WW1: THE FIRST MODERN WAR This is the epic story of how The First World War changed the face of battle forever. This War was a war of “firsts“, a transitional war from old style hand-to-hand combat with small guns and fixed bayonets and cavalry charges to high tech weaponry that are still features of present-day armed conflicts. “Firsts“ include aerial bombardment of cities, epic tank battles, fight for control of the skies, development of submarines, chemical and bunker warfare. World War I had horrible consequences - 15 million died and 20 million injured. WWI documentaries have traditionally been limited by the archive which was taken by fixed cameras and not during battles. Now the archive can come alive by layering in drama reenactment and composited animated elements (zeppelins, planes, tanks and U-Boats). Battle scenes with actors, using some live ordinance, will be shot. Armored Beasts Tanks were the first armored fighting machine to be used on the battlefield. These “land ships“, as they were first called, were championed by Head of the British Admiralty Winston Churchill. Adapted from an American tractor with caterpillar tracks, the machine was designed in secrecy to break through the heavily fortified trenches and offer protection for troops that were being mowed down by heavy artillery. Though a massive failure in their first combat in the Battle of the Somme, they broke down and got stuck in the mud--British government propaganda reversed the story and paved the way for thousands of tanks to be built and become a decisive weapon in the war. Clouds of Death The Germans, ignoring international treaties they signed, were first to weaponize a chemical. In this case it was chlorine, a highly toxic ingredient used in the manufacture of chemical dyes of which they had a huge supply. Their action unleashed an escalation of poison gas weapons as both sides developed different chemicals and more effective counter measures. Their use of culminated in a bold British plan that unfolded beneath the battlefield at Messine Ridge. British mining and explosive experts planted 450 tons of high explosive hidden in a network of tunnels under Messine ridge. When ignited, they created the biggest land mine in history, killing 10,000 German soldiers. The explosion rattled windows at 10 Downing St., 140 miles away and registered as an earthquake in Switzerland. Massive Air Attacks While most people think the Blitz originated in WWII, the truth is that the first Blitz happened during WWI. Bombs were delivered from giant airships designed by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin, who got his inspiration when he was a Germany Army observer in the US during the Civil War and rode in a hot air balloon for the first time. These lighter than air superstructures, two times longer than the Statue of Liberty is high, measured their flights in hundreds of miles when pioneering aviators measured their success in hundreds of yards. Underwater Killers The Atlantic became a killing field as German submarines took on the might of the dominant British Navy. The stealth and silent killers were able to sink 5,200 ships by war's end, and nearly brought Britain to its knees. But in their frenzy of attacks, the Germans sink the US passenger liner Lusitania, killing nearly 2,000 on board. American outrage helped President Wilson get Congress to finally agree to enter the war. In the end, the Allied Atlantic blockade forces Germany to surrender, but the submarine was established as an effective military weapon.