Synopsis
This episode explores the attempts to rally the French Army for a spring offensive, but they began to openly mutiny.
- Programme: The Great War
- Episode: 15: We Are Betrayed, Sold, Lost
- Channel: BBC Two
- Broadcast year: 1964
- History | Britain, Europe and the wider world 1901 to the present day | the First World War and the Peace Settlement
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from The Great War
10: What Are Our Allies Doing? | The Great War
10: What Are Our Allies Doing? | The Great War
The war continues throughout 1915. Towering over all else was the mighty German offensive of Gorlice-Tarnow, where the Russian...
11: Hell Cannot Be So Terrible | The Great War
11: Hell Cannot Be So Terrible | The Great War
This episode looks at the Battle of Verdun, one of the bloodiest clashes in history, which lasted for ten months during 1916.
12: For Gawd's Sake Don't Send Me | The Great War
12: For Gawd's Sake Don't Send Me | The Great War
Over two million volunteers respond to Kitchener's appeal of 1916, and many are sent to the killing grounds of the Somme.
13: The Devil Is Coming | The Great War
13: The Devil Is Coming | The Great War
The Battle of the Somme began in July 1916. By February 1917, an irreparable blow had been struck at the German Army, but at the cost...
14: All This It Is Our Duty to Bear | The Great War
14: All This It Is Our Duty to Bear | The Great War
By the end of 1916 a compromise peace is considered, but the new leaders are committed to seeking total victory - at any ...
16: Right Is More Precious than Peace | The Great War
16: Right Is More Precious than Peace | The Great War
In 1917, the October revolution brought the Communists to power in Russia, while America entered into the war on 6th Ap...
17: Surely We Have Perished | The Great War
17: Surely We Have Perished | The Great War
Morale becomes impossible to sustain as the battle of Passchendaele lasts through the summer of 1917.
18: Fat Rodzyanko Has Sent me Some Nonsense | The Great War
18: Fat Rodzyanko Has Sent me Some Nonsense | The Great War
Following the October Revolution, Russian enthusiasm for the war heartens the Allies and alarms the Germans.
19: The Hell where Youth and Laughter Go | The Great War
19: The Hell where Youth and Laughter Go | The Great War
A look at the experiences of soldiers on the Western Front and the effect this had upon the human spirit.
2: For Such a Stupid Reason, Too | The Great War
2: For Such a Stupid Reason, Too | The Great War
Following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in June 1914, international diplomacy breaks down completely.
20: Only War, Nothing But War | The Great War
20: Only War, Nothing But War | The Great War
The war has evolved from an old-fashioned localised conflict to an all-engulfing 'total' war involving entire nations.
21: It Was Like the End of the World | The Great War
21: It Was Like the End of the World | The Great War
Germany takes a huge risk, launching a massive offensive in early 1918, aiming to achieve victory before the Americans a...
22: Damn Them, Are They Never Coming In? | The Great War
22: Damn Them, Are They Never Coming In? | The Great War
The German army launched a successful counter-attack in May 1918, but it was is too late - the Americans had arrived.
23: When Must the End Be? | The Great War
23: When Must the End Be? | The Great War
By 5 August, the Germans had once again been driven back to the River Aisne. This was the turning point of the war. Six days later,...
24: Allah Made Mesopotamia and Added Flies | The Great War
24: Allah Made Mesopotamia and Added Flies | The Great War
With the Western Front dominating the minds of generals and statesmen, they sought a back door to victory - the Mi...
25: The Iron Thrones are Falling | The Great War
25: The Iron Thrones are Falling | The Great War
The penultimate episode recounts the collapse of Germany's Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian allies.
26: And We Were Young | The Great War
26: And We Were Young | The Great War
At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 1918, the Armistice came into effect.
3: We Must Hack Our Way Through | The Great War
3: We Must Hack Our Way Through | The Great War
Following the declaration of war, the German army began to carry out the Schlieffen Plan, perhaps the most famous military pl...
