land
0:20:00 > 0:20:04and too many officials trying to ration what food there was.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08The situation with the hunger and queues is turning nasty.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12People wait for potatoes in their hundreds, four deep,
0:20:12 > 0:20:15from four in the morning until the afternoon.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19Every morning, there are queues of armchairs and cushions,
0:20:19 > 0:20:21upon which people sit and sleep.
0:20:23 > 0:20:27The shortages worsened after the terrible harvest of 1916.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Germans called it the Turnip Winter.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33Many had nothing to eat but cattle fodder.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37There were 50 food riots that year.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40Oh, what days of terror, everything's in turmoil!
0:20:40 > 0:20:43There was havoc in town last night.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47The window panes were smashed in at Cafe Kaiserhof.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51Angry crowds were shouting outside bakeries and inns.
0:20:51 > 0:20:56Up at the castle, they cursed the major in words I shan't repeat.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58The army appeared at 11.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04It's horribly cold
0:21:04 > 0:21:07and because the rolling stock has all been taken for the war effort,
0:21:07 > 0:21:10there is an extreme shortage of coal.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12We are learning how to be freezing
0:21:12 > 0:21:14which isn't the most pleasant feeling.
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Schools, theatres and cinemas have all been closed until further notice
0:21:19 > 0:21:21because of the lack of coal.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32The German navy did nothing to help.
0:21:32 > 0:21:36Even if large parts of our battle fleet lay at the bottom of the sea,
0:21:36 > 0:21:41it would accomplish more than now, lying well-preserved in our ports.
0:21:41 > 0:21:45At Wilhelmshaven, people wrote graffiti on the walls.
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Dear Fatherland, you may rest assured.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52The fleet's in harbour, safely moored.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57Admiral Reinhard Scheer had been ordered
0:21:57 > 0:22:01not to risk his ships against the full British fleet,
0:22:01 > 0:22:06but by mid-1916, the pressure to do something was intense.
0:22:13 > 0:22:18On 31st May, Germany's High Seas Fleet steamed out of Wilhelmshaven,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21hoping to engage the Royal Navy's battle cruisers.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31But the British were one jump ahead.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35MORSE-CODE SIGNAL
0:22:35 > 0:22:39The men in Room 40 had already decoded Scheer's orders.
0:22:39 > 0:22:42Three hours before the Germans even left harbour,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46the entire British Grand Fleet was on its way to intercept them.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Now, the world would get the great sea battle it had waited for -
0:22:52 > 0:22:54Jutland.
0:23:04 > 0:23:10It was a titanic clash - 250 warships, 100,000 men.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13Britain's first great fleet action since Trafalgar.
0:23:15 > 0:23:18It was a fight they had to win.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21If Germany ended up masters of the North Sea,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24the blockade would be finished, the British Army in Europe cut off,
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Britain open to invasion.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32Admiral John Jellicoe was, Winston Churchill said,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35the only man who could lose the war in an afternoon.
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Less well-armoured than Germany's
0:23:42 > 0:23:46Britain's ships preferred to fight at very long range,
0:23:46 > 0:23:49but at Jutland, the range was just five miles.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56We fired very slowly with deliberation,
0:23:56 > 0:23:59while the Kaiser-class ships in front of us shot like mad.
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Now, the English were in an unfavourable position.
0:24:16 > 0:24:21A shot hit the bridge of a German destroyer and blew it to hell.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Shells fell all around us, and what with ships sinking and dying bodies,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30it made one shiver at the sight of it.
0:24:33 > 0:24:37At 4.30pm, the battle cruiser Queen Mary was hit by a shell
0:24:37 > 0:24:41which exploded in the ship's magazine.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43A horrible sight, it was.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46An enormous height of red flame,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49followed by a mass of black smoke
0:24:49 > 0:24:52amongst which was the wreckage, thrown in all directions.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55The blast was tremendous!
0:24:57 > 0:24:59Admiral Beatty watched from HMS Lion.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today!
0:25:07 > 0:25:11About seven o'clock we passed the wreck of a large ship,
0:25:11 > 0:25:16which we hoped was a German but later learned was one of ours.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18She was broken right in two,
0:25:18 > 0:25:23the bow and stern was sticking up about 50 feet and quite independent.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29But the British had the Germans outgunned and outnumbered.
0:25:32 > 0:25:36As evening fell, the German fleet broke off the action.
