THE GREAT WAR 25 : the Iron Thrones are Falling (British officer) [Main Title]
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- Title: THE GREAT WAR 25 : the Iron Thrones are Falling (British officer) [Main Title]
- Film Number: IWM 1065-25
- Other titles: THE IRON THRONES ARE FALLING (British officer) [Alternative Title]
- Summary: The war against the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria, 1914-1918.
- Description: In 1914 Austria-Hungary had begun the war with an attack on Serbia and hence brought Russia into the war. Despite initial disasters the Austro-Hungarians had with German help pushed Russia out of the Carpathians in 1915, and over-run Serbia. But in 1915 also Italy came into the war, confronting the Empire across the Alps. General Cadorna, the Italian commander, hoped to break through on the Adriatic coast and reach Trieste, but was repeatedly unsuccessful. By 1916 Austria-Hungary had been so weakened by the war that the Brusilov Offensive in Gallicia was only stopped with German help. At the end of the year the Emperor Franz-Joseph died and his successor, Karl, tried unsuccessfully to negotiate a separate peace with the French. Doubting that Austria-Hungary could continue the war unsupported, Ludendorff sent German troops to intermingle with and support his ally. On 24th October 1917 a mixed force of Germans and Austro-Hungarians attacked the Italians and in one day drove them back fourteen miles to Caparetto, taking 30,000 prisoners. The Italians only halted on the Piave River, fifteen miles from Venice, having lost 360,000 prisoners and deserters as well as 40,000 casualties. Five British and six French divisions were sent to Italy, and Cadorna replaced. Caparetto was an important propaganda victory for Austria-Hungary, but at home there was disunity among the races of the Empire and the harvest had failed. In May 1918 the Germans demanded another Austro-Hungarian attack in support of their own Western Front offensive. On 15th June the Austro-Hungarians attacked at Monte Grappa but failed to break through and were held to stalemate. Bulgaria had entered the war in 1915 to attack Serbia. As a result of this the Allies, at the request of the Greek prime minister, had landed a force at Salonika in support of Serbia. But on the day it landed King Constantine declared his country neutral, and the Allies were unable to move. In early summer 1916 the force, made up of French, British, Italian, Russian and Serbian troops, advanced to the Bulgarian frontier, but could not penetrate the mountains, while the troops suffered heavily from the climate. The Bulgarians, remaining on the defensive with German help, had pinned 300,000 Allied troops on the Salonika Front. In 1916 Rumania declared war on the Central Powers, but the Rumanian Army was badly equipped and led, and the country was rapidly overrun by the Germans and Bulgarians, and in 1917 surrendered. The Allies now staged a coup d'état in Greece forcing Constantine to abdicate and Greece to declare war on the Central Powers. German defeats on the Western Front in 1918 forced the withdrawal of German troops from Bulgaria, while the Bulgarian Army was starting to desert. On 15th September 1918 the Allies attacked the Bulgarians and within a week the Serbs had broken through to their own country. On 29th September Bulgaria surrendered. In Austria-Hungary racial discontent had risen to a revolutionary level. Karl's proclamation, on 16th October, of a federal constitution, came too late: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Hungary all declared independence. "The shot at Sarajevo had at last achieved its true purpose". On 24th October the Italians attacked and broke through across the Piave. "The Imperial Eagle was on the point of death."
