SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND

Professor Niall Ferguson will be on the telly tonight in his documentary The Pity of War proposing that Britain becoming involved in World War 1 was a bad idea. This is quite radical for a British historian.

But will Ferguson ask, did Britain engineer the war in the first place? I seriously doubt it.

Ferguson wrote a 2 volume sycophantic biography of the Rothschilds, having been given exclusive access to some of their archives.

The programme will show Ferguson giving a lecture and then hosting a debate between experts on Ferguson's thesis.

Here’s an unusual approach to a history programme. Instead of a straight-ahead documentary where Niall Ferguson promotes his theory that the British cabinet’s decision to go to war in August 1914 was “the biggest error in modern history”, we get a different tack. Ferguson presents his argument in a lecture before a studio audience and then invites a panel of historians to chip in.

Broadly, they bat aside his idea that without Britain’s involvement, Germany would have fought a brief war and ended up dominating Europe – much as it now does anyway. But as a provocative way to get some serious debate going on historical issues that still haunt us, this is inspired.
About this programme

Historian Niall Ferguson uses cutting-edge graphics and short illustrative stories to offer his perspective on the First World War, arguing that Britain's decision to enter the conflict was a tragic mistake. He examines why a crisis in the Balkans escalated into global war, suggesting that much of the responsibility for the scale of the hostilities lay with Britain. At the end of the programme, leading historians and a studio audience debate the issues raised.

[source : The Pity of War, Radio Times, http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/cs7d4k/the-pity-of-war, Accessed 28th February 2014]

This is about as unusual as it is going to get on the telly this year, so watch it very carefully.

And then read SLAM DUNK EVIDENCE THAT WORLD WAR ONE WAS A BRITISH CONSPIRACY and then decide.

Or read SLAM DUNK EVIDENCE THAT WORLD WAR ONE WAS A BRITISH CONSPIRACY first, and then watch Ferguson's documentary.

It's up to you,

But this could be very interesting in some ways.

Or it could be absolute drivel.