1 00:00:17,950 --> 00:00:20,748 Governments in the First World War feared one thing 2 00:00:20,830 --> 00:00:24,823 almost as much as military defeat: revolution. 3 00:00:26,710 --> 00:00:32,068 By 1917, with victory on the battlefield still elusive and morale weakening, 4 00:00:32,150 --> 00:00:35,187 both sides hoped to bring the enemy down from within. 5 00:00:40,830 --> 00:00:46,462 Strikes and unrest were sparks to be fanned into revolution, transforming the war. 6 00:01:30,350 --> 00:01:34,138 Film from 1917 of one of Germany's wildest dreams coming true, 7 00:01:35,190 --> 00:01:38,068 Russian troops stop fighting on the Eastern Front. 8 00:01:40,870 --> 00:01:43,703 It was funny to see our Ivans greeting the Germans. 9 00:01:44,790 --> 00:01:48,863 The Germans gave our lads wine and cigars and they gave the Germans bread. 10 00:01:57,150 --> 00:01:59,903 It turned out that one of the Germans had a camera. 11 00:02:02,150 --> 00:02:05,187 He told us to stand in a line and took a picture. 12 00:02:11,510 --> 00:02:15,389 Later the photographer asked our lads to come and collect the photos. 13 00:02:25,590 --> 00:02:28,741 Governments worried how to contain war weariness, 14 00:02:28,830 --> 00:02:33,187 prevent discontent growing mutinous, stop mutiny becoming revolution. 15 00:02:39,270 --> 00:02:42,387 And governments realised that turning this problem on its head, 16 00:02:42,470 --> 00:02:44,222 offered a startling opportunity. 17 00:02:45,030 --> 00:02:47,544 What if unrest could be harnessed, 18 00:02:47,630 --> 00:02:51,259 reined in hard in your own country, but spurred on in the enemy's? 19 00:02:56,510 --> 00:02:59,582 In Cairo and Dublin, Petrograd and Zurich, 20 00:02:59,670 --> 00:03:04,425 the Allies and Germans set agents working, to exploit unrest and foment revolution. 21 00:03:08,710 --> 00:03:12,339 The glittering prize was to turn a whole people against its masters, 22 00:03:12,430 --> 00:03:14,580 taking it out of the war completely. 23 00:03:16,270 --> 00:03:19,103 In Russia the Germans pulled it off, 24 00:03:19,190 --> 00:03:22,865 backing the Bolsheviks to hijack a spontaneous revolution. 25 00:03:30,990 --> 00:03:33,663 Russia, in 1917, was war weary. 26 00:03:35,150 --> 00:03:41,066 Huge losses, poor leadership and corruption, plus the nightmare logistics of a 900-mile front, 27 00:03:41,150 --> 00:03:43,106 left her army running on empty. 28 00:03:51,230 --> 00:03:55,667 I don't know whether Russia's dream of destroying Germany will ever come true. 29 00:03:55,750 --> 00:03:56,944 Probably not. 30 00:03:57,750 --> 00:04:05,100 We have nothing to fight with: no rifles, no mortars, no explosives, no boots, no overcoats. 31 00:04:05,910 --> 00:04:07,866 Nothing. 32 00:04:12,310 --> 00:04:14,983 But, incredibly, Russia's army held the line. 33 00:04:15,070 --> 00:04:17,300 It was the home front that cracked first. 34 00:04:21,910 --> 00:04:24,060 Petrograd, now St. Petersburg. 35 00:04:24,150 --> 00:04:28,189 Russia's capital and industrial powerhouse, seethed with discontent. 36 00:04:32,270 --> 00:04:36,821 Its factories were swollen with workers, with little to eat and cramped housing. 37 00:04:51,870 --> 00:04:56,182 A demonstration on the 8th of March 1917, began peacefully. 38 00:04:57,950 --> 00:05:02,466 It was a glorious sunny frosty day and all the people were in an excellent mood. 39 00:05:03,470 --> 00:05:06,906 They were singing the Marseillaise and asking for bread. 40 00:05:17,830 --> 00:05:20,185 But the Tsar ordered the protests crushed. 41 00:05:24,350 --> 00:05:28,787 On Znamenskaya Square, in the heart of Petrograd, the killing began. 42 00:05:33,150 --> 00:05:35,425 Sergeant Sergei Kirpichnikov was there. 43 00:05:37,550 --> 00:05:40,860 The ensign ordered the buglar to play three signals. 44 00:05:40,950 --> 00:05:45,705 Then he commanded: "Rifles, ready, aim, fire!" 45 00:05:46,910 --> 00:05:48,707 Everybody scattered. 46 00:05:48,790 --> 00:05:51,224 One man was down, a woman fell. 47 00:05:57,230 --> 00:05:59,186 Over 50 civilians were shot dead. 48 00:06:00,750 --> 00:06:04,026 The massacre forced Petrograd's soldiers to choose. 49 00:06:04,110 --> 00:06:07,227 Whom to defend, the people or the Tsar? 50 00:06:10,550 --> 00:06:14,179 Back in barracks, Sergei Kirpichnikov spoke to his comrades. 51 00:06:16,350 --> 00:06:19,103 It would be better to die with honour, 52 00:06:19,190 --> 00:06:22,227 than obey any further orders to shoot into the crowds. 53 00:06:22,310 --> 00:06:27,145 Our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and brides are begging for bread. 54 00:06:27,230 --> 00:06:29,186 Are we going to kill them? 55 00:06:35,790 --> 00:06:39,339 They shot their duty officer dead and poured onto the streets, 56 00:06:39,430 --> 00:06:41,500 joining other mutineers and workers. 57 00:06:54,750 --> 00:06:58,459 British journalist, Arthur Ransome, cabled his office in London. 58 00:06:59,350 --> 00:07:02,183 About two hundred persons killed, stop. 59 00:07:03,110 --> 00:07:05,670 Local police chief lying dead, stop. 60 00:07:06,430 --> 00:07:08,386 Revolution definitely begun. 61 00:07:13,390 --> 00:07:16,541 The troops gathered support at barracks and factories. 62 00:07:21,630 --> 00:07:24,588 They seized the city centre, set up barricades, 63 00:07:24,670 --> 00:07:27,821 occupied railway stations and the telephone exchange. 64 00:07:30,830 --> 00:07:34,618 Britain's military attaché, Sir Alfred Knox, was in the artillery administration 65 00:07:34,710 --> 00:07:36,348 when the building came under attack. 66 00:07:40,190 --> 00:07:44,308 Outside came a great disorderly mass of soldiery. 67 00:07:44,390 --> 00:07:48,019 All were armed and many had red flags fastened to their bayonets. 