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The 23rd of September, 1877.


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A band of rebel samurai warriors
was dug in on a hillside
in southern Japan.


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The samurai had been
the elite warrior class
for more than 700 years.


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00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:27,880
Now they faced oblivion
at the hands of the Japanese army.


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Japan's government
was modernising fast,


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rushing to embrace
the Industrial Revolution.


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The revolution
that has shaped today's world.


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The samurai would rather die
than accept this new way of life.


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This was a battle between
the rural, traditional past


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and the urban, industrial future.


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And in the 19th century,
it was raging all round the world.


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From America...


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..to Russia.


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From China...


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to Japan.


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The old world of kings and landowners
was crumbling


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under the force
of the Industrial Revolution.


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The world was accelerating,


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and the modern age of superpowers
was being born.


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But this is not the simple-minded
story of progress.


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It's also the story
of all of those who said no.


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300 years ago, something new appeared
above the surface of the planet.


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A thick, oily spectre,
hanging in the air.


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For longer than the cooking smoke
from any town or city,


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and larger than a forest fire
or a volcano.


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The Industrial Revolution was the
biggest story to happen to mankind


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since we invented farming.


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And that dirty smear of smoke
spread across North America,


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much of Europe, China, Japan.


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But it first billowed into the air
over a modestly sized little island


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which called itself, rather
immodestly, Great Britain.


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The engine for all of this
was...the engine.


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Steam engines burned up
the buried energy of millennia,
captured in coal,


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and used it to create immediate
power.


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What a moment!


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Through all of history,
one thing had never changed -


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there was a fixed limit on the amount
of power that humans could use.


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The own muscles, a few animals,
the odd windmill and water wheel.


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But soon, steam engines would be
doing as much work in Britain


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as 40 million people flat-out.


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Why did this happen in Britain?


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Was it because
the British were uniquely clever?


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No.


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Was it because the country seemed
to be half built on coal? Not really.


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It was because the British had
developed a new political system


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which limited monarchy,
gave everybody legal rights,


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allowed the free flow of ideas,


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and ensured that British geniuses
owned their ideas,


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so they could make a buck.


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Enough liberty for free ideas,
enough law for profit.


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Allowing the emergence of new men,


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far from the haunts
of the rich and powerful.


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Men like George Stephenson,


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who in 1825 was busy connecting
two towns in the north of England...


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..Stockton and Darlington.


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A man who'd been illiterate
until he was 18,


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driving his own invention,


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an awkward-looking mash-up
of pipes and fire


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he called simply "Locomotion".


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ENGINE GROWLS


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PEOPLE GASP


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Stephenson's machine was
the biggest news of the age.


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"Locomotion" had been built
to carry coal,


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but on its maiden voyage,
people clambered into the coal carts.


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There was even an experimental
passenger carriage
called..."Experiment".


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Never before had so many people
been carried so far...


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so fast.


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Now railways would start
to knit together nations.


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First Britain...


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but soon the United States, Germany


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and the rest of Europe.


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Restless change, restless revolution.


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Like most revolutions,
the Industrial Revolution
would have many casualties.


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Men and women and children
as young as eight or nine


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worked 12-hour days
in vast factories.


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Many were maimed or even killed
by the new machinery,


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and they were working by artificial
light and the factory clock,


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not the rhythms of nature.


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Protests were widespread and angry.


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Every great new technology produces
changes in society and politics,


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and these new engines didn't
just push pistons and locomotives,


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they pushed ahead trade unionism,
town planning,


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political reform, new schools,
democracy.


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Quite powerful things, steam engines.


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Britain went through the fastest
social transformation in history.


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People flooded from the countryside
to work in urban factories.


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Within a century,
Britain went from a country


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with just two cities
with more than 50,000 people


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to a country with 29 cities
of this size.


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It's very similar to what's happening
in China right now -


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a world of peasant farmers
becomes a world of factories,


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villages empty, and tall,
angular buildings spring up.


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HORN BLOWS


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By 1860, Britain was tied together
by more than 10,000 miles
of railways.


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Production of coal and steel
and iron skyrocketed.


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The cities sprawled,
and new inventions -
from steamships and iron bridges


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to brilliantly lit streets - tumbled
out of these damp and smoky islands.


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And it was really this energy,


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this restless search
for raw materials, new markets
and bigger profits,


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that drove the British
as they threw together


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the biggest empire
in the history of the world.


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There have always been powerful
empires and weaker peoples,


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rich countries and poor ones.


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What was new
about the Industrial Revolution


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was that it brought a great steel
barrier crashing down


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between the nations with the new
power and the rest without it.


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Which, in 1839, included China.


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Britain wanted to do business
with this Eastern giant.


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Her 400 million people
were a vast and lucrative market
for British goods.


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And Britain's new industrial
middle class were eager
to buy luxuries from China.


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But there was a problem.


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For 300 years,
China had been closed off.


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It was self-sufficient.
It didn't need British goods.


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There was only one place
that merchants from outside


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could come to get what they wanted,
which was here,


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what they called Canton
in those days.


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And what British merchants wanted
most of all was tea.


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Tea had become the national drink.


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But it was a lot more than that.


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A tenth of all the British
government's revenues
came from taxes on tea.


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That was enough to pay
for half of the Royal Navy.


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So we had an nation of tea addicts


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and a government that had become
addicted to tea taxes.


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And the Chinese didn't want to buy
any British goods in return.


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All they'd accept as payment for tea
was silver.


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Silver reserves were pouring
out of Britain into China's coffers.


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There must surely be something else
that the British could trade in
return for tea?


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There was.


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Opium.


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The Chinese had a taste
for this highly addictive
and illegal drug.


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And the British grew it
in their imperial possession, India.


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So there was a deal.


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We could smuggle in
the dangerous drug, opium,


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and use it to pay for
our benign drug, tea.


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By the 1830s, the most successful
drug pushers in the world


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weren't Mexican bandits
or Afghan warlords, but the British.


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By March 1839, there were
an estimated 12 million
opium addicts in China.


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The emperor sent
one of his most trusted officials,


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the famously incorruptible
High Commissioner Lin, to Canton.


