1 00:01:20,800 --> 00:01:24,520 The lazy sinews of the nations tautened. 2 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:27,160 The armies were on the move. 3 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,240 Peace exploded 4 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,880 into cheers and music. 5 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,040 In August 1914, Europe marched to war with rejoicing. 6 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,840 Tense wires of apprehension snapped. 7 00:02:23,840 --> 00:02:27,840 To those in every nation whose lives had been drab, 8 00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:31,106 who had endured discontents, who were restless, 9 00:02:31,107 --> 00:02:34,440 disgusted, filled with envy or with high ideals, 10 00:02:34,440 --> 00:02:38,360 a cause was now offered, and a duty. 11 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:40,880 Enthusiasm was reborn. 12 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:17,000 In valleys green and still Where lovers wander maying 13 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:21,760 They hear from over the hill A music playing. 14 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:26,680 Behind the drum and fife Past hawthornwood and hollow 15 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,080 Through earth and out of life 16 00:03:30,080 --> 00:03:32,480 The soldiers follow. 17 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:37,240 And down the distance they With dying note and swelling 18 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,040 Walk the resounding way 19 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:43,640 To the still dwelling. 20 00:03:44,640 --> 00:03:48,240 It was Austria's quarrel but it was Germany's war. 21 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:51,240 Germany struck first, westward. 22 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,680 At 5am on August 4th, German cavalry crossed the Belgian frontier, 23 00:03:55,680 --> 00:04:00,120 their hoofbeats on the cobblestones the signal of catastrophe. 24 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:04,560 In Berlin, the Kaiser addressed the members of the Reichstag: 25 00:04:04,560 --> 00:04:08,160 I have no knowledge any longer of party or creed. 26 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:10,760 I know only Germans 27 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:14,880 and, in token thereof, I ask all of you 28 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:17,440 to give me your hands. 29 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:19,480 When the Imperial Chancellor, 30 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:21,520 Bethmann-Hollweg, 31 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,835 asked for the unprecedented war credit of £265 million, 32 00:04:25,836 --> 00:04:28,560 the Reichstag voted it unanimously. 33 00:04:33,680 --> 00:04:38,640 Bethmann-Hollweg stated Germany's position in the clearest terms: 34 00:04:38,640 --> 00:04:41,640 Necessity knows no law. 35 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:46,040 Anyone who, like ourselves, is struggling for a supreme aim, 36 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:49,320 must think only of how he can hack his way through. 37 00:04:54,600 --> 00:04:57,360 Through international agreements, 38 00:04:57,360 --> 00:04:59,880 through the very concept of neutrality, 39 00:04:59,880 --> 00:05:01,920 through Belgium. 40 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:08,040 The invasion of Belgium was demanded by the Schlieffen Plan, 41 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,600 the masterplan by which Germany hoped to win the war. 42 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,600 To avoid the French fortress system, the Germans would cross Belgium, 43 00:05:15,600 --> 00:05:19,960 pass through Brussels, swing down into France brushing the Channel coast, 44 00:05:19,960 --> 00:05:23,800 pass round west of Paris and attack the French armies from behind. 45 00:05:24,800 --> 00:05:28,440 The whole thing was expected to be over in 40 days. 46 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,560 One thing was vital to this plan, and that was speed. 47 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,760 The point of first impact was Liege, 48 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:41,080 blocking the crossings of the River Meuse and all routes to Brussels and the west. 49 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:43,960 This strongly-defended area had to be seized 50 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:48,200 to open the way for the waiting masses of the German field army, 51 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,200 seized quickly and at whatever cost. 52 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:54,320 Or, alternatively, 53 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:56,720 defended at whatever cost. 54 00:05:56,720 --> 00:06:00,280 General Leman, commanding the garrison of Liege, 55 00:06:00,280 --> 00:06:03,560 had been instructed to do just that. 56 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:05,840 The Belgian army was weak, ill-prepared, 57 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:09,880 conscious that it could not face the power of Germany in the open field, 58 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:13,280 but brave and willing to fight behind the defences which existed 59 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:15,320 or which could be hastily constructed. 60 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:40,800 They were facing the most powerful military machine in the world. 61 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,480 The army was the embodiment of Germany's soul. 62 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:49,840 All the hopes and all the pride of this young, expanding, thriving empire 63 00:06:49,840 --> 00:06:52,200 found expression in it. 64 00:06:54,520 --> 00:06:58,880 Every young man was liable to serve, and most of them were overjoyed to do so. 65 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:02,960 When the army marched, all Germany marched too. 66 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,480 In peacetime, it numbered nearly a million conscripts. 67 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,080 Behind them 68 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:22,440 stood over four million trained reserves 69 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,960 and a final potential of almost ten million. 