37 Days

How do you turn the diplomatic exchanges before the outbreak of the First World War into a TV drama?

This month Angus, Jessica, and Chris discuss the 2014 BBC series 37 Days. Along the way they explore the role of France in the war’s outbreak, how similar the cast appeared to historical figures, a random Star Wars connection, and whether Guy Ritchie should tackle the topic next.

References

37 Days (1914)
Christopher Clark The Sleep Walkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 (Penguin, 2013)
Mark Hayhurst The battle of ’37 days’ (openDemocracy, 2014)
David Elstein The BBC’s Great War (openDemocracy, 2014)
Fritz Fischer Germany’s Aims in the First World War (WW Norton & Company, 1967)James Joll, The Origins of the First World War (1970)The Pursuit of Love (BBC1 2021)William Le Queux, The Invasion of 1910 (1906)
John Buchan, The Thirty-Nine Steps (1915)
Parade’s End (BBC2 2012)

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Professor of Modern British History at Leeds University. My research interests lie at the intersection of the histories of gender, particularly masculinity, medicine and warfare.

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A historian focusing on the First World War and popular representations of warfare. I received my PhD from the University of Sussex in 2013. My thesis examined relations between British and French soldiers during the First World War.

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Is a Visiting Research Fellow at Leeds University. My current research focuses on manpower and authority in Britain, starting with the First World War and running through until the end of the Second World War.