Flashback: The First World War

'Governments in World War I

'feared one thing almost as much as military defeat -

'revolution.'

'By 1917, with victory on the battlefield still elusive,

'and morale weakening,

'both sides hoped to bring the enemy down from within.'

'Strikes and unrest were sparks to be fanned into revolution -

'transforming the war.'

'Film from 1917 of one of Germany's wildest dreams coming true -

'Russian troops stop fighting on the Eastern Front.'

"It was funny to see our Ivans greeting the Germans."

"The Germans gave our lads wine and cigars,

"and they gave the Germans bread."

"It turned out that one of the Germans had a camera."

"He told us to stand in a line and took a picture."

CAMERA SNAPS

"Later, the photographer asked our lads to come and collect the photos."

'Governments worried how to contain war weariness,

'prevent discontent growing mutinous, stop mutiny becoming revolution.'

'And governments realised that turning this problem on its head

'offered a startling opportunity.

'What if unrest could be harnessed?

'Reined in hard in your own country but spurred on in the enemy's?'

'In Cairo and Dublin, Petrograd and Zurich,

'the Allies and Germans set agents working,

'to exploit unrest and foment revolution.'

'The glittering prize was to turn a whole people against its masters -

'taking it out of the war completely.

'In Russia, the Germans pulled it off,

'backing the Bolsheviks to hijack a spontaneous revolution.'

'Russia in 1917 was war-weary.'

'Huge losses, poor leadership and corruption,

'plus the nightmare logistics of a 900-mile front

'left her army running on empty.'

"I don't know whether Russia's dream of destroying Germany

"will ever come true."

"Probably not. We have nothing to fight with -

"no rifles, no mortars, no explosives,

"no boots, no overcoats. Nothing."

'But incredibly, Russia's army held the line.

'It was the home front that cracked first.'

'Petrograd, now St Petersburg,

'Russia's capital and industrial powerhouse,

'seethed with discontent.'

'Its factories were swollen with workers,

'with little to eat and cramped housing.'

'A demonstration on the 8th of March 1917 began peacefully.'

"It was a glorious sunny, frosty day

"and all the people were in an excellent mood.

"They were singing the Marseillaise and asking for bread."

'But the Tsar ordered the protests crushed.'

'On Znamenskoye Square, in the heart of Petrograd, the killing began.'

'Sergeant Sergei Kirpichnikov was there.'

"The ensign ordered the bugler to play three signals."

"Then he commanded 'Rifles, ready, aim, fire!'"

GUNSHOTS

"Everybody scattered."

"One man was down. A woman fell."

'Over 50 civilians were shot dead.

'The massacre forced Petrograd's soldiers to choose.

'Whom to defend - the people or the Tsar?'

'Back in barracks,

'Sergei Kirpichnikov spoke to his comrades.'

'It would be better to die with honour

'than obey further orders to shoot into the crowds.'

'Our fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers and brides

'are begging for bread. Are we going to kill them?'

'They shot their duty officer dead and poured onto the streets,

'joining other mutineers and workers.'

'British journalist Arthur Ransome cabled his office in London.'

'About 200 persons killed, stop. Local police chief lying dead, stop.

'Revolution definitely begun.'

'The troops gathered support at barracks and factories.'

'They seized the city centre,

'set up barricades, occupied railway stations and the telephone exchange.'

'Britain's military attache, Sir Alfred Knox,

'was in the Artillery Administration when the building came under attack.'

"Outside came a great disorderly mass of soldiery.

"All were armed and many had red flags on their bayonets.

CRASH GLASS SHATTERING

"Soon we heard the windows and door on the ground floor being broken in

"and the sound of shots.

"Most officers were leaving the Department by a back door."

'In a matter of days, the Tsar's regime was spinning into free fall.'

"The revolution has begun."

"What happiness!"

"The cursed autocracy is destroyed."

"The soldiers have gone onto the streets, the officers are hiding."

"It's all so unexpected and everything's going at a gallop."

"We've all gone mad with joy."

'Soldiers ordered into the city to restore control

'simply joined the mutiny.'

'The Tsar was forced to abdicate

'and a provisional government formed at the Tauride Palace.'

'Russia's new rulers had their hands full running a war

'while riding a revolution.'

'Germany looked to exploit the turmoil in Russia.

'And Russia's allies, Britain and France, crossed their fingers.

'They too had experienced worker discontent.'