70 00:07:25,960 --> 00:07:29,000 The backbone, as everywhere, was the infantry - 71 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:34,120 78 divisions, drawn from the swelling cities, the famous old towns, 72 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,720 the wide and various countryside of the German Empire. 73 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:42,720 They were mostly peasants, sturdy, patient, brave, dependable 74 00:07:42,720 --> 00:07:48,360 and their hard core was 110,000 superbly trained non-commissioned officers. 75 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,920 The cavalry numbered over 100,000. 76 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,600 They were the Kaiser's favourites, 77 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:57,600 Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Uhlans, 78 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,640 with flat-topped helmets and fluttering lances. 79 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:06,040 The Crown Prince's regiment was the Death's Head Hussars. 80 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:20,400 But it was the German artillery which would shock the world and do the damage. 81 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,960 The field guns were not impressive but behind them were ranged 82 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,360 over 3,000 weapons of heavier calibre - 83 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:37,320 150mm, 210mm, 305s, products of the firm of Krupps. 84 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:48,680 It was a crushing weight of heavy guns, well supplied with shells, 85 00:08:48,680 --> 00:08:51,040 waiting to tear a continent apart. 86 00:08:58,360 --> 00:09:00,400 And yet, for a while, 87 00:09:00,400 --> 00:09:03,440 all this might was checked. 88 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:07,040 Liege proved a tough nut. 89 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:13,880 The first German assaults were repulsed with heavy losses. 90 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:18,080 They tried a night attack to avoid the Belgian machine guns. 91 00:09:18,080 --> 00:09:22,160 Slipping through the outer ring of forts, an almost unknown German staff officer, 92 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:23,680 General Ludendorff, 93 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:27,360 made his way to the citadel in the centre of the town itself. 94 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,840 I arrived. No German soldier was to be seen 95 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,640 and the citadel was still in the hands of the enemy. 96 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:36,200 I banged on the gates, which were locked. 97 00:09:36,200 --> 00:09:38,400 They were opened from the inside. 98 00:09:38,400 --> 00:09:42,880 The few hundred Belgians who were there surrendered at my summons. 99 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:47,040 CHEERING 100 00:09:47,040 --> 00:09:49,720 There was jubilation in Germany. 101 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:54,840 The Kaiser kissed von Moltke "rapturously". But the excitement was premature. 102 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,275 General Leman was not in the citadel, 103 00:09:57,276 --> 00:10:00,800 but in one of the forts and, under his firm direction, 104 00:10:00,800 --> 00:10:03,280 these continued to resist. 105 00:10:19,240 --> 00:10:22,240 The way to Brussels was still blocked. 106 00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,280 In the following days, 107 00:10:24,280 --> 00:10:28,400 the short pause while Germany's battering train assembled, 108 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,960 the nations discerned the countenance of war. 109 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:36,040 At this stage, many found it pleasing. 110 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:38,920 The German Crown Prince wrote: 111 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:41,440 The electric spark of the mobilisation decree 112 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:43,520 fired a train of indescribable enthusiasm 113 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:46,560 from Memel to the tiniest hamlet in the southern German mountains. 114 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:54,320 At that time, the vast majority of the German people 115 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:58,040 regarded the military solution to the increasing political tension 116 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:00,280 as the end of a nightmare. 117 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:05,520 A French officer was leaving Paris with his regiment for Verdun: 118 00:11:05,520 --> 00:11:10,160 A great nation's heart was beating tumultuously as in days long past. 119 00:11:10,160 --> 00:11:12,520 Crowds were gathered at every station. 120 00:11:12,520 --> 00:11:15,960 Behind every barrier and at every window along our road, 121 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,040 cries of "Vive la France!" and "Vive l'armee!" 122 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:21,120 could be heard everywhere 123 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:23,720 while people waved handkerchiefs and hats. 124 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,760 The women were throwing kisses and heaped flowers on our convoy. 125 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:30,080 The young men were shouting, "Au revoir!" 126 00:11:30,080 --> 00:11:31,440 "A bientot!" 127 00:11:31,440 --> 00:11:36,520 At one grade crossing, a young woman lifted her baby towards us, shouting, 128 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:40,000 "He, too, like you, will go someday and do his duty." 129 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:43,040 It must have been like this in 1792. 130 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:48,360 The soul of France had again attained the height of her greatest period in history. 131 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,392 Saturday, August 1st, was a quiet day 132 00:11:54,393 --> 00:11:58,320 for the officer-in-charge at London's chief recruiting office, 133 00:11:58,320 --> 00:11:59,880 Great Scotland Yard. 134 00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:03,560 Precisely eight recruits presented themselves to him. 135 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:08,960 Then came Sunday and August Bank Holiday. 