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He began a thorough search
of the trading district,


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where the British merchants
were smuggling opium into China.


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HE SPEAKS CANTONESE


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All pushers were to be
sentenced to death.


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Foreigners by beheading,
Chinese by strangling.


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HE SPEAKS CANTONESE


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HE GIVES ORDERS IN CANTONESE


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HE SHOUTS


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Lin demanded that the British
hand over all their opium supplies.


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When they refused,
he locked down the trading district.


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Lin was ruthless.


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No food was allowed in.


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500 troops were drilled up and down
outside the windows,


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and huge gongs
were sounded all night.


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After 24 hours of sleep deprivation,
the British surrendered.


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The merchants handed over
20,000 chests of opium,


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worth more than £160 million
in today's money.


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Lin destroyed it all.


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Lin was triumphant, but he'd fatally
misunderstood his enemy.


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He had no idea
how important this trade was.


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Selling Indian opium for Chinese tea


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was one of the most lucrative deals
Britain's Empire traders had.


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They weren't going to let it
slip through their fingers.


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Two great empires
were now on collision course.


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The Chinese fleet
of wooden-built junks


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was confronted by Britain's
new weapon of the industrial age,


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the world's first ironclad
battleship.


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The Nemesis.


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The British blockaded the Pearl River
and then sailed up the coast


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bombarding and seizing
the major towns.


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On land, a Chinese army
with bows and arrows


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and spears and muskets
were mown down.


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Over two years,
China was bludgeoned into submission.


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The Chinese had no choice
but to open up to British trade.


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The terms were humiliating.


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China was forced to pay
the equivalent


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of £2 billion in today's money
for the lost opium,


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and to pay for the war against them.


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Five Chinese ports were forced
to open to British traders.


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Oh, and Hong Kong was thrown in
as part of the deal -


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a British colony on China's doorstep.


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China had been forced
at gunpoint to open herself up
to the modern global economy.


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00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:09,560
The message was clear -
industrialisation could transform


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a tiny country like Britain
into a world superpower.


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To ignore this was to be doomed
to the status of second-class nation.


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All around the world, traditional
rural societies took note.


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00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:35,920
19th-century Russia thought
of herself as a European power,


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00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:39,720
but she was, in her way,
just as trapped in the past as China.


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00:15:42,200 --> 00:15:48,560
22 million Russians were serfs,
owned by aristocratic landlords.


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00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,120
Like slaves, serfs were property


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00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:55,920
and could be ordered
to do any kind of work.


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Many suffered physical
and sexual abuse.


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00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:05,320
The system created a stagnant economy
based on old-fashioned agriculture.


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00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:15,200
But now, this huge, proud nation
came up against


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00:16:15,200 --> 00:16:20,360
industrialised Britain and her ally,
France, in the Crimean War.


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00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:25,200
And, fighting right on her doorstep,
lost.


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00:16:27,240 --> 00:16:29,280
But change was in the air.


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00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,600
After the humiliating defeat
of the Crimean War,


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00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:36,240
the new tsar, the reforming
Alexander II, realised


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00:16:36,240 --> 00:16:40,640
that if Russia was going to compete
against the industrial powers
in the West,


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00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:43,600
she'd have to sweep away
the serf economy.


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00:16:43,600 --> 00:16:45,240
Easier said than done.


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00:16:45,240 --> 00:16:48,800
Russia's nobility and landowners
were going to fight hard


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00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:51,960
to hang on to their power
and their property.


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00:16:55,720 --> 00:16:59,640
In many ways, Russia's fate was now
in the hands of its nobility.


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00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:03,680
And in the spring of 1853,


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00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:09,080
one young aristocratic landowner
was gambling with his
fellow army officers.


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00:17:10,080 --> 00:17:11,480
The stakes were high.


208
00:17:12,720 --> 00:17:17,800
The young count had already gambled
away entire villages he owned


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00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:19,680
and the serfs who lived in them.


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00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:24,320
HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN


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00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:29,600
Now he'd lost the house
where he'd been born.


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00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:33,720
His name was Leo Tolstoy.


213
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:36,920
He'd go on to become
a titan of Russian literature,


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00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,360
the author of War And Peace.


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00:17:40,360 --> 00:17:44,720
But he'd also become a key player
in the political drama
gripping Russia -


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00:17:44,720 --> 00:17:47,200
the fight to throw off serfdom.


217
00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:56,240
Tolstoy was only 18 when he inherited
the estate of Yasnaya Polyana,


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00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,200
which means "bright meadow".


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00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:04,680
It was vast and included 11 villages
and 200 serfs.


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00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:10,040
This was a world in which entire
villages and the people
who lived in them


221
00:18:10,040 --> 00:18:14,040
could be won or lost
on the toss of a coin.


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00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:16,560
But Tolstoy was different.


223
00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:22,320
The guilt so tore him apart
that he came to believe that
not only he had to change,


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00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:24,960
so did Russia.


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00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:32,640
Was there a different path
between brutal industrialisation
and rural tyranny?


226
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:37,320
Finding one became Tolstoy's mission.


227
00:18:37,320 --> 00:18:39,920
He returned to what
was left of his estate


228
00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,880
and, dressed as a peasant,
worked alongside his serfs.


229
00:18:50,320 --> 00:18:52,880
In truth, he was
a pretty rotten farmer,


230
00:18:52,880 --> 00:18:55,760
and to start with, there must have
been a bit of rural sniggering


231
00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,560
behind his Lordship's back.


232
00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,200
But Tolstoy was a dedicated,
even reckless reformer.


233
00:19:09,440 --> 00:19:12,680
Tolstoy decided to free his serfs,


234
00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,400
which meant giving them
or selling them land as well,


235
00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:18,200
because the land was worth nothing
without the serfs,


236
00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,840
and the serfs would starve
without the land.


237
00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:25,000
So he offered them very generous
terms - 12 acres apiece,


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00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:28,040
some of it free,
some of it very cheap.


239
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,240
Noble, generous Count Tolstoy.


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00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:33,560
The serfs didn't see it like that.


241
00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:35,640
They'd already heard rumours


242
00:19:35,640 --> 00:19:40,320
that the Tsar was going to give them
their land and liberty for nothing.


