Apocalypse: World War I

Apocalypse: World War I

Apocalypse: World War I

Synopsis

Was the sacrifice of an entire generation worldwide an avoidable or a necessary tragedy? Are the roots of World War II to be found in the devastation of World War I and the Treaty of Versailles? This series seeks to address such questions using a global and all-encompassing yet personal and sensitive approach, drawing from over 300 hours of archival footage and tracing the journeys of the civilians and soldiers across the world, anonymous or well-known, who fought for survival in this unprecedented period in human history, both heroic and barbaric.

Episodes

Season 1

  • Fury

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    November 11, 1918. Eleven in the morning. Suddenly, there is silence. The Canadian soldier George L. Price has just fallen, one of the last victims of an unfathomable carnage that kills close to 10 million soldiers, 9 million civilians and leaves 21 million people wounded. How did it come to this? What are the origins of this madness that takes over the world for four long years? That ruins entire countries and brings down several empires? In 1914, Europe is in the full swing of the Belle Epoque. But on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo, Franz Ferdinand, the obscure heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, is assassinated by a young Bosnian nationalist. This...

  • Fear

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    August 27, 1933. In East Prussia, Hitler and Goering, both veterans of the First World War, pay tribute to Marshal von Hindenburg in the vast, excessive setting of the Tannenberg battle memorial. Hitler says "Tannenberg is a symbol. It was here, in 1914, that the destiny of Germany was played out". For Hindenburg, the Battle of Tannenberg is the most important moment of his life, and of the First World War. As the Russians advance into Prussia territory, provoking the massive exodus of the German population, Hindenburg stops them at Tannenberg. In the west, the German advance is stopped in extremis by the French in the Battle of the Marne. After...

  • Hell

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    September 1915. Millions of men are caught in the snares of a gigantic war. From the trenches in France to the Italian Alps and the Balkans, and beyond to the gates of the Eastern world, the whole of Europe is on fire. New weapons, new defenses; warfare has become industrial and chemical. Fighting reaches an unprecedented level of violence. Artillery relentlessly pounds the enemy. Attacks are launched with poison gas, flame-throwers and shrapnel, a mixture of gunpowder and pellets that destroys human bodies and faces. The assaults are terrifying, reckless. Ear-splitting storms of steel drive soldiers to madness. Wounds are atrocious, hygiene and...

  • Rage

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    The soldiers have reached the breaking point. They want it to end. They want to go home. On the home front, behind the lines, anger seethes as hunger stalks the population. Wartime misery has penetrated every home, affecting every aspect of daily life. A solution must be found to end the war. Uprisings begin: in Germany, social unrest makes it seem as though the Reich might fall. The Austro-Hungarian Empire vacillates; Francis Joseph is dead, and his young successor, Charles I, begins to take tentative steps towards peace. On the front, the Battle of the Chemin des Dames leads to mutiny among the French infantry soldiers. The Russian soldiers,...

  • Deliverance

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    All seems lost for the Allies. The Italians are defeated at Caporetto, and a Bolshevik Russia pulls out of the war. But the American reinforcements are decisive, and the Allies emerge victorious. The Allies are unable to negotiate an honorable peace agreement, and the Treaty of Versailles, 20 years later, will have disastrous consequences.