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GREAT WAR AND THE SHAPING OF THE 20TH CENTURY, THE: EPISODE THREE: TOTAL WAR (TV)

Summary

The third of eight episodes in this series examining World War I and its effect on the remainder of the twentieth century. The story is told through the use of archival film and photographs, commentary by writers and scholars, and the words of those directly involved in the war. Each episode is comprised of multiple segments that focus on different apects of the war. This episode focuses on the concept of "total war," a condition that demands all of the resources of the nations involved and includes everyone, even children, in the fight. The program opens with the British campaign at Gallipoli, a small Turkish peninsula that provided a passage to ally Russia. The supposedly easy objective becomes a disaster as British troops are held at a beachhead by fanatical Turkish soldiers, who, despite being outnumbered and hampered by lack of weapons, attack with suicidal frenzy at the behest of the charismatic Mustafa "Ataturk" Kemal. Gallipoli becomes a miniature Western Front as the opposing sides fight in trenches locked in a hopeless stalemate. British commander Ian Hamilton and his men fight from summer through the winter, with no progress and heavy casualties, before the futile campaign is called off and Britain slinks home in defeat. The program shifts focus with the segment "The Lost Generation," which considers the anxiety and despair experienced by the youth of Europe as innumerable brothers, lovers, and friends are killed in battle. The segment "The White Man's War" concerns the shabby treatment suffered by the thousands of African soldiers who enlist heeding the call of their empire. The segment "The Girls With Yellow Hands" details the efforts of British women working in munitions factories and the enormous health risks the work presents. The segment "The Rules of Engagement" describes the new ruthlessness required by "total war," including the unprecedented bombing of civilians from the air by German zeppelins, German U-boat attacks on civilian ships such as the "Lusitania," and Germany's introduction of poison gas into trench warfare. The gas fails to break the defensive lines but causes new heights in suffering, invoked in the reading of a poem by Wilfred Owen. The segment "Hatred" examines the total permeation of war-consciousness, reflected in the use of images of children soldiers in war propaganda and in representations of German atrocities in movies such as the Mary Pickford vehicle "The Little American." The final segment "Genocide" recounts Turkey's efforts at ethnic cleansing as thousands of Armenians, on charges of collaborating with the Russians, are sent to concentration camps and slaughtered. The concept of "total war" finds its ultimate expression in the attempted annhilation of a whole people in the war's grimmest chapter to date. This program includes commentary by the following individuals: Trevor Wilson of the University of Adelaide; A. Mete Tuncoku of the Middle East Technical University; Laura Downs of the University of Michigan; Jay M. Winter of Cambridge University; and Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau of the University of Picardie-Jules Verne. This program is closed-captioned.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, 1997.

Details

  • NETWORK: KCET-TV (Los Angeles, CA) / PBS
  • DATE: November 11, 1996 9:00 PM
  • RUNNING TIME: 0:56:46
  • COLOR/B&W: Color
  • CATALOG ID: T:48947
  • GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
  • SUBJECT HEADING: World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Turkey -- Gallipoli Peninsula
  • SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1996
  • COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

  • Blaine Baggett … Executive Producer, Writer
  • Lyn Goldfarb … Producer, Director, Writer
  • David Mrazek … Producer
  • Jay Winter … Co-Producer, Writer
  • Adrienne Cooksey … Associate Producer
  • Teresa Fitzgerald … Associate Producer
  • Michelle Morgan … Series Associate Producer
  • Carl Byker … Series Producer, Director
  • Alf Penn … Researcher
  • Karen Wyatt … Researcher
  • Jeffrey Verhey … Researcher
  • Lili Francklyn … Researcher
  • Michael O'Toole … Researcher
  • David Orenstein … Researcher
  • Mason Daring … Music by
  • Salome Jens … Narrator
  • Stephane Audoin-Rouzeau … Guest
  • Laura Downs … Guest
  • A. Mete Tuncoku … Guest
  • Trevor Wilson … Guest
  • Jay M. Winter … Guest
  • Jurgen Prochnow … Voice
  • Ian Richardson … Voice
  • Rene Auberjonois … Voice
  • Paul Mercurio … Voice
  • David Hayter … Voice
  • Natasha Richardson … Voice
  • Yaphet Kotto … Voice
  • Imogen Stubbs … Voice
  • Jane Leeves … Voice
  • Ralph Fiennes … Voice
  • Helen Mirren … Voice
  • Sean Cowley … Voice
  • David Keith … Voice
  • Udo Kier … Voice
  • Mary Mouradian … Voice
  • Ian Hamilton
  • Kemal, Mustafa "Ataturk"
  • Wilfred Owen
  • Mary Pickford