Season 4

2009 · 3 episodes

Episodes

1Dear Home: Letters From WWIIt was a conflict the likes of which the world had never seen, embroiling 15 nations and 65 million people, and fought with weapons unprecedented in their power to maim and kill. Drawing in on the millions of letters written home by American doughboys, nurses, drivers, and clerks; reveals what it was like to fight in the "Great War". The real story of World War I wasn't told in official reports. It came in battered, dirty envelopes more often than not marked "Somewhere in France." These letters were filled with stories of everyday life, of battles and boredom, loneliness and longing, and fear and fatigue. SAVE OUR HISTORY: DEAR HOME: LETTERS FROM WWI tells the story of war through the eyes of the American men and women soldiers who lived through it. It recounts, in their own words, the hopes and dreams, fears and frustrations of those men and women who were on the front lines of the First World War.
2The Christmas TruceWWI began in August 1914, and by December all thoughts of quick victory had faded. Fighting was most fierce in a thin strip of land called the Western Front. A system of trenches separated Allies from Germans, with the area in between known as No Man's Land. Amidst the trench warfare that defined World War I, a few days of spontaneous peace broke out. On Christmas Eve, an astonishing event began--up and down the Western Front, Allied and German soldiers met peacefully in No Man's Land. Without a signed treaty, surrender, or armistice, German and Allied soldiers alike were able to share Christmas cheer together. Actor Ioan Gruffud narrates a feature-length look at the fabled Christmas truce, filled with eyewitness accounts.
3The Last Day of WWIDiscover why more soldiers died on the final day of WWI than on D-Day, as this chilling indictment of the horror and pointlessness of war is captured by rare footage and photos. At 11am on November 11, 1918, World War I ended victory was assured and final territory agreed upon. How is it possible, then, that more soldiers died on this day than on D-Day? Based on Joseph Persico s book 11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour: Armistice Day, 1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax (2004), THE LAST DAY OF WORLD WAR I focuses on the little-known events of the war s Armistice Day, revealing the outrageous excuses Allied leaders found to send 13,000 men to their deaths against a defeated enemy. Some leaders desired promotion, others retribution, while one commander chose to capture a town solely so that he could bathe. Despite the devastating human toll, nothing was gained and the territories taken on this day were eventually returned to Germany.