0:00:29 > 0:00:32On April 24th 1915,
0:00:32 > 0:00:36British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops
0:00:36 > 0:00:40began landing on the Turkish peninsula of Gallipoli.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48Their aim was to knock Germany's ally Turkey out of the war.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54It was an enormous invasion force.
0:00:54 > 0:01:00By mid-afternoon on the first day, there were 8,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06The Turkish force was heavily outnumbered,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09but the Turkish soldiers stood their ground.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18Their bravery allowed time for reinforcements to arrive.
0:01:19 > 0:01:22Here, as in France,
0:01:22 > 0:01:27the Allies found themselves involved in a war of trenches and stalemate.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Cyril Lawrence was one of the Anzacs
0:01:35 > 0:01:38the Australian and New Zealand soldiers.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42He was at Gallipoli in the heat of summer, with flies and disease,
0:01:42 > 0:01:46and began to question the British commanders.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51'Daily now, the men are getting weaker.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53'If only those at home,
0:01:53 > 0:01:58'fed on lies as they are, could see how the men really are.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02'Weak as kittens, one mass of sores,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05'and yet as undaunted in spirit as ever.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08'But that spirit can't last forever,
0:02:08 > 0:02:11'and soon these English idiots
0:02:11 > 0:02:16'will have ruined one of the finest bodies of men that ever fought.'
0:02:28 > 0:02:32It was decided that the Gallipoli campaign
0:02:32 > 0:02:34was a waste of officers and men.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38In January 1916,
0:02:38 > 0:02:42with a quarter of a million men killed, wounded or missing,
0:02:42 > 0:02:45the Allies withdrew.
0:02:46 > 0:02:52At Gallipoli, Turks had fought Australians, New Zealanders and Britons.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57What had started as a European war was now something bigger
0:02:57 > 0:02:59a WORLD war.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08So many men were needed for the war
0:03:08 > 0:03:13that England and France had to recruit from their colonies.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21In Africa, newspapers called on people to join up.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25'The present war is a world war.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30'Without you, your white comrades cannot do anything.
0:03:33 > 0:03:38'Everyone who loves his country and respects the British government
0:03:38 > 0:03:41'join this war without hesitation.'
0:03:43 > 0:03:47A West African, Kande Kumara, volunteered for the French army
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and was sent to fight in France.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54'There were all kinds of nationalities.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58'There were Fulas, Karanko,
0:03:58 > 0:04:00'Yuvunkers,
0:04:00 > 0:04:02'Bombaros,
0:04:02 > 0:04:05'Zanufers, Kisae...
0:04:07 > 0:04:10'Toms, Basera,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12'and a lot more.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22'It was terrible and hard.
0:04:26 > 0:04:30'In the white man's war, you never say, "I'm thirsty."
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'You never say, "I'm hungry."
0:04:33 > 0:04:36'You fight and fight and fight
0:04:36 > 0:04:39'until your heart tells you you're afraid.'
0:04:41 > 0:04:47Over a quarter of a million black Africans were killed or wounded in the First World War,
0:04:47 > 0:04:54but their bravery failed to win the respect of either fellow soldiers or the enemy.
0:04:54 > 0:04:56'We were black and we were nothing.
0:04:56 > 0:05:02'Because of the colour of our skins, the Germans called us Boots.
0:05:05 > 0:05:08'This hurt every black man
0:05:08 > 0:05:11'because they actually underestimated us...
0:05:12 > 0:05:15'disgraced and dishonoured us.'
0:05:27 > 0:05:29The British commander was Douglas Haig.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Many British soldiers remembered him with hatred.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36One such soldier was Fred Pearson.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39'The biggest murderer of the lot was Haig.
0:05:39 > 0:05:44'I'm very bitter always have been and always will be.
0:05:44 > 0:05:47'He lived 50 kilometres behind the lines,
0:05:47 > 0:05:50'and that's about as near as he ever got.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56'I... I don't think he knew what a trench was like.'
0:05:59 > 0:06:03Critics of Haig described soldiers like Fred Pearson
0:06:03 > 0:06:07as "lions led by donkeys".
0:06:07 > 0:06:12His defenders say casualties were no higher than those of other countries.
0:06:12 > 0:06:17They also point out that in the end he did what any general has to do
0:06:17 > 0:06:20he led his troops to victory.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26In June 1916,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Haig planned an attack along the River Somme.
0:06:34 > 0:06:39It was to start with a massive bombardment of German positions,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44which Haig believed would destroy the German lines.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48Then the Allied soldiers would just walk across No Man's Land
0:06:48 > 0:06:51and capture the enemy's trenches.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58Kenneth McCardle was a second lieutenant from Ireland.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01Like many of the other soldiers,
0:07:01 > 0:07:07he was inspired by the number of shells and mines that he saw arriving at the front.
0:07:08 > 0:07:10'I am not addicted to boasting,
0:07:10 > 0:07:14'but I think if he could see all the guns, the grenades,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17'trench mortars and other stores,
0:07:17 > 0:07:19'if he knew how thoroughly ready we are,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23'and if he could conceive how we are longing for the day,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27'if he knew, the Kaiser would cut his losses and take poison.'
