The WORST episodes of The Great War (2014)
Every episode of The Great War (2014) ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of The Great War (2014)!
'The Great War' shows you the history of the First World War in the four years from 1914 to 1918, exactly 100 years ago. Our host Indy takes you back week by week and shows you what was going on in the past. Learn more about the Allies and the Central Powers, archdukes, emperors, Winston Churchill, Franz Ferdinand, Wilhelm II, soldiers, battles and of the life aside the battlefield.
#1 - Why WW1 Turned Into Trench Warfare
Season 11 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/11/2024
Trench Warfare is one of the lasting symbols of the First World War, especially on the Western Front. But when the war began, the German and French armies envisioned sweeping advances and defeating the enemy swiftly. So, how and why did the Western Front in 1914 turn into the trench system we associate with WW1?
#2 - The Muddy Graves of Russia and Kut
Season 3 - Episode 16 - Aired 4/21/2016
With the spring in Russia and the Caucasus came the thaws on the Eastern Front and all the way down to Mesopotamia. The soldiers had to adapt to survive let alone fight. The Battle of Verdun still rages on though the French are not moving more airplanes to the area to break the German air superiority.
#3 - The Battle of Neuve-Chapelle
Season 2 - Episode 11 - Aired 3/12/2015
The British Expeditionary Forces are starting their first major offensive since the beginning of trench warfare. Near Neuve-Chapelle they attack the Germans and try to "bite and hold" their position. This battle will be the blueprints for future British offensives. On the Balkan, Serbia is facing a different enemy: Typhus. The catastrophic sanitary conditions enable the disease to spread across the whole country.
#4 - Back For Christmas? - The Illusion Of A Short War
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 10/9/2014
In the trenches on the Western Front and in the mud on the Eastern Front, hundreds of thousands of soldiers die and with them dies the illusion of a short war. After heavy casualties, the armies are adapting to a longer conflict and are looking for new recruits. To convince them to fight they are taking advantage of national minorities and their hope of equal rights and self-determination.
#5 - The Outbreak of WWI - How Europe Spiraled Into the Great War
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 7/28/2014
After the assasination of Franz Ferdinand, Austria-Hungary is determined to put a lid on Serbia once and for all. Germany wanted to go to war with Russia sooner than later, because it was a affraid of a strong Czar. In our first episode, Indy explains how the conflicts in Europe spiraled into a world war.
#6 - Germany in Two-Front War and the Schlieffen-Plan
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/7/2014
Austria-Hungary starts the bombardment of Belgrade. What follows is a race of armies between all major powers in Europe. Nobody wants to be unprepared in case of an attack. Germany is implementing the Schlieffen-Plan to avoid a two front war by conquering Paris via Belgium. One thing gets clear in the first days at the Western Front: This war is going to be different - the modern warfare shows itself.
#7 - Playing With Fire - The First Flame Thrower
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired 3/5/2015
Modern war already took place in the sky and under water but the waring nations also wanted to gain an advantage in the trenches. So this week, we see the first use of another merciless invention on the battlefield: the flame thrower. The battles on the Western Front, in the Carpathian's and near the Dardanelles continued nonetheless.
#8 - A Slice of The Pie - Splitting Up The Middle East
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired 3/19/2015
Even though the Entente offensive near Constantinople didn't really take off yet, the allied powers were already dreaming about splitting up the Ottoman Empire between themselves - and even promised territory to other nations. In the meantime, Austria-Hungary started its third offensive in the Carpathians to free the besieged army in Galicia.
#9 - To Arms! Deployment of Troops
Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 8/14/2014
The first few days of war were a combination of failed organisation and chaos. The Austro-Hungarian supreme command lacks in combat experience, and their irrational actions in Serbia are causing turmoil among the Germans. At the Eastern and Western Front, early signs of problems can be seen, too, which the armies will pay a terrible price for, in the upcoming weeks.
#10 - Onwards! - The Western Front Of Early 1915
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/15/2015
French general Joseph Joffre is stuck in a dilemma: the Champagne offensive has been going on for weeks now - without any expected results. Should he dig in and tolerate the enemy on French soil? Or should his soldiers continue to run up against the impenetrable German defences? Meanwhile, South African troops attack German South West Africa and in London, Winston Churchill's plan for an invasion of the Dardanelles has been approved.
#11 - Dividing Up The Middle East - The Sykes-Picot Agreement
Season 3 - Episode 17 - Aired 4/28/2016
The secret agreement between France, Britain and Russia that was signed this week 100 years ago was a turning point in the relations to the Arab world. It negated all future promises made by the British and still has consequences 100 years later. The Middle East was becoming more and more important to the British in 1916 and people like T.E. Lawrence are starting to become major players in the background.
#12 - The Ghost Of The Lusitania - Russia Takes Erzurum
Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 2/18/2016
The sinking of the Lusitania is still causing diplomatic tensions between Germany and the USA. While the Germans insist they were forced by the British blockade to adopt unrestricted submarine warfare, the Americans think otherwise. In the meantime the Russian Army is taking Erzurum in the Caucasus and the big offensive at Verdun is delayed for a week.