136 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:11,240 When he returned to his office on August 4th, 137 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:15,440 the crowd awaiting him was so dense that it took him 20 minutes, 138 00:12:15,440 --> 00:12:18,720 and the help of 20 policemen to get through to his desk. 139 00:12:18,720 --> 00:12:22,080 And from that moment he worked continuously through the day, 140 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:24,120 attesting men. 141 00:12:27,360 --> 00:12:30,880 When Lord Kitchener's appeal went out for the "First Hundred Thousand", 142 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,000 Your King And Country Need YOU, 143 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:35,480 the flow increased all over Britian. 144 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,320 One hundred men an hour, three thousand a day, 145 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,320 six thousand over the war's first weekend 146 00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:43,160 joined the army. 147 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:46,400 So many came now, they had to be turned away. 148 00:12:46,400 --> 00:12:50,720 The whole country and the great Dominions of the British Empire with it 149 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,680 were swept by the emotion which Rupert Brooke 150 00:12:53,680 --> 00:12:56,040 precisely put into words: 151 00:12:56,040 --> 00:12:59,720 Now God be thanked Who has matched us with His hour 152 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:02,840 And caught our youth And wakened us from sleeping 153 00:13:02,840 --> 00:13:07,120 With hand made sure, clear eye And sharpened power 154 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,840 To turn as swimmers into cleanness leaping 155 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:15,480 Glad from a world grown old and cold and weary. 156 00:13:21,240 --> 00:13:26,920 Neither religion nor socialism nor the most pure pacifism was immune 157 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:30,880 from the surge of this worldwide outburst of passion. 158 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:33,880 Among the cheering London crowds on August 4th 159 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:37,000 was the philosopher Bertrand Russell: 160 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,920 I had fondly imagined that wars were forced upon a reluctant population 161 00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:44,520 by despotic and Machiavellian governments. 162 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:49,360 But now I was tortured by patriotism. I desired the defeat of Germany 163 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,800 as much as any retired colonel. 164 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,080 Love of England is very nearly the strongest emotion I possess 165 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:57,920 and, in appearing to set it aside at such a moment, 166 00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,920 I was making a very difficult renunciation. 167 00:14:00,920 --> 00:14:03,640 The Liberal Manchester Guardian, 168 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,520 an important platform for pacifist opinion, 169 00:14:06,520 --> 00:14:09,120 said in its editorial on August 5th: 170 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:14,040 England declared war on Germany at 11 o'clock last night. 171 00:14:15,080 --> 00:14:19,040 All controversy is therefore at an end. Our front is united. 172 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:23,520 Now there is nothing for Englishmen to do but to stand together 173 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:25,920 and help by every means in their power 174 00:14:25,920 --> 00:14:28,160 to the attainment of our common objective - 175 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,800 an early and decisive victory over Germany. 176 00:14:32,960 --> 00:14:35,720 It was quickly obvious to thoughtful men 177 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:39,280 that nations in this mood would not easily give up the struggle. 178 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,040 Obstinate Liege was already becoming a symbol. 179 00:14:43,040 --> 00:14:46,680 General Leman was the war's first hero. 180 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:50,080 The phrase "gallant little Belgium" was born, 181 00:14:50,080 --> 00:14:53,560 adding fuel to the emotionalism of the moment. 182 00:14:53,560 --> 00:14:55,840 Behind Liege, the image of a brave king 183 00:14:55,840 --> 00:15:00,240 and a resolute people rallying against aggression was firmly planted. 184 00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,320 The world applauded a small David 185 00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:05,040 who did not fear Goliath. 186 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:19,000 Yet it was Goliath who won this fight. 187 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:23,480 The great guns and mortars were brought up against Liege, 188 00:15:23,480 --> 00:15:25,640 the Krupp 420s, 189 00:15:25,640 --> 00:15:28,120 the Skoda 305s borrowed from Austria. 190 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,200 The Belgian forts were pounded into rubble. 191 00:15:32,200 --> 00:15:34,520 Steel plates were smashed and buckled. 192 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,000 Human flesh was turned to bloody pulp. 193 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:52,800 General Leman was buried under the wreckage 194 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:56,000 and dug out to find himself a prisoner. 195 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:02,120 His German captors allowed him to keep his sword. 196 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:07,040 The war was young enough for such gestures, and the Germans could afford them 197 00:16:07,040 --> 00:16:10,440 for, with the fall of Liege, there was nothing to prevent their masses 198 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:15,360 from pouring into Belgium towards Brussels and down the River Meuse. 199 00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:19,080 The Belgian army could not hope to stop them. 200 00:16:19,080 --> 00:16:21,200 It would be up to Belgium's allies. 