0:07:36 > 0:07:40What Haig didn't know was that the Germans had built deep dug-outs,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43which protected them from the shelling.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50On July 1st 1916,
0:07:50 > 0:07:56the British detonated the first of five massive mines planted underneath the German line.
0:07:56 > 0:08:01The British soldiers were ready to attack across No Man's Land.
0:08:03 > 0:08:10Sgt Fellowes remembered how he felt as he waited for the order to go "over the top".
0:08:10 > 0:08:13'How do you feel as you stand in a trench,
0:08:13 > 0:08:15'awaiting the whistle to blow?
0:08:15 > 0:08:19'Are you frightened? Anxious? Shaking with fear?
0:08:19 > 0:08:22'Or are you ready to go?
0:08:24 > 0:08:28'No-one is anxious to go, my friend. It's a job which must be done.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32'Discipline ensures we obey the rules,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35'but for many, their last day has come.'
0:08:38 > 0:08:41The attack was a disaster.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49KENNETH MCCARDLE: 'As we advanced,
0:08:49 > 0:08:53'German shells littered the battlefield with dead and wounded.
0:08:53 > 0:08:59'All around us and in front, men dropped or staggered about.
0:09:02 > 0:09:08'I found a sergeant and, shouting in his ear, asked where were his officers?
0:09:08 > 0:09:11'"All gone, sir", he shouted back.
0:09:13 > 0:09:17There were 57,000 British and Colonial casualties
0:09:17 > 0:09:20on the first day of the battle.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23As night fell, No Man's Land came alive
0:09:23 > 0:09:28as thousands of wounded soldiers began crawling back to the trenches.
0:09:30 > 0:09:34Only in November did Haig call off the battle.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39There were over one million casualties.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43620,000 British and French,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46and 450,000 German soldiers,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49were killed, wounded or missing.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53The Allied line had advanced by only five miles at most.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59The next year, in 1917,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03Haig planned a new advance at Passchendaele.
0:10:05 > 0:10:11He'd learnt some lessons. The British made better use of their heavy guns.
0:10:11 > 0:10:15They had more shells, aircraft and tanks.
0:10:18 > 0:10:22The troops had become more experienced and used to battle.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28On Easter Monday, the Canadians, British and South Africans
0:10:28 > 0:10:30advanced three and a half miles.
0:10:30 > 0:10:36The attack was so successful that King George V visited the battlefield.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53The fighting resumed as the wettest summer and autumn in years began.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13Haig and his commanders ordered repeated attacks
0:11:13 > 0:11:15across what was now a swamp.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22Haig didn't realise how muddy the ground had become.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25He disliked criticism or discussion,
0:11:25 > 0:11:29so none of his officers told him what it was like.
0:11:29 > 0:11:34Men would get stuck in the mud, and be found dead days later.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38Whole carts and horses disappeared without trace.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46Three months passed before Haig called off the campaign.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49Haig's forces had advanced only five miles.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55Total casualties for both sides
0:11:55 > 0:11:59half a million men killed, wounded or missing.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04The controversy surrounding Haig continues.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07Whatever his defenders may argue,
0:12:07 > 0:12:13it's hard to understand how he was prepared to accept such loss of life amongst his men.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29The trenches were like an alien world.
0:12:29 > 0:12:35It was difficult, even for the people who lived in them for months, to describe it.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Otto Dicks was a German artist.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42He tried to describe what he saw.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50'Lice, rats, barbed wire,
0:12:50 > 0:12:53'fleas, shells,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56'bombs, underground caves,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58'corpses, blood,
0:12:58 > 0:13:00'liquor, mice,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03'cats, artillery,
0:13:03 > 0:13:05'filth, boots,
0:13:05 > 0:13:09'mortars, fire, steel.
0:13:09 > 0:13:11'That is what war is.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16'It is all the work of the devil.'
0:13:16 > 0:13:22British private, Geary, wrote about it in his own way.
0:13:22 > 0:13:24'As far as the eye could see,
0:13:24 > 0:13:29'there was a mass of black mud with shellholes filled with water.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33'Here and there, a horse's carcass sticking out.
0:13:33 > 0:13:35'Here and there, a corpse.
0:13:35 > 0:13:42'The only sign of life was a rat or two swimming about to find food.'
0:13:45 > 0:13:49For many, the stress of living in the trenches,
0:13:49 > 0:13:53and the constant bombardment, was too much.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57Different soldiers reacted in different ways.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00Some no longer believed their generals,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04and their main aim became just to stay alive.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08Frenchman Louis Barthes was one such soldier.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11HUGE EXPLOSIONS
0:14:12 > 0:14:15The French commander, Robert Nivelle,
0:14:15 > 0:14:17had a new plan to end the war.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21After a massive build-up of arms, he ordered an attack.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26This was the reaction of Louis Barthes.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30'In one night, more cannon shells were fired
0:14:30 > 0:14:33'than in one of Napoleon's campaigns.
