Revolution

0:00:17 > 0:00:20'Governments in World War I

0:00:20 > 0:00:23'feared one thing almost as much as military defeat -

0:00:23 > 0:00:25'revolution.'

0:00:26 > 0:00:30'By 1917, with victory on the battlefield still elusive,

0:00:30 > 0:00:32'and morale weakening,

0:00:32 > 0:00:35'both sides hoped to bring the enemy down from within.'

0:00:40 > 0:00:45'Strikes and unrest were sparks to be fanned into revolution -

0:00:45 > 0:00:47'transforming the war.'

0:01:30 > 0:01:35'Film from 1917 of one of Germany's wildest dreams coming true -

0:01:35 > 0:01:38'Russian troops stop fighting on the Eastern Front.'

0:01:40 > 0:01:45"It was funny to see our Ivans greeting the Germans."

0:01:45 > 0:01:48"The Germans gave our lads wine and cigars,

0:01:48 > 0:01:51"and they gave the Germans bread."

0:01:57 > 0:02:02"It turned out that one of the Germans had a camera."

0:02:02 > 0:02:05"He told us to stand in a line and took a picture."

0:02:07 > 0:02:08CAMERA SNAPS

0:02:11 > 0:02:17"Later, the photographer asked our lads to come and collect the photos."

0:02:24 > 0:02:28'Governments worried how to contain war weariness,

0:02:28 > 0:02:34'prevent discontent growing mutinous, stop mutiny becoming revolution.'

0:02:38 > 0:02:43'And governments realised that turning this problem on its head

0:02:43 > 0:02:45'offered a startling opportunity.

0:02:45 > 0:02:48'What if unrest could be harnessed?

0:02:48 > 0:02:51'Reined in hard in your own country but spurred on in the enemy's?'

0:02:56 > 0:02:59'In Cairo and Dublin, Petrograd and Zurich,

0:02:59 > 0:03:02'the Allies and Germans set agents working,

0:03:02 > 0:03:05'to exploit unrest and foment revolution.'

0:03:08 > 0:03:13'The glittering prize was to turn a whole people against its masters -

0:03:13 > 0:03:16'taking it out of the war completely.

0:03:16 > 0:03:19'In Russia, the Germans pulled it off,

0:03:19 > 0:03:22'backing the Bolsheviks to hijack a spontaneous revolution.'

0:03:30 > 0:03:33'Russia in 1917 was war-weary.'

0:03:34 > 0:03:38'Huge losses, poor leadership and corruption,

0:03:38 > 0:03:42'plus the nightmare logistics of a 900-mile front

0:03:42 > 0:03:45'left her army running on empty.'

0:03:49 > 0:03:54"I don't know whether Russia's dream of destroying Germany

0:03:54 > 0:03:56"will ever come true."

0:03:56 > 0:04:00"Probably not. We have nothing to fight with -

0:04:00 > 0:04:03"no rifles, no mortars, no explosives,

0:04:03 > 0:04:06"no boots, no overcoats. Nothing."

0:04:11 > 0:04:15'But incredibly, Russia's army held the line.

0:04:15 > 0:04:18'It was the home front that cracked first.'

0:04:21 > 0:04:24'Petrograd, now St Petersburg,

0:04:24 > 0:04:27'Russia's capital and industrial powerhouse,

0:04:27 > 0:04:29'seethed with discontent.'

0:04:31 > 0:04:35'Its factories were swollen with workers,

0:04:35 > 0:04:38'with little to eat and cramped housing.'

0:04:51 > 0:04:56'A demonstration on the 8th of March 1917 began peacefully.'

0:04:57 > 0:05:00"It was a glorious sunny, frosty day

0:05:00 > 0:05:04"and all the people were in an excellent mood.

0:05:04 > 0:05:08"They were singing the Marseillaise and asking for bread."

0:05:17 > 0:05:20'But the Tsar ordered the protests crushed.'

0:05:24 > 0:05:29'On Znamenskoye Square, in the heart of Petrograd, the killing began.'

0:05:32 > 0:05:35'Sergeant Sergei Kirpichnikov was there.'

0:05:35 > 0:05:40"The ensign ordered the bugler to play three signals."

0:05:40 > 0:05:45"Then he commanded 'Rifles, ready, aim, fire!'"

0:05:45 > 0:05:46GUNSHOTS

0:05:46 > 0:05:48"Everybody scattered."

0:05:48 > 0:05:51"One man was down. A woman fell."

0:05:57 > 0:06:01'Over 50 civilians were shot dead.

0:06:01 > 0:06:04'The massacre forced Petrograd's soldiers to choose.

0:06:04 > 0:06:08'Whom to defend - the people or the Tsar?'

0:06:10 > 0:06:11'Back in barracks,

0:06:11 > 0:06:15'Sergei Kirpichnikov spoke to his comrades.'

0:06:16 > 0:06:19'It would be better to die with honour

0:06:19 > 0:06:23'than obey further orders to shoot into the crowds.'

0:06:23 > 0:06:26'Our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and brides

0:06:26 > 0:06:29'are begging for bread. Are we going to kill them?'

0:06:35 > 0:06:39'They shot their duty officer dead and poured onto the streets,

0:06:39 > 0:06:42'joining other mutineers and workers.'

0:06:54 > 0:06:59'British journalist Arthur Ransome cabled his office in London.'

0:06:59 > 0:07:06'About 200 persons killed, stop. Local police chief lying dead, stop.

0:07:06 > 0:07:09'Revolution definitely begun.'

0:07:13 > 0:07:17'The troops gathered support at barracks and factories.'

0:07:21 > 0:07:23'They seized the city centre,

0:07:23 > 0:07:28'set up barricades, occupied railway stations and the telephone exchange.'

0:07:30 > 0:07:33'Britain's military attache, Sir Alfred Knox,

0:07:33 > 0:07:37'was in the Artillery Administration when the building came under attack.'