243
00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:43,280
The count must be
trying to swindle them.


244
00:19:43,280 --> 00:19:46,000
So they looked at his offer


245
00:19:46,000 --> 00:19:50,720
and, to his amazement and horror,
said, "No, thanks."


246
00:19:54,200 --> 00:19:56,960
But Tolstoy wasn't
easily discouraged.


247
00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,160
He believed that Russia
was never going to move forward


248
00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:04,160
while most of its people
couldn't read or write.


249
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:11,200
So, in October 1859,
he set up a school on his estate
to educate young serfs.


250
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:17,680
Quite a few of whom,
it has to be said,
were his own illegitimate children.


251
00:20:18,680 --> 00:20:23,080
Within three years, Tolstoy had
opened 21 schools in the local area.


252
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:24,800
HE SPEAKS RUSSIAN


253
00:20:31,280 --> 00:20:35,520
Tolstoy was shunned
by infuriated local landowners.


254
00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:38,480
All round the world,
it was the landowning class


255
00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,800
with their privileges and traditions


256
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,640
who'd be the most threatened
by change.


257
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:50,120
And in Russia, they fought
a formidable rearguard action


258
00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:52,480
against the Tsar's reforms.


259
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,400
It was one successful enough
to sabotage them.


260
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:08,080
When, on the 3rd of March, 1861,
the detailed plan
was finally announced,


261
00:21:08,080 --> 00:21:11,400
it turned out the serfs
would be free in name,


262
00:21:11,400 --> 00:21:14,920
but burdened by debts and many rules.


263
00:21:16,280 --> 00:21:18,720
It was a tragic missed opportunity.


264
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,480
Had the Tsar had pulled this off,
Russian history would have been
very different.


265
00:21:30,520 --> 00:21:33,440
And surely happier.


266
00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,440
There was a great wave of anger
and disappointment.


267
00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,560
There were nearly 2,000 serf revolts,


268
00:21:43,560 --> 00:21:46,880
some of which had to be
put down by troops.


269
00:21:46,880 --> 00:21:53,000
Tolstoy himself freed all his serfs
and asked for no payment,


270
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:57,480
but across Russia, most peasants,
though now technically free,


271
00:21:57,480 --> 00:22:02,400
still had to pay for their land,
they had to ask permission to travel


272
00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,320
and they could still be beaten.


273
00:22:05,320 --> 00:22:08,760
Alexander's reforms had failed.


274
00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:13,080
Eventually many of the serfs
drifted to the cities,


275
00:22:13,080 --> 00:22:16,800
where they would eventually become
the foot soldiers


276
00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:20,640
for a revolution
which would sweep away old Russia.


277
00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:32,880
At exactly the same time,
a remarkably similar problem
was tearing America apart.


278
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:42,480
Here, too, a rural underclass
lived alongside
the modern industrial world.


279
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:49,720
The nation that had been built
on the ideals of liberty and equality


280
00:22:49,720 --> 00:22:54,880
was polluted by a system
even worse than serfdom...


281
00:22:54,880 --> 00:22:56,360
slavery.


282
00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,720
In the mid-1800s,
there were around 4 million slaves
in the United States,


283
00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:06,640
almost all of them in the South,
working on plantations like this,


284
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:10,280
growing cotton and tobacco
and much else.


285
00:23:10,280 --> 00:23:13,960
Economically, slavery was
a dynamic and efficient system,


286
00:23:13,960 --> 00:23:18,880
and as America started to spread
towards the West,


287
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:22,720
the Southern states wanted
to see slavery spreading too.


288
00:23:22,720 --> 00:23:26,360
But in the North,
where many states had banned slavery,


289
00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:28,120
they thought very differently.


290
00:23:28,120 --> 00:23:31,680
They were determined
that slavery would not grow.


291
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:34,480
America was split down the middle.


292
00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:38,600
Things came to a head in 1860,


293
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:43,080
when the Northerner Abraham Lincoln
became president.


294
00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:46,760
But can we,
while our votes will prevent it,


295
00:23:46,760 --> 00:23:50,920
allow slavery to spread
into the Northern Territories?


296
00:23:50,920 --> 00:23:53,920
Lincoln believed
that slavery was wrong,


297
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:58,520
but he also said that he had
no intention of abolishing it,


298
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:01,320
hoping instead it would die out
over time.


299
00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,200
But Southern politicians realised
that Lincoln's arrival
in the White House


300
00:24:07,200 --> 00:24:12,520
meant slavery would not now spread
further, as they had hoped.


301
00:24:14,200 --> 00:24:18,120
11 Southern states decided
to break away from the union


302
00:24:18,120 --> 00:24:21,000
and establish
an independent government -


303
00:24:21,000 --> 00:24:22,720
the Confederacy.


304
00:24:24,680 --> 00:24:29,560
Lincoln had no choice but to declare
war on the South to defend the union.


305
00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:36,200
This was a struggle between
two different ways of life.


306
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:40,240
In the South,
it was an agricultural society -


307
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:42,760
traditional, conservative,


308
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,720
many people living on plantations
which were virtually self-sufficient,


309
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:49,040
cut off from the rest of the world.


310
00:24:49,040 --> 00:24:54,280
"Yes," said the North, "but all
your wealth depends on slavery."


311
00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:57,640
In the North -
urban, industrial America,


312
00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:01,920
based on steel and railroads
and a rising middle class.


313
00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:08,160
"Ah, yes," said the South, "whose
prosperity is based on wage slaves."


314
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:15,000
So, two Americas, now no longer able
to properly speak to each other.


315
00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:23,000
On April the 12th, 1861,
these two Americas duly went to war.


316
00:25:26,000 --> 00:25:29,200
Lincoln mobilised
the North's industrial might,


317
00:25:29,200 --> 00:25:32,240
using railways
to transport men and munitions.


318
00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:36,760
But to start with,
it went badly for him.


319
00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:43,120
The South had better generals
and a bolder fighting spirit.


320
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:49,560
SCREAMING


321
00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:55,120
After 18 months,
Lincoln was desperate.


322
00:25:56,320 --> 00:26:01,040
He decided to destroy the foundation
on which the South was built.