4: Our Hats We Doff to General Joffre | The Great War
4: Our Hats We Doff to General Joffre | The Great War
As the German forces advance on Paris, the French commander-in-chief General Joffre builds up a surer resistance.
5: This Business May Last a Long Time | The Great War
5: This Business May Last a Long Time | The Great War
The Battle of the Marne resulted in a decisive victory for Allied forces, and trench warfare began to emerge at Aisne.
More resources about Twentieth century warfare
S1E2: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Days That Shook the World
S1E2: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand | Days That Shook the World
How the duke's death led to the start of the First World War.
1: Advance Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain
1: Advance Britannia | Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain
Andrew Marr revisits Britain in 1945 and finds the country victorious but nearly bankrupt, beginning a battle ...
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
Transforming archive footage more than a century old, Peter Jackson brings to life the people who can best tell the story of World War I: the ...
German youth | The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler
German youth | The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler
Hitler targeted the German youth, he wanted to indoctrinate them with Nazi ideology as early as possible.
The Somme: From Defeat to Victory
The Somme: From Defeat to Victory
Drama-documentary which offers a new perspective on the most infamous battle of World War I, revealing how it was on the Somme that the Bri...
To Arms | The First World War
To Arms | The First World War
The merciless pattern of the war was set early on, by Austro-Hungarian atrocities against Serbian civilians.
1: War Comes to Britain | Britain's Great War
1: War Comes to Britain | Britain's Great War
Jeremy Paxman presents a four-part documentary charting how the First World War affected Great Britain, with this episode focus...
14: Red Spring: 1960s | Cold War
14: Red Spring: 1960s | Cold War
Likewise the Soviet Union started the decade with growing openness and optimism. There was also an emerging cohort of youth with no memory o...
2: Hungary 1956 | History File
2: Hungary 1956 | History File
Compilation of secondary schools programme about the Cold War, featuring Berlin Crisis, Hungarian Uprising, rise of Soviet leader Nikita Khrus...
2: The War Machine | Britain's Great War
2: The War Machine | Britain's Great War
With the country unprepared for war, the whole population is enlisted to turn Britain into a war machine.
6: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight | Not Forgotten
6: The Men Who Wouldn't Fight | Not Forgotten
In this special edition of Not Forgotten, Ian Hislop explores the powerful and often overlooked stories of conscientious object...
Boycott by the United States | Moscow 1980: The Cold War Olympics
Boycott by the United States | Moscow 1980: The Cold War Olympics
As politics and sport collided head on, athletes faced tough dilemmas.
Britain's Boy Soldiers | Secret History
Britain's Boy Soldiers | Secret History
Documentary looking at the large numbers of underage volunteers during the first world war - some 250,000 - and how the war office an...
Indian soldiers in Marseille | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
Indian soldiers in Marseille | The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire
David Olusoga discusses the experiences of the Indian soldiers arriving in Marseille at the begi...
Red Dawn | Strange Days: Cold War Britain
Red Dawn | Strange Days: Cold War Britain
Historian Dominic Sandbrook examines the Cold War. He looks at the first chilling years of the conflict, when the opposing ideologi...
0: Goes Back in Time | Operation Ouch!
0: Goes Back in Time | Operation Ouch!
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 who...
01: Retreat | Dunkirk (2004)
01: Retreat | Dunkirk (2004)
The Allies are in retreat, but the Navy can only pick up a few soldiers and Churchill is advised to make peace to save the rest.
1: 1918 Western Front | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields
1: 1918 Western Front | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields
The Snows visit Northern France to tell the story of the 1918 Battle of Amiens.
1: Berlin 1945-48 | History File
1: Berlin 1945-48 | History File
Compilation of secondary schools programme about the Cold War, featuring Berlin Crisis, Hungarian Uprising, rise of Soviet leader Nikita Khr...
1: Commemoration | Not Forgotten
1: Commemoration | Not Forgotten
Commemoration, examining the movement for war memorials following the First World War, and the continuation of this tradition for subsequent...