Synopsis
Dan Snow recreates a map of Europe on the beach to explain how Britain became involved in World War I.
- Programme: Learning Zone
- Episode: Britain and the Start of WW1
- Channel: BBC Two
- Broadcast year: 2013
- History | British history beyond 1066
Licence: ERA Licence required
UK only
Staff and students of licensed education establishments only
Cannot be adapted
Add Notes
More clips from Learning Zone

A soldier's daughter | Learning Zone
A soldier's daughter | Learning Zone
Sarah was a child in Bolton during the Second World War. With family friend Tyler, she remembers the outbreak of the war and the effect ...

An evacuee's adventure | Learning Zone
An evacuee's adventure | Learning Zone
Betty lived in Cardiff during the war and was evacuated to Aberdare. With her family friend, Anesha, she retraces the journey and desc...

Ancient Egypt | Learning Zone
Ancient Egypt | Learning Zone
A visit to Ancient Egypt, and life 5000 years ago begins by exploring houses and homes, and contrasting them with our homes today.

Ancient Sumer | Learning Zone
Ancient Sumer | Learning Zone
We find out about many of the inventions developed in the area, as well as some of the reasons why the Sumer eventually died out.

Anglo-Saxon Britain | Learning Zone
Anglo-Saxon Britain | Learning Zone
One of the children is sick, and this is used as a means to explore the different approaches to medicine and medical care in Saxon times.

Baby Games | The Learning Zone
Baby Games | The Learning Zone
Psychiatrist Daniel Stern discusses the ways in which parents play with their babies.

Baghdad Circa 900 AD | Learning Zone
Baghdad Circa 900 AD | Learning Zone
Baghdad at the time was the largest city in the world and was the centre of the world’s great trade routes.

Bar management | The Learning Zone
Bar management | The Learning Zone
A bar manager gives a short explanation of how his job works and what you need to make it in the industry.

Benin | Learning Zone
Benin | Learning Zone
Benin is famous for its bronzes. This film explores how they are made, using the 'lost wax' process, and why.

Bronze Age Britain | Learning Zone
Bronze Age Britain | Learning Zone
Life in Bronze Age Britain through the eyes of one family as they learn how copper and tin is mined, and make bronze using a furnace.

Bronze Age Stonehenge gold | Learning Zone
Bronze Age Stonehenge gold | Learning Zone
There are also lots of barrow burials around Stonehenge and one of them, Bush Barrow Man, is used to find out about Bronze Age times.

Bronze Age: making metal | Learning Zone
Bronze Age: making metal | Learning Zone
Raksha visits Butser Ancient Farm to make a bronze age axe head exactly the way Bronze Age man would have done so.

Bronze Age: wool | Learning Zone
Bronze Age: wool | Learning Zone
Raksha visits the Bronze Age at an ancient farm and learns how to make woollen cloth.

Canals | Learning Zone
Canals | Learning Zone
In the 1770s canals linked the country, carrying goods cheaply and efficiently. Without them it is hard to see how the Industrial Revolution could hav...

Children in Roman Britain | Learning Zone
Children in Roman Britain | Learning Zone
A look at how tough life was for the British Roman children and how their education was limited.

Coal | Learning Zone
Coal | Learning Zone
The Industrial Revolution changed Britain and the world fundamentally. It began in Britain, and coal was a key factor.

Daily life in Ancient Egypt | Learning Zone
Daily life in Ancient Egypt | Learning Zone
Dr Joann Fletcher visits the village of Pa-Demi to discover more about the daily lives and tombs of Kha and Merit.

Food Service Management | The Learning Zone
Food Service Management | The Learning Zone
A quick run-down of how a catering business works.

Head of hotel reception | The Learning Zone
Head of hotel reception | The Learning Zone
Head of reception details how she got into the job and what skills are needed.

How hurricanes are formed by Earth's rotation | Learning Zone
How hurricanes are formed by Earth's rotation | Learning Zone
Physicist Helen Czerski explains that hurricanes happen because the earth is rotating. She shows how, because t...
More resources about World wars and their home fronts

1: David Lloyd George | Great Britons (1990)
1: David Lloyd George | Great Britons (1990)
John Grigg narrates the life of David Lloyd George. As Lloyd George's biographer, Grigg remarks, ''My father knew Lloyd George''...

1: London | Blitz Cities
1: London | Blitz Cities
EastEnders star Shane Richie travels around his home city of London to explore the history of the Blitz there.

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...

2: Evacuation | Dunkirk (2004)
2: Evacuation | Dunkirk (2004)
To evacuate the thousands at Dunkirk, the Admiralty requisitions small boats, while the Navy races to lift as many as it can.

