The Great War
Synopsis
1918 - The Year of Breakthroughs Episodes
EP 1
1918 starts with machinations in the British High Command since Prime Minister Lloyd George is holding back troops and generally would like…
EP 2
In the first full week of 1918, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson outlines his points for peace. In the Caucasus, the increasing instability le…
EP 3
This week in Russia, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin was almost killed by sharpshooters in Petrograd and the Constituent Assembly meets. Te…
EP 4
This week in the Great War, two more wars start - the Finnish Civil War and the Ukrainian War of Independence. Meanwhile, David Lloyd Georg…
EP 5
Public opinion is turning against the war for the Central Powers but not only that, mutinies are also happening more frequently. Winning th…
EP 6
The situation for Austria-Hungary is dire, even after the success in Italy and the peace negotiations at Brest-Litovsk. Strikes and mutinie…
EP 7
The negotiations between the Bolsheviks, the German High Command and Austria-Hungary reach a new low this week 100 years ago. Leon Trotsky …
EP 8
Germany has had enough with the stalling tactics by the Bolsheviks and is unleashing its military might on the Eastern Front again to show …
EP 9
German victory in the East, chaos in the British High Command, stable fronts in the Balkans and Italy, the US still not in full strength; G…
EP 10
Germany and the Russian Bolshevik Government sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending hostilities on the Eastern Front. Previously Germany h…
EP 11
While Germany is occupying a territory from the North Sea to the Black Sea and planning it's huge spring offensive, the Allies are still tr…
EP 12
It was all or nothing for the German Army under General Erich Ludendorff now: They unleashed the biggest offensive of the entire war on the…
EP 13
The German Operation Michael continues this week and after some uncertainty, the Germans put their eyes on Amiens. The city is a vital comm…
EP 14
Two weeks after the initial success of the German Spring Offensive, Operation Michael looses pace and direction. The German supply situatio…
EP 15
A year after the US entry into the war, the German Spring Offensive 1918 continues with operations Archangel and Georgette. The Portuguese …
EP 16
While the Germans are still advancing in Flanders (Operation Georgette), the other fronts are not always quiet. In Palestine, the British f…
EP 17
At Villers-Bretonneux, German and British tanks clash marking the first tank-on-tank battle in history. In the same week, the most successf…
EP 18
Even though the German spring offensive is not able to gain any ground in Flanders, the allied casualties are mounting. This increases the …
EP 19
Even though the first raid on Ostende and the Raid on Zeebrugge were not entirely succesfull, the Royal Navy is still determined to block a…
EP 20
The summer of 1918 saw many ethnic and political groups within the warring empires to openly rebel. The Austro-Hungarian Army saw open muti…
EP 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 camp…
EP 22
The German spring offensive has lost some traction over the past few weeks but the Allies are still under pressure. With Operations Blücher…
EP 23
The German Army is still threatening Paris and the situation for the Allies looks dire. Reluctantly, General Pershing agrees to put some of…
EP 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…
EP 25
Even though Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal Svetozar Boroević von Bojna warns against, the Austro-Hungarian Army goes on the offensive in It…
EP 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…
EP 27
The Battle of Hamel is considered as the first modern battle. Masterminded by Australian general John Monash, it included meticulous planni…
EP 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…
EP 29
The German Army launches an diversionary attack from the Rheims-Soisson salient and increases the pressure on Paris. But the Allies knew ab…
EP 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 dri…
EP 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 …
EP 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…
EP 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 m…
EP 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 r…
EP 35
As the German Army withdraws along the Western Front, the Entente prepares for ever more offensives. This includes the newly founded Americ…
EP 36
After an almost successful attempt on Lenin's live, the Tscheka under Felix Dzerzhinsky responds with a terror campaign to consolidate Sovi…
EP 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 at…
EP 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 du…
EP 39
This week, the biggest American military operation in history kicks off with 1.2 million American soldiers trying to take the Krimhilde Ste…
EP 40
While Bulgaria signs the Armistice of Salonika and effectively exits the war as the first of the Central Powers, the Hindenburg Line is bro…
EP 41
The Hindenburg Line or Siegfriedstellung is the backbone of the German defenses on the Western Front and this week 100 years ago, the Allie…
EP 42
As the Germans are retreating further and further during the Battle of the Selle, Erich Ludendorff – the German Quartermaster General, one …
EP 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…
EP 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 t…
EP 45
Unrest within the German Empire is spreading, resentment against the war, the hunger and the elites is turning into revolutionary action an…
EP 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 …