323
00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:04,440
He'd free the slaves.


324
00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:11,640
"We must free the slaves," he said,
"or be ourselves subdued."


325
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,920
He hoped this would destroy
the Southern economy
and demoralise the people.


326
00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,520
And so, on New Year's Day, 1863,


327
00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:25,240
just two years after the Russians
had announced the emancipation
of the serfs,


328
00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:30,040
Lincoln announced
his Emancipation Proclamation -


329
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:35,400
that all the slaves in the rebel
states would immediately be free.


330
00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:42,240
Liberated slaves flocked
to fight with the Northern forces...


331
00:26:45,400 --> 00:26:49,880
..while the South struggled
with shortages and inflation.


332
00:26:56,760 --> 00:27:00,040
The tide of war turned
in the North's favour.


333
00:27:01,800 --> 00:27:03,640
On April the 9th, 1865,


334
00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:08,040
after a devastating invasion,
the South surrendered.


335
00:27:10,840 --> 00:27:14,480
620,000 soldiers had been killed.


336
00:27:16,000 --> 00:27:22,040
Nearly as many as in every other war
the United States has fought
put together.


337
00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,320
In the final days of the war,
Lincoln did something extraordinary.


338
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:38,320
He simply turned up at
the Confederate rebel capital
of Richmond, Virginia,


339
00:27:38,320 --> 00:27:40,200
not very far from Washington.


340
00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:44,160
His troops had just taken it,
it was still burning.


341
00:27:44,160 --> 00:27:46,760
No-one had any idea what to expect


342
00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:51,200
when he arrived here
by boat at Rocketts Landing.


343
00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:55,200
There was a huge crowd,
entirely black.


344
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,560
Lincoln had the most recognisable
face in America


345
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:01,640
and he was spotted immediately.


346
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:06,000
There were cries of "Our Messiah!"
and "Jesus Christ!"


347
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:12,120
One man knelt to him,
and Lincoln said,
"No, no, you only kneel to your God."


348
00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:18,080
And then the group started to walk
the two miles into the centre
of Richmond,


349
00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:21,960
and gradually there were more
and more white faces in the crowd.


350
00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:26,800
Sullen, silent, staring back from
windows and the tops of buildings.


351
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:29,760
The people that he had just defeated.


352
00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,960
And Lincoln's group were expecting
shouts of abuse, possibly even shots.


353
00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:39,240
Nothing.


354
00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:40,520
And at that moment,


355
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:45,040
it seemed as if Abraham Lincoln
had won all of America back.


356
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:55,600
I can see one means at least
of keeping the Ravensdale estate
in the family.


357
00:28:55,600 --> 00:28:56,960
What is it?


358
00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,960
By marrying your daughter
to the mortgagee.


359
00:28:59,960 --> 00:29:01,520
To you?!


360
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,440
LAUGHTER


361
00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:09,560
Ten days after Richmond, Lincoln
went to the theatre in Washington.


362
00:29:10,600 --> 00:29:14,240
He hadn't been keen,
but his wife had begged him to come.


363
00:29:15,600 --> 00:29:18,080
A night off for the hero.


364
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:19,800
Did you see him?


365
00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:22,040
No, but I see him!


366
00:29:23,200 --> 00:29:26,040
AUDIENCE GASPS


367
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,480
CHEERING


368
00:29:30,880 --> 00:29:36,680
But the defeated South would inflict
one last act of bloodshed.


369
00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:41,400
A second-rate actor
and Southern Confederate supporter


370
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:45,920
called John Wilkes Booth
saw Lincoln as a tyrant.


371
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,960
The actor Booth was about to make
his final appearance.


372
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:55,400
And he knew the reviews
would be mixed.


373
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:58,800
Well, I know enough
to turn you inside out,


374
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,600
you sockdologizing old man-trap!


375
00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,000
LAUGHTER


376
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,200
GUNSHOT


377
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:10,240
GASPS


378
00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:15,760
SCREAMING


379
00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:24,600
Booth cried out the Latin motto
of the state of Virginia.


380
00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:26,960
Sic semper tyrannis!


381
00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:29,840
"Thus always to tyrants."


382
00:30:29,840 --> 00:30:32,360
Help me!


383
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:34,400
Help!


384
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:46,520
The North mourned
an immortal political hero.


385
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,560
In the South, they celebrated.


386
00:30:52,080 --> 00:30:57,960
One Texan newspaper professed itself
"thrilled by the death
of our oppressor".


387
00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:02,760
The American Civil War
left a bitter legacy.


388
00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:05,680
In the South, burned and devastated,


389
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:10,120
the whites remained very angry
about what had happened,


390
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:16,640
and black Americans faced
many, many decades
of grinding rural poverty,


391
00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,960
segregation laws and lynchings
for those who stepped out of line.


392
00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:26,360
But the union was preserved.


393
00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:32,400
And in the North,
this extraordinarily industrious,
vigorous economy,


394
00:31:32,400 --> 00:31:36,600
now linked together by railroads,
stormed ahead -


395
00:31:36,600 --> 00:31:41,280
the American colossus
striding towards the 20th century.


396
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:49,760
Freed of its slave economy,
the United States rushed
to modernise.


397
00:31:51,000 --> 00:31:56,240
For the first time,
Americans began to impose
themselves around the world.


398
00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,880
Already, they were looking west,
across the Pacific.


399
00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,520
Japan had deliberately cut herself
off from the rest of the world


400
00:32:09,520 --> 00:32:11,320
for more than 200 years,


401
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,360
uninterested in the industrial West.


402
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:20,720
When Japan closed her doors,
the United States didn't even exist.


403
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:28,960
So when, in 1853,
the American Navy turned up
under Commodore Matthew Perry,


404
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,840
it all came as a bit of a surprise.


405
00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:39,440
The Japanese had never seen anything
like the American steamships.


406
00:32:41,520 --> 00:32:45,280
Some thought they were
"giant dragons, puffing smoke".


407
00:32:48,320 --> 00:32:53,040
Commodore Matthew Perry
handed over a letter
from the US President


408
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:56,800
insisting that Japan open her doors.


409
00:32:56,800 --> 00:32:59,880
In effect, free trade or we shoot.


