USA: Isolationism
How did WW1 change America's place in the world? Jonathan Dimbleby presents a public debate from the US Library of Congress in Washington
Jun 27, 2015•50 min
World War One
The events of the first truly global war and its devastating and far reaching impact.
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Episodes
Germany: The Waging of War
How did technological and industrial development revolutionise World War One? The tank, gas, flame throwers, Zeppelins were like nothing that had been experienced before.
Jun 26, 2015•50 min
Sarajevo: Nationalism
A century ago a shot rang out in Sarajevo which set the world on a path to war. How did the peace made after WW1 influence the ethnic conflicts in the region during the 1990s?
Jun 26, 2015•50 min
Jordan: Redrawing the Middle East
How did World War One change the face of the Middle East? And, how did this seismic and controversial period shape the century to follow?
Jun 22, 2015•50 min
Britain: The Psychology of War
What drove men to volunteer to fight during World War One? What drove them to the edge of sanity when they got there?
Apr 30, 2015•50 min
Australia: The Legend of Anzac
Australia's experience of WW1 is like no other country's. What role has the 'legend of Anzac' played in the hundred-year history of Australia?
Apr 18, 2015•50 min
Tanzania: Race and Colonial War
Audrey Brown chairs a discussion on the effects of World War One in Africa. She hears the stories from African fighters, on both the German and British sides. And she speaks to Tanzanians who tell their family memories, like Oswald Masebo from Dar es Salaam University.
Apr 11, 2015•50 min
France: Heroism
Life in the trenches during World War One, amongst rats, mud, shelling, barbed wire and unprecedented numbers of dead, called upon new reserves of both endurance and courage. But what did the war do to the ancient idea of heroism?
Dec 06, 2014•50 min
WW1 At Home 20 - The Baghdadi Jews & a Terrier on Zeppelin watch
How Manchester’s Baghdadi Jews fought to be recognised as friends of Britain and Jim the dog who helped keep the Kent coast safe.
Nov 13, 2014•14 min
India: Imperialism
Hugely influential in the outcome of the war, its aftermath had a huge effect on India and its role in the British Empire.
Nov 08, 2014•50 min
WW1 At Home 19 - Tank Trials & Making Jam for the Frontline
The technical innovation that led to the birth of the tank, tales from the grandsons of the Guernsey soldier who travelled all over the world and the factory in Grimsby that supplied the frontline in jam.
Oct 23, 2014•15 min
Soldiers of the Empire 2/2 – The Fight in Fairyland
Santanu Das tells the story of the Indian Army on the Western Front, from disembarkation in Marseilles where the troops were greeted by excited crowds, to the grim reality of the trenches.
Oct 22, 2014•28 min
Soldiers of the Empire – Recruitment & Resistance
One and a half million Indian men were recruited from the villages and towns of British India to serve the Empire in the First World War. Santanu Das tells the story of how they were recruited to travel across the Kalopani, the "dark waters", to take part in the world's first industrial war.
Oct 20, 2014•28 min
St Petersburg: Revolution
The Romanovs ruled Russia for centuries until World War One brought revolution and an abrupt end to their imperial reign. Allan Little explores the legacy of revolution and the hidden impact of WW1 on Russian policy today.
Oct 18, 2014•50 min
WW1 At Home 18 - R&R for American Volunteers & a Bristol Love Song
A place in the heart of London where the American soldiers got a little taste of home; a project mapping the lives of nearly 2000 men in Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, who died in WW1 & a song to love and loss based on letters to a Bristolian wife.
Oct 16, 2014•17 min
Keep the Home Fires Burning
Don Black tells the fascinating story of Ivor Novello and the song that made his name. Keep The Home Fires Burning marks the centenary of a song that became popular both in the WW1 trenches and on the home front, and continued to be sung by soldiers in conflicts well into the 1950s. The programme features the best Ivor Novello tunes, some extraordinary Imperial War Museum archive and explores how music was used as a morale booster in the First World War.
Oct 11, 2014•55 min
WW1 At Home 17 - The Sikh Contribution & the Merseyside Ferries
The two Merseyside ferries who earned their 'Royal' title in a daring wartime raid, a Coventry memorial which marks the Sikhs role in World War One, and why thousands of mules trotted through the town of Minehead.
Oct 10, 2014•14 min
Episode 3 - Forgotten Heroes, The Indian Army in the Great War
In the third part of his documentary looking at the Asian contribution to WW1, Sarfraz Manzoor examines the effect of WW1 on India, nationally and locally. Through letters from servicemen and families, the loss to loved ones becomes clear - not just on an emotional level, but also leading to hardship for farming communities often losing their strongest workers. The beginnings of nationalism can be seen just before the war with the violent activities of the Ghadar party, but a more mainstream nat...
