All Episodes

The trench and trench warfare is one of the defining features of the First World War. Over 400 miles of trenches stretched across the Western Front. But why exactly? What were the conditions that made a hole in the ground the only possible way to fight the war? Dan Snow attempts to answer one of the most fundamental questions of the Great War by putting his occasional sparring partner in history, The One Show's Michael Douglas, into a crude but effective mock-up of the dilemma that faced the infantry at the start of the war. Dan also picks apart another hugely significant, low-tech feature of the war battlefield that is often overlooked by histories of the war. Tanks, machine guns, relentless artillery: these are the familiar weapons of the war. Barbed wire was first put into use to corral livestock in America's Wild West and before long the military was putting it to devious use on the battlefield. Dan builds a typical First World War barb wire trap, tries to cross a particularly devilish design while in a thicket of smoke, and reveals why one of the worst jobs on the Western Front was a place on a night time wiring party.

An army was as good as the kit its soldiers wore to fight and the food they had to eat. In 1914, which army was the best equipped? An army lives or dies by the uniform, weapons and kit it issues its men with. So in August 1914, who was the best equipped to wage war? Dan Snow gets to grips with the webbing, explains the genius of leg wrap puttees, reveals the best gun on the Western Front and, in a showpiece stop-motion sequence, reveals the evolution of the British soldier's uniform. And what about food? We all know Napoleon's famous maxim about an army marching on its stomach. But when it came to the war menus of the First World War, who was fed better - the British or German infantryman? Dan Snow picks over the daily rations of each army to see how trench diet and nutrition compared.

In the First World War, it wasn't easy to get out of the trenches. Lots of different weapons were needed. One in particular... By 1915 there was a clear and undeniable stalemate across the Western Front. The weapons that the armies of the war took into battle were better for defending than attacking. Soldiers attempting to cross No Man's Land were too easily shot and shelled down by the enemy leaving them with no choice but to bunker down into the notorious trenches that have become synonymous with the war. Dan Snow begins this film by attempting to explain to his One Show colleague and some-time history sidekick Michael Douglas, how the deadlock was broken. Dan takes Michael on a quick-fire tour of how they finally came up with a solution that was as ingenious as it was simple: lots of soldiers, better weapons, perfectly co-ordinated. If there's one weapons system involved in breaking the trench stalemate that warrants particular attention it is the tank, a weapon invented by the British to deal with the very specific problem of trench warfare. It was one of the great innovations of modern warfare, a real game-changer that helped turn the course of the Great War. Dan Snow is allowed special access to the Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset where he climbs inside, on top and all around these beasts of the battlefield in order to explain not only how they changed the nature of warfare but how they rapidly evolved from the 1915 prototype Little Willie, the first tank, through to the iconic Mark IV, the comparatively speedy Mark A Whippet tank and the huge International, an Anglo-American designed tank that showed how far this revolutionary weapon had changed within just a few years of its invention.

Dan Snow is granted special access to a weapons testing facility in the east of England. Here in a concrete underground bunker, three of the most feared pieces of military hardware in the history of modern warfare are being prepared for live firing. The MG-08, the Vickers and the Lewis Gun were machine guns used to devastating effect on the Western Front during WW1. The German MG-08 and the British Vickers guns were based on the same Maxim design. Able to fire around 500 rounds per minute, they produced a defensive screen of bullets that was both deadly and extremely difficult to counter. The Lewis Gun, an American design, saw the machine gun evolve into a lighter, mobile and more offensive weapon as it could be quickly transported across the lines. Dan takes a deep breath as he prepares to have an extremely close encounter with some of the deadliest weapons of the war in an attempt to understand how they were able to wreck such havoc. Dan also puts to the test two of the most iconic weapons of the war. The Mauser Gewehr ’98 and the Lee Enfield Short Magazine MkIII were the standard issue rifles for the German and British armies respectively

Before the outbreak of WW1, Britain was surprisingly far behind other European nations in the training and deployment of working military dogs. While Germany had around 6,000 dogs trained in a variety of support roles the British Army had a sole Airedale Terrier. Today - as Dan Snow discovers with exclusive access to the Defence Animal Centre in Melton Mowbray - Britain leads the way in the use of working military dogs. Here, dogs spend up to 12 months being trained for a variety of search, detection and protection before being sent on duty with the army, RAF and Royal Navy. It's all very different from the situation in WW1 when canine psychology enthusiast Lt. Col E.H. Richardson had to lobby the military establishment to start a British War Dog School in order to provide messenger and sentry dogs to the front line. Dogs were not the only animals deployed to help the war effort. In Part II WW1 Uncut reveals that in addition to dogs and the famous contribution made by horses, the war also saw attempts to use a bizarre collection of creatures including pigeons, seagulls, sea lions, elephants and even… glow worms.

Rising comedy talent Thomas Gray plays the part of a young junior officer who has just returned to duty after a raucous last night on leave. It may surprise many but this fictional account of British Army soldiers visiting a brothel in northern France is based on one of the less well-known aspects of WW1. In fact the maisons tolérées were a significant feature of life behind the front line and in towns such as Le Havre there was an extensive network of efficiently run brothels that provided a welcome relief from trench warfare. Inside, the madame-run establishments where the working girls were subject to regular health checks, provided by all accounts a pleasant, frivolous atmosphere whilst outside it was not unusual to see long queues, five or six men deep, even before opening hours. Soldiers from Canada, Australia and New Zealand tended to be better paid than their British colleagues and were therefore able to afford the pick of the girls. Even more divisive was that traditional British fault-line; the class system. The brothels were known as either red lamps or blue lamps. Red lamps tended to be basic and spartan and were for regular soldiers, the privates. On the other hand the more luxurious blue lamps were the preserve of the officer class only. Although there was a very real risk of sexually transmitted diseases, the British authorities tolerated the brothel system. Although some army chaplains made it their business to chastise the queuing soldiers, it was generally considered that soldiers' fitness and state of mind would be better served by indulging rather than denying the men what they believed to be their hard-won visiting rights.