0:25:37 > 0:25:40We were in a regular deathtrap.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44The only way to escape the unfavourable tactical situation
0:25:44 > 0:25:48was to turn about and withdraw on the opposite course
0:25:48 > 0:25:52and get out of this dangerous enemy envelopment.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56To "Silent Jack" Jellicoe, peering through the fog of battle,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01it looked as though the Germans were lulling the British into a trap.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07If the enemy battle fleet turned away from an advancing fleet,
0:26:07 > 0:26:11I should assume the intention was to lead us over mines and submarines.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22So Jellicoe ordered the British to turn, as well,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25away from their vulnerable foe.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33As night fell on 31st May 1916,
0:26:33 > 0:26:37the men in Room 40 tracked the retreating German fleet.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41They passed its positions to the Navy,
0:26:41 > 0:26:44giving Jellicoe a last chance to finish the Germans off.
0:26:46 > 0:26:50But the Navy failed to catch them and the German fleet made it home.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57During the night, telegrams gave estimated losses of the English
0:26:57 > 0:26:59as two to three in our favour.
0:26:59 > 0:27:02The Kaiser announced at breakfast,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06"We have won a great victory in the North Sea!"
0:27:13 > 0:27:17Based on the maths alone, the Kaiser was right.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21Germany had lost 11 ships and 2,500 men,
0:27:21 > 0:27:24Britain, 14 ships and 6,000 men.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30But that wasn't the point.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35The Kaiser's battleships stayed in harbour until the end of the war.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40The British fleet still ruled the North Sea, tightening the blockade.
0:27:50 > 0:27:55Germany had replied to the British blockade with her own economic war.
0:27:55 > 0:28:00She, too, tried to cripple the enemy by cutting off supplies.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04This light raider, the Mowe,
0:28:04 > 0:28:08was one of the few surface ships Germany sent into the North Sea.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Her target - not warships, but cargo boats.
0:28:12 > 0:28:17She sunk 20,000 tons, building a large collection of captured crews.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25The English say we're in league with the devil
0:28:25 > 0:28:28and have acquired the Flying Dutchman.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30The captain of the Mowe said,
0:28:30 > 0:28:35"What a great moment when I had eight English captains before me
0:28:35 > 0:28:40and I could tell them all 'This is the work of the German fleet!'"
0:28:48 > 0:28:52Germany's U-boats joined in the war against Allied trade.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01One British admiral was horrified.
0:29:03 > 0:29:08Submarines are underhand, unfair and damned un-English!
0:29:08 > 0:29:11As for U-boats attacking civilian ships,
0:29:11 > 0:29:14it is impossible and unthinkable.
0:29:14 > 0:29:18If they do, their captured crews should be hanged as pirates.
0:29:20 > 0:29:24The U-boat blockade of Britain would have to be ruthless.
0:29:24 > 0:29:30Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg realised the effect of this on world opinion,
0:29:30 > 0:29:32as he told Georg von Muller.
0:29:32 > 0:29:35Spent the afternoon with the Chancellor,
0:29:35 > 0:29:39who wished once more to discuss the U-boat question.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43Bethmann envisaged the remaining neutrals united against us
0:29:43 > 0:29:46as the "mad dog" among the peoples of the world.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49That would mean the end of Germany.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Germany's admirals were furious at having their hands tied,
0:29:54 > 0:29:58but submarines were ordered to stick to the old rules of war.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02They gave warning of their attacks, they did not attack underwater,
0:30:02 > 0:30:06they gave merchant crews time to escape.
0:30:11 > 0:30:15German submarines sank a quarter of a million tons in 1914,
0:30:15 > 0:30:21but Britain built new ships faster than the U-boats could sink them.
0:30:21 > 0:30:26Far from being choked by a blockade, the British economy flourished.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33The British firm Vickers, with a workforce of 78,000,
0:30:33 > 0:30:38turned out guns, aeroplanes, battleships - and record profits.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45If Germany was trying to play fair, Britain wasn't.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50Q-ships looked like unarmed traders, but carried hidden guns.
0:30:50 > 0:30:54They looked like easy prey, but when submarines came close,
0:30:54 > 0:30:58the Q-ships uncovered their guns and attacked.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02To add to the deception, they often sailed under foreign flags.
0:31:05 > 0:31:11Lieutenant Heinrich Crompton, on the U41, was caught by just such a trick.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15As the two ships came within 300m of each other,
0:31:15 > 0:31:19the steamer opened a heavy accurate fire from along the railing,
0:31:19 > 0:31:24immediately joined by large-calibre guns, hidden fore and aft.
0:31:26 > 0:31:32The U41 returned three rounds from a forward gun, all hits to the hull.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36Throughout the action, the steamer continued to fly the American flag.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44On 1st February 1915,
0:31:44 > 0:31:49in response to the British blockade, the Kaiser stepped up his campaign.
