The Great War | "On the Idle Hill of Summer..." (Episode 1)

The Great War is a 26-episode documentary series from 1964 on the First World War. Narrated by Michael Redgrave, with readings by Marius Goring, Ralph Richardson, Cyril Luckham, Sebastian Shaw and Emlyn Williams. The documentary was a co-production of the Imperial War Museum, the British Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

The music for the series was composed by Wilfred Josephs. It was performed by the BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Hurst. Much use was made of 20th Century symphonies, including Shostakovitch's 11th Symphony and Vaughan Williams' Sinfonia Antartica'.

The episode titles are taken from quotations, the origins of which are shown in parentheses. With few exceptions, successive blocks of episodes are devoted to each year of the war: episodes 1–6 to 1914, 7–10 to 1915, 11–14 to 1916, 15–19 to 1917, 20–23 and 26 to 1918.

Episode 1 - 1914: "On the Idle Hill of Summer..." (A. E. Housman)

Profiles of the five European powers engaged at war's start: German Empire, French Third Republic, United Kingdom, Russian Empire and Austria-Hungary. The Balkan Wars and the assassination of Franz Ferdinand.