201 00:16:21,200 --> 00:16:24,200 MUSIC: "La Marseillaise" 202 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:28,280 They too were on the move. Carefully in step with Germany, 203 00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:31,680 the French army mobilised, called in its reservists, 204 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,440 issued them with boots and live ammunition, 205 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,320 drafted them to divisions, army corps and armies, 206 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:41,040 and massed them behind the frontier. 207 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,880 On foot and by train, 208 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,600 horses and men moved to their ordained positions. 209 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:50,720 A regulation was turning into a catchphrase: 210 00:16:50,720 --> 00:16:53,640 Quarante hommes, huit chevaux. 211 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,560 40 men or 8 horses. 212 00:16:56,560 --> 00:16:59,920 Neither men nor horses found it comfortable. 213 00:16:59,920 --> 00:17:01,880 France also had a plan. 214 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:05,320 Plan 17. It was as simple as von Schlieffen's 215 00:17:05,320 --> 00:17:07,920 but scarcely so promising. 216 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:10,400 Whatever the circumstances, 217 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,520 it is the Commander-in-Chief's intention to advance, 218 00:17:13,520 --> 00:17:17,440 all forces united, to the attack of the German armies. 219 00:17:17,440 --> 00:17:22,840 "Whatever the circumstances" the French army would advance. 220 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:25,280 "Whatever the circumstances" in full strength. 221 00:17:25,280 --> 00:17:30,360 "Whatever the circumstances" through the lost provinces of Lorraine and Alzace 222 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:31,400 towards the Rhein. 223 00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:36,920 There were few who doubted, for the army was France's pride - 224 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,880 a firm rock amid the shifting sands of Republican government. 225 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:45,520 The French infantry were still dressed in the red trousers and the red kepis 226 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,560 of 50 years before. 227 00:17:47,560 --> 00:17:51,480 Like the Germans, most of them were peasants, strong and hardy, 228 00:17:51,480 --> 00:17:53,600 more enduring than anyone supposed 229 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:55,971 and possessing a quality of Gallic fury 230 00:17:55,972 --> 00:17:58,920 which was heightened by their mission - to attack. 231 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:03,200 Amid the historic costumes of old France, there was a whiff of Africa. 232 00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:07,040 Zouaves and Turcos from Algeria and Morocco, 233 00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:09,480 and the famous Foreign Legion. 234 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:21,826 The cavalry contained Cuirassiers and Dragoons 235 00:18:21,827 --> 00:18:25,160 whose dress had scarcely changed since Waterloo, 236 00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,280 and gay Chasseurs. 237 00:18:27,280 --> 00:18:31,320 All of them were trained and eager to charge with lance and sabre, 238 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:33,520 whatever the circumstances. 239 00:18:33,520 --> 00:18:36,160 With uniforms drawn from history, 240 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,920 and ideas drawn from fiction, the French army 241 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:42,360 was completely up-to-date in one respect. 242 00:18:42,360 --> 00:18:44,400 It had the finest field gun in the world, 243 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:47,480 the 75mm, the soixante-quinze, 244 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,320 flexible, mobile, 245 00:18:49,320 --> 00:18:51,440 able to fire 25 rounds a minute. 246 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:53,480 Above all, plentiful. 247 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,680 With these plans and with these armaments, 248 00:18:59,680 --> 00:19:02,680 Europe's two leading powers collided. 249 00:19:02,680 --> 00:19:04,960 Which would stand the test? 250 00:19:10,360 --> 00:19:15,400 While Germany waited for the fall of Liege to open the way for her masses in the north, 251 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,440 the French struck in the south, into the green mountains of Alzace. 252 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,920 And France, in her turn, could make a premature jubilee. 253 00:19:22,920 --> 00:19:25,080 Frontier posts were torn down. 254 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,800 Mulhausen once again became Mulhouse. 255 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:31,240 The Germans counter-attacked 256 00:19:31,240 --> 00:19:33,760 and were soon in Mulhausen again. 257 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:36,200 The French retreated 258 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:38,240 in such a haste 259 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,960 that we actually had to run after them. 260 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:47,320 At first we found heaps of French army blankets 261 00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:50,200 which the soldiers had thrown away. 262 00:19:50,200 --> 00:19:53,320 Then we found French greatcoats. 263 00:19:53,320 --> 00:19:56,400 Then we found French knapsacks. 264 00:19:56,400 --> 00:20:02,320 Then we found French bayonets with ammunition pouches full of cartridges. 265 00:20:02,320 --> 00:20:07,720 And finally, in barns hidden, or sitting just on the roadside, 266 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:10,320 the exhausted French soldiers. 267 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:15,920 So, each side's plan suffered an early jolt. Each side's pride 268 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:17,360 was shaken. 269 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:19,680 Each side concealed the fact. 270 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:24,200 And both populations entered a zone of silence and half-truths 271 00:20:24,200 --> 00:20:26,520 in which they would linger for years. 272 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:29,320 War was all a mystery, 273 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,400 laced with speculations, boasts and fears. 