68 00:07:48,110 --> 00:07:51,466 Soon we heard the windows and door on the ground floor being broken in 69 00:07:51,550 --> 00:07:53,745 and the sound of shots. 70 00:07:53,830 --> 00:07:57,300 Most of the officers were leaving the department by a back door. 71 00:08:03,150 --> 00:08:07,223 In a matter of days, the Tsar's regime was spinning into freefall. 72 00:08:08,790 --> 00:08:11,623 A revolution has begun. What happiness! 73 00:08:13,350 --> 00:08:16,069 The cursed autocracy is finally destroyed. 74 00:08:16,150 --> 00:08:18,106 The soldiers have gone onto the streets. 75 00:08:18,190 --> 00:08:20,146 The officers are hiding. 76 00:08:20,230 --> 00:08:22,300 It's all so unexpected. 77 00:08:22,390 --> 00:08:25,939 And everything's going at a gallop. We've all gone mad with joy. 78 00:08:30,830 --> 00:08:35,108 Soldiers ordered into the city to restore control, simply joined the mutiny. 79 00:08:45,510 --> 00:08:47,466 The Tsar was forced to abdicate, 80 00:08:47,550 --> 00:08:50,906 and a provisional government formed at the Tauride Palace. 81 00:08:55,790 --> 00:09:00,341 Russia's new rulers had their hands full running a war, while riding a revolution. 82 00:09:08,110 --> 00:09:10,783 Germany looked to exploit the turmoil in Russia. 83 00:09:10,870 --> 00:09:15,022 And Russia's allies, Britain and France, crossed their fingers. 84 00:09:15,750 --> 00:09:18,059 They too had experienced worker discontent. 85 00:09:20,110 --> 00:09:25,468 March 1916, Londoners gather at Tower Hill to protest against conscription. 86 00:09:30,750 --> 00:09:32,900 There was also opposition in Scotland, 87 00:09:32,990 --> 00:09:37,427 inspired by the fiery speeches of trade union leader Willie Gallacher. 88 00:09:37,510 --> 00:09:41,628 Thousands of our fellows have sacrificed their lives, 89 00:09:41,710 --> 00:09:45,783 fighting against the very Prussianism they now propose to foist upon us here. 90 00:09:45,870 --> 00:09:49,340 Workers of the Clyde, you must prepare for action. 91 00:09:49,430 --> 00:09:52,945 When this loathsome enemy of freedom raises its head, 92 00:09:53,030 --> 00:09:55,783 you must strike and strike to kill. 93 00:10:02,190 --> 00:10:05,865 Workers marched down Whitehall for better wages and lower prices. 94 00:10:06,670 --> 00:10:12,028 Around 17 million working days were lost to strikes in Britain between 1915 and 1918. 95 00:10:16,510 --> 00:10:19,229 There were strikes by miners in South Wales, 96 00:10:19,310 --> 00:10:22,188 engineers in Coventry, Sheffield and Manchester, 97 00:10:23,110 --> 00:10:26,580 and shipbuilders on Teesside, Tyneside and the Clyde. 98 00:10:30,950 --> 00:10:36,388 The army kept 200.000 troops in Britain to guard against invasion and civilian uprising. 99 00:10:45,230 --> 00:10:49,269 But David Lloyd George, as Minister of Munitions and then Prime Minister, 100 00:10:49,350 --> 00:10:52,581 preferred to give in to strikers, rather than crush them. 101 00:10:55,590 --> 00:10:59,026 Father of the state pension and national insurance schemes, 102 00:10:59,110 --> 00:11:01,863 Lloyd George commanded working-class support. 103 00:11:08,710 --> 00:11:13,340 He used concession, not confrontation, to maintain industrial output. 104 00:11:18,510 --> 00:11:21,980 Negotiators with the unions were given strict instructions. 105 00:11:23,630 --> 00:11:26,667 If a strike appears to be inevitable, 106 00:11:26,750 --> 00:11:29,423 all the concessions asked for should be granted. 107 00:11:32,270 --> 00:11:35,740 But while Britain kept a lid on unrest, France could not. 108 00:11:53,030 --> 00:11:57,945 Throughout the First World War, Paris lived under the shadow of German invasion. 109 00:12:04,390 --> 00:12:06,426 But after three winters of fighting, 110 00:12:06,510 --> 00:12:10,867 France's stability was being undermined by a wave of stoppages and protests. 111 00:12:15,950 --> 00:12:17,906 Many of the dissenters were women, 112 00:12:17,990 --> 00:12:21,539 who couldn't be intimidated by the threat of military service. 113 00:12:25,990 --> 00:12:28,550 Everybody is complaining in Paris. 114 00:12:28,630 --> 00:12:32,066 People are on strike over the price rises and the lack of fuel. 115 00:12:32,150 --> 00:12:35,779 Can't you just hear the rising strains of revolution? 116 00:12:39,950 --> 00:12:42,305 These troubles are justified, 117 00:12:42,390 --> 00:12:46,349 because while the people work themselves to death to scrape a living, 118 00:12:46,430 --> 00:12:50,742 the bosses and big industrialists are growing fat in record time. 119 00:12:50,830 --> 00:12:53,663 And all we can do is grin and bear it. 120 00:12:57,670 --> 00:13:03,540 These ideas did reach the front, but what pushed the French Army towards mutiny in 1917, 121 00:13:03,630 --> 00:13:06,986 was a history of poorly planned and ill-conducted battles. 122 00:13:09,150 --> 00:13:11,106 The final straw was a doomed attack 123 00:13:11,190 --> 00:13:15,229 devised by its own commander in chief, General Robert Georges Nivelle. 124 00:13:17,950 --> 00:13:20,703 The offensive alone can give victory. 125 00:13:20,790 --> 00:13:23,748 The defensive gives only defeat and shame. 126 00:13:27,510 --> 00:13:32,140 On the 16th of April 1917, Nivelle ordered over a million Frenchmen 127 00:13:32,230 --> 00:13:36,508 to attack a heavily defended German-held ridge known as the Chemin des Dames. 128 00:13:41,710 --> 00:13:43,541 After storming this ridge, 129 00:13:43,630 --> 00:13:47,908 Nivelle expected his armies to smash through seven miles of German defences. 130 00:14:01,950 --> 00:14:04,066 We were faced by a forest of wire. 131 00:14:04,870 --> 00:14:06,906 Machine guns appeared everywhere. 132 00:14:06,990 --> 00:14:09,140 There were traps of every description. 