410
00:33:05,400 --> 00:33:09,760
Remembering what had happened
to the Chinese at the hands
of the British,


411
00:33:09,760 --> 00:33:12,320
Japan's rulers gave way
to the Americans.


412
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:20,280
Realising they needed to strengthen
Japan against any further
Western threats,


413
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,920
the Japanese government rushed
to modernise and industrialise.


414
00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:26,920
I'd like to show you our plans.


415
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,520
Their slogan was,
"Catch up, overtake."


416
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,720
They invited thousands of Westerners
to teach and give advice.


417
00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,680
They built railroads,
telegraph lines and factories.


418
00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:50,360
Out went kimonos,
in came business suits and top hats.


419
00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:00,440
But one class of society
was devastated by the arrival
of the Industrial Revolution.


420
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:03,760
The samurai.


421
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:07,040
For hundreds of years,


422
00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:12,280
this hereditary warrior class
had dominated Japanese society.


423
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,840
They had special privileges -
the only people allowed to fight,


424
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,840
the only men allowed
to carry their two swords in public,


425
00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:21,320
they were exempt from taxation.


426
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:25,720
But Japan had been at peace
for more than 200 years.


427
00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:28,040
It was 1870.


428
00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,680
Who needed mediaeval
warriors any more?


429
00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:35,680
And so, piece by piece,
their privileges were stripped away -


430
00:34:35,680 --> 00:34:38,560
their right to carry swords went,


431
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:44,880
their income was taxed,
and the army was opened up
to conscripts - peasants!


432
00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:53,520
By 1876,
the samurai class faced abolition.


433
00:34:56,640 --> 00:34:58,800
Some decided to fight back...


434
00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:04,440
..and turned to one of the country's
leading samurai, Saigo Takamori.


435
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,400
Saigo was an unlikely rebel.


436
00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:13,080
To start with, he backed the reforms,
including the modernisation
of the army.


437
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:20,360
This was a man torn
between his deep samurai ideals


438
00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:23,160
and his country's need to modernise.


439
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,720
And it was only when his back
was against the wall


440
00:35:26,720 --> 00:35:33,560
that Saigo decided to fight
for the past against the future.


441
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,920
HE SPEAKS JAPANESE


442
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,800
A poet and a dreamer,
as well as a politician,


443
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:51,120
Saigo led a rebel army
of 30,000 samurai to overthrow
the modernisers in Tokyo.


444
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:59,240
And so, old Japan took on new Japan.


445
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:04,280
Saigo's rebel army was composed
of traditional samurai warriors.


446
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,440
The government's was
a modern conscript army


447
00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,040
with the latest rifles and artillery


448
00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:12,760
supplied by steamships and railways.


449
00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:16,160
This was only ever
going to end one way.


450
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:22,880
After seven months,
Saigo's thousands were reduced
to just a few hundred warriors.


451
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:24,720
And now they were surrounded.


452
00:36:25,720 --> 00:36:27,280
60 to 1.


453
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,320
HE SPEAKS JAPANESE


454
00:36:33,320 --> 00:36:38,240
Saigo told his warriors
to face death with honour.


455
00:36:38,240 --> 00:36:44,800
This was a tragic moment in Japanese
history, tearing the nation apart.


456
00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:50,560
The soldiers waiting to attack
Saigo's samurai hated what
they were about to do.


457
00:36:58,120 --> 00:37:00,160
SCREAMING


458
00:37:03,560 --> 00:37:09,800
Within two hours,
the Japanese army had reduced
Saigo's force to just 40 samurai.


459
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,280
At dawn, armed only
with their swords,


460
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,840
the last samurai walked out
to face certain death.


461
00:37:26,840 --> 00:37:29,800
GUNSHOTS


462
00:37:29,800 --> 00:37:33,200
Halfway down the hill,
Saigo was shot in the right hip.


463
00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:48,440
Badly injured,
Saigo died after a botched act
of ritual Samurai suicide.


464
00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:15,760
Japan forged ahead with its programme
of modernisation...


465
00:38:17,360 --> 00:38:19,600
..becoming known as
"the workshop of Asia".


466
00:38:22,960 --> 00:38:29,480
No country modernised as fast
and successfully as Japan.


467
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:34,920
In 1905, their new navy
would astonish the world


468
00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:39,000
by sending the Russian high fleet
to the bottom of the sea -


469
00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:45,360
the first time that an Eastern
country had defeated a Western nation


470
00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:47,160
since the Middle Ages.


471
00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:54,000
And yet Japan could never quite
shake Saigo off.


472
00:38:54,000 --> 00:38:59,680
After his death, he was pardoned
and became a national hero.


473
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:06,040
A tragic symbol of the old Japan,
of honour and self-sacrifice.


474
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,640
The samurai soul that was still there


475
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:14,360
below the Western uniforms
and the business suits.


476
00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:25,040
Japan had saved herself
from becoming a victim


477
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:27,800
of the new age
of industry and empire.


478
00:39:29,560 --> 00:39:32,640
Other parts of the world
wouldn't be so lucky.


479
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:37,680
Africa was one of the least developed
areas of the planet.


480
00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,040
But it was rich with natural
resources.


481
00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,440
And it had remained almost untouched
by the West.


482
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,600
But in the late 19th century,


483
00:39:49,600 --> 00:39:52,040
the industrialised empires of Europe
were on the hunt


484
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:55,640
for new territories
to explore and exploit.


485
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:03,800
In 1877, the explorer
Henry Morton Stanley,


486
00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:08,160
a bit of a rogue who'd fought on both
sides during the American Civil War,


487
00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:09,880
became the first Westerner


488
00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:15,480
to chart the entire 3,000-mile course
of the Congo River.


489
00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:25,880
The journey took him 999 days
and cost the lives of 242 men.


490
00:40:27,800 --> 00:40:31,440
But it would change the way
the West saw the continent.


491
00:40:32,600 --> 00:40:34,600
"This river," said Stanley,


492
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:39,600
"is and will be the great highway
of commerce to the heart of Africa."


493
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:59,400
News of Stanley's great discovery
soon reached Europe.


494
00:41:03,000 --> 00:41:09,640
And nobody was more fascinated than
Leopold II, King of the Belgians.