0:31:49 > 0:31:53He declared all waters around Britain a war zone,
0:31:53 > 0:31:56in which any ships, including neutrals, might be sunk.
0:31:58 > 0:32:02This decision set Germany on a collision course with America.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12The pride of the Cunard line, the Lusitania,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15was the world's largest, most luxurious liner.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18She could carry over 2,000 passengers.
0:32:18 > 0:32:20HORN BLARES
0:32:21 > 0:32:25There was a ragtime dance written in her honour.
0:32:25 > 0:32:27LIVELY TWO STEP MUSIC PLAYS
0:32:30 > 0:32:33On 1st May 1915,
0:32:33 > 0:32:37Cunard posted a list of her departures in the New York Times.
0:32:41 > 0:32:45Next to it was an advertisement placed by the German ambassador.
0:32:45 > 0:32:50Those sailing to Britain, it said, did so at their own risk.
0:32:57 > 0:32:59At 11.30 that morning,
0:32:59 > 0:33:03the Lusitania left New York for Liverpool.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06Her captain made light of the submarine threat.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09It's the best joke I've heard,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13this talk of torpedoing the Lusitania!
0:33:17 > 0:33:21This is the last picture of her ever taken.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26The Lusitania sighted the Irish coast on 7th May.
0:33:26 > 0:33:29The lighthouse on the Old Head of Kinsale,
0:33:29 > 0:33:32was traditionally used by ships on the Atlantic run
0:33:32 > 0:33:34to get their bearings.
0:33:41 > 0:33:46At 2:10, the Lusitania was hit by a single torpedo.
0:33:48 > 0:33:53As I watched, one funnel went, then the other, then the other,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56until the ship had gone and the sea was calm,
0:33:56 > 0:34:00and all you could see was bodies and wreckage of furniture,
0:34:00 > 0:34:05and everything that had been in the ship, floating in the water.
0:34:05 > 0:34:09My husband and I got in a lifeboat, the ropes of which had to be cut,
0:34:09 > 0:34:13since when I have not seen or heard of my husband.
0:34:15 > 0:34:17I've lost all I ever possessed
0:34:17 > 0:34:21and my dead boys, ages 11 years and eight.
0:34:25 > 0:34:27I was rescued by a trawler.
0:34:27 > 0:34:32My dear husband was lost, but I had the satisfaction of finding him
0:34:32 > 0:34:37and seeing him laid to rest in the cemetery in Queenstown.
0:34:44 > 0:34:49Police reports were sent to relatives to identify the bodies.
0:34:50 > 0:34:561,200 people died on the Lusitania, including 128 Americans.
0:34:59 > 0:35:04At the battle fronts in Europe, tens of thousands were dying every day,
0:35:04 > 0:35:07but the fate of the Cunard liner overshadowed them.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16It led to the most widespread anti-German riots of the war.
0:35:19 > 0:35:24In Liverpool, an American joined the mob outside a German-owned shop.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28The crowd was growling and the shop was dark,
0:35:28 > 0:35:30but there were people upstairs.
0:35:30 > 0:35:34I picked up a brick and heaved it through a window.
0:35:34 > 0:35:37Then everyone took to shying them and in a few minutes,
0:35:37 > 0:35:40the place was a wreck.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43There were several policemen at the corner and they just grinned.
0:35:47 > 0:35:51With the sinking of the Lusitania, Germany had crossed a line.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56The world hates us as we are conducting a war in a brutal manner,
0:35:56 > 0:35:58and the brutality is increasing.
0:35:58 > 0:36:03I was at a party when a report of the Lusitania arrived.
0:36:03 > 0:36:08Two officers' wives, mad with joy, started to dance about the room.
0:36:08 > 0:36:13"Don't forget," I said, "there were women and children aboard."
0:36:13 > 0:36:16"That doesn't matter," they said, and danced on.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19"The more who go to the bottom, the better."
0:36:25 > 0:36:29The Lusitania came to stand for German barbarity.
0:36:32 > 0:36:35Britain stirred the indignation with propaganda -
0:36:35 > 0:36:40posters and even posed photographs rammed home what had happened.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47The German embassy in Washington received bomb threats.
0:36:49 > 0:36:54President Wilson began to see Germany as the "mad dog of the world".
0:36:56 > 0:37:01In God's name, how could any nation calling itself civilised
0:37:01 > 0:37:03do so horrible a thing?
0:37:07 > 0:37:11It seemed America might clamber down off the fence.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14But outrage soon gave way to caution.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Wilson reassured the nation that America would not go to war.
0:37:18 > 0:37:23There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26There is such a thing as a nation being so right
0:37:26 > 0:37:31that it does not need to convince others by force that it is right.