Oct 09, 2014•29 min
WW1 At Home 16 - The Chilwell Explosion & a Wartime Entertainer
Kate Adie reports on the Nottinghamshire munitions factory disaster. Also - the ambulance trains of Lowth & forces sweetheart, Gertie Gitana, who became a wartime music hall star.
Oct 02, 2014•14 min
WW1 At Home 15 - Pilot Hero Mick Mannock & Flora Sandes' Enlistment
Three WW1 characters. Flora Sandes, who enlisted and fought as a soldier in Serbia. Mick Mannock, the British 'Ace of Aces'; and 3 yr old Khaki George, who collected funds for the war effort on the streets of Halifax.
Sep 24, 2014•15 min
WW1 At Home 14 - A Captain's Execution & U-boat Defences
The story of Captain Fryatt - a civilian naval officer executed by the Germans, and the Royal Navy tactic of deploying 'Q ships'. These resembled British merchant ships, to lure the enemy to the surface, but were actually heavily armed with concealed weapons.
Sep 17, 2014•13 min
The War That Changed The World: Istanbul - Modernity and Secularism
Turkey emerged from the First World War as a new republic, with a secular and modern identity, attempting to break from its Ottoman past. How has this influenced Turkey today? With historians Aksin Somel and Ahmet Kuyas, and novelist Elif Shafak.
Sep 08, 2014•50 min
Episode 2 - Forgotten Heroes, The Indian Army in the Great War
In the second part of his documentary looking at the Asian contribution to WW1, Sarfraz Manzoor charts the experiences of soldiers and labourers in Mesopotamia and Gallipoli. The story for India changes as the war wears on. Recruitment becomes more draconian, British officers are killed, leaving a void which is not easy to fill, and the pressure on India for food supplies and the resources of war increases. As Turkey enters the war, German and Turkish propaganda plays on the Muslim soldiers' fai...
Aug 21, 2014•29 min
Episode 1 - Forgotten Heroes, The Indian Army in the Great War
Sarfraz Manzoor tells the story of the 1.27m men from the Indian Army who fought valiantly in the Great War, through a series of the soldiers' letters written home from Western Front. This first episode of a three part series focuses on the make-up of the army in 1914, including the colonial policy to recruit from what were considered the martial races - communities with a warrior tradition.
Aug 20, 2014•29 min
Heroes at War: Frederick Kelly
Two time Olympic gold medalist Steve Williams tells the story of Frederick "Clegg" Kelly, Olympic rowing champion and one of Britain's leading composers, who lost his life on the battlefield in WW1.
Aug 13, 2014•48 min
Heroes at War: Walter Tull
Ex-Northampton Town player Clarke Carlisle tells the story of Walter Tull, the first Afro-Caribbean outfield player in the top division of English football, and the first to be commissioned as an infantry officer in the British Army. Clarke retraces the steps that took Tull from the playing field of Northampton Town to the place where he lost life fighting for his country.
Aug 12, 2014•47 min
Veterans: From WW1 to Afghanistan
Radio 1's Greg James hears from British troops who served in Afghanistan as they contrast their experiences with those who fought in World War One. Mixing new interviews from Afghanistan veterans with archive of those who endured the trenches, this story brings out the universality of experience of going to war: the joining up, the camaraderie, the killing, the trauma and the loss, as well as asking if all wars change those who fight in them in similar ways.
Aug 05, 2014•1 hr
Women's lives on the Home Front
Woman's Hour goes behind the scenes at new Radio 4 drama Home Front, as it begins its four-year run. Actor Harriet Walter talks about her cameo role as Emmeline Pankhurst, and we hear from the writers about the opportunity to dramatise the domestic lives of people whose stories aren’t told in military history books. Plus Emma Barnett is joined by Home Front editor Jessica Dromgoole and academic Dr Angela K Smith to discuss the war's impact on the lives of women far away from the trenches.
Aug 04, 2014•19 min
WW1 At Home 13 - Sikh Soldiers & Pilot Heroes
The valiant Sikh contribution, the drama of those first training flights above the meadows of Oxfordshire, and a bittersweet story of two families brought together by love and loss.
Aug 03, 2014•13 min
How Britain Went to War
Leading Whitehall historian Peter Hennessy examines Britain's secret war planning and preparations before 1914. Drawing on official papers, sound archive, and interviews with historians, Hennessy discusses what was in the minds of Asquith, ministers, officials and top soldiers and sailors, as they prepared for a possible conflict and as they finally took Britain into war in August 1914. He explores tensions between senior military and naval officers, between the Admiralty and the War Office, and...
Jul 28, 2014•57 min
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