0:07:40 > 0:07:43"Outside came a great disorderly mass of soldiery.

0:07:43 > 0:07:47"All were armed and many had red flags on their bayonets.

0:07:47 > 0:07:48CRASH GLASS SHATTERING

0:07:48 > 0:07:51"Soon we heard the windows and door on the ground floor being broken in

0:07:51 > 0:07:53"and the sound of shots.

0:07:53 > 0:07:57"Most officers were leaving the Department by a back door."

0:08:03 > 0:08:08'In a matter of days, the Tsar's regime was spinning into free fall.'

0:08:08 > 0:08:11"The revolution has begun."

0:08:11 > 0:08:13"What happiness!"

0:08:13 > 0:08:16"The cursed autocracy is destroyed."

0:08:16 > 0:08:20"The soldiers have gone onto the streets, the officers are hiding."

0:08:20 > 0:08:24"It's all so unexpected and everything's going at a gallop."

0:08:24 > 0:08:26"We've all gone mad with joy."

0:08:30 > 0:08:33'Soldiers ordered into the city to restore control

0:08:33 > 0:08:35'simply joined the mutiny.'

0:08:45 > 0:08:48'The Tsar was forced to abdicate

0:08:48 > 0:08:51'and a provisional government formed at the Tauride Palace.'

0:08:55 > 0:08:58'Russia's new rulers had their hands full running a war

0:08:58 > 0:09:00'while riding a revolution.'

0:09:07 > 0:09:10'Germany looked to exploit the turmoil in Russia.

0:09:10 > 0:09:15'And Russia's allies, Britain and France, crossed their fingers.

0:09:15 > 0:09:18'They too had experienced worker discontent.'

0:09:20 > 0:09:21'March 1916,

0:09:21 > 0:09:26'Londoners gather at Tower Hill to protest against conscription.'

0:09:29 > 0:09:32'There was also opposition in Scotland,

0:09:32 > 0:09:37'inspired by the fiery speeches of trade union leader Willie Gallacher.'

0:09:37 > 0:09:41'Thousands of our fellows have sacrificed their lives

0:09:41 > 0:09:46'fighting against the Prussianism they propose to foist upon us here.

0:09:46 > 0:09:49'Workers of the Clyde, you must prepare for action.

0:09:49 > 0:09:53'When this loathsome enemy of freedom raises its head,

0:09:53 > 0:09:56'you must strike to kill.'

0:10:01 > 0:10:06'Workers march down Whitehall for better wages and lower prices.

0:10:06 > 0:10:13'Around 17 million working days were lost to strikes in Britain between 1915 and 1918.'

0:10:15 > 0:10:19'There were strikes by miners in South Wales,

0:10:19 > 0:10:22'engineers in Coventry, Sheffield and Manchester

0:10:22 > 0:10:27'and shipbuilders on Teesside, Tyneside and the Clyde.'

0:10:30 > 0:10:33'The army kept 200,000 troops in Britain

0:10:33 > 0:10:37'to guard against invasion and civilian uprising.'

0:10:44 > 0:10:48'But David Lloyd George, as Minister of Munitions and then Prime Minister,

0:10:48 > 0:10:53'preferred to give in to strikers, rather than crush them.'

0:10:55 > 0:10:58'Father of the state pension and National Insurance schemes,

0:10:58 > 0:11:02'Lloyd George commanded working class support.'

0:11:07 > 0:11:11'He used concession, not confrontation

0:11:11 > 0:11:13'to maintain industrial output.'

0:11:18 > 0:11:22'Negotiators with the unions were given strict instructions.'

0:11:23 > 0:11:26'If a strike appears to be inevitable,

0:11:26 > 0:11:29'all the concessions asked for should be granted.'

0:11:31 > 0:11:36'But while Britain kept a lid on unrest, France could not.'

0:11:51 > 0:11:54'Throughout the First World War,

0:11:54 > 0:11:57'Paris lived under the shadow of German invasion.'

0:12:04 > 0:12:06'But after three winters of fighting,

0:12:06 > 0:12:09'France's stability was being undermined

0:12:09 > 0:12:11'by a wave of stoppages and protests.'

0:12:15 > 0:12:18'Many of the dissenters were women

0:12:18 > 0:12:21'who couldn't be intimidated by the threat of military service.'

0:12:25 > 0:12:28"Everybody is complaining in Paris."

0:12:28 > 0:12:32"People are on strike over the price rises and the lack of fuel.

0:12:32 > 0:12:36"Can't you just hear the rising strains of revolution?"

0:12:39 > 0:12:42"These troubles are justified.

0:12:42 > 0:12:47"While the people work themselves to death to scrape a living,

0:12:47 > 0:12:51"the bosses and big industrialists grow fat in record time,

0:12:51 > 0:12:54"and all we can do is grin and bear it."

0:12:57 > 0:12:59'These ideas did reach the front,

0:12:59 > 0:13:03'but what pushed the French army towards mutiny in 1917

0:13:03 > 0:13:08'was a history of poorly planned and ill-conducted battles.

0:13:08 > 0:13:11'The final straw was a doomed attack

0:13:11 > 0:13:13'devised by its own Commander-in-chief,

0:13:13 > 0:13:15'General Robert Georges Nivelle.'

0:13:17 > 0:13:20'The offensive alone can give victory.'

0:13:20 > 0:13:24'The defensive gives only defeat and shame.'

0:13:26 > 0:13:31'On the 16th April 1917, Nivelle ordered over a million Frenchmen

0:13:31 > 0:13:35'to attack a heavily defended German-held ridge

0:13:35 > 0:13:37'known as the Chemin des Dames.'

0:13:41 > 0:13:43'After storming this ridge,

0:13:43 > 0:13:46'Nivelle expected his armies to smash through

0:13:46 > 0:13:48'seven miles of German defences.'

