6.3 A 'Great War'?
People remember events of the First World War in very different ways. For some, it was a ‘Great War’, and a glorious victory. For others, it was a war of great personal loss. It can be difficult to decide how to remember the First World War. The films on this page show some of the scenes in the aftermath of the war – scenes which, themselves, impact our understanding of what the war was like.
SERVICE AT THE CENOTAPH
1 MIN 55 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1919
In November 1919, a service is held in Whitehall at the Cenotaph to remember the victims of the First World War.
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RUINS IN THE RHINELAND
1 MIN 28 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1914-1919
Footage of war damage in the Rhineland. We see a town which has been reduced to rubble, with hardly any buildings remaining untouched. A collapsed bridge lies in a river. French soldiers walk through the ruins.
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RUINS OF ARRAS CATHEDRAL
1 MIN 19 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1916
Ruins of the cathedral and other buildings in Arras, France, in 1916. Some houses have lost walls, making the rooms inside visible to those on the street.
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AERIAL PICTURES OF MONT ST. ELOY
0 MINS 34 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1916
A man climbs out of a biplane with a film camera, having just photographed Mont St. Eloy, France, from the air. The resulting images are then shown, providing a brief but shocking picture of the devastation caused by the war to some residential areas. Filmed in 1916.
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HEROES OF ZEEBRUGGE LAID TO REST
0 MINS 56 SECS, SILENT, B/W, 1918
A funeral procession of soldiers, nurses and sailors makes its way slowly through a street in honour of the men who died in the Zeebrugge raid of 1918. The burial of coffins in a mass grave takes place in a ceremony at a cemetery.