- Alternative Title: THE IRON THRONES ARE FALLING (British officer) [Alternative Title]
- Colour: B&W
- Digitised:
- Object_Number: IWM 1065-25
- Sound: Sound
- Access Conditions: NON-IWM: PROJECTION PRINT ONLY - NOT FOR PRODUCTION USE
- Featured Period: 1914-1918
- Production Date: 1964
- Production Country: GB
- Production Details: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Production sponsor) Imperial War Museum (Production sponsor) Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Production sponsor) BBC (Production company) Essex, Tony (Production individual) Watkins, Gordon (Production individual) Terraine, John Alfred1921-01-152003-12-27 (Production individual) Rollins, Ed (Production individual) Manefield, Tom (Production individual) Watkins, Gordon (Production individual) Williams, John (Production individual) Jarvis, Anne (Production individual) Hipple, Rex (Production individual) Kay Film Laboratories (Production individual) Bigman, Richard (Production individual) Caravel Films (Production individual) McWatt, John (Production individual) Garland, Nicholas1935 (Production individual) Saunders, Robert (Production individual) Read, Bill (Production individual) Keene, Brian (Production individual) Callaway, Ian (Production individual) Bosworth, Pam (Production individual) Carr, Norman (Production individual) Heelas, Peter (Production individual) Toovey, Barry (Production individual) Cave, Julia (Production individual) Broadway, Anne (Production individual) Bryen, Doris (Production individual) Kersey, Jill (Production individual) Davidson, Eric (Production individual) Vigne, Jean (Production individual) Mendelsohn, Robyn (Production individual) Maloney, William (Production individual) Macloughlin, Marya (Production individual) Maros, Basil (Production individual) Virgo, Myrtle (Production individual) Descendre, Anne (Production individual) Edwards, Jeffrey (Production individual) Parry, Audrey (Production individual) Shukman, Harold (Production individual) Kuehl, Jerome (Production individual) Barrie, Alexander (Production individual) Hastings, Max Hugh Macdonald1945-12-28Researcher, BBC TV Great War series, 1963–64; Reporter, Evening Standard, 1965–67; Fellow, US World Press Inst., 1967–68; Roving Correspondent, Evening Standard, 1968–70; Reporter, BBC TV Current Affairs, 1970–73; Editor, Evening Standard Londoner’s Diary, 1976–77; Columnist, Daily Express, 1981–83; contributor, Sunday Times, 1985–86; Editor, The Daily Telegraph, 1986–95; Dir, 1989–95, Editor-in-Chief, 1990–95, The Daily Telegraph plc; Editor, The Evening Standard, 1996–2002; contributor, Daily Mail, 2002–; Contrib. Ed., Financial Times, 2009–13. As War Correspondent, covered Middle East, Indochina, Angola, India-Pakistan, Cyprus, Rhodesia and S Atlantic. Mem., Press Complaints Commn, 1991–92. Churchill Fellow, Westminster Coll., Fulton, Mo, 2011. TV documentaries: Ping-Pong in Peking, 1971; The War about Peace, 1983; Alarums and Exercursions, 1984; Cold Comfort Farm, 1985; The War in Korea (series), 1988; We Are All Green Now, 1990; Spies, in series Cold War, CNN, 1998; Hitler’s Germany, 2000; The Falklands: reluctant heroes, 2002; Winston’s War, 2003; The Falklands Legacy, 2012; The Necessary War, 2014. A Vice Pres., Game Conservancy, 1992–; President: CPRE, 2002–07; Sir Walter Scott Soc. of Edinburgh, 2012–13. Trustee: Nat. Portrait Gall., 1995–2004; Game Conservancy, 2014–. Liddell-Hart Lecture, KCL, 1994; Mountbatten Lecture, Edinburgh Univ., 2004; Leonard Stein Lectures, Oxford Univ., 2009. FRHistS 1988; FRSL 1996. Hon FKC, 2004. Hon. DLitt: Leicester, 1992; Nottingham, 2005. Journalist of the Year, British Press Awards, 1982 (cited 1973 and 1980); What The Papers Say, Granada TV: Reporter of the Year, 1982; Editor of the Year, 1988; Duke of Westminster Medal for military literature, RUSI, 2008; Literary Award for Lifetime Achievement, Chicago Pritzker Library, 2012; Friuladria Prize, Gorizia Internat. Hist. Fest., 2014 (Production individual) Liddell Hart, Basil Henry1895-10-311970-01-29 (Production individual) Terraine, John Alfred1921-01-152003-12-27 (Production individual) Barnett, Correlli Douglas (Production individual) Pitt, Barrie (Production individual) Horne, Alistair1925Trustee of the Imperial War Museum (Production individual) Bonham-Carter, Victor (Production individual) Williams, John (Production individual) Josephs, Wilfred (Production individual) BBC Northern Orchestra (Production individual) Hurst, George (Production individual) Redgrave, Michael (Sir) (Production cast) Richardson, Ralph (Sir) (Production cast) Williams, Emlyn (Production cast) Goring, Marius (Production cast) Luckman, Cyril (Production cast) Shaw, Sebastian (Production cast)
- Personalities, Units and Organisations:
- Keywords: 01/3(4-11) (event) First World War, Austro-Hungarian Home Front & 1914 = 1918 (event) First World War, Salonika Front & 1915=1918 (event) 01/3(497) (event) 01/3(45) (event) 01/3(498) (event) 31/3(497.2) (event)
- Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: English Title language: English Subtitle language: None
- Technical Details: Format: 16mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 1503 ft; Running time: 45 mins
- HD Media:
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