0:13:51 > 0:13:53GUNFIRE

0:14:01 > 0:14:06'We were faced by a forest of wire. Machine guns appeared everywhere.

0:14:06 > 0:14:09'There were traps of every description.

0:14:09 > 0:14:11'The ground was impassable.

0:14:21 > 0:14:25'40,000 Frenchmen were killed in the first days,

0:14:25 > 0:14:28'but Nivelle ordered the assault to continue.'

0:14:34 > 0:14:36GUNFIRE

0:14:36 > 0:14:40'Casualties reached 150,000 by the 5th of May.

0:14:40 > 0:14:43'Then the men snapped.'

0:14:43 > 0:14:48"I am one of the most persistent in spreading propaganda.

0:14:48 > 0:14:53"I know that I am risking my hide, but by this means I might save it.

0:14:53 > 0:14:57"My darling, say with me 'Down with the war that separates us,

0:14:57 > 0:15:01and long live the revolution that in bringing peace will reunite us.'

0:15:01 > 0:15:04"I love you and I don't want to die."

0:15:11 > 0:15:16'The village of Coeuvres, 20 miles south of the Chemin des Dames.'

0:15:17 > 0:15:20'The mayor watched what happened

0:15:20 > 0:15:24'when the 370th infantry regiment was ordered to the front.'

0:15:29 > 0:15:34'The soldiers spilled out into the whole village screaming with rage,

0:15:34 > 0:15:37'firing rifles and singing the Internationale.'

0:15:41 > 0:15:46'Toward morning, they formed columns and made their way to the woods.'

0:15:51 > 0:15:55'By June 1917, half the French army was affected.

0:15:55 > 0:15:58'Men refused to return to the trenches.'

0:15:59 > 0:16:02"We seemed absolutely powerless.

0:16:02 > 0:16:05"From every section of the front,

0:16:05 > 0:16:08news arrived of regiments refusing to man the trenches.

0:16:08 > 0:16:11"The slightest German attack would have been enough

0:16:11 > 0:16:15"to tumble our house of cards and bring the enemy to Paris."

0:16:21 > 0:16:24'But the Germans had no inkling of the French mutiny.'

0:16:26 > 0:16:29'It was a massive intelligence failure.'

0:16:34 > 0:16:36'Four days after their mutiny,

0:16:36 > 0:16:40'the troops from Coeuvres gave themselves up at a nearby village.'

0:16:42 > 0:16:47"They emerged from the wood in perfect order, in columns of four -

0:16:47 > 0:16:50"all flawlessly groomed and polished"

0:16:52 > 0:16:56'The French soldiers' actions were more like a strike, than a mutiny.

0:16:56 > 0:16:58'They won important concessions -

0:16:58 > 0:17:02'better leave arrangements, more rest, improved medical conditions.'

0:17:08 > 0:17:13"All we wanted was to call the government's attention to us,

0:17:13 > 0:17:17"make it see that we are men and not beasts for the slaughterhouse."

0:17:17 > 0:17:20CHEERING

0:17:25 > 0:17:27'Nivelle was sacked.

0:17:27 > 0:17:31'His replacement, General Philippe Petain reversed French strategy,

0:17:31 > 0:17:34'making defence the order of the day.'

0:17:36 > 0:17:39'The men were given patriotic instruction

0:17:39 > 0:17:42'and reminded why they were fighting.

0:17:42 > 0:17:47'But Petain also knew that discipline had to be restored.

0:17:47 > 0:17:52'The tactic was to execute a few but force thousands to watch.'

0:17:56 > 0:18:00'Photographs taken secretly at a French military execution.

0:18:00 > 0:18:02'A man is tied to a post.'

0:18:06 > 0:18:09'The order is given to fire.'

0:18:09 > 0:18:11GUNFIRE

0:18:13 > 0:18:16'Soldiers are paraded past the body.'

0:18:19 > 0:18:24'Louis Flourac was one of the 49 death sentences carried out.'

0:18:26 > 0:18:30'He was shot here in Chacrise by his comrades,

0:18:30 > 0:18:33'some of whom hated what they were doing.'

0:18:35 > 0:18:39"I see the dead every single day in the trenches.

0:18:39 > 0:18:44"But this is different. I'm a man who has shot his friends."

0:18:53 > 0:18:57'Italy's soldiers were also growing war weary.

0:18:57 > 0:19:00'Unlike its French counterpart,

0:19:00 > 0:19:05'Italian High Command saw punishment as the way to maintain morale.

0:19:05 > 0:19:09'Chief of Staff General Cadorna was merciless.'

0:19:10 > 0:19:13"Every soldier must be convinced of the fact

0:19:13 > 0:19:16"that his superior has the sacred duty

0:19:16 > 0:19:20"to shoot all cowards and recalcitrants immediately."

0:19:24 > 0:19:28'Cadorna's iron grip led to massive discontent.'

0:19:29 > 0:19:33'For months, it simmered below the surface,

0:19:33 > 0:19:36'until the Battle of Caporetto in October 1917.'

0:19:38 > 0:19:41'The Italian army was hit here, in the Isonzo River Valley,

0:19:41 > 0:19:44'by a massive Austro-Hungarian/German attack.'

0:19:46 > 0:19:48GUNFIRE

0:19:54 > 0:19:58'Resistance in armies took many forms.

0:19:58 > 0:20:01'The Italians didn't openly refuse to fight,

0:20:01 > 0:20:05'they just began surrendering to the enemy en masse.'

0:20:06 > 0:20:10"By dawn, we were surrounded and the Germans finally took us prisoner

0:20:10 > 0:20:15"and we were happy because we'd saved our lives.

0:20:15 > 0:20:18"Farewell Italy. Farewell family,

0:20:18 > 0:20:21"I am now in the hands of the Germans."

0:20:24 > 0:20:28'A young lieutenant in the German Alpenkorps, Erwin Rommel,

0:20:28 > 0:20:33'took over 1,000 Italians prisoner without firing a single shot.'

