# Any good documentary series on World War One. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877 "2014-01-27T20:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/1 "2014-01-27T20:34:51Z")
As the centenary approaches I’d like to watch a good documentary series on the First World War. Ideally I’d like to see something as comprehensive and well-made as ITV’s [The World at War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War)but about the first war rather than the second. I know the BBC made back in the 60s. Is this the best around or is there something else I’m not aware of? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/2 "2014-01-27T20:35:21Z")
[The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century](http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Shaping-20th-Century/dp/0780623088/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390854939&sr=8-1&keywords=the+great+war+and+the+shaping+of+the+20th+century) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/3 "2014-01-27T20:36:46Z")
Is that the BBC series? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/4 "2014-01-27T20:41:38Z")
PBS and BBC ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/5 "2014-01-27T20:44:08Z")
Shame it doesn’t seem to be out on DVD… ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/6 "2014-01-27T20:56:54Z")
Lots of people bitching about that. The tapes I use in my classroom are wearing kinda thin. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/7 "2014-01-27T21:20:30Z")
Wow, I’m surprised I haven’t seen it, and that it’s not been scooped up by the Military channel. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/8 "2014-01-27T22:06:45Z")
Looks like it’s easily available on YouTube. I’d include links but I’m not sure if that’s kosher since it’s undoubtedly bootleg. But full episodes are the first thing to pop up when you search the title. And…thanks for the suggestion, **silenus**. Sounds like a great series. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/9 "2014-01-27T22:14:54Z")
[This one is pretty good](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_World_War_%28TV_series%29). 10 part series. Should be on You-Tube. I think it aired on PBS at one time ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/10 "2014-01-27T22:28:55Z")
Doh! didn’t even think of youtubing it. Thanks The Hew Strachan one looks good too, I’ve got his book and it is excellent. ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/11 "2014-01-27T22:30:54Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > As the centenary approaches I’d like to watch a good documentary series on the First World War. Ideally I’d like to see something as comprehensive and well-made as ITV’s [The World at War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_War)but about the first war rather than the second. I know the BBC made back in the 60s. Is this the best around or is there something else I’m not aware of? I’ve not seen anything better than the BBC’s _The Great War_. It was made in 1964 and, so, was made when there were plenty of people alive who had been through it. I’m not sure by your post whether you’ve watched it, but I’ll recommend it to anyone who is interested. It was almost a template for _The World At War_. IMHO, Well worth watching. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/12 "2014-01-27T22:31:47Z")
Yes that was the one I first had in mind. I haven’t watched it but have long been meaning to. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/13 "2014-01-27T22:57:05Z")
[The Great War](http://youtu.be/LrMbiMwXtGM) from 1964 by the BBC (links to part one on YouTube) was the inspiration for The World at War a few years later. It’s best feature may be the interviews with the veterans then in their 70’s (and Michael Redgrave’s narration) [The BBC revisited the topic in the 2000’s](http://youtu.be/l0D-ltuyZFc) (again, the first episode). This version went more in depth into the global and economic war. CBS did its 50th anniversary series in 1964 too, narrated by Robert Ryan and with an excellent score by Morton Gould. (I really didn’t care for the 2003 PBS series. Except for small interesting parts like the women munitions workers who turned yellow, it was a melodramatic slog with lingering shots of pipes smoldering in ashtrays for atmospherics.) ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/14 "2014-01-27T23:53:04Z")
I’ve started with the 1964 BBC series. First episode was very good, so will go through them all. Thanks for the suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/15 "2014-01-28T01:09:54Z")
Also on YouTube is _ **World War I** _, the CBS documentary series that was aired for the 50th anniversary of WWI in 1964–65. It uses period photography exclusively and is narrated by the actor Robert Ryan. I still get chills watching it. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/16 "2014-01-28T04:44:45Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [This one is pretty good](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_World_War_%28TV_series%29). 10 part series. Should be on You-Tube. I think it aired on PBS at one time I can second that. It’s based on a WWI “survey book” called [The First World War](http://www.amazon.com/First-World-War-Hew-Strachan/dp/0670032956/ref=la_B001ITYEL8_1_1_title_2_har?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390884196&sr=1-1) by Hew Strachan. I can’t find the cite for it, but my recollection is that he’s considered one of the foremost military scholars. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/17 "2014-01-28T06:11:14Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [This one is pretty good](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_First_World_War_%28TV_series%29). 10 part series. Should be on You-Tube. I think it aired on PBS at one time I can third it! I’ve seen it several times on **The Military Channel** if you get that (or YouTube). Very modern but at the same time very thorough, not flashy or simplistic (like everything you see on The History Channel!) Most disturbing thing I took from it was how much _nobody_, none of the Great Powers of Europe at the time wanted it to happen, but as the last gasp of chivalrous gentlemanly Empire still survived they all knew it was completely unavoidable. And in the end completely pointless (other than causing Germany to start WWII twenty years later)… ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-good-documentary-series-on-world-war-one/679877/18 "2014-01-28T17:06:42Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > Most disturbing thing I took from it was how much _nobody_, none of the Great Powers of Europe at the time wanted it to happen, but as the last gasp of chivalrous gentlemanly Empire still survived they all knew it was completely unavoidable. And in the end completely pointless (other than causing Germany to start WWII twenty years later)… See if you can find _ **Fall of Eagles** _, a British drama series set in the years leading up to WWI. It is superb.