01: Explosion | 1914-1918

Duration: 47'27''

Synopsis

Documentary series telling the history of the Great War, in which nine million people perished. Beginning with the origins of the conflict.

Further Information

More clips from 1914-1918

02: Stalemate | 1914-1918

02: Stalemate | 1914-1918

BBC Knowledge | 2001 | 48'38''

Series telling the history of the Great War. Experts thought technical advances in weaponry would bring about a quick victory, but armies soon reso...

03: What If...Total War | 1914-1918

03: What If...Total War | 1914-1918

BBC Knowledge | 2001 | 48'14''

Documentary series telling the history of the Great War. With deadlock in the trenches, the great powers searched for other ways to break...

04: Slaughter | 1914-1918

04: Slaughter | 1914-1918

BBC Knowledge | 2001 | 48'35''

Documentary series telling the history of the Great War, in which nine million people perished. The battles of Verdun, the Somme and Passchendaele ...

05: Mutiny | 1914-1918

05: Mutiny | 1914-1918

BBC Knowledge | 2001 | 48'50''

Documentary series telling the history of the Great War through the words of those who lived through the conflict. By the start of 1917, the strain of...

06: Collapse | 1914-1918

06: Collapse | 1914-1918

BBC Knowledge | 2001 | 47'23''

Documentary series telling the history of the Great War, in which nine million people perished. This part looks at the poverty and unrest among the ...

07: Legacy | 1914-1918

07: Legacy | 1914-1918

BBC Knowledge | 2001 | 46'44''

Documentary series telling the history of the Great War concludes with the post-war peace negotiations and the unfair treatment of the defeated German...

More resources about Twentieth century warfare

S01E02: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Days That Shook the World

S01E02: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2004 | 28'56''

How the duke's death led to the start of the First World War.

S01E04: Hiroshima | Days That Shook the World

S01E04: Hiroshima | Days That Shook the World

BBC Four | 2003 | 59'15''

Documentary recalling 6 August 1945, when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, with testimony from American colonel Paul Tib...

Dunkirk (2017)

Dunkirk (2017)

BBC One | 2020 | 1'37'04''

Hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops find themselves in an impossible situation. Christopher Nolan's epic wartime action thriller.

Hiroshima

Hiroshima

BBC Four | 2005 | 1'29'06''

Dramatic reconstruction of the devastating impact of the first atomic bomb to be used against people on the citizens of Hiroshima.

01: Advance Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

01: Advance Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain

BBC Two | 2007 | 59'10''

Andrew Marr revisits Britain in 1945 and finds the country victorious but nearly bankrupt, beginning a battle...

05: 1968 Vietnam | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

05: 1968 Vietnam | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields

BBC Two | 2007 | 58'47''

Peter and Dan Snow reveal the techniques use by US marines to flush out Communist fighters who lived in a ne...

08: Their Finest Hour | Battlefield Britain

08: Their Finest Hour | Battlefield Britain

BBC Two | 2004 | 58'32''

Peter and Dan Snow take an in-depth look at the battles that shaped our nation. The Battle of Britain was the pivotal air battle ...

S01E09: Chernobyl | Days That Shook the World

S01E09: Chernobyl | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2003 | 30'35''

Two days highlight the benefits and terrors of atomic power: Chernobyl's nuclear meltdown on April 26, 1986.

The Cold War: 01: Berlin 1945-48 | History File

The Cold War: 01: Berlin 1945-48 | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 23'40''

Compilation of secondary schools programme about the Cold War, featuring Berlin Crisis, Hungarian Uprising, rise of Soviet le...

The Cold War: 02: Hungary 1956 | History File

The Cold War: 02: Hungary 1956 | History File

BBC Two | 2000 | 23'41''

Compilation of secondary schools programme about the Cold War, featuring Berlin Crisis, Hungarian Uprising, rise of Soviet lead...

Kate Adie's Women of World War One

Kate Adie's Women of World War One

BBC Two | 2014 | 59'14''

Distinguished war reporter Kate Adie examines the impact of women's work on the Home Front during the First World War.

The First World War: 02: Stalemate | History File

The First World War: 02: Stalemate | History File

BBC Two | 1999 | 18'34''

The second section explores why the war wasn't over by Christmas 1914 and what life was like in the trenches.

The First World War: 01: The Approach of War | History File

The First World War: 01: The Approach of War | History File

BBC Two | 1999 | 18'28''

The first section asks who was to blame for the war.

08: Pearl Harbour to Hiroshima | Twentieth Century History

08: Pearl Harbour to Hiroshima | Twentieth Century History

BBC One | 1978 | 19'52''

On 7th December 1941, Japanese planes bombed the US fleet at Pearl Harbour. Programme looks at what caused Japan t...

00: Goes Back in Time | Operation Ouch!

00: Goes Back in Time | Operation Ouch!

CBBC | 2014 | 28'31''

Dr Chris and Dr Xand turn back the clock and look at what medicine was like in the First World War. They meet a Paralympian runner wh...

01: Comrades: 1917-1945 | Cold War

01: Comrades: 1917-1945 | Cold War

BBC Two | 1998 | 46'26''

Both the United States and the Soviet Union drifted apart after the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Russian Civil War and the Paris Peace ...

06: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight | Not Forgotten

06: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight | Not Forgotten

Channel 4 | 2007 | 48'21''

In this special edition of Not Forgotten, Ian Hislop explores the powerful and often overlooked stories of conscientious objec...

S02E03: Attack on Pearl Harbor | Days That Shook the World

S02E03: Attack on Pearl Harbor | Days That Shook the World

BBC Two | 2004 | 59'03''

The 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, which changed world history.

A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI

A Scottish Soldier: A Lost Diary of WWI

BBC Scotland | 2020 | 29'02''

Poet Jackie Kay tells the story of Arthur Roberts - one of thousands of black soldiers who fought in WWI. His diary provides a unique...

The Windermere Children: In Their Own Words

The Windermere Children: In Their Own Words

BBC Four | 2020 | 58'58''

Documentary about the pioneering project, in 1945, to rehabilitate child survivors of the Holocaust on the shores of Lake Winderm...