133 00:14:09,230 --> 00:14:11,186 The ground was impassable. 134 00:14:21,870 --> 00:14:27,502 40.000 Frenchmen were killed in the first days, but Nivelle ordered the assault to continue. 135 00:14:36,710 --> 00:14:39,827 Casualties reached 150.000 by the 5th of May. 136 00:14:40,910 --> 00:14:42,866 Then the men snapped. 137 00:14:44,350 --> 00:14:47,865 I am one of the most persitent in spreading propaganda. 138 00:14:47,950 --> 00:14:52,307 I know that I am risking my hide but by this means I might save it. 139 00:14:53,350 --> 00:14:57,423 My darling say with me, "Down with the war that separates us 140 00:14:57,510 --> 00:15:01,389 and long live the revolution that, in bringing peace, will reunite us." 141 00:15:02,270 --> 00:15:04,226 I love you and I don't want to die. 142 00:15:11,790 --> 00:15:15,578 The village of Coeuvres, 20 miles south of the Chemin des Dames. 143 00:15:18,510 --> 00:15:20,341 The mayor watched what happened 144 00:15:20,430 --> 00:15:23,547 when the 370th Infantry Regiment was ordered to the front. 145 00:15:29,790 --> 00:15:33,146 The soldiers spilled out into the whole village, 146 00:15:33,230 --> 00:15:37,109 screaming with rage, firing rifles and singing the International. 147 00:15:42,350 --> 00:15:46,184 Towards morning, they formed columns and made their way to the woods. 148 00:15:51,790 --> 00:15:55,465 By June 1917, half the French Army was affected. 149 00:15:55,550 --> 00:15:57,620 Men refused to return to the trenches. 150 00:15:59,630 --> 00:16:01,586 We seemed absolutely powerless. 151 00:16:02,350 --> 00:16:06,821 From every section of the front news arrived of regiments refusing to man the trenches. 152 00:16:08,030 --> 00:16:09,986 The slightest German attack, 153 00:16:10,070 --> 00:16:14,825 would have been enough to tumble down our house of cards and bring the enemy to Paris. 154 00:16:20,950 --> 00:16:23,828 But the Germans had no inkling of the French mutiny. 155 00:16:26,150 --> 00:16:28,300 It was a massive intelligence failure. 156 00:16:34,470 --> 00:16:36,426 Four days after their mutiny, 157 00:16:36,510 --> 00:16:40,139 the troops from Coeuvres gave themselves up at a nearby village. 158 00:16:42,510 --> 00:16:45,707 They emerged from the wood in perfect order, 159 00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:49,942 in columns of four, all flawlessly groomed and polished. 160 00:16:52,750 --> 00:16:56,709 The French soldiers' actions were more like a strike than a mutiny. 161 00:16:56,790 --> 00:16:58,746 They won important concessions, 162 00:16:58,830 --> 00:17:02,903 better leave arrangements, more rest, improved medical conditions. 163 00:17:09,590 --> 00:17:12,866 All we wanted was to call the government's attention to us, 164 00:17:12,950 --> 00:17:17,023 make it see that we are men and not beasts for the slaughterhouse. 165 00:17:25,470 --> 00:17:27,426 Nivelle was sacked. 166 00:17:27,510 --> 00:17:31,469 His replacement, General Philippe Pétain, reversed French strategy, 167 00:17:31,550 --> 00:17:33,825 making defence the order of the day. 168 00:17:37,070 --> 00:17:41,507 The men were given patriotic instruction and reminded why they were fighting. 169 00:17:42,350 --> 00:17:45,501 But Pétain also knew that discipline had to be restored. 170 00:17:47,230 --> 00:17:51,587 The tactic was to execute a few but force thousands to watch. 171 00:17:56,630 --> 00:18:00,066 Photographs taken secretly at a French military execution. 172 00:18:00,870 --> 00:18:02,542 A man is tied to a post. 173 00:18:07,030 --> 00:18:08,782 The order is given to fire. 174 00:18:13,870 --> 00:18:15,826 Soldiers are paraded past the body. 175 00:18:20,870 --> 00:18:24,226 Louis Flourac was one of the 49 death sentences carried out. 176 00:18:27,310 --> 00:18:32,179 He was shot here in Chacrise, by his comrades, some of whom hated what they were doing. 177 00:18:36,350 --> 00:18:39,422 I see the dead every single day in the trenches. 178 00:18:39,510 --> 00:18:41,466 But this is different. 179 00:18:41,550 --> 00:18:43,506 I'm a man who has shot his friends. 180 00:18:53,430 --> 00:18:56,069 Italy's soldiers were also growing war-weary. 181 00:18:58,030 --> 00:19:00,100 But, unlike its French counterpart, 182 00:19:00,190 --> 00:19:04,229 the Italian High Command saw punishment as the only way to maintain morale. 183 00:19:05,990 --> 00:19:08,663 Chief of Staff, General Cadorna, was merciless. 184 00:19:10,270 --> 00:19:13,307 Every soldier must be convinced of the fact 185 00:19:13,390 --> 00:19:19,784 that his superior has the sacred duty to shoot all cowards and recalcitrants immediately. 186 00:19:25,110 --> 00:19:27,749 Cadorna's iron grip led to massive discontent. 187 00:19:30,350 --> 00:19:35,788 For months it simmered below the surface, until the Battle of Caporetto in October 1917. 188 00:19:38,190 --> 00:19:41,466 The Italian Army was hit here, in the Isonzo river valley, 189 00:19:41,550 --> 00:19:44,189 by a massive Austro-Hungarian, German attack. 190 00:19:55,670 --> 00:19:57,740 Resistance in armies took many forms. 191 00:19:58,990 --> 00:20:01,584 The Italians didn't openly refuse to fight, 192 00:20:01,670 --> 00:20:04,548 they just began surrendering to the enemy en masse. 193 00:20:05,830 --> 00:20:08,264 By dawn we were surrounded 194 00:20:08,350 --> 00:20:10,784 and the Germans finally took us all prisoner, 195 00:20:10,870 --> 00:20:13,782 and we were happy because we had saved our lives. 196 00:20:14,590 --> 00:20:16,103 Farewell Italy. 197 00:20:16,190 --> 00:20:17,703 Farewell family. 198 00:20:17,790 --> 00:20:19,746 I am now in the hands of the Germans. 