Description: Strong feelings of nationalism throughout Europe prior to the war created an atmosphere where war was imminent. The spark that finally ignited the flame was the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914. Within two months France, Russia, Germany and Great Britain were entrenched in what would become five years of conflict, resulting in massive carnage and the deaths of millions. This illuminating 4 DVD set examines the conflict year by year, highlighting significant turning points in the war until its end in 1918.
Amazon.com: While World War II has practically monopolized the TV channels dedicated to military history, the drama and tragedy of World War I has been often overlooked, given scant attention, or viewed only in relation to World War II as a cause. The Great War: The Complete History of World War I makes a contribution to remedy that by taking an in-depth, year-by-year look at the war to end all wars. Five programs delve into what happened each year the war played out, and another program examines the developments in land warfare, sea, and air power technology. The amount of original footage presented here is impressive, most of it cleaned up and restored as much as is possible, give the aged condition of the film. However, much of the narrative structure seems disjointed and unmatched to the footage, and the sound effects are somewhat puzzling and amateurish. A line of soldiers firing rifles is accompanied with the sound of a machine gun, while a massive howitzer shoots off in silence. Some of the visuals leave a lot to be desired as well, as an overview of battles in Eastern France presents explosions on a topographical map, but with no lines of battle drawn or movements displayed it’s impossible to get a sense of the armies’ relative positions to each other. Patrick Boniface’s narration strikes the appropriate tone, but the reality is that having only one narrator to cover the scope of the program gets a little monotonous. The resulting experience is a little like sitting in a history lecture: it’s very informative, and the images are interesting to take in, but it remains distant and academic. As a result many viewers are unlikely to be drawn in any emotional way and may find the end result disappointing. It might be best to approach this one in a purely educational sense; you will certainly learn a lot about the particulars of the war, but it probably won't engage you much beyond that. --Daniel Vancini
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Flawed in many ways
It should be obvious that a visual representation of events that occurred nearly a century ago might fall short by today's high-def standards. It is true that the footage used was recycled throughout ... Read More
Rating: - Major Waste of Time
I had high hopes ordering The Great War, too bad it's a Great Waste of Time enduring it. Really, all it is is Patrick Boniface sounding like a bad Capt. Kirk reading from what seems like a wikipedia article ... Read More
Rating: - Waste of Time and Money
As a history teacher, I've collected several historical DVDs to use in the classroom as instructional aids. Out of around 50 different series, this is by far the worst. The narrative is choppy with no thread ... Read More
Rating: - Disappointing Treatment of the Great War
The Great War, The Complete History of World War I, a three-DVD set by Koch Entertainment, is a poor production on the Great War compared to The First World War - The Complete Series (a Major Channel Four series). ... Read More
Rating: - Better than what they are saying
I agree with the other reviewers that this is not the best DVD documentary on the Great War (or the First World War.) But I do think that this Documentary has its strengths. For one, it gives a lot more war footage ... Read More
- Flawed in many ways
- Major Waste of Time
- Better than what they are saying