This award-winning factual series draws on a unique collection of one hundred interviews with World War One veterans in which the soldiers and their loved ones relive all the heroism and heartbreak of the years from 1914 to 1918. Most of these men had never been interviewed before or since. All the voices are now silent.
It wasn’t just men on the front line who suffered during the Great War. At home the families left behind lived through Zeppelin raids, food shortages and with the constant worry that their husbands, sons and brothers would not return. With the arrival of the dreaded telegram announcing the death of a loved one, the lives of thousands of families changed forever.
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28 Comments
What an amazing series this is.
This is very difficult to have a report that is not biased by far-reaching restrictions.. no critic on that but simply keeping that in mind
Language barrier:
No french elderlies are reporting… They were the nearest to the front…
Age:
No report could have been done on my grandfather, who had survived: his children were born after WW-I. My mother is his youngest child (1927 – 2020). He never spoke about his ordeal to his children.
Culture and understanding:
who believes here that the soldiers of the attacking nation are not endoctrinated (young english were) or simply f.o.r.c.e.d. to do this war ??
Young german fathers with german girls mourning the loss of theit loved ones.
As a french living in germany i can fathom that…
(An elderly german woman was near to take me in her arms in a supermarket : "oooh you are french and you do live here!? Her eyes were saying "this is so wonderful. I like you so much!" I could add in my fantasy "I did not want that at all! Do you pardon me ?"
How do you cope as a german soldier having had french friends ?
Heinrich Böll and Wolgang Borchert in their books give us some insights on their experience of WW-II.
Now we might try to distinguish between young russian men beeing forced to attack Ukrainie and this criminal Putin destroying his own country for the next century.
The tragedy of the families left behind, particularly the many children that lost their fathers and older brothers 😢
God Bless each and every one of them.
While reading through the comments , I’ve come across, more than once , someone blathering about ‘the teaching social studies is woke’. This is nonsensical claptrap. That word is only for people who listen to others tell them how to think because it’s easier that picking up a book and think for themselves.
You cannot each history in a vacuum! The studying of what how a calamitous war has its antecedents of the society of what came before a war begins. I wish people will begin to STOP tossing around using loaded empty words, the cherry tomatoes in a tossed salad of nonsense. People can only know their history by understanding how it effects our society today. You need up a book and read so you can make up YOUR OWN MIND before tossing around empty nonsensical words. Social studies IS history.
Many died not from battle but from disease including the influenza pandemic. It arose out of Fort Riley, Kansas and followed the soldiers throughout the world. The flu brought the war to an end.
I recently recorded my 90 year old cousin’s life story. This included his time in the army during the Korean War. He died <1 month later. I turned it in to the Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri. It was downloaded on their website and then a flash drive will be mailed to the family. The National Archives are doing a project in an attempt to save life stories.
The poor horses died too. What terror they must have endured.
Germany wasn’t dealt with and WW2 arose out of their hate.
Innocent citizens aren't realizing what theirs own authoritative orchestrating, organizing harassments ,and plots against other countries, populations ?!.Britain harassments ,plots, and marine embargoes against Germans on Northern sea 🌊 started since 1897.when German empire decided became marine empire … similar to Britain 🇬🇧 global empire 😮.. Wars are always enriching Aristocrats pockets and weaponry company owners' pockets only . Common people are economically suffering, and bleeding increases ……
Deeply moving and so wonderful to hear the oral histories.
The propaganda was strong back then, as it is now. With all the conflicts in the world today, I fear we are heading to another world war. I hope young men refuse to go and fight for the bankers and the politicians, and ignore manipulations coming from above.
I love Timeline documentaries!
Brilliant to see and hear the testimony of those who experienced the horrors of WW1 so closely. My grandfather served in Gallipoli and was expatriated full of shrapnel. I remember as a child feeling the pieces of shrapnel as they worked their way out through his skin 50 years after the war ended. My grandmother said he was not the same man when he returned from war and eventually they divorced like so many others. Both of his brothers died on the Western front. War is a horror that reverberates for generations.
Fyi….the pals battalions were outlawed after the Leeds Boys Tragedy…..my dad was fromLeeds and fought in ww2, though he survived
It is totally appalling that the politicians and police have allowed foreigners to desecrate memorials to these brave men and women. SHAME ON YOU.
And that ghastly couple, Harry and Meghan, prance around, grifting, trying to make a buck, wearing a RED POPPY, without a clue as to what that means. If they knew, they wouldn't care.
It's all very sad but why do we not learn our lesson from history. WW1, WW2 and now we're taking on Russia and Hamas in a supporting role of the USA. Imagine the entire Arab nations, Turkey, Russia China, North Korea line up against the West as Israel destroys Gaza and the Palestinian's homes. WW3 could be 6 months away if we're not carefull, could that be the war to end all wars?
God help this world of ours !
My Tex-Mex grandfather was in the trenches in France and was gassed. My mom remembers him going to a sanitarium in the summers when she was young, which was in the mid- to late 30s.
There were communities on the Canadian Prairies that didn't have a man come home. And , when I was young , I saw a photo of over 40 women and children hitched to a farm implement. We forget that there wasn't a horse or oxen nor barely an edible creature that was left after the war either.
When I worked in a dime store a lady, maybe in her nineties back then, told me her son who died in WW1, would spiritually come to help her find things she misplaced. The sense of loss was lifelong.
I could never imagine living in europe during those times…WWI and the WWII. I have spoken to people that lived then from all different backgrounds, all were effected by it. We live in great times now but somehow there are people who don't see it that way. There are no need for wars and there probly never was. History is importent it is a way we can learn to not repeat the same mistakes, so many people have died and suffered for all of our causes why does there need to be more?
Documentaries like this are so important.So many youngsters have no idea about what happened and when it is taught in schools its glossed over and even sanitised. Listening to these interviews is heart rendering and humbling and the stoicism of these people and the courage and sacrifices made had me in tears. Ordinary people in extraordinary times doing extraordinary things.
History is important
This must have been so nevertheless time and so sad 😔
Too many commercials.
Will not click on this channel again!
Too many commercials.
Will not click on this channel again! 17:51
Really interesting