274 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:39,600 What people read in the newspapers only added to the confusion: 275 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:42,000 "Women Against Uhlans." 276 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:45,160 "Germans Repulsed By Boiling Water." 277 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,000 "French Frontier Successes." 278 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:51,720 "Enemy's Guns Taken." 279 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,563 And this was the headline over a short but confident 280 00:20:54,564 --> 00:20:56,880 communique from the French Ministry of War. 281 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,000 And from the same souce came army despatches: 282 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,240 During the whole of yesterday, August 17th, 283 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:06,280 we made ceaseless progress in Upper Alsace. 284 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:09,800 The enemy retreated in this neighbourhood in disorder, 285 00:21:09,800 --> 00:21:13,440 leaving everywhere his wounded and war material. 286 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,800 Behind this veil of high-sounding phrases, 287 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:18,440 the truth was 288 00:21:18,440 --> 00:21:21,079 that the High Commands of both sides 289 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:24,760 had entered a zone of uncertainty, of misty groping. 290 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,080 The test soon became a test of nerves 291 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:30,360 and Germany was at a disadvantage 292 00:21:30,360 --> 00:21:34,760 for the man in charge of her vast armies was a man of unsteady nerve. 293 00:21:34,760 --> 00:21:39,280 General von Moltke was a cultured, conscientious, reasonable man 294 00:21:39,280 --> 00:21:41,560 but he was also a sick man 295 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:43,760 and an uncertain one. 296 00:21:43,760 --> 00:21:47,480 Now, as the French army made a second advance in Alsace 297 00:21:47,480 --> 00:21:50,480 and began an all-out offensive in Lorraine, 298 00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:54,040 von Moltke's indecisions grew upon him. 299 00:21:54,040 --> 00:21:59,040 The ambitions of other generals were a complicating factor. 300 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:02,520 Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, facing the French advance, 301 00:22:02,520 --> 00:22:04,480 wanted to counter-attack. 302 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,320 Moltke agreed without demur. 303 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:13,000 It was his first step towards the abandonment of the Schlieffen Plan. 304 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:17,320 No such indecision yet possessed the French. 305 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:20,200 Four years younger than Moltke's 66, 306 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:21,640 the French Commander, 307 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,240 General Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre, 308 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,960 was not in any case a man liable to indecisions. 309 00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:30,680 "It would have been difficult," 310 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:33,403 wrote Sir Winston Churchill, "to find any figure 311 00:22:33,404 --> 00:22:35,800 more unlike the British idea of a Frenchman 312 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:41,360 "than this bull-headed, broad-shouldered, slow-thinking, phlegmatic, 313 00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,280 "bucolic personage." 314 00:22:46,400 --> 00:22:51,440 There were few questions in the French army during those early August days. 315 00:22:51,440 --> 00:22:53,480 The prophets of the offensive 316 00:22:53,480 --> 00:22:56,080 had laid down the doctrine: 317 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,400 For the attack, only two things are necessary - 318 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:01,640 to know where the enemy is, 319 00:23:01,640 --> 00:23:03,840 and to decide what to do. 320 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,680 What the enemy intends to do is of no importance. 321 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:15,360 With this assurance, the French spilled out over the fields and hillsides of Lorraine 322 00:23:15,360 --> 00:23:18,200 bold, brilliant targets in the sunlight. 323 00:23:18,200 --> 00:23:20,965 At first, all went well. On August 18th, 324 00:23:20,966 --> 00:23:24,520 the day after the last fort at Liege had surrendered, 325 00:23:24,520 --> 00:23:29,280 General de Castelnau, commanding the French spearhead, the Second Army, 326 00:23:29,280 --> 00:23:31,720 announced to his troops: 327 00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:34,280 The enemy is retiring on our front. 328 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:38,680 He must be pursued with the utmost vigour and rapidity. 329 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,720 I expect corps commanders to instil into their troops the necessary dash. 330 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:48,000 Full-tilt into Prince Rupprecht's advancing army crashed the French 331 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,600 and learned in this first great encounter of the war some terrible truths. 332 00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:58,320 What the enemy intended to do WAS important after all. 333 00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:04,960 At long range the German heavy guns, and at short range the machine guns 334 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:07,480 devoured the gaudy lines of Frenchmen. 335 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:11,080 "The sense of the tragic futility of it will never quite fade," 336 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:13,400 wrote Sir Edward Spears. 337 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:16,620 And added that many of these gallant officers 338 00:24:16,621 --> 00:24:19,360 thought it chic to die in white gloves. 339 00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:23,120 Nobody could tell exactly what the French losses were, 340 00:24:23,120 --> 00:24:25,960 but they were enormous. 341 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:28,880 "The French Second Army," said Joffre, 342 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:33,440 "came back under conditions which almost resembled a rout." 343 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:43,000 The march of the great German right wing was now unfolding. 