the four part series Apocalypse: WWI plays on the American Heroes Channel (formerly the Military Channel) Monday August 4th with episode one @ 6:00 pm & 9:00 pm pacific time followed by episode 2 @ 7:00 pm & 10:00 pm pacific.
as I wrote in a thread about another WWI show, episode one had some EXCELLENT history that I did NOT know before watching. everyone knows that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife in Sarajevo, Serbia June 28th, 1914 was the catalyst for WWI BUT almost as important was the subsequent assassination of the French anti-war Socialist Jean Jaures on July 31st, 1914. Jaures and his majority Social Democrats Party were strongly opposed to declaring war on Austria-Hungary and Germany even though the French had a mutual defense treaty with the Russians
turns out that IF France had NOT entered WWI, the whole mess could have been limited to just Austria-Hungary & Germany vs Russia & Serbia. unfortunately after Jaures murder the French militarists, who saw a war with Germany as a way to get back the Alsace-Lorraine region lost during the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, were able to get a declaration of war
I was hoping that AHC would repeat episode one and they have. according to the AHC web site, episode two covers the early The Battles of Tannenberg, the Marne and Verdun. IF it is as interesting as episode one, it should be excellent. it was the BEST chronological history of the war I have seen so far on TV. was a short and to the point "Cliff Notes" version with information I didn't know before
To remove first post, remove entire topic.
the four part series Apocalypse: WWI plays on the American Heroes Channel (formerly the Military Channel) Monday August 4th with episode one @ 6:00 pm & 9:00 pm pacific time followed by episode 2 @ 7:00 pm & 10:00 pm pacific.
as I wrote in a thread about another WWI show, episode one had some EXCELLENT history that I did NOT know before watching. everyone knows that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife in Sarajevo, Serbia June 28th, 1914 was the catalyst for WWI BUT almost as important was the subsequent assassination of the French anti-war Socialist Jean Jaures on July 31st, 1914. Jaures and his majority Social Democrats Party were strongly opposed to declaring war on Austria-Hungary and Germany even though the French had a mutual defense treaty with the Russians
turns out that IF France had NOT entered WWI, the whole mess could have been limited to just Austria-Hungary & Germany vs Russia & Serbia. unfortunately after Jaures murder the French militarists, who saw a war with Germany as a way to get back the Alsace-Lorraine region lost during the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, were able to get a declaration of war
I was hoping that AHC would repeat episode one and they have. according to the AHC web site, episode two covers the early The Battles of Tannenberg, the Marne and Verdun. IF it is as interesting as episode one, it should be excellent. it was the BEST chronological history of the war I have seen so far on TV. was a short and to the point "Cliff Notes" version with information I didn't know before
didn't think episode two was as interesting as one only because there really was no "new" information. Germans made a HUGE mistake swinging to the east trying to incircle the French and British instead of just marching on Paris as the the pre-war von Schlieffen plan dictated.
didn't think episode two was as interesting as one only because there really was no "new" information. Germans made a HUGE mistake swinging to the east trying to incircle the French and British instead of just marching on Paris as the the pre-war von Schlieffen plan dictated.
episode three mostly about the battles at Verdum and the Somme, where British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (aka "Butcher Haig") incompetent strategy and tactics cost the British people the highest number of casualties of any battle in their history.
somewhat surprised they discussed the Salonika front in northern Greece (Macedonia) without speaking of the British Dardanelles campaign and esp the Gallipoli disaster
touched on French mutinies which happened at Verdun because the French generals continued to order suicidal frontal attacks against entrenched German positions with no hope of success just to show they were "on the offense"
looks like episode four will lead off with the Russian Revolution and their exit from the war
episode three mostly about the battles at Verdum and the Somme, where British Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig (aka "Butcher Haig") incompetent strategy and tactics cost the British people the highest number of casualties of any battle in their history.
somewhat surprised they discussed the Salonika front in northern Greece (Macedonia) without speaking of the British Dardanelles campaign and esp the Gallipoli disaster
touched on French mutinies which happened at Verdun because the French generals continued to order suicidal frontal attacks against entrenched German positions with no hope of success just to show they were "on the offense"
looks like episode four will lead off with the Russian Revolution and their exit from the war
well there will obviously be more than four parts to the series because episode four started with America's entry into the war and ended with the 1917 attacks at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.
will say one thing. this is one of the few WWI shows I have seen that actually mentioned the Zimmermann telegram to Mexico which, along with German unrestricted submarine warfare, really put US public opinion against Germany "over the top".
this series also covers Canadian participation in the war much more extensively than most WWI programs I have seen. most just lump the Canadian forces in with "British troops". both the Quebecois "Van Doos" and the rest of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought bravely at both Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele BUT once again got slaughtered because of the British General Staff under Field Marshal Douglas "Butcher" Haig's half baked plans. I am really surprised no one murdered Haig either during or after the war
the series will probably need at least a couple more episodes to finish up
well there will obviously be more than four parts to the series because episode four started with America's entry into the war and ended with the 1917 attacks at Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele.
