1913: The Year Before

The Tides of War


Listen Later

The one hundredth anniversary of the start of the First World war looms on the horizon. 1914 is a date forged into the British consciousness, just as it's carved into monuments the length and breadth of the UK and many places beyond. With that awareness comes an understanding that it was the war to end all wars, shocking the culture, politics, and societies of Europe, but particularly Britain, out of their comfortable progress and reshaping everything.

But in this series Michael Portillo challenges that notion. Looking at a series of themes, the suffrage movement, the Irish question, the decline of the liberal party and the arts, he argues that to a large extent Britain was already in a state of flux by 1913 and many of the developments we think of as emanating from or being catalysed by the war, were actually in full flow.

In the fourth programme Michael tackles the abiding image of Britain's lack of preparedness for the Great War - the cavalry being cut to pieces by the brute modernity of German machine-gun fire. But were the British really so out of step? Look at the debates about naval power, the popular culture and its plethora of 'invasion and 'Germany Spy' stories, and it seems that Britain was more than ready for conflict with Germany. Quite how that conflict would be played out wasn't clear but in 1913 the country didn't have it's back turned. Indeed, the use of Cavalry wasn't quite as anachronistic as we've been lead to believe.

Producer: Tom Alban.

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

1913: The Year BeforeBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

3 ratings


More shows like 1913: The Year Before

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,401 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,834 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,708 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,791 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,077 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,950 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,041 Listeners

Curious Cases by BBC Radio 4

Curious Cases

811 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

752 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,981 Listeners