199 00:20:25,510 --> 00:20:28,661 A young lieutenant in the German Alpenkorps, Erwin Rommel, 200 00:20:28,750 --> 00:20:32,743 took over 1.000 Italians prisoners without firing a single shot. 201 00:20:39,630 --> 00:20:43,305 The soldiers threw away their weapons and hurried to me. 202 00:20:43,390 --> 00:20:47,144 In an instant, I was surrounded and hoisted onto Italian shoulders. 203 00:20:48,150 --> 00:20:51,108 "E viva Germania!" Sounded from 1.000 throats. 204 00:20:52,470 --> 00:20:57,339 An Italian officer, who hesitated to surrender, was shot down by his own troops. 205 00:20:58,390 --> 00:21:01,223 For the Italians on Mrzli Peak the war was over. 206 00:21:01,310 --> 00:21:03,141 They shouted with joy. 207 00:21:05,950 --> 00:21:08,100 I am writing this at 11 o'clock at night, 208 00:21:08,190 --> 00:21:11,546 most comfortably ensconced in the Italian officers' mess. 209 00:21:11,630 --> 00:21:13,780 There is a huge stock of delicious wines, 210 00:21:13,870 --> 00:21:15,906 which we are getting through in record time, 211 00:21:15,990 --> 00:21:18,743 so I hope there is no question of a counterattack. 212 00:21:19,630 --> 00:21:23,509 We've captured machine guns, heavy artillery and personal weapons. 213 00:21:24,270 --> 00:21:27,706 These are of the highest order but show little sign of actual use. 214 00:21:34,550 --> 00:21:38,462 Dietro il ponte un cimitero 215 00:21:38,550 --> 00:21:42,941 Some 300.000 ltalian soldiers surrendered in the winter of 1917. 216 00:21:44,630 --> 00:21:49,465 As many again retreated down these mountain tracks, with fleeing civilians. 217 00:21:51,870 --> 00:21:55,545 They stroll past with their hands in their pockets. 218 00:21:55,630 --> 00:21:59,942 When questioned, they all say that they've pulled out because they were told to. 219 00:22:00,030 --> 00:22:03,500 Who told them? No-one knows. The next man along. 220 00:22:04,750 --> 00:22:09,824 Cimitero di noi soldati 221 00:22:09,910 --> 00:22:12,982 Forse 222 00:22:13,070 --> 00:22:16,267 Un giorno ti vengo a trovar 223 00:22:16,350 --> 00:22:19,547 What a terrible and heart-wrenching sight it was. 224 00:22:19,630 --> 00:22:22,190 The poor women with their little ones bundled up, 225 00:22:22,270 --> 00:22:24,943 walking towards Italy, to save their lives. 226 00:22:33,830 --> 00:22:36,298 Italy's High Command sacked General Cadorna, 227 00:22:36,390 --> 00:22:38,745 and regained control by easing discipline 228 00:22:38,830 --> 00:22:42,300 and making concessions to the soldiers as the French had done. 229 00:22:45,470 --> 00:22:50,260 But the price of unrest was high. The fighting strength of the Italian Army had been halved. 230 00:22:53,750 --> 00:22:59,029 And while governments wrestled with unrest at home, they were also stirring up trouble abroad. 231 00:23:20,670 --> 00:23:25,221 Britain had been plotting to destabilise the Ottoman Empire since the war began. 232 00:23:36,910 --> 00:23:39,947 Ottoman Turkey was Germany's ally in the Middle East. 233 00:23:40,790 --> 00:23:43,987 Her empire stretched across Arabia into the Hejaz, 234 00:23:44,070 --> 00:23:47,904 a vast desert area which included the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. 235 00:23:49,350 --> 00:23:54,902 Their loss would seriously undermine the Turks' standing in the Muslim world and boost Britain's. 236 00:23:57,870 --> 00:24:00,703 The British turned to the Arabs of the Hejaz, 237 00:24:00,790 --> 00:24:05,625 holding out the carrot of independence if they rose up against their Turkish masters. 238 00:24:08,670 --> 00:24:13,903 If the Arab nation assist England in this war that has been forced upon us by Turkey, 239 00:24:13,990 --> 00:24:19,906 England will guarantee that no internal intervention will take place in Arabia, 240 00:24:19,990 --> 00:24:24,063 and we will give Arabs every assistance against foreign aggression. 241 00:24:27,390 --> 00:24:31,622 The idea of Britain backing Arabian independence worried the India Office. 242 00:24:35,310 --> 00:24:40,179 A strong Arab state might be more dangerous to Christendom than a strong Ottoman state, 243 00:24:41,110 --> 00:24:46,468 and Lord Kitchener's policy of destroying one Islamic state merely for the purpose of creating another, 244 00:24:46,550 --> 00:24:48,780 has always seemed to me disastrous. 245 00:24:53,350 --> 00:24:55,500 The India Office needn't have worried. 246 00:24:55,590 --> 00:24:57,706 Kitchener was playing a cynical game, 247 00:24:57,790 --> 00:25:01,146 never intending to hand real power to the Arabs of the Hejaz. 248 00:25:06,110 --> 00:25:10,342 But the British showered the Emir of Mecca, Sharif Hussein, with gold, 249 00:25:10,430 --> 00:25:12,580 and dropped hints that if all went well, 250 00:25:12,670 --> 00:25:15,946 he might realise his dream of becoming leader of the Arabs. 251 00:25:20,110 --> 00:25:23,227 On the 5th of June 1916, the Arab revolt began. 252 00:25:25,990 --> 00:25:31,348 Mecca quickly fell to the rebels, but the main Turkish garrison at Medina held its ground. 253 00:25:32,670 --> 00:25:36,026 The Turkish commander, Fahri Pasha, refused to surrender. 254 00:25:37,390 --> 00:25:41,269 Until my soldiers are buried under the rubble of Medina, 255 00:25:41,350 --> 00:25:43,705 in a crimson shroud of blood and fire, 256 00:25:43,790 --> 00:25:48,818 the red flag of the Ottomans shall never be removed from the castle turrets of Medina. 257 00:25:53,030 --> 00:25:55,464 The uprising commanded no popular support. 258 00:25:57,710 --> 00:26:00,383 But the British did have a man on the spot: 259 00:26:00,470 --> 00:26:06,909 T.E. Lawrence, a charismatic 28-year-old officer, attached to Sharif Hussein's forces in the Hejaz. 260 00:26:09,150 --> 00:26:13,507 Lawrence spoke Arabic. He saw where the Arabs' strengths lay. 261 00:26:13,590 --> 00:26:18,539 I think one company of Turks properly entrenched in open country, 262 00:26:18,630 --> 00:26:20,586 would defeat the Sharif's armies. 