0:14:33 > 0:14:38'These men exhausted, poorly fed,
0:14:38 > 0:14:40'stuck in the muddy trenches
0:14:40 > 0:14:44'took the order to attack with murmurs.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46'Not everybody can be a hero.'
0:14:52 > 0:14:55Nivelle's plan was to advance six miles.
0:14:55 > 0:15:01He promised that if they weren't successful in two days, he would stop.
0:15:05 > 0:15:10On the first day, the troops had moved only 600 yards.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16He didn't keep his promise. The battle went on for ten days.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24200,000 men were killed or wounded.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Soldiers like Barthes had had enough.
0:15:29 > 0:15:33The only full-scale mutiny on the Western Front broke out.
0:15:35 > 0:15:41At first groups, then entire units, refused to re-enter the trenches.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46'Our captain arrived with a police escort.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48'He tried to speak,
0:15:48 > 0:15:52'but his first words were drowned out by the crowd.
0:15:52 > 0:15:57'Seething with rage, but powerless, he ordered a roll call.
0:15:58 > 0:16:05'A crowd of several hundred soldiers crowded around and mocked these orders.
0:16:05 > 0:16:07'For an hour, they hurled abuse at him.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11'Several shots were fired into the air.'
0:16:20 > 0:16:24The mutiny was the best-kept secret of the war.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27The Germans never found out,
0:16:27 > 0:16:33because the French soldiers defended their line while refusing to attack.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35In a way, the mutiny was a success.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38Nivelle was replaced by Petain,
0:16:38 > 0:16:41who improved living conditions and leave arrangements
0:16:41 > 0:16:46and decided to fight a defensive war until the Americans arrived.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49But the mutineers were also punished.
0:16:50 > 0:16:55Hundreds were sent to prison and 49 ringleaders were shot.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03JOLLY MUSICAL INTRODUCTION
0:17:03 > 0:17:07# Take me back to dear old Blighty
0:17:07 > 0:17:11# Put me on the train for London town
0:17:11 > 0:17:13# Take me over there... #
0:17:13 > 0:17:18Allied commanders could see that keeping up morale was important.
0:17:18 > 0:17:23# I would like to see my best girl
0:17:23 > 0:17:25# Cuddling up again we soon shall be... #
0:17:25 > 0:17:32They arranged routines so the soldiers didn't spend all their time on the front line.
0:17:32 > 0:17:34# Blighty is the place for me!
0:17:39 > 0:17:41# Take me back to dear old Blighty... #
0:17:41 > 0:17:44They operated on a rotation system.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48As well as fighting, they would also have time to rest and relax
0:17:48 > 0:17:53in areas three or four miles from the front.
0:17:53 > 0:17:58# ..I don't care! I should like to see my best girl... #
0:17:58 > 0:18:04For a few precious days, the soldiers could forget the constant bombardments,
0:18:04 > 0:18:06the sleepless nights,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09and the dirt and squalor of the trenches.
0:18:53 > 0:18:58At the beginning of 1917, the USA was still neutral.
0:18:58 > 0:19:05Britain and France were trying to get America to join the war on their side,
0:19:05 > 0:19:12but the Americans were only prepared to sell weapons and lend money to the Allies.
0:19:12 > 0:19:16Neither America, or its President, Woodrow Wilson,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19wanted anything to do with the fighting.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27In the end, it wasn't the Allies that made America join the fight,
0:19:27 > 0:19:30it was Germany.
0:19:33 > 0:19:38The Germans said they had the right to sink ships going to the enemy.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48And it didn't matter if there were neutral Americans aboard.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55The most famous ship to be sunk was the Luisitania
0:19:55 > 0:19:57in 1915.
0:20:06 > 0:20:131,200 people were killed, and 198 of them were US citizens.
0:20:13 > 0:20:17Even then, President Wilson said the USA should remain neutral.
0:20:19 > 0:20:24Germany realised how dangerous it would be if America joined the war,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27so pulled back their U-boats.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34But by 1917, Germany was desperate.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38So they decided to cut off all supply routes to Britain
0:20:38 > 0:20:41by attacking any ship heading there.
0:20:44 > 0:20:50They gambled that Britain would be starved into surrender before the Americans joined the war.
0:20:52 > 0:20:58At the same time, a secret telegram sent by Germany to Mexico was intercepted.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02It proposed Mexico declare war against the United States.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09Their reward would be the states of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
0:21:12 > 0:21:17When Woodrow Wilson read this telegram, he felt he had no choice.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26In April 1917, the USA joined the war on the Allied side.
0:21:28 > 0:21:35Wilson explained to the American people that the USA was fighting for democracy
0:21:35 > 0:21:38the right of people to choose their own government,
0:21:38 > 0:21:41as in Britain, France and the USA.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47'It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51'Into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55'But the right is more precious than peace,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59'and we shall fight for things that we carry nearest to our hearts.
0:21:59 > 0:22:03'The world must be made safe for democracy.'
