Cheap Mata Hari/Red Baron (Video) (Mysteries & Myths of the Twentieth Century) Price

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Fascinating looks at two World War I legendary figures
In this video, we revisit two of the greatest legends of the World War I era. I have to admit that I really knew nothing about Mata Hari other than the fact she was executed as a female spy in the Great War, and now I'm not even sure about that much. Certainly, she was executed, but there is reason to believe she was not a spy, certainly not the dangerous spy the French made her out to be. I found the background material on her life and road to stardom quite interesting; she was definitely a woman before her time, and it is this more than any purported spying that seemed to seal her fate. Her career in espionage, at least as presented here, is problematic. Already forty years old, trapped in Germany when the war started, she made her way to neutral Holland, and it was boredom more than anything else that led her back to France. English and then French intelligence tailed her from the start, thinking she could be a German spy. There is little evidence offered for any such activity on her part, although she did "entertain" many German officers and take money from them in order to survive. The French basically recruited her as a spy working on their behalf, yet she never got close to Germany when she set out on her mission. The English seized and interrogated her, and the head of French counter-espionage denied having recruited her. Eventually, she came back to France, was arrested by French intelligence; after a farcical trial featuring evidence manipulated by the government for their own ends, she was put to death. France seemingly made her a spy and then killed for it, but the only espionage attempts Mata Hari seems to have made were on behalf of the French who had recruited her. I don't know if Mata Hari was innocent or guilty of spying for the Germans originally, but nothing in this video makes me believe so. France making her a scapegoat for their own military failures is a travesty of justice, one which the malefactors actually relished, apparently. I am sure there are more layers to the tale than presented here, but I certainly came away from this presentation with nothing but disdain for Mata Hari's tormentors.

The second feature details the life and death of the legendary Baron Von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron. Although one could say his short life and fabulously successful career as a fighter pilot has taken on mythic proportions, the only mystery involved with his death is identifying who in fact was responsible. Captain Brown of Canada is often given credit for the kill, but the Baron was taking shots from Australian machine gunners on the ground at the same time he was flying low trying to elude the Sopwith Camel that had come up on his tail. Since his plane was basically dismantled for souvenirs when it came down and no decent postmortem examination was done on the body, it's really impossible to know who exactly fired the bullet that ended his life. It is somewhat amazing to see footage of the Allies' somber funeral with full military honors for the man who had taken out so many pilots and planes on their own side. The Red Baron was a great warrior, however, and he deserved the respect of his enemies.

It is always interesting to learn more about the Great War; the war to end all wars gets short shrift in the history books, overshadowed by the drama of World War II. I'm not sure the "mysteries and myths" label deserves to headline this particular video, but the stories it relates are certainly fascinating and well worth watching.