The Battle of Verdun

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 20 February 2016

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The World War One battle that traumatised France; the Austrian mountaineer who wrote Seven Years in Tibet; how Christian Dior revolutionised fashion with the 'New Look'. Plus, how Foot-and-Mouth disease broke the hearts of British farmers and the botched assassination which humiliated the Israeli Secret Service.

(Photo: French Troops under fire at Verdun. Credit: General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the History Hour podcast from the BBC World Service with me Max Pearson,
0:05.4	the past brought to life by those who were there.
0:08.4	Coming up this week, the Austrian mountaineer who spent seven years in Tibet.
0:13.0	We had read so much about this holy city.
0:16.0	It was forbidden. The whole country was forbidden.
0:19.0	And now we had reached the dream of our life.
0:22.8	We've got the story of a botched assassination attempt by the Israeli Secret Service.
0:28.2	Also, we hear about the terrible toll on British farmers from foot and mouth disease, plus
0:34.0	how Christian Dior brought glamour back to fashion after World War II.
0:44.0	Everything was about shortages, low material, nothing, and suddenly this amazing man said,
0:50.4	no, no, tiny waists enormous skirts that's all to come and to bring those
0:56.4	moments from the past to life we've made particular use this week of the BBC
1:01.0	archives both written and recorded I'm sure you'll agree that the
1:04.8	stories we've got illustrate what an astonishing resource the BBC's archives
1:09.0	represent. And our first offering is a fine example. 100 years ago, Europe was in the grip of the bloodiest mass conflict the world has ever known.
1:18.0	The First World War pitted alliances of Europe's great powers against each other in the fields of France and Belgium.
1:25.0	Most of us know something of the horror of trench warfare,
1:28.0	but only first-hand testimony has the power to take you right there.
1:32.0	In this case, to February 1916 and the Battle of
1:35.8	Verdon, a battle which for France came to symbolise the slaughter of the First World War.
1:41.8	This report is by Alex Last.
1:44.0	We arrived at Verdun on the 16th of February it was snowing and very cold.
	...

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