World War I Expert Rates 6 WWI Battles in Movies | How Real Is It? | Insider
World War I historian Alexander Watson rates six First World War battle scenes from movies and TV shows for realism. He discusses the accuracy of trench warfare in "All Quiet on the Western Front" (2022), featuring Daniel Brühl, and "Wonder Woman" (2017), starring Gal Gadot. He also comments on aerial combat and gas masks in "The Red Baron" (2008) and "The Lost City of Z" (2016), starring Charlie Hunnam. Watson analyzes the guns, artillery, tanks, grenades, and other weapons used in "Sajjan Singh Rangroot" (2018) and "Gallipoli: End of the Road" (2013). Watson is a professor of history at Goldsmiths, University of London, and an expert on World War I. He has written three books on it: "Enduring The Great War," which explores how British and German soldiers coped on the Western Front; "Ring of Steel," about the war from the German and Austria-Hungarian perspective; and "The Fortress," about the siege of Przemyśl on the Eastern Front. You can find Alexander Watson's books here: Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/133250/ring-of-steel-by-watson-alexander/9780141042039 The Fortress: The Siege of Przemysl and the Making of Europe's Bloodlands: https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/alexander-watson/the-fortress/9781541697300 Enduring the Great War: Combat, Morale and Collapse in the German and British Armies, 1914-1918: https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/twentieth-century-european-history/enduring-great-war-combat-morale-and-collapse-german-and-british-armies-19141918 MORE HOW REAL IS IT VIDEOS: Military Helicopter Pilot Rates 9 Helicopter Rescues In Movies and TV https://youtu.be/O4RpSc1d4UE Afghan War Veteran Rates 9 Afghanistan War Battles In Movies https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvD0H9p7T0I Military Experts Rate 70 Military Battles In Movies And TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hCKDPSSVi0 ------------------------------------------------------ #WWI #HowRealIsIt #Insider Insider is great journalism about what passionate people actually want to know. That’s everything from news to food, celebrity to science, politics to sports and all the rest. It’s smart. It’s fearless. It’s fun. We push the boundaries of digital storytelling. Our mission is to inform and inspire. Visit our homepage for the top stories of the day: https://www.insider.com Insider on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/insider Insider on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insider Insider on Twitter: https://twitter.com/thisisinsider Insider on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/Insider/2708030621 Insider on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@insider World War I Expert Rates 6 WWI Battles in Movies | How Real Is It? | Insider
Video Chapters
- 0:00 Unmasking Trench Warfare: Flamethrowers vs. Grenades
- 2:15 The Truth About WWI Gas Attacks: Not What You Think
- 3:48 A Glimpse of Accuracy: French Tanks' Smoke Screen
- 6:35 Ingenious Defenses: German Infantry vs. Tanks
- 7:58 Debunking the Myth: WWI's Dynamic End
- 8:45 The Red Baron's Famous Plane: Why Red?
- 10:29 Eyes in the Sky: The Unsung Role of WWI Balloons
- 12:35 Unseen Heroes: Indian Troops on the Western Front
- 15:03 The Missing Details: Real WWI Trench Design
- 17:15 A Masterpiece: Journey's End Captures WWI Tension
Original Output
0:00 Unmasking Trench Warfare: Flamethrowers vs. Grenades 2:15 The Truth About WWI Gas Attacks: Not What You Think 3:48 A Glimpse of Accuracy: French Tanks' Smoke Screen 6:35 Ingenious Defenses: German Infantry vs. Tanks 7:58 Debunking the Myth: WWI's Dynamic End 8:45 The Red Baron's Famous Plane: Why Red? 10:29 Eyes in the Sky: The Unsung Role of WWI Balloons 12:35 Unseen Heroes: Indian Troops on the Western Front 15:03 The Missing Details: Real WWI Trench Design 17:15 A Masterpiece: Journey's End Captures WWI Tension Timestamps by StampBot 🤖
Unprocessed Timestamp Content
0:00 Flamethrowers in trenches; grenades were the more realistic WWI trench cleaner 0:29 Tracer bullets: a WWI war crime exposing ground troop positions 0:58 WWI machine gun fire with tracer bullets exposes positions to enemy artillery 1:20 Church towers are prime targets for artillery, not for observation posts 1:48 Warning gongs in No Man's Land? Historically, all wrong for attack 2:15 Heavy gas sank into trenches, not used for open-field assaults 2:34 Using gas against attackers in open field; more likely to harm your own 3:07 Shrapnel used for immediate impact, not slow-acting gas against open troops 3:48 French Saint-Chamond tanks use smoke barrages, historically accurate for advance 4:15 German trench defenses are incorrect; trenches were built to defend one way 4:44 German soldiers should use anti-tank flares; not just helpless riflemen 5:34 A 23-ton tank stopping mid-battle is extremely vulnerable and stuck 6:20 A 23-ton tank stopping in a trench is unlikely to get out again 6:35 German infantry using mobility kills on tanks; a plausible tactic in 1918 7:09 Flamethrowers create an impenetrable wall of fire, blocking allies too 7:58 This scene misleads about the end of WWI, which was more mobile 8:45 The Red Baron's Fokker triplane painted red because he simply could 9:50 WWI observation balloons were strategic, few per sector, hard to ignite 10:29 WWI observation balloons were crucial for artillery accuracy; very hard to knock down 11:57 Pilot firing signal flare at balloon; flares for signaling, not igniting hydrogen 12:35 Indian troops served on Western Front, often overlooked, appreciated representation 13:13 Subedar-Major leading soldiers is historically accurate; highly respected, long-service troops 13:40 Aerial ground attacks with bombs didn't happen this early in 1915 14:32 German soldiers firing British Lewis guns? Not on the front in 1915 15:03 Trenches are completely rubbish; where is the parapet and parados? 15:30 Gallipoli landing: Turks firing *after* Aussies exit boats? Why wait 16:02 Machine guns in landing craft bows? Surely you'd hit your own troops 16:52 Bloodiness of Gallipoli landing exaggerated; casualties not as high as presented 17:15 Journey's End: accurately portrays tension and claustrophobia of waiting for attack Timestamps by StampBot 🤖