495
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,400
The problem with Belgium,
he grumbled,


496
00:41:13,400 --> 00:41:17,520
was that it was a small country
with small people.


497
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,640
Leopold II was in the market.
He wanted to rise in the world.


498
00:41:23,640 --> 00:41:27,560
He wanted to be an emperor,
so he needed a colony.


499
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:31,200
And he'd gone almost everywhere
trying to buy one -


500
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:35,480
the Pacific, South America,
the Far East, China...


501
00:41:35,480 --> 00:41:37,280
the Faroe Islands!


502
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,160
Nothing doing.


503
00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:42,960
So, when he heard of the great wealth
of Central Africa,


504
00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,760
he could barely contain
his excitement.


505
00:41:45,760 --> 00:41:47,920
"We mustn't lose an opportunity,"
he said,


506
00:41:47,920 --> 00:41:54,080
"to gain for ourselves a slice
of this magnificent African cake."


507
00:41:56,160 --> 00:41:59,720
Leopold persuaded Stanley
to work for him in the Congo.


508
00:42:01,960 --> 00:42:05,720
His job was to negotiate
with the Africans


509
00:42:05,720 --> 00:42:08,040
and establish a network
of trading stations


510
00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:10,400
along the length of the river.


511
00:42:12,000 --> 00:42:13,520
Leopold called his project


512
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:18,040
the International Association
of the Congo,


513
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:20,600
and he sold it
as a kind of benign crusade,


514
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:22,800
bringing religion to the Africans


515
00:42:22,800 --> 00:42:26,120
and freeing them
from the evil Arab slave-traders.


516
00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:29,720
He built this monstrous great museum
in Brussels


517
00:42:29,720 --> 00:42:33,160
to sell his idea
to the Belgian people.


518
00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:38,600
But Leopold was -
how shall we put this? - lying.


519
00:42:38,600 --> 00:42:41,200
He was a cynical and slippery
operator.


520
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:45,040
All he wanted was money
and power for himself.


521
00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:48,320
And he wrote to Stanley
that these treaties with the Africans


522
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:50,720
"must give us everything".


523
00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:53,480
And they did.


524
00:42:53,480 --> 00:42:55,880
I bring you gifts from my kingdom.


525
00:42:55,880 --> 00:42:57,800
From King Leopold.


526
00:42:57,800 --> 00:43:02,640
African chiefs had no idea
they were signing away their land


527
00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:08,920
in return for European clothing,
jewellery and gin.


528
00:43:08,920 --> 00:43:11,560
To prosperity.
And to King Leopold.


529
00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:18,320
By May 1885,
Leopold was in control of an area


530
00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,800
76 times larger than Belgium itself.


531
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:29,480
His new land had vast natural
resources, including ivory, rubber,


532
00:43:29,480 --> 00:43:32,040
timber and copper.


533
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:33,200
We have a deal.


534
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:39,960
He began to strip them out
and export them back to Europe.


535
00:43:41,200 --> 00:43:44,800
Leopold now ditched
the pretence of a charity


536
00:43:44,800 --> 00:43:49,760
and declared himself King Sovereign
of the Congo Free State.


537
00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:52,680
"Free"?


538
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:55,160
This was in fact
the most extreme example


539
00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:59,360
of how industrial technology could
allow small numbers of Europeans


540
00:43:59,360 --> 00:44:02,480
to seize other parts of the world.


541
00:44:03,480 --> 00:44:07,120
A truth which led to a general rush
for African land.


542
00:44:08,240 --> 00:44:11,720
The main players were France,


543
00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:13,840
Germany


544
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:15,800
and Britain.


545
00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:22,400
But Italy and Portugal
were there, too.


546
00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:27,960
This became known
as "the scramble for Africa".


547
00:44:31,200 --> 00:44:35,440
Leopold sat back
and watched the money pour in,


548
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:39,040
but his dirty little secret
was about to be rumbled.


549
00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:46,680
In 1901, a young shipping clerk
at Antwerp noticed something odd.


550
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:51,400
The ivory and the rubber
and the profits were pouring in,


551
00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:53,720
but nothing was going back out again.


552
00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:59,120
Nothing except guns and ammunition.


553
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:01,800
CHATTERING


554
00:45:03,080 --> 00:45:05,520
The horrible truth began to emerge.


555
00:45:09,680 --> 00:45:14,560
Leopold's Congo was
a military regime of terror.


556
00:45:17,960 --> 00:45:22,240
Africans were forced,
at pain of death,
to work on Leopold's plantations.


557
00:45:23,960 --> 00:45:27,200
If a village refused,
the military were sent in.


558
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:31,880
GUNSHOTS


559
00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:52,040
Africans who resisted - and many did
- were systematically murdered.


560
00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,400
Women and children
were taken as hostages,


561
00:45:55,400 --> 00:45:58,640
the men were used for rifle practice,


562
00:45:58,640 --> 00:46:01,000
hanged and sometimes beaten to death.


563
00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:06,960
The population of the Congo halved.


564
00:46:06,960 --> 00:46:10,680
It seems almost
impossible to believe,


565
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:16,240
but it's now thought
that 10 million people died.


566
00:46:16,240 --> 00:46:18,440
The word is genocide.


567
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:26,440
Leopold denied everything.


568
00:46:29,200 --> 00:46:34,000
But in March 1908, the Belgian
government finally intervened


569
00:46:34,000 --> 00:46:37,440
and forced him
to hand over the Congo to them.


570
00:46:39,840 --> 00:46:44,200
By then, it had made him
a billionaire in today's money.


571
00:46:46,360 --> 00:46:49,000
The worst excesses
of the Belgian Congo


572
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:52,680
ended after a campaign
by Christian groups,


573
00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:56,200
by newspapers and outraged
individuals, which was really


574
00:46:56,200 --> 00:47:00,640
the first ever international
human rights campaign.


575
00:47:03,040 --> 00:47:05,680
But the land grab went on.


576
00:47:05,680 --> 00:47:09,240
And the later Africa of failed states
can be traced back, literally,


577
00:47:09,240 --> 00:47:11,560
to the lines drawn on the map


578
00:47:11,560 --> 00:47:17,160
by the Italians, Germans,
French, British and other Europeans.


