Margaret MacMillan: The Road to 1914

Nov 12, 2014 | International historian Margaret MacMillan returns to The Agenda to discuss the events that led to the First World War, as chronicled in her book "The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914." MacMillan tells Steve Paikin why Europe's major powers made decisions that resulted in The Great War.

2013 Hagey Lecture: Margaret MacMillan - Choice or Accident: The Outbreak of World War One

Oct 17, 2013 | Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 8:00 pm in the Humanities Theatre, Hagey Hall. Professor Margaret MacMillan is regarded as a leading historian of the British Empire at the turn of the 20th century. She is an officer of the Order of Canada, a member of the Royal Society of Literature, and a professor of history at Oxford University. In addition to numerous articles on Canadian and world affairs, Professor MacMillan has written several award-winning books, including The Uses and Abuses of History and Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World.

Paris 1919

Apr 3, 2019 | This feature-length film, based on Margaret MacMillan's acclaimed book of the same name, takes us inside the most ambitious peace talks in history. Revisiting the event with a vivid sense of narrative, the film evokes a pivotal moment when peace seemed possible, and reflects on the hard-learned lessons of history. | Directed by Paul Cowan - 2008 | 94 min

NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA (NFB) »

Related documentary here.

The Treaty of Versailles: The Peacemakers

Mar 1, 2016 | This BBC documentary entitled "The Peacemakers" is an in-depth study of the Versailles Treaty of 1919. It provides some fine insight into the process, the politics, the problems and the impact of that infamous settlement. This is ideal for students of this period. Due to a music copyright claim, some sections of the film have been muted.

Inside Story - How Close Is the World to Another Global Conflict? | Inside Story

It was the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th month -- and became a pivotal moment in world history. It marked the armistice agreement that officially ended the First World War in 1918.

This weekend, 100 Years later, leaders from more than 50 countries are gathering in France for commemorative events; but the solemn occasion is being overshadowed by deep divisions between trans-Atlantic allies.

This week, the French President called for a 'European army' to defend itself from potential threats from nations such as Russia, China and, remarkably, the United States. Emmanuel Macron's global philosophy is at odds with U.S. President Donald Trump's nationalist, America First agenda.

A century after what is also called the Great War, there's another conflict looming - one of world visions. How stark are the divisions between the ideologies of Trump and Macron?

Presenter: Richelle Carey | Guests: Theresa Fallon, Director of Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies (CREAS); David Lees, Lecturer in French Studies at Warwick University and Co-editor of “Contemporary France”; Thorsten Benner, Director of the Global Public Policy Institute

The Road to War: The End of an Empire | Full Documentary

A co-production by ORF and metafilm in association with BMBF, funded by Austrian Television Fund, Vienna Film Fund and Kultur Niederösterreich.

The Road to War" uses elaborate re-enactments, fascinating Computer Generated Imagery and previously unseen archive footage to examine how the assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 came about and how Austria-Hungary used the death of the heir to the throne, Franz Ferdinand, to start a war against Serbia. The film investigates how this regional conflict caused the Central Powers and the Triple Entente to enter the First World War - at the time, the biggest war in history with 17 million soldiers and civilians killed and more than 20 million injured.

‪Was WWI the Error of Modern History? | Interview with Niall Ferguson

Niall Ferguson, author of "The Pity of War", argues that Britain should have stayed aside from the continental war in 1914.

Peter Hitchens – WWI & Christianity

Germans Rediscover First World War Heroine in New TV Drama

Clara Immerwahr was the first German woman to be awarded
a doctorate in chemistry

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: New film has reawakened interest in Germany in a largely forgotten feminist heroine from the war

A new TV drama is leading Germans to rediscover a long-forgotten heroine of the women’s rights movement – and tragic victim of World War One.

Clara Immerwahr was the first German woman to be awarded a doctorate in chemistry, and with her husband, Fritz Haber, a pioneer of chemical fertilisers. Together, they devised the process by which ammonia is produced to this day.

But with the coming of the First World War, Haber turned his talents to darker uses, and became the father of chemical weapons, supervising the use of chlorine gas in Flanders, the first deployment of a weapon of mass destruction in history.

Horrified at what her husband had done, Immerwahr committed suicide, shooting herself in the chest with his military pistol. Her death was hushed up, and for decades she has been forgotten. » | Justin Huggle, Berlin | Thursday, May 29, 2014

Angela Merkel Counters Critics of Germany Indifference to WW1 Commemorations

Chancellor inaugurates Berlin exhibit amid criticism that Germany has invested little in commemorating the centenary of the conflict

Read the Telegraph article here | Tony Paterson, Berlin | Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Grandma's Tattoos
A family story that reveals the fate of the Armenian women driven out of Ottoman Turkey during the First World War.

Remembrance Sunday: Britain Falls Silent to Honour War Dead

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The Queen led tributes to members of Britain's Armed Forces as thousands fell silent at Remembrance Sunday services to honour those who have lost their lives fighting for their country.

The Queen laid the first wreath at the Cenotaph at Whitehall, central London, to commemorate members of the Armed Forces who have died in all conflicts since the First World War.

She was joined by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke of York, the Countess of Wessex and other senior royals.