263 00:26:20,670 --> 00:26:22,865 Their real sphere is guerrilla warfare. 264 00:26:22,950 --> 00:26:27,626 They would dynamite a railway, plunder a caravan, steal camels better than anyone. 265 00:26:40,270 --> 00:26:44,707 The Turks were most vulnerable along their stretched lines of communication. 266 00:26:44,790 --> 00:26:48,703 Lawrence and the Arabs became experts in railway sabotage. 267 00:26:56,310 --> 00:26:58,744 The last stunt was the hold-up of a train. 268 00:26:58,830 --> 00:27:01,424 The whole job took ten minutes and they lost 70 killed. 269 00:27:03,830 --> 00:27:06,298 My loot was a superfine red Baluch prayer rug. 270 00:27:07,350 --> 00:27:09,227 I hope this sounds the fun it is. 271 00:27:09,310 --> 00:27:12,780 It's the most amateurish Buffalo Billy sort of performance. 272 00:27:28,310 --> 00:27:31,222 A German on the train saw the attack differently. 273 00:27:32,550 --> 00:27:36,987 The Bedouin mob came bursting into the carriage, to kill and plunder. 274 00:27:37,110 --> 00:27:40,659 I could feel the blood pouring down my body but I was left alone. 275 00:27:41,710 --> 00:27:46,579 The thieves' minds were drawn towards looting, having killed 40 men, women and children, 276 00:27:46,670 --> 00:27:48,626 and taken the rest captive. 277 00:27:55,270 --> 00:27:58,148 T.E. Lawrence adopted the cause of Arab nationalism. 278 00:28:03,670 --> 00:28:07,345 I hope that the Turkish flag may disappear from Arabia. 279 00:28:07,430 --> 00:28:10,502 It is so good to have helped in making a new nation, 280 00:28:10,590 --> 00:28:16,267 and I hate the Turks so much, that to see their own people turning on them is very gratifying. 281 00:28:25,510 --> 00:28:29,867 Lawrence now dressed as an Arab. He asked his mother for help with his costume. 282 00:28:32,470 --> 00:28:35,701 If that silk headcloth with the silver ducks on it, 283 00:28:35,790 --> 00:28:40,147 last used I believe as a tablecloth, still exits, will wou send it out to me? 284 00:28:40,910 --> 00:28:42,866 Such things are hard to get here now. 285 00:28:46,390 --> 00:28:51,384 Capturing Turkish-held Jerusalem was a key British objective in 1917. 286 00:28:52,550 --> 00:28:57,305 Seizing the port of Akaba would strengthen the Arabs' case for a role in the campaign. 287 00:28:59,030 --> 00:29:02,625 Lawrence realised that all Akaba's guns pointed out to sea. 288 00:29:02,710 --> 00:29:04,860 The town was defenceless from the rear. 289 00:29:07,310 --> 00:29:11,508 That meant a 600-mile ride across the Hejaz at the height of summer. 290 00:29:22,910 --> 00:29:24,866 Mud flats are purgatory. 291 00:29:24,950 --> 00:29:29,978 Sun reflects from them like mirror, flame yellow, cutting into our eyes. 292 00:29:45,670 --> 00:29:49,345 Seven weeks later, the Arab force reappeared outside Akaba, 293 00:29:49,430 --> 00:29:51,705 catching the Turks totally off guard. 294 00:29:57,390 --> 00:29:59,346 The town fell just four days later. 295 00:30:03,470 --> 00:30:05,426 The Middle East was stunned. 296 00:30:08,830 --> 00:30:12,106 General Allenby, commanding British forces in the region, 297 00:30:12,190 --> 00:30:15,580 now wrote the Arab revolt into his Jerusalem campaign, 298 00:30:15,670 --> 00:30:21,267 reinforcing it with armoured cars, air support, artillery and colonial troops. 299 00:30:29,590 --> 00:30:31,820 On the 11th of December 1917, 300 00:30:31,910 --> 00:30:36,142 Allenby entered Jerusalem on foot with his officers, including Lawrence. 301 00:30:40,030 --> 00:30:43,579 The Arabs would find they had won not self-rule, but new masters. 302 00:30:44,990 --> 00:30:47,788 Lawrence had known all along that the Arabs of the Hejaz 303 00:30:47,870 --> 00:30:51,909 were merely the tools of British subversion, as he admitted long after. 304 00:30:55,110 --> 00:30:58,386 The Arabs saw in me a free agent of the British Government, 305 00:30:58,470 --> 00:31:01,906 and demanded from me an endorsement of its written promises. 306 00:31:02,670 --> 00:31:06,743 So I had to join the conspiracy and assured the men of their reward. 307 00:31:07,670 --> 00:31:10,468 I was continually and bitterly ashamed. 308 00:31:10,550 --> 00:31:14,589 Had I been an honest advisor of the Arabs, I would have advised them to go home, 309 00:31:14,670 --> 00:31:17,343 and not risk their lives fighting for such stuff. 310 00:31:26,590 --> 00:31:30,742 While Britain was sponsoring subversion against Germany's ally Turkey, 311 00:31:30,830 --> 00:31:34,186 she had her own weak spot, right on her doorstep: 312 00:31:34,270 --> 00:31:36,226 Ireland. 313 00:31:40,590 --> 00:31:45,710 Britain had promised Ireland Home Rule, but the First World War shelved all that. 314 00:31:48,470 --> 00:31:52,509 200.000 Irishmen, Catholics and Protestants, would fight for Britain. 315 00:31:54,110 --> 00:31:56,066 About 30.000 of them would die. 316 00:32:05,790 --> 00:32:09,260 But the Irish Republican Brotherhood, forerunners of the IRA, 317 00:32:09,350 --> 00:32:12,786 believed England's difficulty was Ireland's opportunity. 318 00:32:14,350 --> 00:32:19,026 Pádraic Pearse saw the war as a chance for Ireland to free herself from British rule. 319 00:32:22,390 --> 00:32:26,827 The European war has brought about a crisis which may contain, 320 00:32:26,910 --> 00:32:28,741 as yet hidden within it, 321 00:32:28,830 --> 00:32:31,788 the moment for which generations have been waiting. 322 00:32:32,790 --> 00:32:37,102 It remains to be seen whether if that moment reveal itself, 323 00:32:37,190 --> 00:32:40,819 we shall have the sight to see and the courage to do. 324 00:32:42,950 --> 00:32:47,421 Germany, for many republicans, had always been a good place to plot revolution. 