World War One Round The World

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

St Petersburg, White Flowers And Revolution

20141230

One hundred years ago the First World War set the course for the modern world: for the countries that took part nothing would be the same again. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service.

Tatyana Tolstaya is an internationally acclaimed Russian novelist and broadcaster, and well known in Russia as a scion of the country's most famous literary family. In this essay 'White Flowers', she tells a moving story from her own family, the story of her grandmother's chance encounter with British journalist William Stead. This is a poetic story about revolution, ideology and the individual, through which we glimpse a different future for Russia and for Europe. It is recorded with an audience at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, which was known as the Winter Palace when it was 'stormed' in 1917.

Novelist Tatyana Tolstaya tells a St Petersburg audience how World War I changed Russia.

London, Shell Shock And The Shock Of Shells

20141029

20141231 (R3)

Joanna Bourke stunned academics and the reading public alike with her extraordinary study 'An Intimate History of Killing', since which she has written studies of Fear, Rape, Pain and Humanity. Shell Shock and the Shock of Shells draws on the letters and diaries of soldiers and their families. In this essay she returns to the First World War to reflect not only on shell shock, but also on the actual shells themselves, presenting her latest research into their physical impact and the language which evolved to describe them. Her essay was recorded with an audience at the Imperial War Museum in London.

Joanna Bourke on the emotional, cultural and physical impact of WWI shelling on soldiers.

Sarajevo, Divine Uncertainty

20141030

20150101 (R3)

Haris Pasovic lived through the Siege of Sarajevo and was the producer of Susan Sontag's legendary 1993 'Waiting for Godot', produced in the city during the war. Since then he has developed theatrical spectaculars with a special focus on the impact of war including The Red Line (11,500 chairs representing those killed in the siege) and 'The Conquest of Happiness' (a massive open-air theatre event for Derry Year of Culture based on the works on Bertrand Russell). His essay 'Divine Uncertainty' is a personal take the war in Bosnia and the First World War. In this essay, recorded at the Sarajevo Theatre of War, Haris explains how he sees politics as a force woefully out of step with science and playfully suggests that a theory of 'political relativity' is needed in which cultural identity is cushioned by tolerance.

Haris Pasovic explores WWI's effect on the long history of nationalism in the Balkans.

05 LAST

Dresden, Targets

20141031

20150102 (R3)

Herlinde Koebl, is an artist and photographer known for her in-depth, political and thematic work. In this essay she draws on the experience of her latest project 'Targets' which was a series of documentary photographs of the targets used for training by soldiers in 30 countries. Contrasting accounts of First World War training, and quoting from contemporary soldiers, Herlinde Koebl asks what makes a soldier able to kill? The essay is performed in front of an audience at the Bundeswehr Military Museum in Dresden.

Herlinde Koebl discusses World War One, targets and killing.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
02	St Petersburg, White Flowers And Revolution	20141230		One hundred years ago the First World War set the course for the modern world: for the countries that took part nothing would be the same again. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service. Tatyana Tolstaya is an internationally acclaimed Russian novelist and broadcaster, and well known in Russia as a scion of the country's most famous literary family. In this essay 'White Flowers', she tells a moving story from her own family, the story of her grandmother's chance encounter with British journalist William Stead. This is a poetic story about revolution, ideology and the individual, through which we glimpse a different future for Russia and for Europe. It is recorded with an audience at the Hermitage in St Petersburg, which was known as the Winter Palace when it was 'stormed' in 1917. Novelist Tatyana Tolstaya tells a St Petersburg audience how World War I changed Russia.
03	London, Shell Shock And The Shock Of Shells	20141029	20141231 (R3)	One hundred years ago the First World War set the course for the modern world: for the countries that took part nothing would be the same again. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service. Joanna Bourke stunned academics and the reading public alike with her extraordinary study 'An Intimate History of Killing', since which she has written studies of Fear, Rape, Pain and Humanity. Shell Shock and the Shock of Shells draws on the letters and diaries of soldiers and their families. In this essay she returns to the First World War to reflect not only on shell shock, but also on the actual shells themselves, presenting her latest research into their physical impact and the language which evolved to describe them. Her essay was recorded with an audience at the Imperial War Museum in London. Joanna Bourke on the emotional, cultural and physical impact of WWI shelling on soldiers.
04	Sarajevo, Divine Uncertainty	20141030	20150101 (R3)	One hundred years ago the First World War set the course for the modern world: for the countries that took part nothing would be the same again. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service. Haris Pasovic lived through the Siege of Sarajevo and was the producer of Susan Sontag's legendary 1993 'Waiting for Godot', produced in the city during the war. Since then he has developed theatrical spectaculars with a special focus on the impact of war including The Red Line (11,500 chairs representing those killed in the siege) and 'The Conquest of Happiness' (a massive open-air theatre event for Derry Year of Culture based on the works on Bertrand Russell). His essay 'Divine Uncertainty' is a personal take the war in Bosnia and the First World War. In this essay, recorded at the Sarajevo Theatre of War, Haris explains how he sees politics as a force woefully out of step with science and playfully suggests that a theory of 'political relativity' is needed in which cultural identity is cushioned by tolerance. Haris Pasovic explores WWI's effect on the long history of nationalism in the Balkans.
05 LAST	Dresden, Targets	20141031	20150102 (R3)	One hundred years ago the First World War set the course for the modern world: for the countries that took part nothing would be the same again. In these special editions of The Essay we gain an international perspective on the war as we hear from cultural figures from around the world taking part in an international series of events called The War That Changed The World, made in partnership with the British Council and the BBC World Service. Herlinde Koebl, is an artist and photographer known for her in-depth, political and thematic work. In this essay she draws on the experience of her latest project 'Targets' which was a series of documentary photographs of the targets used for training by soldiers in 30 countries. Contrasting accounts of First World War training, and quoting from contemporary soldiers, Herlinde Koebl asks what makes a soldier able to kill? The essay is performed in front of an audience at the Bundeswehr Military Museum in Dresden. Herlinde Koebl discusses World War One, targets and killing.