#13 - The Generalissimo Goes Forth
Season 3 - Episode 6 - Aired 2/11/2016
The situation for the Italian soldiers was dire during the winter battles, but even though Luigi "The Generalissimo" Cadorna maintained a tight grip on the strategy used, the equipment of the Italian soldiers was greatly improved. At the same time, the Russians were advancing on Erzurum in the Turkish Caucasus and war at sea counted a few more casualties on all sides.
#14 - The Western Front Awakens - The Tsar Takes Over
Season 2 - Episode 36 - Aired 9/3/2015
The Western Front has been relatively quiet the whole summer while the Russians were on their Big Retreat. The French and British generals have been busy trying to find a new strategy to overcome the stalemate. The Germans weren't sitting idle while awaiting the next big French offensive, they fortified their positions even using concrete. At the same time in the East, Tsar Nicholas II personally takes over military command and fires Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich for the catastrophic casualties the Russian Army faced this summer. But his timing could not be worse.
#15 - Hindenburg's Cunning Plan - A 2nd Tannenberg
Season 2 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/19/2015
After more than six months of war, the first big mutiny breaks out in Singapore. The endless battles in which big powers sacrifice thousands of soldiers are leading to an organised resistance for the first time. Indian troops refuse to board a ship because they don't want to fight other muslims in the Middle East. Meanwhile, the great offensives at the front in Europe continue.
#16 - A War To End All Wars - Home Front Propaganda
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 10/23/2014
The first weeks of war already took hundreds of thousands of lives and the daily struggle to survive in the trenches has by far nothing to do with the promised glory. Back home, propaganda is already working and grotesquely distorting the public's opinion about the war. While the British civilians feared a German invasion, some of the leading German scientists and intellectuals published the "Manifesto Of The 93" in which they rallied for solidarity with the Germans.
#17 - Learning From Napoleon – Russia, The Underestimated Enemy
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 10/16/2014
After defeating the Russian Army in the early weeks of the war, the German and Austrian generals hope to push the Russians back with combined forces. But, like Napoleon 100 years ago, they underestimate their enemy and his tactics and so the tides are turning at the Eastern Front. In the West, the last frontline gaps are closed and the British army is entering a small town called Ypres, which will eventually be the symbol for the carnage in Flanders for the next four years.
#18 - All Or Nothing - Winter Offensive In The Carpathians
Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 1/29/2015
Konrad von Hötzendorf has to prevent the Russian army from entering the Hungarian plains. So, he starts a huge offensive in the Carpathian Mountains - in mid winter. He also wants to demonstrate his power to Italy and Romania who are considering entering the war for the Entente. Meanwhile, in the Northern Sea the first Battle of Dogger Bank takes place which leads to the sinking of the German ship SMS Blücher.
#19 - The Defensive War on the Western Front
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 11/13/2014
The German army dug in at the Western Front and waited for the next enemy attack at the Eastern Front. Even though the Germans outnumbered their opponents, they barely stand a chance against machine guns in no-man's-land. But they realize: to defend a position is a lot easier than to attack and conquer. Especially while fighting near Ypres. At the Eastern Front, things are going better for Chief of Staff Ludendorff: he breaks through outstretched Siberian lines. At the same time, Russian soldiers are faced with a new enemy and start the Bergmann Offensive in today's East-Turkey.
#20 - Germany's Reckoning - Bulgarian Armistice
Season 5 - Episode 40 - Aired 10/4/2018
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.
#21 - Bavarian Soviet Republic - 1919 Economy and Reconstruction
Season 6 - Episode 5 - Aired 4/30/2019
Jesse Alexander takes a look at the short lived but historically important Bavarian Soviet Republic that existed for 3 weeks in April 1919. He also takes a look at the post armistice economy and reconstruction in the west.
#22 - The Lenin Boys Go To War - Hungarian Soviet Republic
Season 6 - Episode 4 - Aired 4/14/2019
Like many European countries, Hungary experiences rapid political changes in the aftermath of the 1918 armistices. The Kingdom of Hungary used to rule big parts of South Eastern Europe and many peoples within its former boundaries are now gaining independence and expand their territory. The new Hungarian Republic is faced by external and internal pressures and after a coup becomes the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the 2nd Soviet State in Europe.
#23 - Greater Poland Uprising - Book Picks - Veteran Care
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/2/2019
It's time for another episode of Beyond The Great War where we answer questions from the community. This time we take a look at the Greater Poland Uprising and the situation of Poland in early 1919, Jesse recommends a few of his favourite history books and we also talk about how veterans were treated after the 1918 armistice.
#24 - The Russian Civil War in Early 1919
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/18/2019
The biggest conflict, or rather series of conflicts, that had their roots in the First World War are today known as the Russian Civil War. After the October Revolution the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky fought all across the former Russian Empire to consolidate their power.
#25 - New Wars and Revolutions - Demobilisation
Season 6 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/13/2019
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.