2: Liverpool | Blitz Cities
2: Liverpool | Blitz Cities
Liverpool actor Ricky Tomlinson, who was born in 1939, looks at the effect the Blitz had on his home city.

2: Road to War | Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
2: Road to War | Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
The country basks in a hot Edwardian summer, but the assassination of an archduke in Sarajevo presages world war.

3: Norwich | Blitz Cities
3: Norwich | Blitz Cities
Myleene Klass goes back to her home county of Norfolk to look into the story of the Baedeker Blitz on Norwich.

4: Cardiff | Blitz Cities
4: Cardiff | Blitz Cities
John Humphrys returns to south Wales to discover more about the effect of the Blitz on Cardiff and Swansea.

5: Birmingham | Blitz Cities
5: Birmingham | Blitz Cities
Hollywood actor David Harewood travels back to his native Birmingham to look at his city's Blitz story.

5: Little Britain | Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
5: Little Britain | Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
The Wall Street Crash and the rise of fascist politics in Europe caused chaos in 1930s Britain.

6: Britannia at Bay | Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
6: Britannia at Bay | Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain
The series concludes with an account of Britain during the Second World War, starting with the events at Dun...

7: Britain Alone | Twentieth Century History
7: Britain Alone | Twentieth Century History
Programme looks at how Britain fought Germany alone after the fall of Europe in June 1940.

8: Why Don't You Come and Help? | The Great War
8: Why Don't You Come and Help? | The Great War
Minister of munitions David Lloyd George struggles to modernise Britain's industrial capability.

A soldier's daughter | Learning Zone
A soldier's daughter | Learning Zone
Sarah was a child in Bolton during the Second World War. With family friend Tyler, she remembers the outbreak of the war and the effect ...

An evacuee's adventure | Learning Zone
An evacuee's adventure | Learning Zone
Betty lived in Cardiff during the war and was evacuated to Aberdare. With her family friend, Anesha, she retraces the journey and desc...

At War: Omnibus 1 | Coal House
At War: Omnibus 1 | Coal House
Three Welsh families time travel back to 1944. This programme features the highs and lows of the first week for the Griffithses, the Paiseys a...

Battle of the Atlantic
Battle of the Atlantic
Broadcaster Peter Sissons reveals how a secret command bunker in the heart of Liverpool played a key role in winning The Battle of the Atlantic. He al...

Black Saturday | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain
Black Saturday | Blitz: The Bombs That Changed Britain
Survivor accounts of the Black Saturday bombing on East London.

Blitz | Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley
Blitz | Blitz Spirit with Lucy Worsley
Clip covers the phoney war, evacuation of children and finishes about the killing of pets.

Blitz | War Walks
Blitz | War Walks
Richard Holmes traces the events of a night of the Blitz, from the sector control room where the incoming raiders were plotted through to the efforts to sa...
More from Dan Snow

South China Sea Trade | World's Busiest Cities
South China Sea Trade | World's Busiest Cities
Hong Kong's busy port is a vital gateway to trade in the South China Sea.

1066: A Year to Conquer England
1066: A Year to Conquer England
Dan Snow explores the political intrigues and family betrayals between Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans that led to war and the Battle of Ha...

New York: America's Busiest City
New York: America's Busiest City
Anita Rani, Ade Adepitan, Ant Anstead and Dan Snow try commuting New York-style, joining 5.5 million commuters on the iconic Staten Island f...

1066 Unpacked | The One Show
1066 Unpacked | The One Show
Dan Snow recruits a team of volunteers to demonstrate the movements made by the rivals to the throne and how King Harold's armies attempted to d...

What Caused the Spanish Armada? | Armada: 12 Days to Save England
What Caused the Spanish Armada? | Armada: 12 Days to Save England
Dan Snow discusses the foundations of what caused the Spanish Armada.

Learning Zone | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company
Learning Zone | The Birth of Empire: The East India Company
A compilation of short films made specially for schools on the rise and fall of the East India Company, which acc...

Episode 2 | D-Day: The Last Heroes
Episode 2 | D-Day: The Last Heroes
The concluding part of historian Dan Snow's documentary series tells the powerful and heroic stories of those who risked their lives on th...

3: Industrial New York | Filthy Cities
3: Industrial New York | Filthy Cities
Dan Snow looks at 19th century New York when migrants arrived in a city consumed by squalor, stench and soot.

6: 1973 Middle East | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields
6: 1973 Middle East | Peter and Dan Snow: 20th Century Battlefields
Peter and Dan Snow unpick the fighting that broke out in 1973. Known by some as the Yom Kippur War, it wa...

4: The Battle Against the Spanish Armada | Battlefield Britain
4: The Battle Against the Spanish Armada | Battlefield Britain
Peter and Dan Snow take a look at the battles that shaped our nation. Drake's unlikely sea victory against the...