579
00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:21,200
Some of the worst things
that happened in modern Africa,


580
00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:25,520
from the use of amputation
as a punishment, or child soldiers,


581
00:47:25,520 --> 00:47:30,840
also go back to this
European scramble,


582
00:47:30,840 --> 00:47:33,800
this European frenzy.


583
00:47:38,360 --> 00:47:42,320
National competition is part of life,


584
00:47:42,320 --> 00:47:47,360
but frantic competition, driven
by intoxicating industrial power,


585
00:47:47,360 --> 00:47:50,040
now turned violent.


586
00:47:50,040 --> 00:47:55,840
In 1914, the European tribes trained
their guns not on unarmed natives


587
00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:57,400
but on each other.


588
00:47:59,280 --> 00:48:03,920
Britain, France and Russia
against Germany and Austria.


589
00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:08,840
The leaders may have expected
a traditional war
of cavalry and glitter.


590
00:48:09,840 --> 00:48:12,960
What they got
was unprecedented horror.


591
00:48:12,960 --> 00:48:14,720
An industrial war.


592
00:48:16,320 --> 00:48:19,560
But at least it wasn't
yet a world war.


593
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:24,280
America's President Woodrow Wilson
was determined


594
00:48:24,280 --> 00:48:26,560
to keep his country
out of the fighting.


595
00:48:30,520 --> 00:48:34,520
But in 1917,
Germany's new Foreign Secretary


596
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:37,800
was about to change America's mind.


597
00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:41,720
Arthur Zimmermann had risen fast
through the Foreign Service


598
00:48:41,720 --> 00:48:46,000
to become the only non-aristocrat
in the German cabinet.


599
00:48:47,640 --> 00:48:50,600
He was good-natured,
honest and loyal.


600
00:48:50,600 --> 00:48:53,480
HG SPEAKS GERMAN


601
00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:57,480
He was also a firm believer
in world war.


602
00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,520
He'd helped fund Irish rebellion
against Britain


603
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:04,920
and he'd tried his hand at fomenting
Islamic jihad in the Middle East.


604
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:08,440
Her, Junger. Prost!


605
00:49:08,440 --> 00:49:11,120
But his biggest tricks
were still to come.


606
00:49:12,520 --> 00:49:15,800
Zimmermann's pen never stopped
scratching.


607
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,920
His secretary's typewriter
never stopped clacking.


608
00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:21,080
He had a finger in every pie.


609
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:24,880
This was the golden age
of the bureaucrat.


610
00:49:24,880 --> 00:49:29,000
And Arthur Zimmermann was
a near-perfect example of the type.


611
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:32,480
The American ambassador in Berlin
described him as


612
00:49:32,480 --> 00:49:35,840
"a very jolly, large sort of German".


613
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:39,360
Zimmermann dreamed
of changing the world.


614
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:41,160
And he would.


615
00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:43,600
Only not quite in the way
he intended.


616
00:49:43,600 --> 00:49:47,480
Indeed, there is a case to be made
that Arthur Zimmermann


617
00:49:47,480 --> 00:49:52,160
was one of the most destructive
individuals of the 20th century.


618
00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:59,480
Zimmermann's opportunity to change
the world came in January 1917,


619
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:03,920
when the German military elite
announced a new plan for victory.


620
00:50:06,160 --> 00:50:11,960
Unrestricted submarine warfare,
to destroy all merchant shipping
coming to Britain.


621
00:50:13,360 --> 00:50:16,960
They hoped this would starve
the British into submission.


622
00:50:19,440 --> 00:50:21,520
This was incredibly dangerous.


623
00:50:21,520 --> 00:50:25,160
Why? Because it meant
sinking American ships


624
00:50:25,160 --> 00:50:28,520
and almost certainly bringing
the United States into the war.


625
00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:32,400
And once the Americans reached
Europe, Germany couldn't win.


626
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:37,280
And yet the German high command
decided it was a risk worth taking.


627
00:50:37,280 --> 00:50:40,320
And on February the 1st, 1917,


628
00:50:40,320 --> 00:50:44,440
they announced the start
of unrestricted submarine warfare.


629
00:50:52,440 --> 00:50:58,320
Arthur Zimmermann set about finding
a way to distract America.


630
00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:03,240
He came up with quite a distraction.


631
00:51:03,240 --> 00:51:06,280
HE SPEAKS GERMAN


632
00:51:07,640 --> 00:51:14,120
Zimmermann's plan
was to persuade Mexico
to invade America with German help,


633
00:51:14,120 --> 00:51:18,680
seizing back Texas,
New Mexico and Arizona.


634
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:20,720
HE SPEAKS GERMAN


635
00:51:20,720 --> 00:51:23,400
That would distract Washington,
all right.


636
00:51:23,400 --> 00:51:29,120
If Arthur pulled this off,
he'd become a German national hero.


637
00:51:29,120 --> 00:51:31,440
Eine gute Idee.


638
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:33,720
Danke sehr, mein Herr. Danke schoen.


639
00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:37,520
Zimmermann drafted a telegram
outlining his plan


640
00:51:37,520 --> 00:51:40,320
to the German ambassador in Mexico.


641
00:51:41,920 --> 00:51:45,160
He sent it on a secure line
from Berlin.


642
00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:47,680
BELL RINGS


643
00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:55,400
Except that the line wasn't quite
as secure as Zimmermann thought.


644
00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:00,240
In Room 40
at the Admiralty in London,


645
00:52:00,240 --> 00:52:05,560
British Naval Intelligence
intercepted and decoded
Zimmermann's telegram.


646
00:52:08,240 --> 00:52:11,000
By 1pm on the 24th of February, 1917,


647
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:14,280
the contents of the telegram
were being presented


648
00:52:14,280 --> 00:52:16,800
to the President
of the United States.


649
00:52:19,560 --> 00:52:25,080
President Woodrow Wilson,
who'd fought so hard to keep
America out of the war,


650
00:52:25,080 --> 00:52:27,920
rubbed his eyes in disbelief.


