Year 9: World Wars; Nazi Germany

Timewatch: War Revolution. Trench warfare and the technology of World War I. 

"In January 1940, the British government introduced food rationing. The scheme was designed to ensure fair shares for all at a time of national shortage. The Ministry of Food was responsible for overseeing rationing. Every man, woman and child was given a ration book with coupons. These were required before rationed goods could be purchased.

Basic foodstuffs such as sugar, meat, fats, bacon and cheese were directly rationed by an allowance of coupons. Housewives had to register with particular retailers. A number of other items, such as tinned goods, dried fruit, cereals and biscuits, were rationed using a points system. The number of points allocated changed according to availability and consumer demand. Priority allowances of milk and eggs were given to those most in need, including children and expectant mothers.

The British government promoted vegetable patches as a way of reducing reliance on food imports while also improving the nation’s overall health. Since ‘war demands better physique and health than peace’, officials were convinced of the need to effect fundamental changes in the nation’s eating habits."

"Chaos and Consent – If the Germans are famous for one quality it is efficiency. Yet the Nazi administration of Germany during the 1930’s was characterized by radical chaos."

'An excerpt from the excellent BBC documentary, The Battle of the Somme - The True Story.'

'In April 1945, the BBC’s Richard Dimbleby was the first reporter to enter the liberated Belsen concentration camp.'

Mat McLachlan explores key sites from one of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, the Battle of the Somme.

"David Dushman, the last surviving soldier who took part in the liberation of the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz, has died at 98."

'Germany marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Sophie Scholl, who was killed defying the Nazis.'

The Night of the Long Knives

'The acclaimed documentary is an extraordinary look at the soldiers and events of the Great War, using film footage captured at the time, now presented as the world has never seen. By utilizing state-of-the-art restoration, colorization and 3D technologies, and pulling from 600 hours of BBC archival interviews, Jackson puts forth an intensely gripping, immersive and authentic experience through the eyes and voices of the British soldiers who lived it.'

'When Britain fought in the First World War, it was a time of major changes in artistic movements, and the period is particularly rich with a variety of art styles. The development of photography in the late 19th Century had pushed painting particularly away from realism, into a broad group called expressionism. The movement sought to present the world subjectively, radically distorting it for emotional effect – famous artists such as Edvard Munch, Paul Klee and Wassilly Kandinsky were all expressionists.'

'Dan Snow explores the birth and development of chemical warfare during the First World War.'

'A First World War legacy project bringing together data sources such as IWM's Lives of the First World War and Commonwealth War Graves records.'

'The Battle of Stalingrad, fought between August 1942 and February 1943 between Germany and the Soviet Union, was monumental in many ways: the importance of the battle for both sides, its enormous cost in life and limb, the viciousness of the fighting, the brutal conditions in which it was fought, its many heroic and tragic stories, and what the victory meant to the Soviets and their allies the United States and Great Britain.'

'This video outlines day-to-day life of Jews within the ghettos during the Holocaust, featuring archival video and photographs from the World War 2 period. Topics covered include formation of ghettos, comparison between ghetto characteristics, hunger, overcrowding, disease, self-help organization, labor, smuggling and more.'

'The scars of the Blitz are everywhere in London, if you know where to look. Using maps that plotted the bomb damage across the capital during the Second World War, military historian James Rogers sets out to find evidence of the Blitz you can still see today.

The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, in 1940 and 1941, during World War Two. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term Blitzkrieg, the German word meaning 'lightning war'.

James heads to High Holborn, where entire neighbourhoods were destroyed by German bombing early in the war and by V2 rockets as it neared its end. Did you know the nation's songbird Vera Lynn had a close call when the venue she was meant to perform at, the Holborn Empire, was completely obliterated? He also investigates signs of damage in South Kensington, where the walls of the Victoria and Albert Museum are still pock-marked by shrapnel and a red telephone box retains its scars from a German incendiary bom'b.

James then heads to Bank tube station, where one of the most tragic incidents of the Blitz occurred as thousands sheltered underground.

Clips from They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)

'Historian David Olusoga explores how racial attitudes in World War One France were broken through forging new friendships when artist Lucie Cousturier taught African soldiers during their stay in the South of France.'

'At the end of May 1940, at the government's request, thousands of boats set sail to rescue almost a quarter of a million Allied troops who had retreated from Hitler's forces onto the shores of Dunkirk. It was a time when Britain faced the possibility of defeat. This collection includes personal accounts from some of those who took part in the mass evacuation, codenamed Operation Dynamo, that exemplify the 'Dunkirk spirit'.'

BBC History File film on Nazi views on race and the persecution of minorities.

'The end of the war in 1918 brought celebration to Britain’s streets and the construction of war memorials across the country.

Jeremy Paxman reflects on Remembrance Day and the phrase 'Lest we forget' and the influence that this total war had on the creation of modern Britain.'

'The Christmas Truce has become one of the most famous and mythologised events of the First World War. But what was the real story behind the truce? Why did it happen and did British and German soldiers really play football in no-man's land?'

'Dan Snow visits Gallipoli to mark 100 years since the start of the Gallipoli Campaign on April 25 1915.'