0:37:31 > 0:37:35And anyway, war would be very bad for business.
0:37:36 > 0:37:41Wilson kept the United States prepared but neutral for two more years.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50The sinking of the Lusitania was terrible,
0:37:50 > 0:37:55but it was not reason enough to throw away more lives, and profits,
0:37:55 > 0:37:57by joining in a distant war.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09Germany's policy in America after sinking the Lusitania was complex.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16She kept her U-boats in check, but not her spies.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25In 1916, German agents blew up Black Tom Island,
0:38:25 > 0:38:27a loading depot in New York harbour.
0:38:34 > 0:38:37It held 900 tons of ammunition destined for the Allies.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44Several thousand persons lined the sea wall and acquired a real picture
0:38:44 > 0:38:48of what the firing line in the European war looks like.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51The water line was one mass of red glare.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00The explosions were so strong,
0:39:00 > 0:39:03they were felt in Philadelphia, 90 miles away.
0:39:07 > 0:39:10German agents slipped bombs onto ships in US ports.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12There were assassination attempts
0:39:12 > 0:39:16and even a bomb planted in the US Capitol.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21German agents are everywhere.
0:39:21 > 0:39:24Extraordinary precautions are now necessary
0:39:24 > 0:39:28in the arms factories, at the docks and on board vessels,
0:39:28 > 0:39:31even vessels of the United States Navy.
0:39:38 > 0:39:42Hard evidence tying Germany to espionage against America
0:39:42 > 0:39:45came from one of the spies himself.
0:39:45 > 0:39:50Heinrich Albert left his briefcase on New York's elevated railway.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54It held documents proving the German embassy was bankrolling the sabotage.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59Two diplomats, including Franz von Papen,
0:39:59 > 0:40:02Hitler's future vice-chancellor, were expelled.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13But nothing got in the way of business on the New York stock exchange.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18When Germany won a battle, Allied stocks fell.
0:40:18 > 0:40:21When Britain won, her shares rose.
0:40:21 > 0:40:25American investors were betting on the war.
0:40:25 > 0:40:28For Cabinet minister David Lloyd George,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32there was a direct connection between battle and bank.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36Success means credit.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40Financiers never hesitate to lend to a prosperous concern.
0:40:42 > 0:40:46France and Russia paid for the war by borrowing from Britain.
0:40:46 > 0:40:50Britain raised money on the American stock market
0:40:50 > 0:40:53through her Wall Street bankers, JP Morgan.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57It was spent buying American armaments, American supplies.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03Of all the money raised in America to pay for the war,
0:41:03 > 0:41:0699% went to Britain and the Allies.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09It was something that made Germans wonder
0:41:09 > 0:41:12just how neutral America really was.
0:41:12 > 0:41:1530th January 1916.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19In financial circles, it is said England has won the war already
0:41:19 > 0:41:24and every day it goes on after March makes the ruin of Germany completer,
0:41:24 > 0:41:28no matter what her military successes may be.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32America lent so much that by the end of 1916,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36the central bank warned that people were betting too heavily on Britain.
0:41:36 > 0:41:40If the Allies lost, they might never get their money back.
0:41:43 > 0:41:47The thought that American cash might be backing the wrong side
0:41:47 > 0:41:51wiped a billion dollars off Allied stocks in a week.
0:41:53 > 0:41:56Germany's generals felt the odds were stacking up against them.
0:41:56 > 0:42:01They grew impatient at hesitant politicians tying their hands.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05In view of the military situation,
0:42:05 > 0:42:08we must lose no time in adopting the measure
0:42:08 > 0:42:12of torpedoing armed enemy merchantmen without notice.
0:42:12 > 0:42:17The Entente continue the war with all the resources at their disposal.
0:42:23 > 0:42:26Our ambassador prophesies war with America
0:42:26 > 0:42:32if we persist in torpedoing armed merchantmen without warning.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36The Kaiser wrote in the margin of the report "I do not care!"
0:42:39 > 0:42:44The Kaiser didn't care because of some key German calculations.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49His generals gambled that if America joined the Allies,
0:42:49 > 0:42:54she would not have a decisive impact on the fighting in Europe until 1919.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57Long before then,
0:42:57 > 0:43:01the U-boat campaign would bring Britain and France to their knees.
0:43:09 > 0:43:12One thing stayed Germany's hand.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17In December 1916, she put out a peace feeler to the Allies,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21believing she could hold on to her gains.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25The French and British leaders met in Paris and rejected the offer.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38Germany now staked everything on a new submarine campaign.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42U-boats would sink all ships on sight, without warning.
