The Western Front, a 400-plus-mile stretch of land weaving through France and Belgium from the Swiss border to the North Sea, was the decisive front during World War One. Despite the global nature of the conflict, much of the world remembers the scars of the Great War through the lens of these battles. Images of decimated trees, deep set trenches and sliding mud have endured in public consciousness, particularly due to their prevalence in literary and film depictions of the war. The horrors that were endured there are almost unimaginable today. The Western Front simmered incessantly with low-level violence, producing daily causalities that were compounded by ‘wastage’ losses due to disease or the environment. Rats were everywhere, spreading disease and feeding on food scraps or the remains of men. Bodies of dead soldiers that could be retrieved would be buried in or near the trenches – often, they were left where they were. In the run up to the close of the World War One centenary, Dan Snow travels to France and Belgium to visit some of the key battles of this harrowing conflict; from the tunnels of the Vimy Ridge, to the moving memorials at Newfoundland Park and the sweeping expanses of the Ypres salient.
Up Next in Season 1
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Lincoln Castle
Lincoln is one of the most historic settlements in Britain: from being the site of a key legionary fort in Roman times to its towering cathedral being the first landmark British bomber crews would see upon their return from daring raids over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War Two. At Lincoln's...
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Liverpool's Hidden Heritage
Many of Britain's most iconic historical sights stand supreme in the open for all to see: Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, St Paul's Cathedral and the country's abundance of castles for instance. Yet beneath our cities and towns too, stunning structures and buildings of the past have been painstakingl...
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North Devon and Dorset
The ever intrepid Dan Snow heads to the southwest of Britain to uncover the region's historical gems. These include a Benedictine Abbey that was dissolved during Henry VIII's reign, tunnels beneath the city of Exeter and Nothe Fort in Weymouth, built in the late 19th century.