325 00:32:50,270 --> 00:32:54,741 Erskine Childers was famous in Britain, the country he now sought to undermine. 326 00:32:57,070 --> 00:32:59,743 His bestselling novel, "The Riddle Of The Sands", 327 00:32:59,830 --> 00:33:03,379 had warned Britain of the dangers she faced from the German Navy. 328 00:33:05,150 --> 00:33:07,823 By July 1914, his sympathies had switched. 329 00:33:07,910 --> 00:33:12,108 He put to sea in his yacht, the Asgard, to run guns. 330 00:33:13,910 --> 00:33:15,866 He photographed the operation. 331 00:33:18,790 --> 00:33:20,746 Leaving Hamburg under tow. 332 00:33:23,750 --> 00:33:25,706 Sailing back to Ireland. 333 00:33:26,510 --> 00:33:30,947 His wife and a friend with two of the 900 rifles they had collected from Germany. 334 00:33:33,150 --> 00:33:36,108 And the scene after Childers docked outside Dublin. 335 00:33:36,190 --> 00:33:38,829 Crowds cheer as the guns are driven away by car. 336 00:33:47,790 --> 00:33:50,350 Two years later the German guns were put to use, 337 00:33:50,430 --> 00:33:53,740 when 1.600 Irish revolutionaries rose up in Dublin. 338 00:33:59,830 --> 00:34:01,786 Easter Monday 1916. 339 00:34:02,830 --> 00:34:07,824 Sinn Féiners occupy railway stations, the GPO and other places. 340 00:34:07,910 --> 00:34:10,982 They have blocked the streets nearing Stephen's Green, 341 00:34:11,070 --> 00:34:13,504 and are shooting at anyone they see in khaki. 342 00:34:14,590 --> 00:34:17,662 We used to think we were clear of the war, here in Ireland, 343 00:34:17,750 --> 00:34:20,184 but we've certainly got it close enough now. 344 00:34:27,670 --> 00:34:30,946 The moment for which Pádraic Pearse had been waiting had come. 345 00:34:32,230 --> 00:34:35,666 He read out the historic proclamation of the Irish Republic, 346 00:34:35,750 --> 00:34:39,902 a document which acknowledges the support of "gallant allies in Europe". 347 00:34:41,790 --> 00:34:44,987 Who were these gallant allies and what had they done? 348 00:34:59,350 --> 00:35:03,980 Germany had long seen subversion in Ireland as a way of destabilising Britain. 349 00:35:10,550 --> 00:35:12,666 In August 1914, Sir Roger Casement, 350 00:35:12,750 --> 00:35:16,823 an Irish republican and one-time darling of the British establishment, 351 00:35:16,910 --> 00:35:20,220 gave the Germans the opportunity they were looking for. 352 00:35:20,310 --> 00:35:22,266 He wrote to the Kaiser with an offer. 353 00:35:24,510 --> 00:35:29,061 We draw Your Majesty's attention to the part that Ireland necessarily, 354 00:35:29,150 --> 00:35:32,426 if not openly, must play in this conflict. 355 00:35:33,550 --> 00:35:35,984 Ireland must be freed from British control. 356 00:35:36,950 --> 00:35:41,501 Thousands of Irishmen are prepared to do their part to aid the German cause, 357 00:35:41,590 --> 00:35:44,502 for they recognise that it is their own. 358 00:35:48,470 --> 00:35:54,022 Casement sailed for Berlin in disguise and in the winter of 1914 he met Arthur Zimmermann, 359 00:35:54,110 --> 00:35:58,865 a future Foreign Minister, and the man in charge of Germany's subversive operations. 360 00:36:03,070 --> 00:36:05,106 Zimmermann was impressed by Casement 361 00:36:05,190 --> 00:36:08,546 and began to wonder if a small German landing on Irish soil 362 00:36:08,630 --> 00:36:10,985 might cause the British massive problems. 363 00:36:14,670 --> 00:36:18,902 His diplomats in America raised funds from the Irish community in New York. 364 00:36:22,230 --> 00:36:24,824 It is proposed to undertake an invasion 365 00:36:24,910 --> 00:36:28,459 with 25.000 troops, with 50.000 extra guns. 366 00:36:29,430 --> 00:36:34,584 Then undoubtedly the co-operation of all Irish in the British Army will follow. 367 00:36:34,670 --> 00:36:38,709 There is strong friction between Irish and English in northern France. 368 00:36:42,830 --> 00:36:45,298 Zimmermann's uprising was to be four-pronged: 369 00:36:46,310 --> 00:36:48,949 the dispatch of German weapons to Irish rebels, 370 00:36:49,030 --> 00:36:52,500 the landing of a German expeditionary force on the west coast, 371 00:36:53,670 --> 00:36:56,104 German submarines to seize Dublin harbour, 372 00:36:56,910 --> 00:36:59,868 and diversionary zeppelin bombing raids on London. 373 00:37:08,790 --> 00:37:13,147 Germany's High Command got cold feet and refused to commit an invasion force. 374 00:37:14,590 --> 00:37:17,787 But in April 1916, the zeppelin raids did take place, 375 00:37:19,510 --> 00:37:21,660 a submarine was sent to the west coast... 376 00:37:23,110 --> 00:37:27,149 and an arms boat carrying 20.000 rifles, 10 machine guns 377 00:37:27,230 --> 00:37:29,186 and a million rounds of ammunition, 378 00:37:29,270 --> 00:37:33,343 was dispatched for Ireland, under the command of Captain Karl Spindler. 379 00:37:35,470 --> 00:37:40,419 Gradually rising out of the water was Inishtooskert Island, our rendezvous. 380 00:37:41,470 --> 00:37:45,622 Within half an hour at the latest, the pilot boat must make her appearance. 381 00:37:50,070 --> 00:37:52,504 But the Irish expected him two days later... 382 00:37:53,350 --> 00:37:56,820 so the Germans sat in the bay till caught by a British patrol. 383 00:37:58,950 --> 00:38:02,784 Captain Spindler scuttled his boat rather than surrender the arms. 384 00:38:05,470 --> 00:38:09,907 The German naval ensign was run up, bidding defiance to the British. 385 00:38:09,990 --> 00:38:11,946 Then there was a muffled explosion. 386 00:38:13,510 --> 00:38:15,580 Beams and splinters flew up in the air. 387 00:38:16,910 --> 00:38:20,141 The Aud sank with a loud hissing noise. 388 00:38:24,150 --> 00:38:27,381 The uprising's hope of success sank with the German arms. 389 00:38:28,510 --> 00:38:30,660 Many rebels now abandoned the project. 