0:22:06 > 0:22:10For Wilson, the war was being fought for very important reasons,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14but he wanted it to be "the war to end all wars",
0:22:14 > 0:22:17so he put together a series of guidelines
0:22:17 > 0:22:22that he believed would lead to a safer, democratic and peaceful world after the war.
0:22:22 > 0:22:26These guidelines were called "The 14 Points".
0:22:34 > 0:22:39In Germany and Austria, the situation for the ordinary people
0:22:39 > 0:22:41was going from bad to worse.
0:22:41 > 0:22:46Since 1916, they had suffered severe shortages of everything,
0:22:46 > 0:22:48including food.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52But for the soldiers, there was some hope.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56A revolution in October 1917 took Russia out of the war,
0:22:56 > 0:23:00so Germany no longer had to fight on two fronts.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03All their troops could be sent to the west.
0:23:06 > 0:23:12The German commander, General Ludendorff, saw that it was Germany's last chance.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16He decided to launch a massive attack on the Allies,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20which he believed would break the stalemate and win the war.
0:23:20 > 0:23:25Rudolf Binding was one of a million German soldiers
0:23:25 > 0:23:30secretly assembled along a 50-mile stretch, near to the Somme.
0:23:30 > 0:23:34'The troops are packed in positions so tight
0:23:34 > 0:23:38'that those in the front have been there for the last ten days.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41'For weeks past,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46'ammunition has been holed and holed night after night
0:23:46 > 0:23:49'to be piled in mountains round the guns.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55'All that is to be poured out on the enemy.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01'Tomorrow, there will be nothing to keep secret,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04'for then hell breaks loose.'
0:24:11 > 0:24:16At 4.40 AM on March 21st 1918,
0:24:16 > 0:24:18German artillery began firing.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25In just four hours, over a million shells
0:24:25 > 0:24:29many of them filled with gas fell on the British lines.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Specially-trained groups of German stormtroopers,
0:24:35 > 0:24:40armed with machine guns and flamethrowers, broke through.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49Robert Coode was a message runner in the British Army.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52'All wounded have to be left.
0:24:52 > 0:24:57'It has been a nightmare and one that I do not want again.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02'He shells us all day...
0:25:04 > 0:25:08'and in the afternoon, he gives us a touch of his gas.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12'It is extraordinary in its intensity.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16'I was on the ground writhing in agony.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18'I was prepared for the finish.'
0:25:24 > 0:25:28In four days, the German army advanced 14 miles
0:25:28 > 0:25:33the greatest gain of territory since the stalemate of 1914.
0:25:34 > 0:25:3890,000 Allied soldiers were taken prisoner.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43In four months, the Germans launched many attacks on the Allied lines.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47The German plan seemed to be working.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50But the Allies had prepared their defences,
0:25:50 > 0:25:54and for every Allied trench the Germans took,
0:25:54 > 0:25:57there was another one to conquer.
0:25:57 > 0:26:00Ludendorff became more desperate
0:26:00 > 0:26:03throwing in every man he had.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09Australian Cyril Lawrence was at the battle.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12To him, all the Germans were "Fritz".
0:26:12 > 0:26:18'The other day, Fritz made 13 attacks upon our little front.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20'As usual, he came in mass.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24'At one place, seven waves, shoulder to shoulder.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28'But all they got was a devil of a hiding.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31'Our machine guns had the day of their lives.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36'They all agree that it was simply murder.
0:26:36 > 0:26:38'The bodies piled and piled up.
0:26:38 > 0:26:41'Fritz's casualties must be enormous.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46'I think it will be all over shortly.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49'It cannot go on at this rate.'
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Now it was the Allies' turn to attack.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08The German army began to pull back.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14Many of the German soldiers were starving,
0:27:14 > 0:27:17and stopped to loot food, or surrender.
0:27:19 > 0:27:27The German leaders believed if the German army couldn't win THIS battle, they couldn't win the war.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35The Kaiser was told that Germany was going to lose the war.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40The army had failed and there were problems with the navy as well.
0:27:44 > 0:27:48The navy, with its expensive ships,
0:27:48 > 0:27:52had only left port once during the whole war.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56All the sailors were bored and felt badly treated.
0:27:58 > 0:28:03In October, when everyone realised the war was coming to an end,
0:28:03 > 0:28:07the German fleet was ordered to sea to fight.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12The sailors didn't see any point in risking their lives now
0:28:12 > 0:28:14when peace was so close.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16They mutinied.
0:28:17 > 0:28:23Seaman Richard Stumpf began the war as a loyal supporter of the Kaiser.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26'Now the revolution has arrived.
0:28:26 > 0:28:31'This morning, I heard the first flutter of its wings.
0:28:31 > 0:28:33'It came like lightning.
0:28:33 > 0:28:36'It descended with one fell swoop
0:28:36 > 0:28:39'and now holds all of us in its grip.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45'Germany must get rid of the Kaiser and the war,
0:28:45 > 0:28:48'and become a real democracy.'
