To Arms
The First World War shaped the twentieth century. It sparked the Russian Revolution. It launched America as a world power. The fault-lines from its failed peace settlement led the world to a second terrible war barely twenty years later, then to the Cold War. But the ideas the men of 1914 fought for, still shape our world today - nationalism and democracy, the rule of international law and the rights of nations. We still live with its unresolved, bitter consequences: in the Middle East, the Balkans and Ireland.It was in the Balkans that it all began, nearly a hundred years ago. "To Arms" explores the tensions between the decaying Austro-Hungarian Empire and its aggressive neighbor, Serbia. The film shows how Serbian army officers gave Gavrilo Princip the weapons and training he needed to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It explains how a local storm in the Balkans grew to engulf Europe and the world - and how Britain joined in, more to protect her great empire than for the defense of small nations. The merciless pattern of the war was set within the very first month, by Austro-Hungarian atrocities against Serbian civilians.