0:20:39 > 0:20:43"The soldiers threw away their weapons and hurried to me.

0:20:43 > 0:20:48"In an instant, I was surrounded and hoisted onto Italian shoulders.

0:20:48 > 0:20:52"'Eviva Germania!' sounded from 1,000 throats.

0:20:52 > 0:20:55"An Italian officer who hesitated to surrender

0:20:55 > 0:20:57"was shot down by his own troops.

0:20:57 > 0:21:01"For the Italians on Mrzli Peak, the war was over.

0:21:01 > 0:21:03"They shouted with joy."

0:21:05 > 0:21:08"I am writing this at 11:00 at night,

0:21:08 > 0:21:11"most comfortably ensconced in the Italian officer's mess.

0:21:11 > 0:21:14"There is a huge stock of delicious wines

0:21:14 > 0:21:16"which we are getting through in record time

0:21:16 > 0:21:19"so I hope there is no question of a counter-attack.

0:21:19 > 0:21:23"We've captured machine guns, heavy artillery and personal weapons.

0:21:23 > 0:21:28"These are of the highest order but show little sign of actual use."

0:21:33 > 0:21:38SINGING

0:21:38 > 0:21:44'Some 300,000 Italian soldiers surrendered in the winter of 1917.

0:21:44 > 0:21:49'As many again retreated down these mountain tracks, with fleeing civilians.'

0:21:51 > 0:21:56"They stroll past, with their hands in their pockets.

0:21:56 > 0:21:57"When questioned,

0:21:57 > 0:22:01"they say they pulled out because they were told to."

0:22:01 > 0:22:05'Who told them? No-one knows - the next man along.'

0:22:06 > 0:22:08SINGING

0:22:15 > 0:22:19"What a terrible and heart-wrenching sight it was -

0:22:19 > 0:22:22"the poor women with their little ones bundled up

0:22:22 > 0:22:26"walking towards Italy to save their lives."

0:22:26 > 0:22:28SINGING

0:22:32 > 0:22:36'Italy's high command sacked General Cadorna and regained control

0:22:36 > 0:22:40'by easing discipline and making concessions to the soldiers

0:22:40 > 0:22:42'as the French had done.'

0:22:44 > 0:22:47'But the price of unrest was high -

0:22:47 > 0:22:50'the fighting strength of the Italian army had been halved.'

0:22:53 > 0:22:56'And while governments wrestled with unrest at home,

0:22:56 > 0:23:00'they were also stirring up trouble abroad.'

0:23:06 > 0:23:08CAMELS GRUNT

0:23:19 > 0:23:24'Britain had been plotting to destabilise the Ottoman Empire since the war began.'

0:23:36 > 0:23:40'Ottoman Turkey was Germany's ally in the Middle East.

0:23:40 > 0:23:43'Her empire stretched across Arabia into the Hejaz,

0:23:43 > 0:23:49'a vast desert area which included the holy cities of Medina and Mecca.

0:23:49 > 0:23:51'Their loss would undermine the Turks' standing

0:23:51 > 0:23:54'in the Muslim world and boost Britain's.'

0:23:57 > 0:24:02'The British turned to the Hejaz Arabs holding out the carrot of independence

0:24:02 > 0:24:06'if they rose up against their Turkish masters.'

0:24:07 > 0:24:11'If the Arab nation assist England

0:24:11 > 0:24:15'in this war that has been forced upon us by Turkey,

0:24:15 > 0:24:19'England guarantees that no internal intervention will take place in Arabia,

0:24:19 > 0:24:24'and will give Arabs every assistance against foreign aggression.'

0:24:27 > 0:24:32'The idea of Britain backing Arabian independence worried the India Office.'

0:24:34 > 0:24:40"A strong Arab state might be more dangerous to Christendom than a strong Ottoman state,

0:24:40 > 0:24:44"and Lord Kitchener's policy of destroying one Islamic state

0:24:44 > 0:24:46"merely for the purpose of creating another,

0:24:46 > 0:24:49"has always seemed to me disastrous."

0:24:52 > 0:24:55'The India Office needn't have worried.

0:24:55 > 0:24:58'Kitchener was playing a cynical game,

0:24:58 > 0:25:02'never intending to hand real power to the Arabs of the Hejaz.'

0:25:05 > 0:25:09'But the British showered the Emir of Mecca, Sherif Hussein, with gold,

0:25:09 > 0:25:13'and dropped hints that if all went well,

0:25:13 > 0:25:17'he might realise his dream of becoming leader of the Arabs.'

0:25:19 > 0:25:23'On the 5th June 1916, the Arab Revolt began.'

0:25:25 > 0:25:27'Mecca quickly fell to the rebels

0:25:27 > 0:25:32'but the main Turkish garrison at Medina held its ground.

0:25:32 > 0:25:37'The Turkish commander, Fahri Pasha, refused to surrender.'

0:25:37 > 0:25:41"Until my soldiers are buried under the rubble of Medina,

0:25:41 > 0:25:44"in a crimson shroud of blood and fire,

0:25:44 > 0:25:49"the red flag of the Ottomans shall never be removed from Medina."

0:25:52 > 0:25:55'The uprising commanded no popular support.'

0:25:57 > 0:26:00'But the British did have a man on the spot -

0:26:00 > 0:26:04'TE Lawrence, a charismatic 28-year-old officer

0:26:04 > 0:26:08'attached to Sherif Hussein's forces in the Hejaz.

0:26:08 > 0:26:13'Lawrence spoke Arabic. He saw where the Arabs' strengths lay.'

0:26:13 > 0:26:18'I think one company of Turks, properly entrenched in open country,

0:26:18 > 0:26:20'would defeat the Sherif's armies.