651
00:52:27,920 --> 00:52:31,840
Then he released the news,
first to the American congressmen


652
00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:35,800
and then to the press,
and all hell broke loose.


653
00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:41,360
Yet even then, many Americans
simply didn't believe it.


654
00:52:41,360 --> 00:52:46,120
It was incredible that the Germans
were up to something like this.


655
00:52:46,120 --> 00:52:52,880
It must be a sneaky British plot
to lure America into the war.


656
00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:56,840
And they weren't that gullible,
they weren't going to fall for that.


657
00:52:58,120 --> 00:53:00,560
Re-enter Arthur Zimmermann.


658
00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:06,000
Zimmermann was invited to deny
the story about his telegram.


659
00:53:09,320 --> 00:53:10,920
HE ASKS QUESTION IN GERMAN


660
00:53:12,240 --> 00:53:14,760
But Arthur couldn't tell a lie.


661
00:53:14,760 --> 00:53:16,520
HE REPLIES IN GERMAN


662
00:53:19,600 --> 00:53:22,160
Oh, yes, he said, it was all true.


663
00:53:27,160 --> 00:53:28,640
Well done, Zimmermann(!)


664
00:53:30,440 --> 00:53:36,600
His surprise confession finally drove
America to declare war on Germany.


665
00:53:36,600 --> 00:53:40,160
This was now undoubtedly a world war.


666
00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:44,400
But Zimmermann didn't stop plotting.


667
00:53:49,600 --> 00:53:54,120
He now turned his attention to
Germany's enemy in the East, Russia.


668
00:53:55,720 --> 00:53:57,760
How could he undermine them?


669
00:53:59,280 --> 00:54:02,880
Zimmermann's opportunity came
in February 1917,


670
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:08,480
when the desperate, downtrodden
people of Russia finally revolted
against the Tsar.


671
00:54:09,800 --> 00:54:12,920
Zimmermann wanted to pour oil
on the fire.


672
00:54:12,920 --> 00:54:16,520
He needed an anti-war
Russian extremist


673
00:54:16,520 --> 00:54:20,120
to seize power
and withdraw Russia from the war.


674
00:54:21,360 --> 00:54:24,480
Zimmermann's agents knew
of just such a man.


675
00:54:24,480 --> 00:54:28,280
He was living quietly
and modestly in exile,


676
00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:33,360
amid writers and artists,
in Zurich in Switzerland.


677
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:38,000
Zimmermann's plan, what he called
his revolutionising plan,


678
00:54:38,000 --> 00:54:42,640
meant using this man
to undermine Russia's will to fight.


679
00:54:42,640 --> 00:54:46,080
His name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov.


680
00:54:47,360 --> 00:54:49,320
We know him better as Lenin.


681
00:54:52,600 --> 00:54:56,040
In 1917, Lenin was leader
of the Bolsheviks,


682
00:54:56,040 --> 00:55:00,560
a revolutionary communist faction
who wanted Russia out of the war.


683
00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:07,320
Lenin was described variously
as being like a plague bacillus


684
00:55:07,320 --> 00:55:09,040
or poison gas.


685
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:14,240
He was so desperate to get back
to Russia and try to seize power


686
00:55:14,240 --> 00:55:17,720
that he took the German money
and the German offer.


687
00:55:17,720 --> 00:55:20,560
If he succeeded, he'd sue for peace.


688
00:55:20,560 --> 00:55:24,320
And so Zimmermann
organised a sealed train


689
00:55:24,320 --> 00:55:27,400
to take Lenin
and the rest of the Bolsheviks


690
00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:31,240
right the way across Germany
to Petrograd in Russia.


691
00:55:31,240 --> 00:55:37,640
It was like a syringe full of poison
being squirted halfway
across a continent.


692
00:55:46,760 --> 00:55:52,400
In October 1917, Lenin led
a successful Bolshevik revolution.


693
00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:59,920
In just eight months, he had been
transformed from a nobody in exile


694
00:55:59,920 --> 00:56:03,600
to a man on his way
to leading 160 million people


695
00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:06,680
in the world's first communist state.


696
00:56:08,880 --> 00:56:13,400
This time, Zimmermann
got exactly what he wanted.


697
00:56:13,400 --> 00:56:18,200
Soviet Russia withdrew from
the First World War in March 1918.


698
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:24,040
But by then, the Americans were
helping the Allies to defeat Germany.


699
00:56:26,480 --> 00:56:29,560
When the war came to an end
in November 1918,


700
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:34,880
two new powers had been firmly
established on the world stage.


701
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:36,720
One capitalist...


702
00:56:38,800 --> 00:56:40,200
..one communist.


703
00:56:41,920 --> 00:56:44,720
The modern world would be
dominated not by empires,


704
00:56:44,720 --> 00:56:48,560
but by these two mass ideologies


705
00:56:48,560 --> 00:56:51,880
and the new superpowers
wielding them.


706
00:56:55,960 --> 00:57:00,680
So, one fairly ordinary German
civil servant had acted as midwife


707
00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:04,880
to the birth of the 20th century's
two great superpowers.


708
00:57:07,080 --> 00:57:13,800
America, innocent no longer,
plunged into the quarrels
of the rest of the world.


709
00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:18,320
And for the Russians,
the Bolshevik revolution ushered in


710
00:57:18,320 --> 00:57:22,400
a terrible age of mass famine,


711
00:57:22,400 --> 00:57:26,360
civil war, slave labour camps
and terror.


712
00:57:27,440 --> 00:57:29,800
Arthur Zimmermann.


713
00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:34,400
He was sacked in 1917
and never held office again.


714
00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:37,200
And he died in 1940,


715
00:57:37,200 --> 00:57:40,840
just as it was starting
all over again.


716
00:57:52,240 --> 00:57:57,400
In the next programme,
Power Age - the world at war.


717
00:57:59,040 --> 00:58:01,400
Cultural revolution...


718
00:58:01,400 --> 00:58:04,880
and the triumph of clever machines.


719
00:58:05,960 --> 00:58:10,000
If you'd like to know a little bit
more about how the past is revealed,


720
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you can order a free booklet
called How Do They Know That?


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Just call:


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Or go to:


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and follow the links
to the Open University.


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Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd