The BEST episodes directed by Toni Steller
#1 - Armistice - But Peace?
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 46
On November 11 1918, the German delegation and the Allies reach an agreement for an armistice. At the 11th hour the guns go silent and the First World War is over, well at least the guns go silent but is it a peace already? Germany is struggling with revolution and civil war at home, the break up of the Austro-Hungarian Empire causes a lot of chaos. And in Romania, the men are taking up arms again.
Watch Now:Amazon#2 - Austria-Hungary Deisintegrates - The Ottoman Empire Leaves the War I
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 44
The Ottoman Empire has been on the retreat in the Middle East since the renewed British offensive in September and now, as the allies are threatening the Turkish heartland and also Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire calls for an armistice. The Armistice of Mudros is signed as the remaining Central Powers also struggle to keep their Empires together.
#3 - Knocking Out The Hejaz Railway
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 16
While the Germans are still advancing in Flanders (Operation Georgette), the other fronts are not always quiet. In Palestine, the British forces and the Arab Revolt are taking the initiative again. T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) and the Arab Revolt are attacking the vital Hejaz Railway, a major transport factor for the Ottoman Empire.
#4 - The First Tank-on-Tank Battle in History - The Zeebrugge Raid
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 17
At Villers-Bretonneux, German and British tanks clash marking the first tank-on-tank battle in history. In the same week, the most successful flying ace of World War 1 is shot down over France: Manfred von Richthofen dies after scoring 80 victories. Meanwhile, the British Navy attempts to eliminate the German U-Boat threat with a daring raid on Zeebrugge and Ostende.
#5 - Pershing Under Pressure - The End Of La Lys
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 18
Even though the German spring offensive is not able to gain any ground in Flanders, the allied casualties are mounting. This increases the pressure on John J. Pershing and the American troops in Europe to finally join the battle.
#6 - The Ostende Raid - Peace of Bucharest
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 19
Even though the first raid on Ostende and the Raid on Zeebrugge were not entirely successful, the Royal Navy is still determined to block access to the German submarine ports in Belgium. And this week they attack Ostende again. Meanwhile, the Germans are planning their next offensives for late May 1918 even though ten percent of the Western Front army has become a casualty in the offensives this year alone.
#7 - Rebellion
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 20
The summer of 1918 saw many ethnic and political groups within the warring empires to openly rebel. The Austro-Hungarian Army saw open mutiny every week, the Irish rebelled against the British, the situation in the newly annexed Eastern European territories that were now part of the German Empire was a powder keg. And in France civilians were sentenced to death for treason.
#8 - Bombs Away - German Thirst For Caucasian Oil
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 21
In the 200th week of the war, the total nature of modern warfare is truly showing its face. The warring nations escalate their bombing campaigns and the German troops in the Caucasus are so thirsty for Caucasian oil, that they are considering to double cross their own allies.
#9 - 50 Miles To Paris - Third Battle Of The Aisne
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 22
The French and British defenses during the German Spring Offensive 1918 were put to a real test when the Germans attacked. The carefully built defenses had to be abandoned and new lessons had to be learned.
#10 - The Battle of Belleau Wood Begins
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 23
The German Army is still threatening Paris and the situation for the Allies looks dire. Reluctantly, General Pershing agrees to put some of the American troops into action at Belleau Wood and Château-Thierry.
#11 - The French Counter Attack At Matz
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 24
The French have cracked the German radio code on the Western Front and use their advantage for a counterattack at Matz. The already hastily planed German attack during Operation Gneisenau is called off after just 4 days. Meanwhile Austria-Hungary plans another offensive in Italy and German and Ottoman forces fight each other in Georgia.
#12 - Second Battle of the Piave River
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 25
Even though Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal Svetozar Boroević von Bojna warns against, the Austro-Hungarian Army goes on the offensive in Italy again. In a two-pronged attack Borojevic and Conrad von Hötzendorf attack the Italian positions.
#13 - The Run For The Baku Oil Fields
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 26
While the Ottoman Army of Islam is marching on Baku and the Caspian Sea, multiple other players are trying to stake their claim of the Baku oil fields.
#14 - The First Modern Battle - The Battle of Hamel
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 27
The Battle of Hamel is considered as the first modern battle. Masterminded by Australian general John Monash, it included meticulous planning and integrated tanks, artillery, airplanes and infantry into one cohesive strategy.
#15 - The Gardeners Of Salonica Prepare A New Offensive
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 28
The Macedonian Front has been quite since the recapture of Monastir except for some minor battles like at Skra. But the five nation Army of the Orient wants to change that and is readying a new offensive.
#16 - 2nd Battle Of The Marne - Turning Point On The Western Front
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 29
The German Army launches an diversionary attack from the Rheims-Soisson salient and increases the pressure on Paris. But the Allies knew about the attack and for the first time, they effectively counter the German Stormtrooper tactics and even counter-attack along the line.
#17 - Ludendorff's Last Swing
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 30
All of Germany's recent offensives have been building up to Operation Hagen: An offensive in Flanders that was to divide the Allies and drive the British off the continent. But this week German High Command realizes that they don't have the manpower left to even start the offensive.
#18 - Four Years of War
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 31
As the war turns 4 years old, there is still no end in sight. From the Western Front to the Caucasus and the Middle East; in every theater the war is still raging on.
#19 - The Black Day Of The German Army - The Battle of Amiens
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 32
Ludendorff and his generals didn't think the Allies had it in them, but this week they attack with the might off several hundred tanks near Amiens, the Black Day of the German Army.
#20 - A Resounding Victory - German Morale Plummets
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 33
As the Battle of Amiens is coming to an end, the Germans are desperately trying to stem the Allied advance and fortify new positions. But morale is crumbling and German High Command is running out of time to find a new strategy. Meanwhile in Russia, the struggle between Bolsheviks and Social Revolutionaries reaches a violent climax, as assassins prey on Lenin's life. The Dunsterforce finally arrives in Baku to help defend the city from the Ottoman advance. But this is not the mighty British force the inhabitants had hoped for. Will Lenin survive? Does Ludendorff choose to abandon all the gains the German army made over the spring? And what about the attack on the Wookies? Find out this and more in the new episode of The Great War.
#21 - Over By Christmas? - Growing Allied Confidence
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 34
With the recent "Black Day of the German Army" and the success of the new strategy of Allied attacks along the Western Front and with the renewed offensives in Palestine, British Commander Sir Douglas Haig is confident the war can be won by the end of the year. Entente Generalissimo Ferdinand Foch is a bit more cautious but also thinks the war can be won by 1919.
#22 - The American First Army Gears Up - Germany Retreats
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 35
As the German Army withdraws along the Western Front, the Entente prepares for ever more offensives. This includes the newly founded American First Army which will have the task to attack the Germans in the Meuse-Argonnes area.
#23 - Red Terror in Soviet Russia
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 36
After an almost successful attempt on Lenin's live, the Tscheka under Felix Dzerzhinsky responds with a terror campaign to consolidate Soviet power through fear. At the same time, a supposed Allied plot is unveiled that would get Russia back into the war.
#24 - The Battle of Saint-Mihiel
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 37
The American First Army joins the fray on the Western Front with the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. All along the Western Front, the Allies are attacking or planning new attacks. The situation for the Germans looks dire even as the first war reparations from Russia arrive.
#25 - Allied Breakthroughs In Palestine And Macedonia
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 38
In a turbulent week of the First World War, the Allies break through at the Macedonian Front during the Battle of Vadar and in Palestine during the Battle for Palestine. At the same time, the Ottoman defeats the last defenders of Baku.
#26 - The Meuse-Argonne Offensive - Bulgarian Collapse
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 39
This week, the biggest American military operation in history kicks off with 1.2 million American soldiers trying to take the Krimhilde Stellung. At the same time the Army of the Orient advances into Bulgaria and the Ottoman 7th and 8th armies collapse in Palestine.
#27 - Germany's Reckoning - Bulgarian Armistice
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 40
While Bulgaria signs the Armistice of Salonika and effectively exits the war as the first of the Central Powers, the Hindenburg Line is broken on the Western Front. It dawns among the German leadership, that an armistice is necessary and in a desperate attempt to secure a more favourable position at the negotiations table, the Kaiser agrees to a "revolution from the top" that gives more political saying to the Reichstag.
#28 - The Hindenburg Line Breaks - The Lost Battalion Returns
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 41
The Hindenburg Line or Siegfriedstellung is the backbone of the German defenses on the Western Front and this week 100 years ago, the Allies break through during the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. At the same time, the political fallout within Germany continues and the Allied Army of the Orient continues its offensive on the Macedonian Front.
#29 - The Battle of the Selle - Ludendorff Resigns
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 42
As the Germans are retreating further and further during the Battle of the Selle, Erich Ludendorff – the German Quartermaster General, one half of Germany's military dictatorship and mastermind behind the last big German offensive in spring 1918 – resigns under pressure by the Kaiser and the Reichstag. The German upper class realizes that their days might be numbered if the war continues in the current form and Austria-Hungary's Emperor Karl has the same epiphany.
#30 - Italy Attacks - The Battle of Vittorio Veneto
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 43
After the Battle of the Piave, the Italian front had been relatively quiet and stable. But just as unrest and instablity spread through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Italian Army and its allies attack along the whole front. From Monte Grappa and across the Piave, the Austro-Hungarians are caught off guard.
#31 - Revolution in Germany - Armistice in Austria
The Great War (2014) - Season 5 - Episode 45
Unrest within the German Empire is spreading, resentment against the war, the hunger and the elites is turning into revolutionary action and with a mutiny in Kiel the wheels begin to turn quickly. Austria signs an armistice, the Macedonian Front collapses, Romania might enter the war again and the new German political leaders send a delegation through the lines in France. Their goal: An Armistice.
#32 - New Wars and Revolutions - Demobilisation
The Great War (2014) - Season 6 - Episode 1
In our first new episode, our host Jesse takes a look at the German Revolution of 1918/1919 and how the Spartacists under Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg tried to take power. We also take a look at the new conflicts that emerge right after the supposed "war to end all wars" and explain how the massive armies of the great powers were demobilized.