0:28:51 > 0:28:54The revolt spread from the ships to the docks,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and from the docks to the streets of Germany's cities.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02The Kaiser and Ludendorff both fled abroad.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Germany was in chaos.
0:29:07 > 0:29:13German high command asked for a ceasefire before their country was invaded,
0:29:13 > 0:29:16but the Allies demanded Germany surrender.
0:29:18 > 0:29:23The Armistice began on the 11th November 1918.
0:29:41 > 0:29:46In December 1918, Woodrow Wilson set off for the Paris Peace Conference.
0:29:46 > 0:29:52Germany looked to the President to negotiate a fair peace for them,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55based on his 14 Points.
0:29:55 > 0:29:59Wilson thought this was his chance to re-make the world.
0:29:59 > 0:30:08In his 14 Points, it said that all peoples everywhere should be able to decide who should rule them.
0:30:08 > 0:30:13He also wanted to set up an international peace-keeping organisation
0:30:13 > 0:30:17called the League of Nations to prevent another world war.
0:30:23 > 0:30:28Wherever he went, people turned out to welcome him.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31In France, Italy and Britain, thousands greeted him.
0:30:35 > 0:30:40But the leaders of the nations weren't so pleased to see Wilson.
0:30:40 > 0:30:43Britain's Prime Minister, David Lloyd George,
0:30:43 > 0:30:48thought Wilson's plans would mean the end of Britain's empire.
0:30:48 > 0:30:51The French Premier, Georges Clemenceau,
0:30:51 > 0:30:55wanted to make sure Germany could never invade France again.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00And he felt that Wilson's plans just wouldn't work.
0:31:00 > 0:31:04Also at the peace talks were lots of the smaller nations.
0:31:04 > 0:31:09They hoped that Wilson's 14 Points would mean gaining independence.
0:31:10 > 0:31:17'Delegations from all over the world came to me to solicit the friendship of America.
0:31:17 > 0:31:22'They told us that they were not sure they could trust anybody else.
0:31:22 > 0:31:28'Some of them came from countries that I have, to my shame, to admit that I never heard of.'
0:31:28 > 0:31:33Clearly, discussions between the Allies over the peace terms
0:31:33 > 0:31:36weren't going to be easy,
0:31:36 > 0:31:40but a solution was needed to end the chaos throughout Europe.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44Nowhere more so than in Germany.
0:31:44 > 0:31:46The Kaiser had gone,
0:31:46 > 0:31:51and the continuing Allied naval blockade meant food shortages.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55Different political groups were struggling for power.
0:31:55 > 0:31:59People were fighting in the streets of Berlin.
0:31:59 > 0:32:01GUNFIRE
0:32:04 > 0:32:09Germany's new government used ex-soldiers to restore order.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13In just a few days, in January 1919,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17over a thousand people were killed or wounded.
0:32:23 > 0:32:29In Paris, the peace talks were now being held behind closed doors.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34And Wilson was giving in on one point after another.
0:32:40 > 0:32:47A young British diplomat, Harold Nicholson, was called in to advise the leaders.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51He had believed in Woodrow Wilson and his 14 Point plan.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54He was angry that the President was giving in.
0:32:58 > 0:33:00'The door opens.
0:33:00 > 0:33:08'A grand room, with the windows open upon the garden and the sound of water from a fountain.
0:33:10 > 0:33:13'Clemenceau, Lloyd George and President Wilson
0:33:13 > 0:33:17'had pulled up armchairs, and crouched low over the map.
0:33:17 > 0:33:24'It's appalling that these ignorant men should be cutting parts of the world to bits.
0:33:24 > 0:33:27'as if they were dividing a cake.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32'That day, there is a final revision of the frontiers of Austria.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36'Hungary is divided up lazily...
0:33:36 > 0:33:38'carelessly.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42'Then another frontier.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46'Then tea and macaroons.'
0:33:58 > 0:34:02The treaty was signed on June 28th 1919
0:34:02 > 0:34:09five years to the day after Austria's Archduke, Franz Ferdinand, had been shot.
0:34:09 > 0:34:15The spot chosen for the signing was the Palace of Versailles in Paris.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20The treaty said that Germany was guilty of starting the war,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23and so had to pay the full cost.
0:34:23 > 0:34:26Germany was also stripped of all its colonies,
0:34:26 > 0:34:30and only allowed to keep a small army and navy.
0:34:30 > 0:34:36When the German delegates were led in to sign the treaty, Harold Nicholson was there.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41'We enter the Hall Of Mirrors.
0:34:41 > 0:34:46'Through the door, alone and pathetic,
0:34:46 > 0:34:49'come the two German delegates.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54'The silence is terrifying.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58'They keep their eye fixed away from those 2,000 staring eyes.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03'It is almost painful.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09'They sign.'
0:35:09 > 0:35:11EXPLOSIONS
0:35:11 > 0:35:16'Suddenly from the outside comes the crash of guns...
0:35:18 > 0:35:19'thundering a salute.'