344 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:48,400 As the Belgian army retired towards the port of Antwerp, General von Kluck's First Army 345 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,120 entered Brussels with all the panoply they could summon, 346 00:24:52,120 --> 00:24:54,960 streaming through the city hour after hour - 347 00:24:54,960 --> 00:24:58,800 a deliberate display of power to overawe the population. 348 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,560 On Thursday 20th August, 349 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:06,560 the Germans entered Brussels. 350 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:09,560 It was a marvellous sunny day 351 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,240 but, still, 352 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,120 I keep the vision of grey, 353 00:25:14,120 --> 00:25:16,720 grey all over the town. 354 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,840 They arrived in long, long streams, 355 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,360 long, grey streams. 356 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:28,400 It was a sinister, greenish-grey. 357 00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:33,120 Even the helmets had a grey cover. 358 00:25:34,080 --> 00:25:39,360 They went along in the main street of Brussels 359 00:25:39,360 --> 00:25:42,480 with their war equipment, 360 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:46,560 with all their war material, heavy guns, 361 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:49,600 their officers on horseback. 362 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,040 And their music - 363 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:59,240 that music of drum and fife. And always the same little tune. 364 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,520 At the same time as this demonstration, 365 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:10,453 the German Second Army, which had taken Liege, 366 00:26:10,454 --> 00:26:13,080 arrived in front of the fortress of Namur. 367 00:26:13,080 --> 00:26:15,920 The great guns were heard again. 368 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,360 Two things became clear to the French High Command. 369 00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:21,760 The Germans were evidently strong in Belgium, 370 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:25,680 and the frontier fighting proved that they were strong in Lorraine. 371 00:26:25,680 --> 00:26:28,240 Strong on the right, strong on the left. 372 00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:30,160 What of the centre? 373 00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:34,360 Surely they could not be strong everywhere? 374 00:26:34,360 --> 00:26:36,720 Hopefully, the French struck again 375 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,610 in a region where everything favoured 376 00:26:39,611 --> 00:26:43,240 concealment, ambush and surprise - the Ardennes. 377 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:51,640 Once more, the French swept forward. 378 00:26:51,640 --> 00:26:55,800 Once more, their blind rush was abruptly checked. 379 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,018 Machine guns and high-angle artillery fire, 380 00:26:58,019 --> 00:27:00,680 to which they had no reply, tore through their ranks. 381 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:04,000 We were shot down like rabbits. 382 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,240 For them, it was a real target because we had red trousers 383 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:11,040 and they were down in the hole themselves. 384 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:13,080 Then we had to retreat, of course. 385 00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,240 We'd lie down for a certain while, trying to make some holes 386 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,640 and after that, when we could do nothing, we had to retreat back. 387 00:27:20,640 --> 00:27:25,680 Once more, the French armies tumbled back in dire disorder. 388 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:33,400 The dream was wearing thin, 389 00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,040 reality asserting itself - 390 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:41,720 the reality of the Schlieffen Plan unfolding stage by stage with awful deliberation. 391 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,200 The reality of the great strength of Germany. 392 00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:49,480 Amid the fear and hatred 393 00:27:49,480 --> 00:27:53,120 which surrounded the advancing German armies, 394 00:27:53,120 --> 00:27:56,560 other truths were also being revealed. 395 00:27:56,560 --> 00:28:01,000 We entered the village, a company of approximately 200 men. 396 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,680 And we were just taking off our knapsacks, 397 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:11,080 and queuing up for the soup kitchen who wanted to give us some food, 398 00:28:11,080 --> 00:28:16,160 when a terrific firing started - from all sides we were fired at. 399 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:19,200 The cook and his mate were killed. 400 00:28:19,200 --> 00:28:24,640 Quite a number of our soldiers were wounded and killed, too. 401 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:28,240 We stormed into the houses where the firing came from 402 00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:31,840 but all we could find 403 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:34,960 were some innocent-looking peasants 404 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,000 in blue blouses. 405 00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,200 But, when we searched the houses, 406 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:44,000 we found infantry rifles still hot from firing. 407 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:50,000 Whose rifles were they? Did they belong to the soldiers or to the peasants themselves? 408 00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,102 No time to find out in hot blood. 409 00:28:52,103 --> 00:28:56,120 Time only for harsh, immediate reprisals - shooting and burning. 410 00:28:56,120 --> 00:28:59,640 Terror soon became a deliberate instrument of war. 411 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,680 A line of smoking ruins lay behind the German advance. 