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During a cold November weekend in 1918, the fate of Europe lay in the hands of a few men who represented the superpowers of the day. This is the story of their extraordinary negotiations, which would end four years of devastating conflict. The culmination of those seminal discussions - a single piece of paper signed in a railway carriage in a forest north of Paris. This documentary explores the fascinating truth behind these fateful negotiations, and reveals the role that the agreement to end one war played in starting the next.
Historian Peter Barton explores the events leading up to and on the notoriously bloody first day of the offensive. Walking the battlefield, he explains the failures that led to over 20,000 British deaths, and how the Germans skilfully used the landscape of the Somme to maximise enemy casualties. Calling upon research in German archives, Barton shows just how much they knew in advance about Allied plans through captured documents and interrogations of captured British prisoners and deserters, who were persistently 'spilling the beans'. Part 1 of 3.
Historian Peter Barton concentrates on the second phase of the battle, from the middle of July to the middle of September 1916, and reveals how an Allied advance on objectives which should have lasted days and weeks took months and resulted in yet more carnage. While British tactics were unvarying, the Germans used the changing landscape of the battlefield, developing a tactic of defence in depth. Part 2 of 3.
Historian Peter Barton concludes his history of the battle in the final months of the campaign, showing how a remarkable German tactical revolution begun in the summer of 1916 continued throughout this period to frustrate the Allied advance. This would have profound implications, tragically extending the war beyond Allied expectations. Barton also presents a new narrative which argues that the Battle of the Somme ended not in the winter of 1916, but in the spring of 1917. And he reaches the conclusion that there was no British victory. Part 3 of 3.
Some animals in the Serengeti seem to be forever at war. Species compete with each other over territories, ring fencing these areas with scent marking. Part 8 of 12.
The First World War ended at 11am on 11th November 1918 and took the lives of 9 million soldiers. But what happened on the last day of this conflict? Travelling to the Battlefields in France and Belgium, Michael Palin visits the places where Americans, British, French, Canadian and German troops were fighting as the war came to an end. Using newly discovered photographs and original research, contemporary film archive and state-of-the-art graphics, this film tells the explosive story of one of the most important days in history.
Benjamin Franklin leaves London and returns to wartime Philadelphia where he joins Congress and helps Thomas Jefferson craft the Declaration of Independence. In Paris, he wins French support for the American Revolution then negotiates a peace treaty with Britain. He spends his last years in the new United States, working on the Constitution and unsuccessfully promoting the abolition of slavery. Part 2 of 2. Ⓢ