0:35:19 > 0:35:26A treaty had been signed, but many believed it had been done too quickly,
0:35:26 > 0:35:29and that a real peace had not been made.
0:35:33 > 0:35:37The many different disputes over borders and territories,
0:35:37 > 0:35:41which had contributed to the start of the war,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43had not been solved.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Germany felt humiliated,
0:35:45 > 0:35:52and resentful that they were forced to accept complete responsibility and pay such a high price.
0:35:56 > 0:36:00It is easy to criticise the peacemakers.
0:36:00 > 0:36:07Many now think they were trying to do an impossible task in impossible circumstances.
0:36:10 > 0:36:15The peace didn't seem to be worth all the lives that had been lost.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22It was not a lasting peace.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26In September 1939, world war broke out again.
0:36:31 > 0:36:37The children of 1919 would become the soldiers who had to fight and die in it.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45The Great War was over.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49On 11th November 1918, an armistice had been signed.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51The survivors celebrated victory,
0:37:51 > 0:37:55the return of peace and the end of bloodshed.
0:38:07 > 0:38:13They'd left behind the nightmare of destruction of four years of war.
0:38:13 > 0:38:20The cost of those years was beyond imagination, but somehow that cost would have to be counted.
0:38:21 > 0:38:25And the defeated would have to pay the price of peace.
0:38:33 > 0:38:38To the west of Paris stands the great palace of Versailles.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47It was here that the peace treaty with Germany would be signed.
0:38:47 > 0:38:51But before that could happen, much had to be decided.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02In January 1919, two months after the Armistice,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06delegates of the victorious powers arrived in Paris
0:39:06 > 0:39:11for the peace conference to draw up terms for the defeated countries.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16In all, the representatives of 27 nations attended that conference.
0:39:22 > 0:39:25But of all the statesmen who came to Paris,
0:39:25 > 0:39:30the most important were President Wilson of the United States,
0:39:30 > 0:39:33Georges Clemenceau, the French Premier,
0:39:33 > 0:39:37and Lloyd George, Prime Minister of Britain.
0:39:37 > 0:39:42Each had different ideas about the central problem of Germany.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47Clemenceau, like most Frenchman, knew what he wanted from the peace.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51Revenge reparations for the damage the French had suffered
0:39:51 > 0:39:55and guarantees that a similar war could never happen again.
0:40:01 > 0:40:07The idea that Germany should be let off lightly was sheer madness
0:40:07 > 0:40:12to Frenchmen who had seen the effects of the German war machine.
0:40:12 > 0:40:17They wanted a Germany stripped of her wealth and armed forces.
0:40:30 > 0:40:31In contrast,
0:40:31 > 0:40:36Wilson appeared to promise a just and lasting peace, not punishment.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41Europe acclaimed him as the great and good man from the New World.
0:40:45 > 0:40:51His 14 Points seemed to promise a new moral order in international affairs.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55No more secret diplomacy, reduction in armaments,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59and a League of Nations to protect all countries from aggression.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03He didn't want revenge as the French did,
0:41:03 > 0:41:08but there was no question that Germany should get off scot-free.
0:41:09 > 0:41:13While Wilson was planning the future of Europe,
0:41:13 > 0:41:17Americans were losing interest as their boys came home.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21They wanted a peace that wouldn't involve them in Europe.
0:41:21 > 0:41:27It was Lloyd George who fought most strongly for German interests.
0:41:27 > 0:41:32Behind him was a public elated by victory, but eager for revenge.
0:41:32 > 0:41:36The Prime Minister appeared to share their opinion,
0:41:36 > 0:41:40but really had no time for those who wanted to destroy Germany.
0:41:40 > 0:41:47He wanted Germany to remain stable and to recover its strength as a trading partner.
0:41:47 > 0:41:52This was the Germany he feared a land of miserable refugees,
0:41:52 > 0:41:55poverty, homelessness and starvation.
0:41:55 > 0:42:02All conditions likely to provide a perfect breeding ground for the new disease from the east communism.
0:42:06 > 0:42:11In Berlin, his fears had already been realised.
0:42:11 > 0:42:14A communist revolt had broken out there in January.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18While the leaders tried to rouse the masses,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21armed communists occupied key public buildings.
0:42:28 > 0:42:34This challenged Ebert acting president of the German government.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37Army generals brought in ex-soldiers,
0:42:37 > 0:42:41and turned them loose on the communists.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43Berlin briefly became a battlefield.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56Within a week, the revolt was crushed.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59Communist leaders were rounded up...
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and some brutally murdered.
0:43:02 > 0:43:07Post-war politics in Germany were off to a bloody start.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13Meanwhile in Paris, while the German government fought,
0:43:13 > 0:43:19the Allied leaders were arguing over the future of the German people.
0:43:23 > 0:43:28Under their hands, the map of Europe was drawn and re-drawn again.
0:43:28 > 0:43:31After three months of discussion,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34they presented their terms to the Germans.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38Germany lost land in the east, west, and north.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42In the east it was the wide strip of territory
0:43:42 > 0:43:44given to the newly-independent Poland,
0:43:44 > 0:43:48separating East Prussia from the rest of Germany.