412 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:08,440 A tide of frightened, desperate people ebbed before it. 413 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:17,760 The Germans convinced themselves that they were victims of systematic guerilla warfare. 414 00:29:17,760 --> 00:29:19,800 General Ludendorff wrote: 415 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:25,000 For my part, I had taken the field with chivalrous and humane conceptions of warfare. 416 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,320 This guerilla war was bound to disgust any soldier. 417 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:33,440 My soldierly spirit suffered bitter disillusion. 418 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,000 The bitterness increased. 419 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:38,040 The rage boiled over. 420 00:29:44,480 --> 00:29:51,240 At Dinant, General von Hausen's Saxons shot over 600 men, women and children, 421 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:53,400 among them a child three weeks old. 422 00:29:53,400 --> 00:29:57,440 A staff officer questioned how this deed would look in history. 423 00:29:57,440 --> 00:30:01,760 Von Hausen said, "We shall write the history ourselves." 424 00:30:04,200 --> 00:30:06,720 More of it was written at Louvain 425 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:07,840 on August 25th. 426 00:30:07,840 --> 00:30:12,720 On that day began the sack of this ancient Belgian university town. 427 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,480 Louvain Library had been founded in 1426. 428 00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:19,960 Among its 230,000 volumes 429 00:30:19,960 --> 00:30:22,440 were 750 medieval manuscripts 430 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:26,080 and over 1,000 of the earliest printed books. 431 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:28,760 All were reduced to ashes. 432 00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:34,120 A German officer, watching it happen, told an American correspondent: 433 00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:36,160 We shall wipe it out. 434 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,360 Not one stone will stand upon another, 435 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:40,160 not one, I tell you! 436 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:43,400 We will teach them to respect Germany. 437 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,920 For generations, people will come here 438 00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,600 to see what we have done. 439 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,160 The sense of outrage grew on both sides of the line. 440 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:58,440 Over the neat, brick towns and the clean, white farms of Belgium, 441 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:00,800 the war flowed westward. 442 00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,800 The last of the French armies, 443 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:08,480 General Lanrezac's Fifth Army, facing the swinging end of Schlieffen's flail, 444 00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:10,760 edged slowly to its left, 445 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,600 constantly sensing the pressure of the German right. 446 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:17,720 As the Fifth Army approached Namur and Charleroi, 447 00:31:17,720 --> 00:31:20,280 lining up along the River Sambre, 448 00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:25,240 the fighting swelled to a roar all the way down the line into Alsace. 449 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:36,080 And now another element was coming into play - the British Expeditionary Force. 450 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,600 For once in British history, an army was taking the field 451 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:41,640 with incredible efficiency. 452 00:31:41,640 --> 00:31:46,440 At all the depot towns and barracks, there was tremendous activity. 453 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:49,440 60% of these men were reservists, summoned back to the colours 454 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:53,120 by telegram, by public notice, even by town crier. 455 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:56,920 Uniforms and rifles were issued, kits were made up, 456 00:31:56,920 --> 00:31:59,280 transport was prepared. 457 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:03,240 New boots were fitted to feet which had lost the feel 458 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:05,760 of hard army leather. 459 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:13,000 1,800 special trains carried the British Expeditionary Force 460 00:32:13,000 --> 00:32:14,640 to its ports of embarkation. 461 00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:19,720 On one day alone, 80 trains ran into Southampton docks. 462 00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:22,760 MUSIC: "It's A Long Way To Tipperary" 463 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:36,040 SHIP'S HORN BLASTS 464 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:41,040 An average of 50,000 tons of shipping per day, 465 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:44,160 safe and unhindered under the protection of the Royal Navy, 466 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:47,000 carried the Expeditionary Force to France. 467 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,640 Landings began in deep secrecy on August 7th. 468 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,640 The Commander-in-Chief of this army was Field Marshal Sir John French. 469 00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:25,360 Peppery, emotional, a good cavalry tactician 470 00:33:25,360 --> 00:33:27,800 but not an intellectual soldier, 471 00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:33,040 French's task in those closing days of August was difficult enough to tax a genius. 472 00:33:33,040 --> 00:33:35,460 Sir John French believed that he was about 473 00:33:35,461 --> 00:33:38,320 to take part in a vast Allied advance to the Rhein. 474 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:40,611 Of what had happened to the French 475 00:33:40,612 --> 00:33:43,920 or of what the Germans were doing, he knew nothing. 