0:26:20 > 0:26:24'Their real sphere is guerrilla warfare. They'd dynamite a railway,

0:26:24 > 0:26:28'plunder a caravan, steal camels better than anyone.'

0:26:39 > 0:26:42'The Turks were most vulnerable

0:26:42 > 0:26:45'along their stretched lines of communication.

0:26:45 > 0:26:49'Lawrence and the Arabs became experts in railway sabotage.'

0:26:56 > 0:26:59"The last stunt was the hold-up of a train.

0:26:59 > 0:27:03"The whole job took ten minutes and they lost 70 killed.

0:27:03 > 0:27:07"My loot was a superfine red baluch prayer rug.

0:27:07 > 0:27:09"I hope this sounds the fun it is.

0:27:09 > 0:27:14"It's the most amateurish, Buffalo Billy sort of performance."

0:27:27 > 0:27:31'A German on the train saw the attack differently.'

0:27:31 > 0:27:37"The Bedouin mob came bursting into the carriage to kill and plunder.

0:27:37 > 0:27:41"I could feel the blood pouring down my body, but I was left alone.

0:27:41 > 0:27:45"The thieves' minds were drawn towards looting,

0:27:45 > 0:27:49having killed 40 men, women and children and taken the rest captive."

0:27:54 > 0:27:58'TE Lawrence adopted the cause of Arab nationalism.'

0:28:03 > 0:28:07"I hope that the Turkish flag may disappear from the Arabia.

0:28:07 > 0:28:10"It is so good to have helped in making a new nation

0:28:10 > 0:28:13"and I hate the Turks so much

0:28:13 > 0:28:16"that to see their own people turning on them is very gratifying."

0:28:24 > 0:28:27'TE Lawrence now dressed as an Arab.'

0:28:27 > 0:28:32'He asked his mother for help with his costume.'

0:28:32 > 0:28:35"If that silk headcloth with the silver ducks on it,

0:28:35 > 0:28:39"last used, I believe, as a tablecloth still exists,

0:28:39 > 0:28:40"will you send it out to me?

0:28:40 > 0:28:43"Such things are hard to get here now."

0:28:46 > 0:28:52'Capturing Turkish-held Jerusalem was a key British objective in 1917.

0:28:52 > 0:28:54'Seizing the port of Akaba

0:28:54 > 0:28:58'would strengthen the Arabs' case for a role in the campaign.

0:28:58 > 0:29:02'Lawrence realised that all Akaba's guns pointed out to sea -

0:29:02 > 0:29:05'the town was defenceless from the rear.'

0:29:07 > 0:29:12'That meant a 600-mile ride across the Hejaz, at the height of summer.'

0:29:22 > 0:29:24"Mud flats are purgatory.

0:29:24 > 0:29:28"Sun reflects from them like mirror, flame yellow,

0:29:28 > 0:29:30"cutting into our eyes."

0:29:45 > 0:29:49'Seven weeks later, the Arab force reappeared outside Akaba -

0:29:49 > 0:29:52'catching the Turks totally off guard.'

0:29:52 > 0:29:54GUNFIRE

0:29:56 > 0:29:59'The town fell just four days later.'

0:30:03 > 0:30:05'The Middle East was stunned.'

0:30:08 > 0:30:11'General Allenby, commanding British forces in the region,

0:30:11 > 0:30:16'now wrote the Arab Revolt into his Jerusalem campaign -

0:30:16 > 0:30:20'reinforcing it with armoured cars, air support, artillery

0:30:20 > 0:30:22'and colonial troops.'

0:30:29 > 0:30:33'On the 11th December 1917, Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot

0:30:33 > 0:30:36'with his officers, including Lawrence.'

0:30:39 > 0:30:44'The Arabs would find they had won not self-rule, but new masters.'

0:30:44 > 0:30:47'Lawrence knew all along that the Arabs of the Hejaz

0:30:47 > 0:30:50'were merely the tools of British subversion,

0:30:50 > 0:30:52'as he admitted long after.'

0:30:54 > 0:30:58"The Arabs saw in me a free agent of the British Government

0:30:58 > 0:31:01"and demanded from me an endorsement of its written promises.

0:31:01 > 0:31:07"So, I joined the conspiracy and assured the men of their reward.

0:31:07 > 0:31:10"I was continually and bitterly ashamed.

0:31:10 > 0:31:12"Had I been an honest advisor of the Arabs,

0:31:12 > 0:31:15"I would have advised them to go home

0:31:15 > 0:31:18"and not risk their lives fighting for such stuff."

0:31:26 > 0:31:30'While Britain was sponsoring subversion against Germany's ally, Turkey,

0:31:30 > 0:31:35'she had her own weak spot, right on her doorstep - Ireland.'

0:31:40 > 0:31:43'Britain had promised Ireland Home Rule,

0:31:43 > 0:31:46'but the First World War shelved all that.'

0:31:47 > 0:31:53'200,000 Irishmen, Catholics and Protestants, would fight for Britain.

0:31:53 > 0:31:56'About 30,000 of them would die.'

0:32:04 > 0:32:09'But the Irish Republican Brotherhood, forerunners of the IRA,

0:32:09 > 0:32:13'believed England's difficulty was Ireland's opportunity.

0:32:13 > 0:32:15'Padraic Pearse saw the war

0:32:15 > 0:32:19'as a chance for Ireland to free herself from British rule.'

0:32:21 > 0:32:26"The European war has brought about a crisis which may contain,

0:32:26 > 0:32:28"as yet hidden within it,

0:32:28 > 0:32:32"the moment for which generations have been waiting.

0:32:32 > 0:32:36"We shall see whether, if that moment reveals itself,

0:32:36 > 0:32:40"we have the sight to see and the courage to do."

0:32:42 > 0:32:44'Germany, for many republicans,

0:32:44 > 0:32:48'had always been a good place to plot revolution.'

0:32:49 > 0:32:52'Erskine Childers was famous in Britain,

0:32:52 > 0:32:55'the country he now sought to undermine.'

0:32:57 > 0:33:00'His best-selling novel, The Riddle Of The Sands,

0:33:00 > 0:33:04'had warned Britain of the dangers she faced from the German Navy.

0:33:04 > 0:33:08'By July 1914, his sympathies had switched.

0:33:08 > 0:33:13'He put to sea in his yacht, the Asgard, to run guns.

0:33:13 > 0:33:16'He photographed the operation.'

0:33:18 > 0:33:20'Leaving Hamburg under tow.'

0:33:23 > 0:33:25'Sailing back to Ireland.

0:33:25 > 0:33:32'His wife and a friend with two of the 900 rifles they'd collected from Germany.

0:33:32 > 0:33:36'And the scene after Childers docked outside Dublin.

0:33:36 > 0:33:41'Crowds cheer as the guns are driven away by car.'

0:33:41 > 0:33:43GUNFIRE

0:33:47 > 0:33:50'Two years later, the German guns were put to use

0:33:50 > 0:33:54'when 1,600 Irish revolutionaries rose up in Dublin.'

0:33:59 > 0:34:02"Easter Monday, 1916.

0:34:02 > 0:34:06"Sinn Feiners occupy railway stations, the GPO and other places.

0:34:06 > 0:34:11"They've blocked the streets near Stephen's Green

0:34:11 > 0:34:14"and are shooting at anyone they see in khaki.

0:34:14 > 0:34:17"We used to think we were clear of the war here in Ireland,

0:34:17 > 0:34:20"but we've certainly got it close enough now."

0:34:27 > 0:34:31'The moment for which Padraic Pearse had been waiting had come.

0:34:31 > 0:34:35'He read out the historic proclamation of the Irish Republic -

0:34:35 > 0:34:39'a document which acknowledges the support of "gallant allies in Europe."'

0:34:41 > 0:34:45'Who were these gallant allies and what had they done?'

0:34:59 > 0:35:02'Germany had long seen subversion in Ireland

0:35:02 > 0:35:04'as a way of destabilising Britain.'

0:35:10 > 0:35:12'In August 1914, Sir Roger Casement,

0:35:12 > 0:35:16'an Irish republican and one-time darling of the British establishment,

0:35:16 > 0:35:20'gave the Germans the opportunity they were looking for.

0:35:20 > 0:35:22'He wrote to the Kaiser with an offer.'

0:35:24 > 0:35:26"We draw Your Majesty's attention

0:35:26 > 0:35:33"to the part that Ireland necessarily, if not openly, must play in this conflict.

0:35:33 > 0:35:36"Ireland must be freed from British control.

0:35:36 > 0:35:41"Thousands of Irishmen will do their part to aid the German cause,

0:35:41 > 0:35:45"for they recognise that it is their own."

0:35:47 > 0:35:50'Casement sailed for Berlin in disguise

0:35:50 > 0:35:53'and in the winter of 1914 he met Arthur Zimmermann -

0:35:53 > 0:35:56'a future Foreign Minister,

0:35:56 > 0:35:59'and the man in charge of Germany's subversive operations.'

0:36:02 > 0:36:04'Zimmermann was impressed by Casement

0:36:04 > 0:36:08'and began to wonder if a small German landing on Irish soil

0:36:08 > 0:36:11'might cause the British massive problems.'

0:36:14 > 0:36:17'His diplomats in America raised funds from

0:36:17 > 0:36:19'the Irish community in New York.'

0:36:21 > 0:36:28"It is proposed to undertake an invasion with 25,000 troops with 50,000 extra guns.

0:36:28 > 0:36:34"Then undoubtedly, the co-operation of all Irish in the British Army will follow.

0:36:34 > 0:36:39"There is strong friction between Irish and English in northern France."

0:36:42 > 0:36:45'Zimmermann's uprising was to be four-pronged.

0:36:45 > 0:36:49'The dispatch of German weapons to Irish rebels,

0:36:49 > 0:36:53'the landing of a German expeditionary force on the west coast,

0:36:53 > 0:36:56'German submarines to seize Dublin harbour

0:36:56 > 0:37:00'and diversionary zeppelin bombing raids on London.'

0:37:07 > 0:37:10'Germany's High Command got cold feet

0:37:10 > 0:37:14'and refused to commit an invasion force.'

0:37:14 > 0:37:18'But in April 1916, the zeppelin raids did take place,

0:37:18 > 0:37:22'a submarine was sent to the west coast

0:37:22 > 0:37:26'and an arms boat carrying 20,000 rifles, ten machine guns

0:37:26 > 0:37:28'and a million rounds of ammunition

0:37:28 > 0:37:31'was dispatched for Ireland,

0:37:31 > 0:37:33'under the command of Captain Karl Spindler.'

0:37:35 > 0:37:39"Gradually rising out of the water was Inishtooshkert Island -

0:37:39 > 0:37:41"our rendezvous.

0:37:41 > 0:37:43"Within half an hour, at the latest,

0:37:43 > 0:37:46"the pilot boat must make her appearance."

0:37:49 > 0:37:53'But the Irish expected him two days later,

0:37:53 > 0:37:57'so the Germans sat in the bay till caught by a British patrol.'

0:37:58 > 0:38:03'Captain Spindler scuttled his boat rather than surrender the arms.'

0:38:05 > 0:38:09"The German naval ensign was run up, bidding defiance to the British.

0:38:09 > 0:38:11"Then there was a muffled explosion."

0:38:11 > 0:38:13EXPLOSION

0:38:13 > 0:38:16"Beams and splinters flew up in the air.

0:38:16 > 0:38:20"The Aud sank with a loud hissing noise."

0:38:23 > 0:38:27'The Uprising's hope of success sank with the German arms.

0:38:27 > 0:38:31'Many rebels now abandoned the project.

