Search - Trenches: Battleground WWI on DVD

It whet my appetite.

Mark Kilmer | Pennsylvania | 10/26/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was my first experience with the World War I on DVD, and it was a splendid introduction. It is divided into eight "Episodes," including a discussion in Episode 5 about the role of air power and pilots. Most effective for me were the segments dealing with Neuve Chapelle, the "bleed them white" offensive, Gallipli, and the sheer madness of Passchendaele, which was covered as one Episode, and Verdun, which rated several.

Almost a century later, I felt a sense of pride when Pershing and the Yanks arrived midway through the final episode.

The narrative stresses the Schlieffen plan and blames the generals for the mindless spilling of blood, two theories I've read have been rebutted by Strachan, but this set piqued my interest enough that I have ordered Strachan's The First World War - The Complete Series DVD set and his book, The First World War.

The accompanying video is often repetitive, and I found myself wondering if the locations were the ones being discussed at the time, or if they were merely stock footage. I'll be haunted by a particular scene with a soldier carrying a corpse down a trench on his shoulders. He looks up at the camera as he nears. It a touching scene, but it will be with me for a while probably because they repeated it about a dozen times.

Still, the background music is classical, though it sometimes obscures the narrator's words. And I found myself having to lean close when one of those who fought, interviewed much later, spoke.

I very much enjoyed this set, and I hope it served as a decent preface to Strachan's work, familiarizing me with battles, leaders, treaties, and generals. I recommend it for that purpose."

Not bad, but not great either

Brian D. Roberts | Canada | 06/27/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This was a fairly good overview of the first world war, but I was very dissapointed that it never even mentioned the Canadian victory at Vimy Ridge, one of the key battles of the war and very little mention of Paschendaele, one of the bloodiest battles of the war, but used nearly one entire disc on the American contribution."