476 00:33:43,920 --> 00:33:46,800 The first thing he had to do 477 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:51,840 was to make contact with the French general on his right, General Lanrezac. 478 00:33:54,080 --> 00:33:58,147 The news had just come in that the German armies. 479 00:33:58,148 --> 00:34:01,400 were making for a place on the Meuse... 480 00:34:02,560 --> 00:34:06,600 ..called Huy, "Hoo-ee", H-U-Y. 481 00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:11,360 It's a very difficult word to pronounce in English. 482 00:34:11,360 --> 00:34:17,040 And French started off gallantly in French, 483 00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:22,200 turning to Lanrezac and said, 484 00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:27,400 "What do you think... Qu'est-ce que vous croyez que... 485 00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,840 "les Allemands vont faire a... 486 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,160 "What do you think the Germans are going to do at..." 487 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:41,120 And then he stuck at H-U-Y. He just couldn't pronounce Huy. 488 00:34:41,120 --> 00:34:45,000 So, after a moment's hesitation, he said loudly, "Hoi!" 489 00:34:45,000 --> 00:34:48,480 "What are the Germans going to do at Hoi?" 490 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:52,520 The Frenchman said, "What's he saying? What's he saying?" 491 00:34:52,520 --> 00:34:55,520 And then, very rudely, 492 00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,840 Lanrezac turned to somebody and said, 493 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:03,720 "Tell the Field Marshal the Germans have come to the Meuse to fish." 494 00:35:03,720 --> 00:35:06,160 It was a bad beginning. 495 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,760 Worse was to follow. 496 00:35:08,760 --> 00:35:12,240 Each day the RFC flew its reconnaissances. 497 00:35:12,240 --> 00:35:14,200 Some discovered nothing. But one, 498 00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:18,440 scouting over the battlefield of Waterloo, just south of Brussels, 499 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:20,480 was more fortunate. 500 00:35:20,480 --> 00:35:23,400 We found the whole area 501 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:26,240 completely covered 502 00:35:26,240 --> 00:35:29,760 with hordes of field-grey uniforms 503 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:35,840 and heavy stuff - transport, guns and what-have-you, coming towards us. 504 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:39,480 In fact, it looked as though the place was alive with the Germans. 505 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:44,960 The pilot landed and was rushed off to tell Sir John French what he had seen. 506 00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,569 I showed him a map, all marked. He said, 507 00:35:47,570 --> 00:35:50,800 "Have you been over that area?" I said, "Yes, sir!" 508 00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:53,840 I explained what I'd seen and they were... 509 00:35:53,840 --> 00:35:56,360 enormously interested. 510 00:35:56,360 --> 00:35:59,640 Then they began reading the figures that I'd estimated, 511 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,120 whereupon I seemed to feel that their interest faded. 512 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:08,000 They seemed to look at each other and shrug their shoulders. 513 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,120 Then French said to me, "Yes, my boy. This is terribly interesting 514 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:14,280 "but tell me all about an aeroplane. 515 00:36:14,280 --> 00:36:17,960 "What can you do in these machines? Aren't they dangerous? 516 00:36:17,960 --> 00:36:20,480 "Are they very cold? Can you see anything? 517 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,760 "What do you do if your engine stops?" All that sort of stuff. 518 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:26,800 I couldn't bring him back to earth 519 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,720 because, obviously, he wasn't interested. 520 00:36:30,720 --> 00:36:34,600 I again tried and he... he looked at me and he said, 521 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,280 "Yes, this is very interesting, what you've got. 522 00:36:37,280 --> 00:36:41,880 "But, you know, our information - which of course is correct - 523 00:36:41,880 --> 00:36:43,572 "proves that you really... 524 00:36:43,573 --> 00:36:47,520 I don't think you could really have seen as much as you think. 525 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:52,560 "I quite understand you may imagine you have, but it's not the case." 526 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:57,160 But the French on the right knew all about this and were falling back 527 00:36:57,160 --> 00:37:01,680 at the very moment when the British believed that they were advancing. 528 00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:05,720 It was a bad moment for Lt Spears who liaised between the two armies. 529 00:37:05,720 --> 00:37:10,000 I knew that the British army was absolutely relying on this advance 530 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,560 to complete its own movement. 531 00:37:14,080 --> 00:37:19,240 And the position of the British army was extremely dangerous 532 00:37:19,240 --> 00:37:23,920 because we believed that a couple of German army corps 533 00:37:23,920 --> 00:37:29,920 were moving, quite unopposed, round the flank of the BEF 534 00:37:29,920 --> 00:37:34,240 which was on the extreme left of the whole Allied line. 535 00:37:34,240 --> 00:37:36,720 Well, I... 536 00:37:36,720 --> 00:37:38,840 a young officer, 537 00:37:40,320 --> 00:37:44,120 had come to tell, on my own responsibility, 538 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:48,040 come to tell Sir John French 539 00:37:48,040 --> 00:37:52,040 that...he couldn't rely 540 00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:55,600 on the French advance. 541 00:37:56,840 --> 00:38:02,720 And, indeed, that if he continued advancing as he was planning to do, 542 00:38:02,720 --> 00:38:07,480 it was the destruction of the whole of the British army. 543 00:38:09,560 --> 00:38:16,120 We were walking straight into the mouth of a trap, an enormous trap. 544 00:38:16,120 --> 00:38:20,400 The dream of advancing through Belgium was at an end. 545 00:38:20,400 --> 00:38:24,440 From here onwards, it would be all harsh reality. 546 00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:27,760 The date was August 22nd. 547 00:38:27,760 --> 00:38:32,600 The position which the army reached was the battlefield of Mons.