390 00:38:31,670 --> 00:38:33,547 But a hard-core minority, 391 00:38:33,630 --> 00:38:37,669 armed with the rifles Childers had brought in from Hamburg two years before, 392 00:38:37,750 --> 00:38:40,389 decided to make a symbolic gesture of defiance. 393 00:38:44,830 --> 00:38:48,709 On Easter Monday 1916, they seized key points in Dublin. 394 00:38:50,710 --> 00:38:53,907 The British responded with machine guns and artillery fire, 395 00:38:53,990 --> 00:38:56,265 and shipped in 10.000 men from the mainland. 396 00:38:58,270 --> 00:39:01,307 Few Dubliners mourned the crushing of the rebellion. 397 00:39:03,350 --> 00:39:05,147 Guinness brewer, Edward Phillips, 398 00:39:05,230 --> 00:39:09,781 had his disused boilers converted into improvised armoured cars for the British. 399 00:39:11,990 --> 00:39:16,063 Rang up military and offered motor lorries. Gladly accepted. 400 00:39:16,950 --> 00:39:20,181 Sent out for drivers who lived close. They all consented. 401 00:39:24,510 --> 00:39:27,388 Over 1.000 civilians were caught in the crossfire. 402 00:39:28,470 --> 00:39:31,109 And as the British took the rebels into custody, 403 00:39:31,190 --> 00:39:33,829 the people of Dublin pelted them with vegetables 404 00:39:33,910 --> 00:39:36,265 and emptied chamber pots over their heads. 405 00:39:39,950 --> 00:39:43,022 Many had sons and fathers fighting on the Western Front 406 00:39:43,110 --> 00:39:46,546 and were outraged by the uprising's German connections. 407 00:39:48,510 --> 00:39:51,070 But now the British made a terrible blunder, 408 00:39:51,150 --> 00:39:54,984 throwing away their moral authority and transforming the Easter Rising 409 00:39:55,070 --> 00:39:57,425 into the seminal event of Irish statehood. 410 00:40:07,550 --> 00:40:12,305 They sentenced the leaders of the uprising to death, starting with Pearse. 411 00:40:13,070 --> 00:40:15,026 He admitted to the court: 412 00:40:15,750 --> 00:40:21,780 I asked for and accepted German aid in the shape of arms and an expeditionary force. 413 00:40:23,150 --> 00:40:25,789 My aim was to win Irish freedom. 414 00:40:30,230 --> 00:40:36,146 Over ten days, the men were brought into the execution yard at Kilmainham Jail and shot. 415 00:40:41,310 --> 00:40:45,781 James Connolly was so wounded in the uprising that he had to be shot sitting down. 416 00:40:51,230 --> 00:40:54,461 Dublin fell silent as Britain turned 16 men into martyrs. 417 00:40:58,710 --> 00:41:02,589 People who had thrown rotten fruit at them, now saw them as heroes. 418 00:41:05,390 --> 00:41:08,905 Britain turned the failed uprising into a national cause. 419 00:41:12,510 --> 00:41:15,582 Zimmermann's next challenge was in a different league. 420 00:41:23,390 --> 00:41:27,349 Could Germany exploit Russia's revolution of March 1917, 421 00:41:27,430 --> 00:41:29,705 to lever Russia out of the First World War? 422 00:41:32,950 --> 00:41:35,225 Almost all the ingredients were in place: 423 00:41:36,550 --> 00:41:38,666 a major civilian uprising, 424 00:41:38,750 --> 00:41:42,902 restless troops at the front, and a toothless leadership in the rear. 425 00:41:45,630 --> 00:41:49,703 The Germans lacked just one piece of the jigsaw... a charismatic leader. 426 00:41:50,710 --> 00:41:52,666 But they had someone in mind. 427 00:41:56,550 --> 00:41:59,383 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was leader of the Bolsheviks, 428 00:41:59,470 --> 00:42:01,825 a small group of extreme Russian radicals. 429 00:42:04,030 --> 00:42:06,783 They had spent many hours over the past 14 years 430 00:42:06,870 --> 00:42:10,021 plotting revolution in coffee houses and prison cells. 431 00:42:11,070 --> 00:42:13,743 When at last it came, they were caught on the hop. 432 00:42:14,550 --> 00:42:19,419 Stalin was in Siberia, Bukharin was in New York and Lenin was in Zurich. 433 00:42:21,670 --> 00:42:26,186 "What torture it is for us", Lenin wrote, "to be sitting here at such a time." 434 00:42:27,510 --> 00:42:30,343 He knew the Allies would never allow him passage. 435 00:42:30,430 --> 00:42:33,263 The obvious route lay through Germany and Sweden. 436 00:42:33,350 --> 00:42:35,306 But would Germany let him through? 437 00:42:37,310 --> 00:42:40,063 German agents had long been watching Lenin. 438 00:42:41,110 --> 00:42:44,227 They knew he wanted their enemy, Russia, out of the war. 439 00:42:45,510 --> 00:42:48,468 Lenin's strong side is his organisational talent. 440 00:42:49,310 --> 00:42:52,268 He possesses the most brutal and relentless energy. 441 00:42:53,150 --> 00:42:56,426 Lenin's view is: "It doesn't matter who wins the war. 442 00:42:57,270 --> 00:43:00,706 The defeat of Russia is preferable, victory worse." 443 00:43:03,110 --> 00:43:06,580 Zimmermann counselled the Kaiser to approve Lenin's passage. 444 00:43:07,430 --> 00:43:09,660 Since it is in our interests 445 00:43:09,750 --> 00:43:14,380 that the influence of the radical wing of the Russian revolutionaries should prevail, 446 00:43:14,470 --> 00:43:17,428 it would seem to me advisable to allow transit. 447 00:43:21,230 --> 00:43:25,269 The Kaiser exploited Lenin as cynically as Lenin used the Kaiser, 448 00:43:25,350 --> 00:43:27,910 each thinking he had the better of the bargain. 449 00:43:34,110 --> 00:43:39,423 On the 10th of April 1917, Lenin, his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya, 450 00:43:39,510 --> 00:43:41,705 and his former mistress Inessa Armand, 451 00:43:41,790 --> 00:43:44,827 boarded the train for Germany with other Bolsheviks. 452 00:43:47,350 --> 00:43:51,502 "The Kaiser's paying for the journey", jeered rival Russian socialists. 453 00:43:51,590 --> 00:43:53,546 "You'll be hanged as German spies." 