0:38:31 > 0:38:33'But a hard core minority,

0:38:33 > 0:38:37'armed with the rifles Childers brought from Hamburg two years before,

0:38:37 > 0:38:42'decided to make a symbolic gesture of defiance.'

0:38:42 > 0:38:44GUNFIRE

0:38:44 > 0:38:49'On Easter Monday 1916, they seized key points in Dublin.'

0:38:50 > 0:38:53'The British responded with machine guns and artillery fire

0:38:53 > 0:38:56'and shipped in 10,000 men from the mainland.'

0:38:57 > 0:39:01'Few Dubliners mourned the crushing of the rebellion.'

0:39:02 > 0:39:05'Guinness brewer Edward Phillips

0:39:05 > 0:39:11'had his disused boilers converted into armoured cars for the British.'

0:39:11 > 0:39:16"Rang up military and offered motor lorries, gladly accepted.

0:39:16 > 0:39:21"Sent out for drivers who lived close - they all consented."

0:39:23 > 0:39:27'Over 1,000 civilians were caught in the crossfire,

0:39:27 > 0:39:30and as the British took the rebels into custody,

0:39:30 > 0:39:33'the people of Dublin pelted them with vegetables

0:39:33 > 0:39:36'and emptied chamberpots over their heads.'

0:39:38 > 0:39:42'Many had sons and fathers fighting on the Western Front

0:39:42 > 0:39:48'and were outraged by the Uprising's German connections.

0:39:48 > 0:39:50'But now the British made a terrible blunder -

0:39:50 > 0:39:53'throwing away their moral authority

0:39:53 > 0:39:55'and transforming the Easter Rising

0:39:55 > 0:39:58'into the seminal event of Irish statehood.'

0:40:00 > 0:40:02SINGING IN GAELIC

0:40:07 > 0:40:10'They sentenced the leaders of the Uprising to death,

0:40:10 > 0:40:12'starting with Pearse.'

0:40:12 > 0:40:15'He admitted to the court...'

0:40:15 > 0:40:19"I asked for and accepted German aid

0:40:19 > 0:40:23"in the shape of arms and an expeditionary force.

0:40:23 > 0:40:25"My aim was to win Irish freedom."

0:40:25 > 0:40:27SINGING IN GAELIC

0:40:29 > 0:40:33'Over ten days, the men were brought into the execution yard

0:40:33 > 0:40:35'at Kilmainham Jail and shot.'

0:40:35 > 0:40:37GUNFIRE

0:40:40 > 0:40:43'James Connolly was so wounded in the uprising

0:40:43 > 0:40:45'that he had to be shot sitting down.'

0:40:45 > 0:40:47GUNFIRE

0:40:47 > 0:40:50SINGING IN GAELIC

0:40:50 > 0:40:54'Dublin fell silent as Britain turned 16 men into martyrs.'

0:40:54 > 0:40:57GUNFIRE

0:40:57 > 0:41:02'People who had thrown rotten fruit at them now saw them as heroes.'

0:41:02 > 0:41:04GUNFIRE

0:41:04 > 0:41:09'Britain turned the failed uprising into a national cause.'

0:41:09 > 0:41:11GUNFIRE

0:41:11 > 0:41:16'Zimmermann's next challenge was in a different league.'

0:41:22 > 0:41:27'Could Germany exploit Russia's revolution of March 1917

0:41:27 > 0:41:30'to lever Russia out of the First World War?'

0:41:32 > 0:41:36'Almost all the ingredients were in place -

0:41:36 > 0:41:38'a major civilian uprising,

0:41:38 > 0:41:41'restless troops at the front

0:41:41 > 0:41:43'and a toothless leadership in the rear.'

0:41:45 > 0:41:50'The Germans lacked just one piece of the jigsaw - a charismatic leader.

0:41:50 > 0:41:53'But they had someone in mind.'

0:41:55 > 0:41:59'Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was leader of the Bolsheviks -

0:41:59 > 0:42:03'a small group of extreme Russian radicals.

0:42:03 > 0:42:06'They'd spent many hours over the past 14 years

0:42:06 > 0:42:11'plotting revolution in coffeehouses and prison cells.

0:42:11 > 0:42:14'When at last it came, they were caught on the hop.

0:42:14 > 0:42:19'Stalin was in Siberia, Bukharin was in New York and Lenin was in Zurich.'

0:42:22 > 0:42:24'"What torture it is for us," Lenin wrote,

0:42:24 > 0:42:27"to be sitting here at such a time."

0:42:27 > 0:42:30'He knew the Allies would never allow him passage.

0:42:30 > 0:42:33'The obvious route lay through Germany and Sweden,

0:42:33 > 0:42:36'but would Germany let him through?'

0:42:37 > 0:42:40'German agents had long watched Lenin.

0:42:40 > 0:42:45'They knew he wanted their enemy, Russia, out of the war.'

0:42:45 > 0:42:49"Lenin's strong side is his organisational talent.

0:42:49 > 0:42:53"He possesses the most brutal and relentless energy.

0:42:53 > 0:42:58"Lenin's view is 'It doesn't matter who wins the war.

0:42:58 > 0:43:02"'The defeat of Russia is preferable, victory worse.'"

0:43:02 > 0:43:07'Zimmermann counselled the Kaiser to approve Lenin's passage.'

0:43:07 > 0:43:12"Since it is in our interests that the influence of the radical wing

0:43:12 > 0:43:14"of the Russian revolutionaries should prevail,

0:43:14 > 0:43:18"it seems advisable to allow transit."

0:43:20 > 0:43:24'The Kaiser exploited Lenin as cynically as Lenin used the Kaiser,

0:43:24 > 0:43:28'each thinking he had the better of the bargain.'

0:43:33 > 0:43:36'On 10th April 1917, Lenin,

0:43:36 > 0:43:39'his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya

0:43:39 > 0:43:42'and his former mistress, Inessa Armand,

0:43:42 > 0:43:45'boarded the train for Germany with other Bolsheviks.'