'March 1916,

'Londoners gather at Tower Hill to protest against conscription.'

'There was also opposition in Scotland,

'inspired by the fiery speeches of trade union leader Willie Gallacher.'

'Thousands of our fellows have sacrificed their lives

'fighting against the Prussianism they propose to foist upon us here.

'Workers of the Clyde, you must prepare for action.

'When this loathsome enemy of freedom raises its head,

'you must strike to kill.'

'Workers march down Whitehall for better wages and lower prices.

'Around 17 million working days were lost to strikes in Britain between 1915 and 1918.'

'There were strikes by miners in South Wales,

'engineers in Coventry, Sheffield and Manchester

'and shipbuilders on Teesside, Tyneside and the Clyde.'

'The army kept 200,000 troops in Britain

'to guard against invasion and civilian uprising.'

'But David Lloyd George, as Minister of Munitions and then Prime Minister,

'preferred to give in to strikers, rather than crush them.'

'Father of the state pension and National Insurance schemes,

'Lloyd George commanded working class support.'

'He used concession, not confrontation

'to maintain industrial output.'

'Negotiators with the unions were given strict instructions.'

'If a strike appears to be inevitable,

'all the concessions asked for should be granted.'

'But while Britain kept a lid on unrest, France could not.'

'Throughout the First World War,

'Paris lived under the shadow of German invasion.'

'But after three winters of fighting,

'France's stability was being undermined

'by a wave of stoppages and protests.'

'Many of the dissenters were women

'who couldn't be intimidated by the threat of military service.'

"Everybody is complaining in Paris."

"People are on strike over the price rises and the lack of fuel.

"Can't you just hear the rising strains of revolution?"

"These troubles are justified.

"While the people work themselves to death to scrape a living,

"the bosses and big industrialists grow fat in record time,

"and all we can do is grin and bear it."

'These ideas did reach the front,

'but what pushed the French army towards mutiny in 1917

'was a history of poorly planned and ill-conducted battles.

'The final straw was a doomed attack

'devised by its own Commander-in-chief,

'General Robert Georges Nivelle.'

'The offensive alone can give victory.'

'The defensive gives only defeat and shame.'

'On the 16th April 1917, Nivelle ordered over a million Frenchmen

'to attack a heavily defended German-held ridge

'known as the Chemin des Dames.'

'After storming this ridge,

'Nivelle expected his armies to smash through

'seven miles of German defences.'

GUNFIRE

'We were faced by a forest of wire. Machine guns appeared everywhere.

'There were traps of every description.

'The ground was impassable.

'40,000 Frenchmen were killed in the first days,

'but Nivelle ordered the assault to continue.'

GUNFIRE

'Casualties reached 150,000 by the 5th of May.

'Then the men snapped.'

"I am one of the most persistent in spreading propaganda.

"I know that I am risking my hide, but by this means I might save it.

"My darling, say with me 'Down with the war that separates us,

and long live the revolution that in bringing peace will reunite us.'

"I love you and I don't want to die."

'The village of Coeuvres, 20 miles south of the Chemin des Dames.'

'The mayor watched what happened

'when the 370th infantry regiment was ordered to the front.'

'The soldiers spilled out into the whole village screaming with rage,

'firing rifles and singing the Internationale.'

'Toward morning, they formed columns and made their way to the woods.'

'By June 1917, half the French army was affected.

'Men refused to return to the trenches.'

"We seemed absolutely powerless.

"From every section of the front,

news arrived of regiments refusing to man the trenches.

"The slightest German attack would have been enough

"to tumble our house of cards and bring the enemy to Paris."

'But the Germans had no inkling of the French mutiny.'

'It was a massive intelligence failure.'

'Four days after their mutiny,

'the troops from Coeuvres gave themselves up at a nearby village.'

"They emerged from the wood in perfect order, in columns of four -

"all flawlessly groomed and polished"

'The French soldiers' actions were more like a strike, than a mutiny.

'They won important concessions -

'better leave arrangements, more rest, improved medical conditions.'

"All we wanted was to call the government's attention to us,

"make it see that we are men and not beasts for the slaughterhouse."

CHEERING

'Nivelle was sacked.

'His replacement, General Philippe Petain reversed French strategy,

'making defence the order of the day.'

'The men were given patriotic instruction

'and reminded why they were fighting.

'But Petain also knew that discipline had to be restored.

'The tactic was to execute a few but force thousands to watch.'

'Photographs taken secretly at a French military execution.