At 11am there was a two-minute silence as thousands paid their respects to those killed in conflicts past and present.

The Queen stood motionless with her head bowed, at the head of her family who stood in a line behind her.

The Duchess of Cambridge, dressed in black and wearing two red poppies and a bowler style hat, watched the sombre events from a balcony at the Foreign and Commonwealth building with other royal women.

This is the first time she has attended a Remembrance Sunday service as a member of the monarchy.

Also paying their respects were David Cameron, the Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, Labour leader Ed Miliband, High Commissioners from Commonwealth countries and defence chiefs.

The ceremony was attended by thousands of ex-servicemen and women who staged a veterans' march past the Cenotaph. » | Sarah Rainey | Sunday, November 13, 2011

In Memory of the Fallen: Remembrance Sunday 2011

Remembering those who perished for our liberty; in gratitude for their sacrifice.

Britain Falls Silent to Remember War Dead
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Millions of Britons have held a two-minute silence to remember the nation's war dead.


The tribute started at 11am, the time the guns on the Western Front fell silent at the end of the First World War in 1918.

Ceremonies nationwide commemorated fallen servicemen and women from both World Wars and later conflicts, including the 385 British personnel who have died since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001.

The silence was particularly poignant for those at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan, who are mourning the loss of the latest soldier to die on active service. » | Friday, November 11, 2011 (11. 11.11.11)

Last WW1 Veteran Passes On
Claude 'Chuckles' Choules, the last known male survivor from World War One - out of more than 70 million military personnel - passed away this Thursday

Remembrance Day Canada - In Flanders Fields

Armistice Day: The Nation Falls Silent for 'the Glorious Dead'
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Millions fell silent across Britain today to mark the anniversary of the day peace returned to Europe at the end of the First World War.


The agreement between Germany and the Allies took effect at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918 after four years of fighting.

As the nation stopped to remember those who died in battle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, defence ministers, representatives of military associations, veterans and school children attended a service at the Cenotaph in central London to commemorate Armistice Day.

Brother Nigel Cave, the Western Front Association's padre, led the ceremony, and wreaths were laid at the monument in Whitehall.

A bugler from the Scots Guards heralded the start of the silence at exactly 11am by playing the Last Post and mark the completion of the two minutes with the Reveille. >>> | Thursday, November 11, 2010

Sarkozy Apologises for Vandalism in British War Cemetery
THE TELEGRAPH: A dozen British First World War graves have been vandalised with swastikas and SS insignia in northern France, in an act described as an "insult to the memory" of the fallen soldiers.

Gravestones desecrated with swastikas, seen at the British World War I cemetery in Loos-en-Gohelle, northern France. Photograph: The Telegraph
Vandals covered 12 graves and a monument in pink swastikas, SS insignia and other graffiti in the cemetery of Loos-en-Gohelle, which holds the remains of British and Canadian soldiers fallen in an October 1915 battle there.

President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday said he condemned "with the greatest firmness this odious act", which took place before dawn, and offered "sympathy and solidarity" to soldier's families and the "entire British nation" on behalf of France.

In a letter to the Queen, Mr Sarkozy said that the act was all the more "revolting" as it took place days before he travels to London to celebrate Charles de Gaulle's famous June 18, 1940 appeal from the BBC, in which he called on the French to resist Nazism. >>> Henry Samuel in Paris | Friday, June 11, 2010

Turkey Threatens to Expel 100,000 Armenians Over 'Genocide' Row
THE TELEGRAPH: Turkey has threatened to expel 100,000 Armenians from the country in response to the US branding the First World War killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide".

Ottoman soldiers posing in front of Armenians they hung on a public place, image taken in Alep in 1915. Photograph: The Telegraph
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said the position of the immigrants, many of whom have lived there as refugees for a generation, was being reviewed in the wake of the row.

Armenia claims more than 500,000 of its countrymen died in bitter in-fighting as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated at the height of the First World War.

Turkey concedes that tens of thousands died in ethnic fighting but vehemently disputes accusations that massacres were systematically planned.

Tensions with Armenia have recently escalated as a well-organised worldwide campaign has persuaded the American Congress and Swedish parliament to adopt resolutions condemning the incidents as "genocide".

An Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day Bill has also been put before the House of Commons and Mr Erdogan has warned Gordon Brown that relations would suffer if parliament passes it.

Turkish law already makes discussion of genocide an offence punishable by imprisonment.

"There are currently 170,000 Armenians living in our country. Only 70,000 of them are Turkish citizens, but we are tolerating the remaining 100,000," said Mr Erdogan.

"If necessary, I may have to tell these 100,000 to go back to their country because they are not my citizens. I don't have to keep them in my country." >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Related:

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Turkish EU Minister on the Armenian Genocide Controversy: 'We Are Very Sensitive About This Issue' >>> Interview conducted by Bernhard Zand and Daniel Steinvorth | Tuesday, March 16, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Turkey Threatens 'Serious Consequences' After US Vote on Armenian Genocide >>> Robert Tait in Istanbul and Ewen MacAskill in Washington | Friday, March 05, 2010

A Bitter Century: Armenian Survivor

World War I in Colour
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