Of Men And War (2014)

100 years after its outbreak, this series lets viewers experience WWI solely through the eyes of those who lived it.
History tells us 'what was'. It tells us when things happened. When kings and cultures lived and died, armies were raised and vanquished, and mighty empires rose and fell. History, as we know it from books, is often boring, for it fails to answer one very simple question: What was it like? When war broke out in Europe in July 1914, people on all sides believed it would be over by Christmas. Little could they know just how wrong they were. A seemingly petty conflict in Bosnia soon snowballed into the first truly global conflict.

Michael Portillo examines the role of the railways in World War I. He finds out how the railways helped to precipitate a mechanised war, shaped how it was fought, conveyed millions to the trenches and bore witness to its end. Michael travels through Britain and northern Europe uncovering railway stories from the Great War.

100 years after its outbreak, this series lets viewers experience WWI solely through the eyes of those who lived it.
History tells us 'what was'. It tells us when things happened. When kings and cultures lived and died, armies were raised and vanquished, and mighty empires rose and fell. History, as we know it from books, is often boring, for it fails to answer one very simple question: What was it like? When war broke out in Europe in July 1914, people on all sides believed it would be over by Christmas. Little could they know just how wrong they were. A seemingly petty conflict in Bosnia soon snowballed into the first truly global conflict.

Ten-part series based on the book by Hew Strachan, Professor of the History of War at Oxford which tells the story as never before, dispelling the myths and offering new and provocative answers to core questions about the war's causes, conduct and legacy. It features hundreds of eyewitness accounts from frontline soldiers, generals, statesmen, children and women from all sides in the conflict. The First World War shaped the twentieth century. It sparked the Russian Revolution and launched America as a world power.

This fascinating 5-part series unearths the untold story about how the Great War went underground the tales of tunnellers and miners who dug under the enemy when there was no other choice but to attack from beneath. Five legendary battles. Five tales of human sacrifice and tenacity. Five bloody battles that involved men from all over the world. They dug tunnels for victory – into the mud of Flanders, the chalk of Champagne and the granite of the Alps - and many died inglorious deaths. They were the miners of the Great War: coal miners from Yorkshire and quarry men from Verona; salt miners from Salzburg and pioneers from the Black Mountains.