Always hated the dryness of History, but loved this. I never really understood how one assassination could trigger nations falling into World War I or why 'bad guys' do what they do. But watching this series I found myself engrossed in the clash between altruistic principles on all sides. How could everything go bad so quickly when everyone was devoted to 'doing the right thing'? Fall of Eagles begins its tempo with the slow idyllic personal lives of the ruling class and its petty complications and entanglements; gradually meshing it with the encroaching confusion of revolutions in Western Europe; adding deceptions of divided loyalties throughout governments and bids for power. These themes are kept entertaining with cutaways to what each side is doing concurrently and then returning.
In some episodes, watching WWI take form was like watching an impending train wreck and not being able to stop it. What makes this series so remarkable are believable characterizations utilizing letters and private/secret documents. The series was successful in avoiding simplistic blame, or championing underdogs, portraying instead real people following their principles to inevitable conclusions. Even catastrophic attempts at damage control made sense in the perspective by which it was made, regardless of class. Particularly intriguing was the sense that no one wanted war, but everyone from aristocrat to politician to peasant was sucked haplessly into it like some kind of circling drain. It really was world misery, plunging reform through the heart of tradition even while they both lay bleeding.
My only difficulty was keeping track of alliance marriages and names and titles associated with their countries. More than once, a repeat viewing of an introduction was in order. It would have been nice to have a family tree handy to sort everyone out. The series did do a fine job of seamlessly weaving close ups of changing empire boundary maps into the storyline. Very, very enjoyable history lesson.
In some episodes, watching WWI take form was like watching an impending train wreck and not being able to stop it. What makes this series so remarkable are believable characterizations utilizing letters and private/secret documents. The series was successful in avoiding simplistic blame, or championing underdogs, portraying instead real people following their principles to inevitable conclusions. Even catastrophic attempts at damage control made sense in the perspective by which it was made, regardless of class. Particularly intriguing was the sense that no one wanted war, but everyone from aristocrat to politician to peasant was sucked haplessly into it like some kind of circling drain. It really was world misery, plunging reform through the heart of tradition even while they both lay bleeding.
My only difficulty was keeping track of alliance marriages and names and titles associated with their countries. More than once, a repeat viewing of an introduction was in order. It would have been nice to have a family tree handy to sort everyone out. The series did do a fine job of seamlessly weaving close ups of changing empire boundary maps into the storyline. Very, very enjoyable history lesson.