i hate to say it but lloyd george and clemenceau came out the winner's. war'sfully understand the impact, it is important to take a closer look back at the four years that were world war i. how to describe that war? history channel asked some historians and authors to give it a try in one word. [video clip] ♪ >> if i had to choose one word to described world war i, it would be cataclysmic. word togle world to -- describe world war i would be catastrophic. >> transformational because nothing was the same. >> the one where that helps to describe world war i is destructive. -- the one word that helps to describe world war i is destructive. >> i would use mistake. >> stupid. that is how i would encapsulate the first world war. >> world war i did not have to happen. there was no inherent reason. it literally was dumb. >> a person during world war i thought they were in a new age, fascinating, modern world. the world that produced the titanic, aviation, incredible advances in medicine. it seemed like everything was within grasp right before world war i. and all

states and wilson specifically had that speak to why the nations and versailles a failure. >> lloyd george and george played wilson like a fiddle. in particular, in the league of army as controlled by britain and france as it was ii.n created after world war so you had to be aware of that. but when wilson would stand up to something and say i don't we're at, they would say not going to vote for the league. he would give in. to the how he gave in mandates for asia, africa, and the middle east. convinced by boy george be clemens who had to snickering under his breath, the iddle east they will be free soon. wilson fell for it. the main other point is, because european historian, is the hungaryian empire was destroyed. a major political, economic, and structure for europe, for the ages, created seven countries that could not exist nationalism was the key. and this, if you go back to what earlier, if germany becomes a great power of the oviet uni, these countries are there for the picking. because they were nationalistic, at least one/third of other races within them. they all wanted to rule on

he was convinced by lloyd george -- clemeceau. wilson fell for it. --i am a european historian the austro-hungarian empire was destroyed. economic, andcal, structure for europe from the middle ages, created seven countries that could not exist alone. and nationalism was the key. to what we said earlier, if germany becomes a great power of the soviet union, these countries are there for the taking. because they are nationalistic, each had at least 1/3 of other races of men and they all wanted to rule on their own. wilson never visited the battlefields once, never understood what the war was about. >> it is important to take a closer look back at the four years that world war i was. how to describe that war? the history channel asked some historians and authors to give it a try in one word. ♪ ♪ >> if i had to choose one word to describe world war i, it would be cataclysmic. >> a single word would be catastrophic. >> transformational, because nothing was the same once the war was over. it's the one word that helps to describe world war i is destructive.

i was called before the cabinet and i found in a short time that sir edward gray and lloyd george the prime minister, were all on my side. so i pushed the issue even further and ultimately i got a subsidy of $5 million a month out of the british to carry on the work and in the end, before we were done with four years of it, i was receiving $10 or $12 million a month from the british. >> you may have inversely answered a question that is in my mind, mr. hoover, but may i ask at this point, what do you think of the policy of starvation as an instrument of warfare? >> well, it may be an instrument of warfare. it might conceivably bring war to an earlier end. but starvation leaves a mass of human beings that are a liability to the world for all time, both themselves and their descendants. >> your work in in bel-- belgian relief did not end your food operations, did it, stir? >> no, the relief continued throughout the war and i continued to conduct it. when we came into war i withdrew the american staff and substituted dutch inside of belgium. at that time, the british and french were begi

. >> host: and in a dramatic moment lloyd george in the house of commons of 1914 is another big year. >> guest: thing about the british public finance for the 100 years before the first world war before 1914 was essentially they ran balanced budgets. it's difficult to imagine that they'll hold victorian era in the 19th century and very stabe interest rates and very stable fiscal policy and what happened in the first world or this is one of the key moments of the book is that all of that went to pieces. in order to defeat germany british parliament had to go through massive spending and he stands up and says this is an extraordinary thing that we've done. we will have billions generated hundreds of millions of the budget up to that point. but so they borrow huge amounts and the national debt went up ten times if you can imagine more than ten times for about 700 million over 11 million. and the house of commons went through because they would do whatever it took defeat germany. that was the attitude. >> host: i don't see a thread right away. is this sort of a push and pull effect? >> gu

george. this morning a u.s. official tells abc news that general lloyd austin who heads central command is now in iraq for a series of meetings on what to do next. it is austin who is overseeing the air strikes in iraq and he would be the general in charge if the decision is made to expand those air strikes into syria. this morning, the pentagon is preparing options for strikes and the president has ordered u.s. surveillance planes to start gathering intelligence and look for potential targets. another critical decision this morning is whether to send in warplanes and humanitarian aid to help more than 10,000 iraqis in another town in northern iraq now under siege by isis. we are told the president is nearing a decision on that. >> martha, the potential for air strikes in syria, syria making it clear they would consider that a breach of their sovereignty so how dangerous would these flights be? >> reporter: syria has robust air defenses and u.s. warplanes would take all precautions. since they're going after isis, which is the enemy of the assad regime as well, it is doubtful u.s. planes would be targeted. george.