0:43:47 > 0:43:51'"The Kaiser's paying for the journey" jeered rival Russian socialists.'

0:43:51 > 0:43:54'"You'll be hanged as German spies."'

0:43:56 > 0:43:59"Lenin stood listening and smiled."

0:43:59 > 0:44:03"'Hiss as much as you like' he said,

0:44:03 > 0:44:07'we Bolsheviks will shuffle your cards and spoil your game.'"

0:44:13 > 0:44:16'To counter charges of working with the enemy,

0:44:16 > 0:44:19'Lenin devised the fiction of a sealed train,

0:44:19 > 0:44:22'claiming total isolation from the outside world.'

0:44:24 > 0:44:27'In fact, the group travelled in a regular carriage

0:44:27 > 0:44:32'on a train that stopped frequently, taking four days to cross Germany.'

0:44:35 > 0:44:38'Though the train halted in Berlin,

0:44:38 > 0:44:42'there's no evidence that Lenin met any German representatives.

0:44:42 > 0:44:48'He knew the Germans gave money to his party but avoided direct contact.'

0:44:50 > 0:44:54'Germany's greatest help to Lenin's cause was getting him back to Russia.'

0:45:04 > 0:45:08'The night he arrived in Petrograd, Lenin addressed the crowd.

0:45:08 > 0:45:11'Some were hostile.'

0:45:11 > 0:45:15"Ought to stick our bayonets into a fellow like that,

0:45:15 > 0:45:17"must be a German."

0:45:20 > 0:45:25'But Lenin was soon winning converts, as Countess Irina Skariatina saw.'

0:45:27 > 0:45:31"Lenin is bald, terribly ugly, wears a crumpled old brown suit,

0:45:31 > 0:45:34"speaks without any oratorical power,

0:45:34 > 0:45:38"more like a college professor giving a lecture,

0:45:38 > 0:45:41"yet what he says drives the people crazy."

0:45:41 > 0:45:45'And what he said was end the war,

0:45:45 > 0:45:48'and by doing so give the people what they want

0:45:48 > 0:45:51'and what the provisional government had failed to deliver -

0:45:51 > 0:45:54'peace, land and bread.'

0:45:58 > 0:46:02'Zimmermann had agents in Petrograd monitoring Lenin's progress.'

0:46:05 > 0:46:09'Lenin's entry into Russia successful.'

0:46:09 > 0:46:12'He's working exactly as we would wish.'

0:46:14 > 0:46:20'Just as the Germans hoped, Lenin's ideas spread to the front.'

0:46:21 > 0:46:24"The regiments have turned into hordes of bastards,

0:46:24 > 0:46:27"holding meetings led by the Bolsheviks.

0:46:27 > 0:46:30"Military life has come to a standstill.

0:46:30 > 0:46:35"The soldiers want peace, no matter what the conditions are.

0:46:35 > 0:46:39"They want to go home and enjoy the results of the revolution."

0:46:43 > 0:46:45'On the 18th June 1917,

0:46:45 > 0:46:50'news of secret German funding of the Bolsheviks leaked.

0:46:50 > 0:46:54'Lenin fled the city, heavily disguised.'

0:46:56 > 0:47:00'But the Bolsheviks countered claims that Lenin was a spy,

0:47:00 > 0:47:03'using printing presses bought with German money.

0:47:03 > 0:47:07'And they set about building worker support -

0:47:07 > 0:47:10'helping arm the most militant to create the Red Guard.'

0:47:17 > 0:47:21'Lenin reappeared on the night of the 6th November 1917,

0:47:21 > 0:47:25'leaving this safe house for the Bolshevik HQ.'

0:47:27 > 0:47:29'He knew power had to be seized now.'

0:47:33 > 0:47:36"We must not wait. We may lose everything.

0:47:36 > 0:47:41"The government is tottering. We must deal it the deathblow.

0:47:41 > 0:47:44"To delay action is the same as death."

0:47:45 > 0:47:48'Journalist John Reed was at the HQ.'

0:47:49 > 0:47:53"In the hall, I ran into some of the Bolshevik leaders.

0:47:53 > 0:47:55"One showed me a revolver.

0:47:55 > 0:47:59"'The game is on', he said. His face was pale."

0:48:01 > 0:48:06'Throughout that night the Bolsheviks secured key points across Petrograd

0:48:06 > 0:48:08with hardly a shot fired.'

0:48:16 > 0:48:19'The city awoke to a new world order.'

0:48:19 > 0:48:21"I've just heard stunning news -

0:48:21 > 0:48:24"the provisional government is overthrown."

0:48:24 > 0:48:26"The telegraph wires are buzzing

0:48:26 > 0:48:29"with decrees of the new Bolshevik government -

0:48:29 > 0:48:32"all land is to be transferred to the people."

0:48:37 > 0:48:41'The first thing the Bolsheviks did was to take Russia out of the war,

0:48:41 > 0:48:45'freeing the Germans from a crippling fight on two fronts.'

0:48:47 > 0:48:50'Germany's gamble on Lenin had paid off.'

0:48:52 > 0:48:57"The Bolsheviks have brought about the crucial event of the century.

0:48:57 > 0:49:00"They've discharged millions of Russian soldiers

0:49:00 > 0:49:02"and freed the Germans' hands.

0:49:02 > 0:49:05"A hot steam bath awaits the Allies."

0:49:10 > 0:49:15'Revolution and subversion had released 44 German divisions for the Western Front.

0:49:15 > 0:49:19'Germany now had a chance to win the First World War.'

0:49:27 > 0:49:30In the next episode of The First World War,

0:49:30 > 0:49:33Germany launches a huge offensive on the Western Front

0:49:33 > 0:49:36but her alliances start to crumble.

0:49:36 > 0:49:40It will be a race between victory and collapse.