0:43:46 > 0:43:51February 2nd is a special and uplifting day for us Germans,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54the beginning of the all-out submarine war.
0:43:54 > 0:43:58We're holding our breaths and hoping with this radical medicine,
0:43:58 > 0:44:02we will finally cure England of her arrogance and secure a quick peace,
0:44:02 > 0:44:05the terms of which we will dictate.
0:44:07 > 0:44:11In April 1917, Germany sunk over 800,000 tons,
0:44:11 > 0:44:15causing panic at the British Admiralty.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19But Germany didn't have enough U-boats to sustain the success,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22and Allied ships were getting better at protecting themselves.
0:44:24 > 0:44:28Merchant ships now travelled not singly, but in convoy,
0:44:28 > 0:44:30with more destroyers to protect them.
0:44:32 > 0:44:34Airships and aeroplanes scouted overhead,
0:44:34 > 0:44:39looking for the telltale signs of submarines.
0:44:39 > 0:44:4263 U-boats were sunk in 1917 -
0:44:42 > 0:44:45three times the losses of the previous year.
0:44:52 > 0:44:55One captured U-boat was put on display in London.
0:44:55 > 0:44:5913,000 people paid to view it on the first day.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02Its German sailors couldn't believe the contrast
0:45:02 > 0:45:06between the Allied home front and their own.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11We remained in Dover for two and a half days
0:45:11 > 0:45:14and were plentifully supplied with food, drink and smokes,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17for you notice nothing of the war.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21There are no wooden soles or bicycles with wooden tyres
0:45:21 > 0:45:25and the butchers' shops have rows and rows of pigs hanging up.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28There is no prospect of starving England.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32I am glad, for the war is over for me.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38The second U-boat campaign was a double failure.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41It didn't deliver militarily -
0:45:41 > 0:45:44German submarines could not sink enough Allied ships -
0:45:44 > 0:45:50and it was a diplomatic disaster, pushing America to the brink of war.
0:45:56 > 0:45:59The final shove came from the men in Room 40.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03On 16th January 1917,
0:46:03 > 0:46:07Britain intercepted a telegram from German Foreign Secretary Zimmerman
0:46:07 > 0:46:10to his ambassador in Mexico City.
0:46:13 > 0:46:18The Zimmerman telegram was made up of a thousand numerical code groups.
0:46:18 > 0:46:20It took two weeks to decipher.
0:46:20 > 0:46:24As the meaning emerged, the men in Room 40 realised
0:46:24 > 0:46:28they held the most extraordinary intelligence of the war.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30Destined for the Mexican Government,
0:46:30 > 0:46:36it outlined Germany's plan for Mexico to invade the United States.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39We make Mexico a proposal of alliance
0:46:39 > 0:46:41with an understanding on our part
0:46:41 > 0:46:45that Mexico is to reconquer Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49The settlement in detail is left to you.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57Zimmerman's scheme was harebrained.
0:46:57 > 0:47:00Mexico was in the midst of revolution,
0:47:00 > 0:47:03US troops were already fighting bandits on the border.
0:47:03 > 0:47:07There was no way the Mexican Government wanted more trouble.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13But Germany's proposal was a godsend to Britain.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16It was just what she needed to end America's neutrality.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23Two weeks into the U-boat campaign,
0:47:23 > 0:47:26Britain called the US ambassador to the Foreign Office
0:47:26 > 0:47:29and passed over the telegram.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32It was, said Britain's Foreign Secretary,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35"as dramatic a moment as I remember in all my life."
0:47:39 > 0:47:43On 2nd April, President Wilson went to the Capitol.
0:47:43 > 0:47:48The United States had not declared war when the Lusitania went down,
0:47:48 > 0:47:52it had not declared war when spies blew up its shipyards,
0:47:52 > 0:47:57but Germany urging Mexico to attack America was in a different league.
0:48:00 > 0:48:05On 6th April 1917, the United States declared war against Germany.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45For three years, the country had played the war's banker and supplier.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50Now, as far as Wilson was concerned,
0:48:50 > 0:48:55America was fighting a crusade for international justice and democracy.
0:48:58 > 0:49:02The North Sea would remain dead until the very end.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10The Germans now set themselves a desperate task -
0:49:10 > 0:49:15to win the war before American troops arrived in force.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19President Wilson's liberal crusade would be up against new ideas,
0:49:19 > 0:49:22of socialism and revolution.
0:49:28 > 0:49:30In the next episode of The First World War,
0:49:30 > 0:49:34German spies sow rebellion in Ireland and Russia
0:49:34 > 0:49:37and French troops mutiny on the Western front -
0:49:37 > 0:49:39a war against war itself.