The
lowdown: 'Fall of Eagles' is an epic 13-part historical
drama that chronicles the demise of three European dynasties:
the Hohenzollerns in Germany,
the Habsburgs in Austria-Hungary and the Romanovs in Russia. It begins
in 1853, with the
marriage of Austria's emperor
Franz Josef, who is pressured to marry by his mother, the Archduchess
Sophie, so he can
produce an heir and ensure
the future of the Hapsburg line. It ends in 1918, when Kaiser Wilhelm agrees
to abdicate and go
into exile. Much of the
series focuses on the downfall of the Romanovs and the rise of the Communist
Party, led by Vladimir
Lenin (superbly played by
Patrick Stewart in one of his first television roles). It is a superb series
with excellent production
values for the time, and
is highly recommended for anybody with an interest in European history.
It features many actors
who were well-known at the
time or later became famous for certain roles, including Paul Eddington,
Frank Thornton, Peter
Vaughan, Michael Kitchen
and Miriam Margolyes. Colin Baker stars as Crown Prince William (known
as Willie), the son of
Kaiser Wilhelm, but only
in the last episode. The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 15 March to
7 June 1974.
The
episode: 'End Game' was the final episode of the series,
and is set in 1918. Russia has withdrawn from the war after
the October Revolution,
the US has entered the war, the Romanovs have been executed and Franz Josef's
succesor as the
empire of Austria is urging
the Germans to make peace with the Allies. The war is not going well for
the Germans, who have
suffered some major defeats
at the hands of Britain's tank brigades. Some of Kaiser Wilhelm's generals
urge him to seek an
armistice, but Wilhelm is
determined to fight on, particularly after seeing the propanda about him
that is being distributed by
the Allies. Meanwhile, Wilhelm
is trying to conceal the fact that his son, Crown Prince Willie (Colin
Baker) is having an affair
with a French widow, although
Willie's mother already knew about it. By November 1918 the German people
were staging a
revolution of their own,
and Wilhelm gave serious consideration to surrendering the German throne
while remaining King of
Prussia. However, the question
of abdication became somewhat irrelevant when the German Chancellor pre-empted
Wilhelm
by announcing that he would
relinquish both titles, and Wilhelm was reluctantly forced to do so. Wilhelm
goes into exile in
the Netherlands, while Willie
agrees to rejoin his troops on the Western Front.
Who
connections: A number of actors
associated with Doctor Who appeared in 'Fall of Eagles', including
David Collings
(Revenge
of the Cybermen, The Robots of Death and Mawdryn Undead), Frederick Jaeger
(The Invisible Enemy and Planet
of
Evil), Bruce Purchase (The Pirate Planet), Michael Sheard (Pyramids of
Mars and Remembrance of the Daleks, amongst
others),
Dennis Lill (Image of the Fendahl), and Peter Pratt (The Deadly Assassin).
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