14 Diaries of the Great War Part 1: The Abyss
14 Diaries of the Great War Part 1: The Abyss - Following the murder in Sarajevo, the European nations call for the battle. A war seems inevitable. We are witnessing the beginning of the war through the eyes of 14-year-old Russian Marina Yurlova, who is left behind by her father, a soldier at a cossack regiment.
German artist Kathe Kolwitz sees her son enthusiastically leaving the front. The Austrian Karl Kasser, initially rejected for the service, is eventually called for the army. 10-year-old boy Yves Congar from Sedan believes France will soon win. Elfriede Kuhr, a 12-year-old girl from the German Posen, believes that it will soon be over. "By Christmas we're back" promise the soldiers. But at the end of 1914 there have already been a million casualties and the war does not seem to be over yet.
104 years after its outbreak, this series lets viewers experience WWI solely through the eyes of those who lived it.
History tells us 'what was'. It tells us when things happened. When kings and cultures lived and died, armies were raised and vanquished, and mighty empires rose and fell. History, as we know it from books, is often boring, for it fails to answer one very simple question: What was it like? When war broke out in Europe in July 1914, people on all sides believed it would be over by Christmas. Little could they know just how wrong they were. A seemingly petty conflict in Bosnia soon snowballed into the first truly global conflict.
This was a new kind of war, fought with means and techniques never seen before. By November 1918, ten million people had died, and the political map of the world had been re-drawn. People's minds and attitudes had changed forever, and the Modern Age had begun. Caught up in the middle of this chaos were millions of ordinary men, women and children. Their very lives changed in ways they could never have imagined. This is their story.
14 Diaries of the Great War retells the story of the greatest war mankind had ever seen in a unique way - it lets viewers experience World War I solely through the eyes of those who lived it. From over 1,000 very dramatic stories of the war, left behind in diaries, letters, postcards and telegrams, 14 of the most vivid and emotional have been chosen, deriving from characters all over the globe.
German artist Kathe Kolwitz sees her son enthusiastically leaving the front. The Austrian Karl Kasser, initially rejected for the service, is eventually called for the army. 10-year-old boy Yves Congar from Sedan believes France will soon win. Elfriede Kuhr, a 12-year-old girl from the German Posen, believes that it will soon be over. "By Christmas we're back" promise the soldiers. But at the end of 1914 there have already been a million casualties and the war does not seem to be over yet.
14 Diaries of the Great War Part 1
104 years after its outbreak, this series lets viewers experience WWI solely through the eyes of those who lived it.
History tells us 'what was'. It tells us when things happened. When kings and cultures lived and died, armies were raised and vanquished, and mighty empires rose and fell. History, as we know it from books, is often boring, for it fails to answer one very simple question: What was it like? When war broke out in Europe in July 1914, people on all sides believed it would be over by Christmas. Little could they know just how wrong they were. A seemingly petty conflict in Bosnia soon snowballed into the first truly global conflict.
This was a new kind of war, fought with means and techniques never seen before. By November 1918, ten million people had died, and the political map of the world had been re-drawn. People's minds and attitudes had changed forever, and the Modern Age had begun. Caught up in the middle of this chaos were millions of ordinary men, women and children. Their very lives changed in ways they could never have imagined. This is their story.
14 Diaries of the Great War retells the story of the greatest war mankind had ever seen in a unique way - it lets viewers experience World War I solely through the eyes of those who lived it. From over 1,000 very dramatic stories of the war, left behind in diaries, letters, postcards and telegrams, 14 of the most vivid and emotional have been chosen, deriving from characters all over the globe.