0:43:48 > 0:43:54In the west, France took back the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine.
0:43:56 > 0:44:00And was also given the right to mine coal in the Saar
0:44:00 > 0:44:05an area placed under League of Nations control for 15 years.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08To protect France,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13Germany was forbidden to station soldiers in the Rhineland
0:44:13 > 0:44:17it was to be occupied by Allied troops until 1935.
0:44:17 > 0:44:22It was not only the loss of territory that Germany resented,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25but also the fact that Czechoslovakia and Poland
0:44:25 > 0:44:28now contained large numbers of Germans.
0:44:28 > 0:44:30To add insult to injury,
0:44:30 > 0:44:34the treaty forbade Austria to unite with Germany.
0:44:34 > 0:44:37Her fortifications were to be destroyed.
0:44:37 > 0:44:42Her army was to be reduced to 100,000 men.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44No airforce.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49No submarines. And to accept blame for the war and to pay reparations.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53In protest, at Scapa Flow, the British naval base,
0:44:53 > 0:44:55the Germans scuttled their fleet
0:44:55 > 0:44:59rather than hand it over to the Allies.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02It was a last defiant gesture.
0:45:02 > 0:45:07Germany had to agree. She was in no position to restart the war.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14So in the high summer of 1919,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19the German delegates were brought to Versailles to sign the treaty.
0:45:19 > 0:45:25It was a compromise peace that satisfied not even one Allied leader,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28and, predictably, the Germans loathed it.
0:45:32 > 0:45:38Inside Germany, the people had been faced with difficult political choices.
0:45:38 > 0:45:42The Communists had failed to wreck the government.
0:45:42 > 0:45:47Other parties suggested a variety of ways of dealing with Germany's problems.
0:45:50 > 0:45:56But when Ebert became president of the new German republic in August 1919,
0:45:56 > 0:45:59he found himself facing other threats.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03There were, for instance, the extreme nationalists,
0:46:03 > 0:46:08who couldn't bring themselves to believe the German army had lost,
0:46:08 > 0:46:11and greeted returning troops as heroes.
0:46:17 > 0:46:24They blamed the government for signing the Armistice, and now the shameful Treaty of Versailles.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28And then there were the Freikorps
0:46:28 > 0:46:33ex-serviceman who'd tasted power fighting the Communists.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40In March 1920, these two forces combined
0:46:40 > 0:46:42to try and take over Berlin.
0:46:45 > 0:46:48The army refused to fire on the Freikorps,
0:46:48 > 0:46:54who were only defeated when the workers of Berlin refused to co-operate with the rebels.
0:46:54 > 0:46:59Political extremism had become part of everyday life.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03And then there was the vital question of reparations.
0:47:03 > 0:47:08In 1921, the Allies were discussing how much Germany should pay.
0:47:08 > 0:47:11Aristide Briand, the French Prime Minister,
0:47:11 > 0:47:16wanted a definite sum to be fixed, and Germany made to pay.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24The rebuilding of war-damaged France was costing a lot of money.
0:47:28 > 0:47:33Why should the French be taxed more heavily to pay for all this,
0:47:33 > 0:47:37when the money could be squeezed out of Germany?
0:47:43 > 0:47:48But the Germans, who'd been summoned to hear the Allied demands,
0:47:48 > 0:47:53protested it would place an intolerable burden on their people.
0:47:53 > 0:48:00They argued that Germany had suffered poverty and unemployment since the war
0:48:00 > 0:48:04and couldn't afford the vast sums demanded by the Allies.
0:48:10 > 0:48:16Germany was in a bitter mood. Reparations would make things worse.
0:48:16 > 0:48:23But these arguments didn't impress the Allies, who fixed the sum at:
0:48:23 > 0:48:28That sum would have to be paid in goods as well as money.
0:48:28 > 0:48:33Most would come from the Ruhr the industrial heart of Germany.
0:48:40 > 0:48:45But at the end of 1922, the Germans fell behind with their payments.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48Raymond Poincare, the French Prime Minister, acted.
0:48:48 > 0:48:52If Germany wouldn't pay in full and on the nail,
0:48:52 > 0:48:55then France would help herself.
0:48:59 > 0:49:01So on 11th January 1923,
0:49:01 > 0:49:05French and Belgian troops entered the Ruhr
0:49:05 > 0:49:08to force the Germans to pay up.
0:49:13 > 0:49:17There was, after Versailles, no German army stop them.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22At first, the French believed they could make the Germans work for them.
0:49:27 > 0:49:33But, suddenly, German politicians and people were united in a common cause
0:49:33 > 0:49:35hatred of the French.
0:49:35 > 0:49:39Huge protest meetings were held all over Germany.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44Workers in the Ruhr refused to co-operate with "the enemy",
0:49:44 > 0:49:47and the German government supported the strikers.
0:49:47 > 0:49:51Germany's industrial heart stopped beating.
0:49:51 > 0:49:58The goods trains that should have been carrying German wealth to France lay idle.