Who’s to blame for WW1? Six of the main players cross swords in a disused warehouse spitting rhymes and insults. An unhinged Kaiser Bill, a supercilious George V and a cocky Gavrilo Princip all feature in WW1 Uncut’s take on one of the most complicated questions in modern history. As we reach the 100 year anniversary of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, historians continue to argue over how and why it proved to be the catalyst for world war. As an alternative to the mainstream debate, WW1 Uncut presents an original track that distills into under four minutes some of the individuals and their respective hang-ups, rivalries and egos that led to chaos and carnage in Europe. This is Origins: Rap Battle, WWI Uncut style.

When WW1 broke out, the aeroplane was just 10 years old. Dan Snow looks at how it rapidly became a weapon of war. Dan discovers the origins of air-to-air combat – and the ingenious ways in which engineers solved the biggest challenge: how to fire a gun from a plane without shooting your own propeller off. He also takes to the sky to re-enact a WW1 dogfight (a term that was coined in WW1). Those first pilots had no manual or experience so they wrote the rules as they went along. Many of those early tactics on aerial combat still apply today – a century later.

Misunderstandings and falsehoods are part of every war. Dan Snow examines some of the myths about WW1 that still persist today including controversial subjects such as the class divide in the British military and how we may have a false impression of trench warfare. Dan also teams up with fellow historian Suzannah Lipscomb in an attempt at an unusual team game on the streets of London that shines a light on just why confusion and misdirection was such a feature of the way in which WW1 was conducted. From the carnage of the Battle of the Somme to the disaster of Gallipoli – the First World War had no shortage of plans that went spectacularly wrong. But to understand why so many attacks ended in confusion and defeat, you have to understand the limitations the commanders faced. Perhaps most significant is that they lacked the technology to communicate effectively with their troops. Gone were the days when a general could ride the length of the battlefield rallying his men. Now, the commanders were trying to coordinate hundreds of thousands of men over a vast battlefield. Radio communication was in its infancy, and alternatives like the field telephone were limited and unreliable.

Dr. Sam Willis investigates two of the war's most hi-tech and deadly elements. In part one he looks at the reality of being attacked by one of the German navy's highly effective submarine fleet: a U-Boat. At first, the British Admiralty underestimated the offensive threat posed by the German U-Boats but they very quickly realized that the Royal Navy was facing one of the greatest threats in its history. Yet it wasn't just the Navy that had to contend with the lurking threat beneath the waves. In 1915, the German Admiralty began to pursue its controversial policy of unrestricted warfare against all enemy shipping. In part two Sam travels to Salisbury Plain where the Royal Engineers are training with deadly high explosives. The Royal Engineers have an illustrious history and reputation within the British Army for coming up with clever innovations to solve the myriad problems that occur in any conflict. Repairing bridges, digging tunnels and building roads are all vital elements of their work. They are also very good at blowing things up. One of the great menaces of the Western Front during WW1 was barbed wire and the Engineers were charged with finding an effective solution. Sam gets as close as anybody would want to be as today’s Engineers detonate a range of sophisticated and devastating blasts, including the Bangalore Torpedo… based on the same design that was used 100 years earlier to combat the barbed wire

Saleyha Ahsan explores some of the aspects of medical care in WW1 that fascinate her most, given her experience as both an emergency medicine doctor and an ex-army officer. Saleyha travels to the beautiful 13th-Century abbey of Royaumont, to the north of Paris. It was here that the Scottish Women's Hospital movement established its first all-female run unit. Many of the women were suffragettes and as well as determined to put their skills to good use were also keen to demonstrate how they were any man's equal when it came to providing medical care in the most challenging circumstances. Recently Saleyha herself had experience of providing care in a conflict zone when she worked in harrowing conditions in war-torn Syria. Saleyha looks at some of the equipment available to frontline medics a century ago, including a rare look inside the contents of a first-aid kit bag that belonged to one of the Royal Medical Corps' stretcher bearers. And in the final part of this episode Saleyha is given access to the Army Medical Services archive to look into one of the most vital but often overlooked aspects of WW1 medicine: the battle to stop infection

Historian David Olusoga explores two fascinating aspects of WW1. How the Western Front became the most culturally diverse place on earth and how, despite the dominance of Europe, the war went far beyond the battlefields of the Western Front. In part one David visits the poignant Chattri Monument, high on the South Downs, on the site where the funeral pyres were lit for some of the soldiers of the Indian Corps who died after being wounded in battle in northern Europe and then hospitalized in Brighton. There were millions of Indian men recruited by the British for the war, and other nations also drew heavily on their colonies. For those that were deployed to the Western Front they were part of an astonishing transformation that swept across France and Belgium as they became home to men from across the world. In part two David examines the notion that WW1 was predominantly a war fought on European soil by white men. It's a misconception that persists despite the fact that millions of men fought in theatres of war thousands of miles from the Western Front. Of particular interest to David is the often overlooked Mesopotamia campaign fought in what is now modern day Iraq, by the British against the crumbling Ottoman Empire. Britain, like France, was anxious to protect its interests in the Middle East but it was to be a long, challenging campaign with an even longer legacy