Good morning, we are working through World War I and World War II documentaries for November. This time we are looking at an episode from the Series the Great War in Numbers. The run time for this episode is 45:13 and is episode two in the series.
Around 25,000 miles of trenches were cut into the land during World War I which is enough to encircle the planet. This war had unleashed terrifying new weapons and the only way to shelter from these new weapons was to dig trenches. The soldiers were issued rifles however, the British had found ways to improve their rifles. These would have been unleashed on unsuspecting German soldiers. The new British could carry ten rounds whereas the German guns could only carry five rounds. The British soldiers could fire more frequently. The Germans were shocked by the firing power. At least 3,000 German students were killed in battle. However, the German generals kept feeding their soldiers into the battle. Over 80,000 men were sacrificed against the British onslaught. 54,000 British soldiers are killed in battle. Both sides are exhausted and need shelter from each other. Both sides dig in and build trenches, thousands and thousands of miles of trenches. Trenches are the only way soldiers can protect themselves. However, it was impossible to not find a body that had died in battle while digging trenches. The British Trenches were horrible and were continuously flooded. When they flooded, bodies often floated along. Water often was waist deep. Disease and infection went through the trenches. Over 3,000,000 soldiers died as a result of the disease. Lice also went through the trenches, and getting rid of those lice was often a full-time job. The German trenches were well built because they planned on staying around for the long haul. The Trenches stretched from the English Channel to the Swiss Border. Additionally, the barbed wire became a weapon of wire. Those who climbed over the barbed wire would be shot. It became a terrifying prospect to be caught in the barbed wire. Over 3,000,000 tons of barbed wire were produced. The British army turned to airplanes to try to spy on the German lines. Airplanes were used to photograph the German lines and the British Air Corps did their job really well. Over 80,000 photographs were produced in the initial reconnaissance mission and the British proved that airplanes were a valuable tool during the war. At the start of 1913, the British only had 193 planes and would need to produce more airplanes during the war. Additional to spying, the airplane would be used in air battles. Now the airplane would be used as a weapon of war. The British Spy planes would now be shot out of the sky by the German fighter planes. The British Air Corps lost sixty planes per month and British pilots had an eleven-day life expectancy. Back on the ground, the British were shelling the Germans and smashing German lines. However, the British were unable to use another weapon of war: communications. The art of communication has not kept up with other technological advances. This would lead to devastating consequences for the British army. The telephone was used by the Generals to communicate with the troops on the front line. How would communications change during the war? What other numbers were involved in the Great War? Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more. This series really shows the impact of industrialization on World War I and why it was called the Great War. The numbers still continue to amaze historians and will amaze the student. I had to stop the episode at a few different points to make sure I got the numbers down as well as to verify that Guy Walters was not the same person as Time Team’s Guy de la Bédoyère. In my opinion, I thought the pair looked alike. Andy Robershaw’s commentary was very good as well and I looked forward to listening to what artifacts he brought out as well as his commentary on those artifacts. Overall this continues to be fantastic and this episode was particularly good, so it would be a good episode to show in a history classroom.
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The purpose of this blog is to share information on what can be used in a classroom, private school, or home school setting as well as serve as a portfolio of my personal and professional work. The reviews are my opinions and should be treated as such. I just want to provide a tool for teachers to select documentaries for their classrooms. |