0:49:58 > 0:50:05The French brought in their own workers to get things moving again.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16Their attitude towards the Germans in the Ruhr began to harden.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19They tried to cut the Ruhr off.
0:50:19 > 0:50:24German visitors were searched as if they were entering a foreign land.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34They deported the leaders of the passive resistance,
0:50:34 > 0:50:37German officials, and even the police.
0:50:39 > 0:50:41The result was violence.
0:50:45 > 0:50:50German workers had been killed in riots at Essen in March.
0:50:50 > 0:50:54Their funeral was turned into a vast demonstration of protest.
0:50:54 > 0:50:57Hatred grew.
0:50:57 > 0:51:00Germans began killing French soldiers,
0:51:00 > 0:51:05and at the funeral of one, tempers flared into acts of brutality.
0:51:27 > 0:51:291923 was disastrous for Germany.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32The great German inflation reached its peak.
0:51:32 > 0:51:35The value of the mark had been dropping,
0:51:35 > 0:51:40so the amount of notes needed to buy things had been increasing.
0:51:40 > 0:51:46Banks became more and more hard pressed to meet the demand for paper money.
0:51:46 > 0:51:50For customers, suitcases replaced wallets.
0:51:50 > 0:51:55To meet this crisis, the government simply printed more money.
0:51:55 > 0:52:00As it lost its value, it cost more and more to pay wages and buy food.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03Hundreds of thousands...
0:52:03 > 0:52:04millions.
0:52:04 > 0:52:08Whatever figure was on the notes meant nothing.
0:52:08 > 0:52:10The German mark was worthless.
0:52:10 > 0:52:15Like a fearful dream, people's life savings were blown away like leaves.
0:52:21 > 0:52:24As Germany slipped towards disaster,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28Gustav Stresemann was appointed Chancellor.
0:52:31 > 0:52:33It was a time of crisis.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37The loss of production in the Ruhr was making inflation worse,
0:52:37 > 0:52:45and Stresemann realised the only way to help the economy was to get production there going again.
0:52:48 > 0:52:56The government also announced that Germany would resume repayment of reparations to get the French out.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00To the nationalists, it looked like a surrender.
0:53:00 > 0:53:04General Ludendorff, who had never accepted Germany's defeat,
0:53:04 > 0:53:07gave his support to Adolf Hitler
0:53:07 > 0:53:11the leader of the new National Socialist party.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14In Munich, the capital of Bavaria,
0:53:14 > 0:53:16they decided to overthrow the government.
0:53:16 > 0:53:22But Hitler's stormtroopers were not yet powerful enough,
0:53:22 > 0:53:26and couldn't get the support of the army or the police.
0:53:27 > 0:53:32Their November uprising failed, and merely ended in confusion
0:53:32 > 0:53:34and 14 deaths.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38Ludendorff and Hitler were put on trial for treason.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42Ludendorff was let off, Hitler was sent to prison,
0:53:42 > 0:53:48where he brooded on his failure in rather comfortable surroundings.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53Meanwhile, inflation was being brought under control.
0:53:53 > 0:53:59The worthless money was destroyed and replaced by a new currency.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03At the same time, a committee under Charles Dawes an American
0:54:03 > 0:54:06was set up by the Allies to scale down reparations,
0:54:06 > 0:54:09so Germany could pay them.
0:54:14 > 0:54:18The German leaders came to London in 1924,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21and agreed to accept the Dawes Plan.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26Stresemann's policy of co-operation began to pay off at that meeting.
0:54:26 > 0:54:30The French agreed to pull out of the Ruhr within a year.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34Their occupation had been unpopular with many allies
0:54:34 > 0:54:40especially Britain, who'd refused to support their attempt to humiliate Germany.
0:54:48 > 0:54:55As industry returned to normal after occupation and inflation, Stresemann triumphed again.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59This time at Locarno in Switzerland.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04Under the Locarno Pact of 1925,
0:55:04 > 0:55:07France, Belgium and Germany agreed to respect frontiers.
0:55:07 > 0:55:12Britain said she'd support any country that was invaded.
0:55:15 > 0:55:18Old enmities seemed to be disappearing,
0:55:18 > 0:55:22and Germany no longer feared a French invasion.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30Finally, at Geneva in September 1926,
0:55:30 > 0:55:35Germany became a full member of the League of Nations.
0:55:38 > 0:55:44Briand, now French Foreign Minister, welcomed Stresemann as an equal.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47It was all very friendly.
0:55:50 > 0:55:55By now, life in Germany appeared to be returning to normal.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01The Germans relaxed.
0:56:09 > 0:56:13The grim aftermath of the war, the humiliation of Versailles,
0:56:13 > 0:56:16the hysteria of 1923,
0:56:16 > 0:56:20all gradually faded beneath the surface of a new prosperity.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23For a nation still paying for a lost war,
0:56:23 > 0:56:26the Germans appeared not to be doing badly.
0:56:26 > 0:56:29They could afford to live it up a little,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32have a good time.