454 00:43:57,150 --> 00:43:59,106 Lenin stood listening and smiled. 455 00:44:00,070 --> 00:44:02,026 "Hiss as much as you like", he said. 456 00:44:02,830 --> 00:44:06,539 "We Bolsheviks will shuffle your cards and spoil your game." 457 00:44:14,270 --> 00:44:19,219 To counter charges of working with the enemy, Lenin devised the fiction of a sealed train, 458 00:44:19,310 --> 00:44:22,063 claiming total isolation from the outside world. 459 00:44:25,150 --> 00:44:29,780 In fact, the group travelled in a regular carriage on a train that stopped frequently, 460 00:44:29,870 --> 00:44:31,826 taking four days to cross Germany. 461 00:44:35,830 --> 00:44:37,786 Though the train halted in Berlin, 462 00:44:37,870 --> 00:44:41,499 there's no evidence that Lenin met any German representatives. 463 00:44:42,790 --> 00:44:47,739 He knew the Germans were giving money to his Bolshevik party, but avoided direct contact. 464 00:44:49,550 --> 00:44:53,623 Germany's greatest help to Lenin's cause was getting him back to Russia. 465 00:45:04,830 --> 00:45:08,300 The night he arrived in Petrograd, Lenin addressed the crowd. 466 00:45:09,110 --> 00:45:10,828 Some were hostile. 467 00:45:11,550 --> 00:45:16,101 Ought to stick our bayonets into a fellow like that. Must be a German. 468 00:45:20,670 --> 00:45:25,141 But Lenin was soon winning converts, as Countess Irina Skariatina saw. 469 00:45:27,190 --> 00:45:31,661 Lenin is bald, terribly ugly, wears a crumpled old brown suit, 470 00:45:31,750 --> 00:45:34,139 speaks without any oratorical power, 471 00:45:34,230 --> 00:45:36,983 more like a college professor giving a lecture, 472 00:45:37,070 --> 00:45:40,301 yet what he says drives the people crazy. 473 00:45:42,870 --> 00:45:44,826 And what he said was: end the war. 474 00:45:45,950 --> 00:45:48,384 And by doing so, give the people what they want 475 00:45:48,470 --> 00:45:53,544 and what the Provisional Government had failed to deliver: peace, land and bread. 476 00:45:58,910 --> 00:46:02,903 Zimmermann had agents in Petrograd monitoring Lenin's progress. 477 00:46:06,470 --> 00:46:09,428 Lenin's entry into Russia successful. 478 00:46:09,510 --> 00:46:11,580 He is working exactly as we would wish. 479 00:46:14,790 --> 00:46:18,783 Just as the Germans hoped, Lenin's ideas spread to the front. 480 00:46:22,430 --> 00:46:25,183 The regiments have turned into hordes of bastards, 481 00:46:25,270 --> 00:46:27,500 holding meetings led by the Bolsheviks. 482 00:46:28,550 --> 00:46:30,700 Military life has come to a standstill. 483 00:46:30,790 --> 00:46:34,146 The soldiers want peace, no matter what the conditions are. 484 00:46:34,230 --> 00:46:38,462 They want to go home to work the land and enjoy the results of the revolution. 485 00:46:43,910 --> 00:46:49,382 On the 18th of June 1917, news of secret German funding of the Bolsheviks leaked. 486 00:46:51,190 --> 00:46:53,784 Lenin fled the city, heavily disguised. 487 00:46:57,350 --> 00:47:00,581 But the Bolsheviks countered claims that Lenin was a spy, 488 00:47:00,670 --> 00:47:03,503 using printing presses bought with German money. 489 00:47:04,550 --> 00:47:07,144 And they set about building worker support, 490 00:47:07,230 --> 00:47:10,142 helping arm the most militant to create the Red Guard. 491 00:47:17,750 --> 00:47:21,186 Lenin reappeared on the night of the 6th of November 1917, 492 00:47:21,270 --> 00:47:24,342 leaving this safe house for the Bolshevik HQ. 493 00:47:27,470 --> 00:47:29,426 He knew power had to be seized now. 494 00:47:33,630 --> 00:47:35,427 We must not wait. 495 00:47:35,510 --> 00:47:37,466 We may lose everything. 496 00:47:37,550 --> 00:47:41,020 The government is tottering, we must deal it the death blow. 497 00:47:41,110 --> 00:47:43,544 To delay action is the same as death. 498 00:47:45,950 --> 00:47:47,906 Journalist John Reed was at the HQ. 499 00:47:49,830 --> 00:47:53,061 In the hall, I ran into some of the Bolshevik leaders. 500 00:47:53,150 --> 00:47:54,902 One showed me a revolver. 501 00:47:54,990 --> 00:47:58,585 "The game is on", he said and his face was pale. 502 00:48:01,590 --> 00:48:05,742 Throughout that night, the Bolsheviks secured key points across Petrograd 503 00:48:05,830 --> 00:48:07,786 with hardly a shot fired. 504 00:48:16,230 --> 00:48:18,186 The city awoke to a new world order. 505 00:48:19,750 --> 00:48:21,706 I've just heard some stunning news. 506 00:48:21,790 --> 00:48:24,384 The Provisional Government has been overthrown. 507 00:48:24,470 --> 00:48:29,021 The telegraph wires are buzzing with decrees of the new Bolshevik government. 508 00:48:29,110 --> 00:48:31,465 All land is to be transferred to the people. 509 00:48:37,790 --> 00:48:41,544 The first thing the Bolsheviks did was to take Russia out of the war, 510 00:48:41,630 --> 00:48:44,861 freeing the Germans from a crippling fight on two fronts. 511 00:48:47,670 --> 00:48:50,230 Germany's gamble on Lenin had paid off. 512 00:48:51,670 --> 00:48:55,504 The Bolsheviks have brought about the crucial event of the century, 513 00:48:55,590 --> 00:49:00,869 they've dicharged millions of Russian soldiers and freed the Germans' hands. 514 00:49:00,950 --> 00:49:03,510 A hot steam bath awaits the Allies. 515 00:49:10,310 --> 00:49:15,304 Revolution and subversion had released 44 German divisions for the Western Front. 516 00:49:16,470 --> 00:49:19,303 Germany now had a chance to win the First World War. 517 00:49:28,190 --> 00:49:30,465 In the next episode of the First World War: 518 00:49:30,550 --> 00:49:35,829 Germany launches a huge offensive on the Western Front, but her alliances start to crumble. 519 00:49:36,670 --> 00:49:39,582 It would be a race between victory and collapse.