will say one thing. this is one of the few WWI shows I have seen that actually mentioned the Zimmermann telegram to Mexico which, along with German unrestricted submarine warfare, really put US public opinion against Germany "over the top".
this series also covers Canadian participation in the war much more extensively than most WWI programs I have seen. most just lump the Canadian forces in with "British troops". both the Quebecois "Van Doos" and the rest of the Canadian Expeditionary Force fought bravely at both Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele BUT once again got slaughtered because of the British General Staff under Field Marshal Douglas "Butcher" Haig's half baked plans. I am really surprised no one murdered Haig either during or after the war
the series will probably need at least a couple more episodes to finish up
watched the final episode which covered the battles in the Italian Alps where a then young "Leutnant" Erwin Rommel first proved is ability as a "think outside the box" innovator while leading German mountain troops. Italian General Luigi Cadorna was an even more incompetent leader then any of the French or British Generals to the point where he had completely destroyed the moral of his army and the French and British had to sent troops to bail the Italians out.
covered German field marshal Ludendorff's facilitating the return of Lenin to Russia and the overthrow of the Kerensky Socialist government which lead to that countries surrender to the Germans and Austrians and allowed 2 million German troops to transfer to the Western Front. this lead the Germans to have their best offensive of the war getting to within 75 miles of Paris BUT a combination of poor logistics AND the onset of the Spanish Flu epidemic, which effected both sides and caused more deaths than actual combat near the end of the war, caused the offensive to stall. the Americans under General John J. Pershing see their first mass action in driving the Germans back
short segments on the air war and the "aces" from both sides plus the introduction of the first "strategic bomber", the German Gotha, which along with the German "Paris Gun", terrorized the Parisians in 1917 and was a prelude to the mass aerial bombing of cities in WWII
discussion of the war against the Ottoman Empire in Arabia which lead to the post-war formation of British controlled Palestine and Iraq along with French controlled Syria which ended up making the middle east the powder keg it has been ever since
finally ends with the formation of a German Socialist government, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm and the Treaty of Versailles which ended the war BUT set the stage for WWII 30 years later. British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted at the time that the onerous terms on Germany would lead to another war and he was correct.
in the end, of the European Monarchs that started the war, only England's King George V and his family survived. Russia's Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered by the Bolshevik's. many Tzarists blame the Tzars cousin George V for the families murder because he refused them asylum after the overthrowas he feared it would cause political unrest in England. Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate by the new German Socialist government and fled to exile in the Netherlands. Charles I, the last Emporor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, lost his throne when the empire was split up after WWI into the new countries of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. he and his beauty of a wife Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma initially lived at Castle Eckartsau east of Vienna BUT after a failed attempt to restore his royal throne he was exiled to the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1921 where he died of pneumonia at age 34.
AHC repeats all five episodes again Friday August 29th starting @ 11:00 am pacific time
watched the final episode which covered the battles in the Italian Alps where a then young "Leutnant" Erwin Rommel first proved is ability as a "think outside the box" innovator while leading German mountain troops. Italian General Luigi Cadorna was an even more incompetent leader then any of the French or British Generals to the point where he had completely destroyed the moral of his army and the French and British had to sent troops to bail the Italians out.
covered German field marshal Ludendorff's facilitating the return of Lenin to Russia and the overthrow of the Kerensky Socialist government which lead to that countries surrender to the Germans and Austrians and allowed 2 million German troops to transfer to the Western Front. this lead the Germans to have their best offensive of the war getting to within 75 miles of Paris BUT a combination of poor logistics AND the onset of the Spanish Flu epidemic, which effected both sides and caused more deaths than actual combat near the end of the war, caused the offensive to stall. the Americans under General John J. Pershing see their first mass action in driving the Germans back
short segments on the air war and the "aces" from both sides plus the introduction of the first "strategic bomber", the German Gotha, which along with the German "Paris Gun", terrorized the Parisians in 1917 and was a prelude to the mass aerial bombing of cities in WWII
discussion of the war against the Ottoman Empire in Arabia which lead to the post-war formation of British controlled Palestine and Iraq along with French controlled Syria which ended up making the middle east the powder keg it has been ever since
finally ends with the formation of a German Socialist government, the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm and the Treaty of Versailles which ended the war BUT set the stage for WWII 30 years later. British economist John Maynard Keynes predicted at the time that the onerous terms on Germany would lead to another war and he was correct.
in the end, of the European Monarchs that started the war, only England's King George V and his family survived. Russia's Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered by the Bolshevik's. many Tzarists blame the Tzars cousin George V for the families murder because he refused them asylum after the overthrowas he feared it would cause political unrest in England. Kaiser Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate by the new German Socialist government and fled to exile in the Netherlands. Charles I, the last Emporor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, lost his throne when the empire was split up after WWI into the new countries of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. he and his beauty of a wife Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma initially lived at Castle Eckartsau east of Vienna BUT after a failed attempt to restore his royal throne he was exiled to the Portuguese island of Madeira in 1921 where he died of pneumonia at age 34.
AHC repeats all five episodes again Friday August 29th starting @ 11:00 am pacific time
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